Iceland, June 9-10
As usual, the thumbnails are linked to the larger version of the picture, and each larger version has "prev" and "next" buttons to page through. The end of each section brings you back to the main page, and (with luck) to the next section.
This was what passed for breakfast at 5:45 am in Keflavik airport.
On the drive from Keflavik to Reykjavik, near the town of Reykjanesbaer, we passed these huge oddly humanoid piles of stones by the road, so we turned around, came back, and explored. We still have no idea what they are. Extremely spooky. We also took some shots of the strange lichen growing on the lava rocks.
In the town itself we found this viking museum, housing a replica Viking ship which the sign said had actually sailed from Iceland to Vinland (aka l'Anse aux Meadows). We decided to come back when the museum was open (at 6:30 in the morning, it wasn't), but we never did.
We decided to go to Grindavik, where the legendary Blue Lagoon is, but after a look inside decided it was way too trendy and touristy for us. We did walk around outside and get a sense of why they call it blue (the color is much weirder than any of these pictures show).
When we got to Reykjavik it was still pretty early, so we spent some time -- quite a lot, really -- walking around. We were especially fascinated by the Hallgrimskirkja, and its amazing organ, which we heard someone practicing on.
The second day we'd decided to drive the Golden Circle, which begins with the drive to Þhingvellir National Park. Just inside the entrance we found this field full of hundreds of small piles of stones, many of them tiny versions of the big ones near Reykjanesbaer. Again, we were utterly fascinated and totally mystified. We have no idea what this was -- is -- about.
The Þhingvellir National Park (geologically and historically engaging places we've ever been.
Well, and then there were the "geysirs," which were a surprise to us all (we did not expect "Strokkur" to go off while we were standing next to it -- maybe ten yards away). I did get a video of it doing its thing -- or maybe its Þing. Had to wait a couple of minutes, but it's pretty faithful. The video is up on YouTube, here.
The third item on the Golden Circle is the Gullfoss waterfall, which was about as impressive as any we've ever seen -- in some ways, more exciting than Niagara, partly because of the height of the two steps, but also because of the way it plummets down into a crevasse.
And finally, we wended our way back to Reykjavik. Oddly, we regularly got lost walking around, even though many of the streets (as the pictures show) led directly up to the Hallgrimskirkja, which is right across the street from our B&B.
