Friday was our first day long field trip! August and Kristjan picked us
up in a van and we drove about 40 minutes out of Reykjavik to
Þingvellir,
where parliament was first established. It is also located in a rift
valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic rift. It's such a
beautiful area because the rift valley makes it look like the earth was
ripped apart. It formed a ravine which is filled with water. It's so clear and pristine, you can see down forever. Apparently it's really good for diving because the visibility is so high.
After walking around Thingvellir, we drove a bit further to Geysir, a land filled with natural hot springs. We ate an incredible lunch buffet at the restaurant and then headed to the geysirs. They are so incredible, it was the highlight of the day for me. They are just holes in the ground where boiling water bubbles out. There's one called Strokkur that 'erupts' every 15 minutes due to a build up of pressure in the geysir. Hot water and steam shoots out of it upto 15m high! It was such a cool thing to see. At the restaurant we ate at, the bread was actually baked in the ground by one of the geysirs because it's so hot. We saw the chef walking back with a crate of fresh bread from the geysir.
After the Geysir we drove on to the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall. Much more impressive than Niagara Falls in my opinion. It is almost like two waterfalls, and the second drops into a gulley that you can't see at first so it looks like the water just disappears. August and Kristan told us the story of a woman named Sigríður, one of Iceland's first environmentalists. There was talk of turning the falls into a hydropower plant, which would destroy the beauty of the area, so she protested and threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if they sold the land to become a power plant.
Finally, we took one last stop at
Kerið, a volcanic crater lake. When the volcano erupted however long ago it shot off the top of the volcano and caved in, forming a crater that eventually filled with water. The 4 of us are on a mission to take a group picture worthy of myneu's picture of the week. This was attempt #1 but I think we can do better.
Friday was our first day long field trip! August and Kristjan picked us
up in a van and we drove about 40 minutes out of Reykjavik to Þingvellir,
where parliament was first established. It is also located in a rift
valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic rift. It's such a
beautiful area because the rift valley makes it look like the earth was
ripped apart. It formed a ravine which is filled with water. It's so clear and pristine, you can see down forever. Apparently it's really good for diving because the visibility is so high.
After the Geysir we drove on to the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall. Much more impressive than Niagara Falls in my opinion. It is almost like two waterfalls, and the second drops into a gulley that you can't see at first so it looks like the water just disappears. August and Kristan told us the story of a woman named Sigríður, one of Iceland's first environmentalists. There was talk of turning the falls into a hydropower plant, which would destroy the beauty of the area, so she protested and threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if they sold the land to become a power plant.
Finally, we took one last stop at Kerið, a volcanic crater lake. When the volcano erupted however long ago it shot off the top of the volcano and caved in, forming a crater that eventually filled with water. The 4 of us are on a mission to take a group picture worthy of myneu's picture of the week. This was attempt #1 but I think we can do better.
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