Icelandic Interlude II

September, 27 2014

We finished our excellent breakfast, and headed back to Johanna's hostel.

Johanna has been traveling around North America since February. Her family hasn't seen her since she left Sweden.
Julie and Josefine hatched a plan, to surprise Carin and Oskar by bringing Hanny to Iceland. With Carin's birthday being on the 30th, it would be the perfect birthday present.
Johanna hid in the car, when they pulled up to park. As we said our hellos, she jumped out to a tearful reunion. I stood near Carin, just in case I had to catch her.

 Such a sweet surprise.

 For Oskar too.

 L-R Josefine, Oskar, Johanna, Carin.

The newly arrived members of our party were hungry, so we walked to, of all things, an American restaurant, to have a bite.

It's always fun to see another country's take on what is "American".  To their credit, they had excellent milkshakes.

Now running on 25 hrs with no sleep, it was time to drive the Golden Circle, into the interior of the island.

On our way, were stunning landscapes, cute little churches, and the fuzzy headed Icelandic ponies, the only equine on the island.

Little Church

Icelandic Ponies

Stark beauty

Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir), the site of Alþingi (Althing). The worlds first Parliament, beginning 930AD. There was an elected Lawspeaker, who served for three years, and was expected to recite all of the laws from memory, each summer, on the Lögberg (Law Rock). Everyone had an equal say, and were allowed to challenge existing laws, or propose new ones. This system continued on this site until 1271. The only major change, was allowing the Lawspeaker to write down and read the laws, rather than relying on memory alone.

 

Josse and Ashley on the viewing platform, Johanna taking a picture in the background.

The view from the platform

Ugly, right?

Johanna inside a volcanic fissure. You can't see her, but Josefine is in there too. I think they were looking to get warm by getting closer to the magma.

Our first overseas trip together in 7 years.

We took a look in the gift shop, and had a little bout with a broken pay toilet. The girls put money in, but it wouldn't open. So, with a little breaking and entering by Julie, everyone in line was peeing freely.

Our next stop was Geysir, named after a geyser that has been inactive for quite a while. However, there remains a field of geysers and mud pots in the Haukadalur geothermal area. One geyser in particular, Strokkur is so active, it blows 15-20 meters high every 5-10 minutes!


Here are some of the views along the way...

Yay sheep!

Just below this peat covered lava, we found wild blueberries. They were sweet and delicious.

Absolutely magestic.

A small geothermal driven generator, also provides heat and hot water.

Here we are at Geysir.

The run-off pouring into the ditch along side the road. Still hot enough to cook pasta!

No fences or guards, just a sign. Guess it weeds out the stupid people.

The big boy

Kawhoosh!

I think it's important to mention, Sally is a bad ass. She kept up with us all day, also without sleep. We got a bit goofy, but Sally played along with us, she is a total trooper.

Time to head for Gullfoss (Golden Falls), a little trickle of water, the Hvítá River, running down some rocks. Of course, there was a bit of sight seeing along the way.

More sheep

Someone had to pee...

If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes.

Fuel, Lodging, Food, and Soaking. Now that's my idea of one stop shopping!

This "little trickle of water" flows an average 37,000 gallons per second.
There is a memorial set up to Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of one of the last private owners of the falls. It was privately owned until the mid 20th century, then sold to the state. 
The local legend is that she threatened to throw herself over the falls, if the state tried to do anything to ruin the falls. (Fun fact: Sigríður Tómasdóttir is the daughter of Tómas Tómasson. Icelanders still use the old Viking tradition of using their fathers first name as their last name. Her last name literally means Tómas' daughter. So cool.) 

Even from here, the roar is deafening.

I have no words

A short 1/4 mile trek will take us to the top.

My friend, lover, adventure companion, and though the word is over used these days, truly my soulmate. She is my life, I love her so much it hurts. When she laughs, I hear all the angels in heaven, singing just for me. I thank God every day, for bringing us together. Many more adventures await us, to share as one.

Yep, just a rope and a sign. Wonder why they thought it should be in English?

By now you've noticed my movies don't work. Keep checking back, a fix is in the works.

The hike seemed like a good idea, till I got half way back, huffing and puffing, then realised I still had to climb those stairs. Josse thought it was pretty funny. She could run the whole thing ten times, without breaking a sweat.

We were all getting hungry, and still had a 2 hour drive back to town. We ate some protein bars, drank some caffeinated sugar, and hit the road. No pics on the way back, as I was the only one awake in the car. 29 hours now.

We got back to our home for the next few days, the Loft Hostel, checked in, tossed our luggage into the very nice room, 4 beds and a bath, plenty of outlets to charge electronics, and a great view.
I had to find a place to stash the car for the night. Having a car to drive the Golden Circle at your own pace is awesome. Having a car in downtown Reykjavik, SUCKS! I finally found a parking garage a few blocks away. It was expensive, and didn't reopen to get the car out till noon the next day (Sunday). At this point, I didn't care. We met the rest of our group outside our hostel. There is a restaurant right there on the corner, it turned out to be an excellent choice.

This photo was pilfered from the internet, it was dark when we got there,
 and we were so tired, we forgot to take any pics.

Dinner was at Sólon Bistro, wonderful menu, outstanding service, great atmosphere, innovative presentations, without being too cutesy. We ate and drank to our heart's content. Poor Sally finally started to droop. We told her to go ahead, and get some sleep, we didn't last much longer. The girls, Ashley, Josephine, and Johanna, went out for a night-cap. Julie and I said goodnight to Carin and Oskar, and drug our sorry butts to bed. After a whirlwind 34 hour day, we were done.