Hveragerði

My last post (a week late, sorry) is going to be all about the adorable town I stayed in on my trip. Hveragerði isn't at all pronounced like it looks, and I still can't say it properly. It was such a cute town and there were so many neat things to do and see while I was there. 

This is a full-grown Icelandic horse, not a pony! 

These are actually huge lava rocks painted bright colors. Love it! 

The gingerbread house! Actually it was an entire house devoted to fairy-tale stories. There was a Little Red Riding Hood by the next window, a sleeping Snow White on the other side, and Rapunzel looking down with her long hair. Among many others! 














And I loved the little forest of birdhouses! So cute!

This is my dear Kiddy's Mom's house, where I stayed the whole time I visited. It was so pretty all the time! I loved how different it was from what I'm used to. 

I had a marvelous time the whole trip. The trip was definitely worth making, and I was so sad to go. I loved all the amazing things I saw, and the amazing people I met! I had a great time! 

The Legendary Blue Lagoon

So this was possibly my very favorite spot in all of Iceland. I might even come back just to go again! The Blue  Lagoon is a bunch of natural hot springs that were developed into what is basically the world's biggest all-natural outdoor hot tub. Love! As you know, I have a soft spot for warm things, and this fits right in there perfectly. I couldn't take my camera in the water with me, so I snuck out when everyone left to take some pictures of what it looks like when it's empty. 

Circles of Gold

Actually it's called the "Golden Circle" - a series of natural wonders especially geared towards tourists like myself. First was a bunch of geysirs (what's the plural for geysir? And what do you call a group of them?) They were pretty neat. Well, only one was really active anymore. It went off about every 7 minutes.

Next on the list was a pretty intense waterfall. I don't remember the name of it now. It was shorter than the ones I'd seen before, but quite a bit wider and louder. 

Iceland's national park features huge rock faces - where the North American and European continents meet. I stood right in-between them with Europe on my left and North America on my right. This was also where early settlers established their government, so it was a meeting place for everybody for a long time. 

And finally we visited one of Iceland's dormant volcanoes. Even growing up in Hawaii I'd never seen one as up close and this. Neat! 

Glacier Lagoon

As anyone who know me well knows - I'm not a fan of cold, or snow, or anything remotely related. But I'd be insane to pass up the chance to see Europe's largest glacier, especially since it's right here in Iceland! So we spent an afternoon heading out to Glacier Lagoon. I know I only saw a teensy percentage of the glacier, and that was huge!
Hopefully the pictures can speak for themselves as to how pretty it all was.

we went for a little ride around the lagoon on this. 

   Glacier ice melts 5 times slower than other ice. 

Waterfalls in Iceland

While much of Iceland is covered in small, mossy hills, a good portion of the southern coast is occupied by some really big mountains (and volcanoes). Mountains plus melting glaciers and snow from long winters equals -- waterfalls! Tons of them! We stopped at a few different ones. 

This one had a path carved behind it, we walked back there hoping not to get went. The breeze sent a little water our way, but it wasn't bad. 

These waterfalls are much colder than the ones in Hawaii, so I really didn't want to get wet. 

The next waterfall we visited was hidden within the mountain, but it didn't take too much hiking to get to. 

Just behind the ledge is a huge drop to the bottom of the waterfall. 

You could also walk or swim into the hidden falls, but the water is so cold I wouldn't recommend it. 

Down the road a few miles we came across yet another huge waterfall. 

This one was made for tourists (like me) and featured 365 stairs to get to the top of it (I counted them). 

The river ran into the mountain for hundreds of miles, the source isn't even visible. 

Icy Green Iceland?

I decided to take a trip out to Iceland this summer.  Don't worry, it wasn't entirely that random. One of my best friends lives here. I've been here for about 3 days now, and have a couple weeks to go still - so hopefully you'll be hearing more from me.

For those of you that didn't know: Iceland isn't icy at all, it's green! Except for the glaciers - those are icy. And I think it's cold, but I think everywhere is cold so that is probably just me. It's a beautiful country. Very quiet and peaceful. The neighborhood's (at least where I am) are calm. The sun doesn't go down until about 11 p.m. this time of year, but don't ask me when it comes up - I'm asleep (hey, it's a 6-hour time difference from Idaho!)

I'll never pick up the language, so don't even ask. It's far too complicated. Beautiful, though. I often just sit back and listen to all the talk around me. I'm definitely glad for the handfuls of people that do speak English - I'd be very lost without them.
The vikings first settled this land, so there's a lot of history about them around. I'm hoping to hit up some museums next week sometime. This is just a little play ship in a souvenir shop we went to (that serves very delicious ice cream!)

Speaking of food - nothing is drastically different (so far), and I've enjoyed nearly everything I've tried. I really like the milk and dairy products out here, they just taste a little better than what we have at home! This is from my first dinner here. I didn't partake in the lamb head jam they made, but it was an interesting process to watch anyway.
I wish I had taken a picture of dessert - an amazing Icelandic cake with chocolate and whipped cream and fruit.

These are some nearby hot springs. My camera didn't capture quite as much steam as was actually coming out. Iceland is full of natural hot springs, but the ones here only showed up a couple of years ago after an earthquake.

You can see how hard the sulfuric mud was boiling in this video. And trust me, it doesn't smell very good.

This river runs from the glacier. Very cold water. And a cart got stuck down there somehow.