Iceland....or.....Rainland??
Ok, so the forecast was right!!! Grrrr! When does THAT ever happen!!! Sure enough, we woke up to rain!!!
Our guide/driver picked us up at 9 am and reminded us “you don’t come to Iceland for the weather”! I think that was her way of saying “suck it up”!
We headed out of Reykjavik and drove inland, over a mountain plateau where the wind and rain really picked up!!
Our first stop was at the Faxi waterfall, which she deemed as the “small” waterfall. It was pretty awesome to us! Of course, the wind and rain ensured that it was a quick stop! There were two hardy fisherman at the river and they actually caught a salmon while we were there!
From there we went to see the “big” waterfall, Gullfoss. It is spectacular. The wind was really howling there. A few hardy souls were brave enough to walk out to an outcrop but most of us walked only as far as we absolutely needed in order to get a good view.
We made a little stop at a farm that had 6 Icelandic horses in inside stalls. We were pleased to have an “inside” stop. The horses were very friendly and anxious to have their noses rubbed.
By this time it was noon and time for a lunch stoop. We went to Geyser where we had a choice of four restaurants to eat at plus the opportunity to view an active geyser. A hot meal hit the spot before we braved the elements to go out to watch “Stokker”, the active geyser, spray into the air. It was short lived but still pretty spectacular!
Our driver made an impromptu stop at her cousins’ farm where they had a dairy farm. The cool thing was that they had a restaurant with big glass windows to the dairy barn. Seems a little weird to me to be eating a hamburger while you look at cows! 😂. They make their own ice cream so we just had to have some, in spite of the cold and rainy day, it was delicious!!
Our final stop was at Thingvellar Park to see the large rift between the North American and Eurasian
plates. Also at this location is the place where the original parliament took place. Again some of the more hardy folks made the trek down to the bottom while others opted to have a view from the top.
Our guide also treated us to a taste of the local malt that is enjoyed by Icelanders, as well as flatbread with smoked lamb. Many of us made a face at the suggestion of smoked lamb but it was very good, tasting much like our salami!
We then travelled back to Reykjavík to settle into our comfy apartments. Most of us didn’t feel like setting out for dinner so we ordered in pizza and had dinner together. A few drinks and card games rounded out the night. It will be an early night as we have to get up in the middle of the night to head to the airport! Yawn!!!!
Our guide/driver picked us up at 9 am and reminded us “you don’t come to Iceland for the weather”! I think that was her way of saying “suck it up”!
We headed out of Reykjavik and drove inland, over a mountain plateau where the wind and rain really picked up!!
Our first stop was at the Faxi waterfall, which she deemed as the “small” waterfall. It was pretty awesome to us! Of course, the wind and rain ensured that it was a quick stop! There were two hardy fisherman at the river and they actually caught a salmon while we were there!
From there we went to see the “big” waterfall, Gullfoss. It is spectacular. The wind was really howling there. A few hardy souls were brave enough to walk out to an outcrop but most of us walked only as far as we absolutely needed in order to get a good view.
We made a little stop at a farm that had 6 Icelandic horses in inside stalls. We were pleased to have an “inside” stop. The horses were very friendly and anxious to have their noses rubbed.
By this time it was noon and time for a lunch stoop. We went to Geyser where we had a choice of four restaurants to eat at plus the opportunity to view an active geyser. A hot meal hit the spot before we braved the elements to go out to watch “Stokker”, the active geyser, spray into the air. It was short lived but still pretty spectacular!
Our driver made an impromptu stop at her cousins’ farm where they had a dairy farm. The cool thing was that they had a restaurant with big glass windows to the dairy barn. Seems a little weird to me to be eating a hamburger while you look at cows! 😂. They make their own ice cream so we just had to have some, in spite of the cold and rainy day, it was delicious!!
Our final stop was at Thingvellar Park to see the large rift between the North American and Eurasian
plates. Also at this location is the place where the original parliament took place. Again some of the more hardy folks made the trek down to the bottom while others opted to have a view from the top.
Our guide also treated us to a taste of the local malt that is enjoyed by Icelanders, as well as flatbread with smoked lamb. Many of us made a face at the suggestion of smoked lamb but it was very good, tasting much like our salami!
Aw, too bad it had to rain...Probably took you all awhile to warm up once you got back to your apartments.
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