Sue's Travels: Reykjavik, Iceland

We got on the bus at about 8:30 to do a tour of interesting sights outside Reykjavik. Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park. This is where the North American plate collides with the Euro-Asian plate. We could see the wall of rocks on one side, but the other side was frequently covered with vegetation making it impossible to see that rock wall. The first parliament met at this location around 930 CE. It was called the ‘Althing’. I was fascinated by the splitting of Iceland and the first parliament meeting at this location. Iceland had no king or nobility

Gullfoss was our next stop. Gullfoss means Golden Waterfall. A few years ago an attempt was made to install a hydro electric plant at this site. It was fought by a woman, whose name I don’t remember, and she won.

The next stop was at Hotel Geysir for lunch. There was a souvenir shop across the street, but I felt that the prices were unusually high, but I did buy a leather wallet. I will have to decide if I want to keep it or give it away. My next activity was to go over to see the geysers in Geysir! It was a short walk from the road.

The next stop was to see the Kerid pseudo crater. It was quite impressive with the blue water inside.

The final stop of the day was at the Hellisheidi Power Station. This station produces electricity and pipes hot water into Reykjavik which is used to heat the homes. They had two videos playing; one described the geology of Iceland and the other described how the power plant works.

The Captain’s farewell reception was held. Champagne and canapés were served in the ships theatre. I asked the captain why we didn’t circumnavigate Iceland and he said that the east coast was rocky with no harbors and the currents on the east side of Iceland created a choppy sea.

After dinner when I entered my cabin, I found my roommate in bed feeling quite sick. I went out and got one of the tour leaders and explained the situation. I said that I would pack Elizabeth’s suitcase, but I wanted someone to watch me to insure if anything was missing I would not be accused of stealing. We managed to get Elizabeth’s bag packed and then I packed my bags. I then videotaped the city of Reykjavik from my patio. At 11:00 pm, the sun had not yet gone down.