Tuesday, July 22, 2014

GEYSERS AND HOT SPRINGS

Readers:
  
To read the adventure in the order of the Day by Day Trip Report click HERE
To see all the photos of ICELAND'S GOLDEN CIRCLE click HERE.

Readings

Last night and early this morning we finished our second Torquil MacLeod novel: Murder in Malmö. both Meet Me in Malmö, the first one,  and this one center on Anita Sundström, brilliant but troubled detective of the Malmö, Sweden police department. We have one more to go in the series; Missing in Malmö which we will not be able to complete but it was fun reading novels about where we were traveling. The Jack London, Call of the Wild, was perfect for Finnmarken and Engholm Lodge with a bit of Robert Service thrown in for flavor. Yummy!



On the Road Again in a Big Hinterland Circle

We are on the downhill slide to departure and return to reality



early morning Port of Reykjavik

On our final full day we spent the entire day traveling around the south end of Iceland. It was a beautiful drive, very green with hot springs gurgling up from the ground with steam marking their locations.

We had a brief stop at a horse ranch and enjoyed seeing and listening to the stories of how they kept the purity of the breed.   Factoid:  Icelandic horses have 5 standard gaits.  Horse folks will do research and correct us if needs be.





We traveled further into earthquake country (at least one every day) stopping at the Gullfoss waterfall. We have tons of photos, but show you here only a couple so get the impact feel.






And on even further to the Geysir
Factoid:  Geysir is the only Icelandic word incorporated into English
(spelled with a second 'e' of course.)

It blows every 5 - -7 minutes 

Again many many more photos


during blow


after blow


the 2nd largest  glacier

On to a relaxing swim at a hot springs, a bite of cake cooked in the ground over the hot springs and finally to Pingvellir ( a UNESCO Heritage Site), where the Teutonic Eurasian and American plates collide AND the spectacular setting of the first European Parliament gathering in the 900's. 

Truly a magnificent space!


the gathering spot




The walk along the gathering space

Wheels up at 5 pm today for Seatac.  We arrive there at 5:35 pm.  The wonders of travel!  We've seen so much it's hard to name even the top 10.  We've enjoyed great visits with friends in Norway and met new folks along the way.  We've exchanged currencies so many times we're dizzy.  We've had some of the best food we've ever had -- mostly in Iceland.  

We have had a Magnificent Norway Adventure (plus Sweden and Iceland.)  Pacific Northwest awaits us . .