A Beautiful Day To Tour Iceland

Our second full day on the ground was a full one!  We are an early breakfast and then hopped on a tour bus arranged by Larus, heading northeast into the interior of the country. The drive was so interesting, punctuated by our tour guide’s witty anecdotes about history, geography and pop culture. Our first stop was an overlook of Parliament Lake, the largest and coldest lake in Iceland.  It’s so much more.  It’s a UNESCO world heritage site, the location of Parliament  meetings more than 1,000 years ago.  It straddles the fault like between two tectonic plates that form the mid-Atlantic Ridge, the site of much of Iceland’s geothermal and volcanic activity.  We walked downhill through an ancient? Towering rift in the rock to the edge of the lake, learning about the vote1,000 years ago to move friends m Nordic myth to Christianity.  We boarded our bus again and headed to the largest waterfall in Iceland, pouring a deafening torrent into a huge canyon, and misting us with the spray. (We had eaten lunch at the reception center up top, a delicious lamb soup). Turning back toward Reykjavik, we stopped at one of the country’s biggest geysers, which erupts every five minutes.  Every third one was 40-50 meters high, producing streams of boiling eater with a sulfuric smell.  There was a network of trails leading to other pools and smoking fissures.  Very Yellowstone.  All through the tour,  we saw herds of Icelandic horses running through vast pastures, free range sheep grazing on green grass, jagged moonscapes of volcanic rock covered by lush lichen, and steaming geothermal power and heating plants.  We covered an amazing amount, but left just enough time for a spirited practice on a grass field like a putting green.  Afterwards, we walked no more than five minutes to a wonderful pizza parlor for supper. After a quick change of clothes we all headed back to the huge municipal pool. The boys played water basketball.  I worked my up the Celsius scale from the 38 degree hot tub to 44. Yikes!  Another quick change of clothing and it was off to a local ice cream parlor for flurries.  It was 10:30, and the sun was beginning to set.  Back to the school for bed and a day full of soccer.  Goodnight!