Iceland, Day 3 - Lot's of Photos!

The following day we took another all day tour, this time of the famous Golden Circle. This is a loop that takes your through a greenhouse village, a volcano crater, an incredible waterfall (Gullfoss), a church, a geothermal valley with geysers and a national park where the tectonic plates meet.

At first I was hesitant to do this tour. It took a whole day & was fairly pricey. I wound up loving it though. It was a fairly clear day & the views were just stunning.

First stop was an old school church.

Next up was the Gullfoss waterfall. It was incredible! Seriously, just so beautiful. And we saw a rainbow before we left!

After leaving the waterfall we drove to this valley that's crazy with geothermal activity. There we saw Geysir, the geyser that all other geysers are named for & a smaller geyser that's right next to it. It was pretty impressive. After that we stopped for lunch & a beer at the little restaurant near by. There was also a small museum about geothermal & seismic activity, which was pretty cool.

Next we headed to the national park where the landscape has been made due to the activity of the tectonic plates beneath it. This park was just stunning. I don't think the pictures come close to showing the beauty of this place.

First things first, we all threw a coin in the water & made a wish. Look at the color of the water! Amazing!

Then we went on a short hike through the park. We got a little snow, a little hail and a little sun. And lots of "God clouds". :-)

Our next stop was to this place where the earth has split of & created fissures due to earthquakes. Kinda creepy, but also some killer views.

After that we headed back to the city. Since it was such a clear day we scheduled a tour to try to see the Northern Lights, but the tour got cancelled. So, Tony & I teamed up w/ 4 other travelers & hired a cabbie to take us out in search of the lights. It was SO incredibly cold & windy. We would drive around for a bit scanning the skies, stop, get out, search around, get back in 'cause it was too cold & drive on to the next place. We had no luck seeing the lights, but we did have a lot of fun. There was lots of giggling involved in our search. Here's the 6 of us, huddled together, freezing our asses off, before heading back to the hotel for a cocktail.

That's it for now. I'll try to finish up the last couple days as soon as I get a chance. Hope you're enjoying hearing about my trip!