miðvikudagur, 25 júlí

Gullfoss

We packed up and took our places on the other side of the stream so that we could take pictures of Sveini crossing it in the bus. It was pretty funny driving past the other guests who had stayed in the wooden huts as they stared at us as we drove past, mouths wide open!











The sky was slightly overcast with smudges of bright blue here and there, but at least we could see a substantial amount of Langajökull to our west. Another of my favorite warning "signs" was found on this part of the highland road; a rock, about 2' high, painted white, was placed at the edge of a 1 m by 1 m washout on the side of the road. Seeing as that wouldn't leave alot of road surface available, we had to move 'way over to the other side. Soon we saw where the Hvitá came from its origin at Langajökull, of course at Hvitálón, a much less spectacular version of Jökulsárlón.

The landscape started to green up as we got closer to Gulfoss. What a beautiful, beautiful waterfall!






Gullfoss as it cascades into Hvitargljufur Canyon







Tea with cookies, cake, coffee, energy bars - time to clean out the pantry! Onward to the original Geysir which, since it's now dormant, has passed on the performance hat to Strokkur. Strokkur was ready to please with eruptions every 6 or 7 minutes. Occasionally there would be a small, 10' eruption immediately followed by a larger one, and then there might be one that was at least 80' tall! My favorite part, though, the was the beautiful blue bubble that immediately preceded an eruption.

And I found there to be 3 ways to pronounce "geysir" in our group - the British "gee-zer", American "gi-zer" and the Icelandic "gay-seer".

Our last stop of the day would be at Þingvellir, Parliament Plains. This was where the first Icelandic parliament met in the 900s. The elected officials from all over Iceland would meet here annually and have trials, cast judgments, make laws, update land ownership, and all this in a democratic fashion. It is a fascinating place geologically as well, since it is located on the major rift that runs southward from the Krafla energy field, so the two walls on either side of the walkway are actually gradually pulling apart. The overall "growth" of Iceland in this manner is estimated to be 2 cm each year. One side is North America, and the other is Eurasia. It was a fun place to daydream of history and the Earth moving slowly...right underfoot...

This side is on the North American plate

Dinner that night was at Siggi Hall's. He is a prominent chef in Reykjavík and we ordered either salmon or lamb. I believe we were also treated to Atlantic char smoked over sheep dung; at least that's what one guide book said. Everything was quite good and we had a good last dinner with the entire group!