Travel Tales: Iceland Day 2 - Mr. Solo Dolo

icelandish

The first thing on my mind this morning was, “I am really in Iceland.” It is still settling in with every passing moment. Except the water, which smells and tastes funny. Today I was off to see the Golden Circle route. I got up at 630am -- I know I know I’m supposed to be on vacation so I turned off my alarm and did the “I’ll rest my eyes for 5mins”. Sad mistake as I did a scramble at amto get ready and run to the supermarket. My bus pickup was for 830am and I figured I should pack some snacks for the 10 hour tour. This store was a 24 hour supermarket and I did my usual -- I have a list but will go down every aisle (806am) after grabbing two smoothies, two muffins and a candy bar I figured I should get a croissant to eat now. Two choices -- warm or cold. I went warm..wrong choice. I opened it to put some butter and what awaited me -- a nice warm piece of ham. Straight to the trash with that after a short fit of swearing. (815am). Swallowed down a muffin and a smoothie then head outside to wait for the bus. [edit: i don't eat meat which is why i had my fit of cussing. i had to do with the muffin and smoothie. who puts ham in a croissant and doesn't even have the decency to label it!?!]

The first stop we made was the Reykjavik geothermal power plant. On the way astronauts spent some time in central Iceland before the moon trip because the terrain of that area is said to be similar of that of the moon. That is according to the monotone tour guide. On the way, the tour guide mentioned the fields of dried lava after the volcano eruption. The tour guide said the eruptions happen once every 5 years or so and the last one was in 2004.. so 5 years later would be..2009? oh dear.

The plant supplies enough hot water for the entire town of Reykjavik. The plant is also supplies electricity for Reykjavik and can provide hot water but the financial crisis stalled the build out. After walking around and smelling the same scent of the water I attempted to drink in my hotel room, I realized it is the whole “yes this is the same water from underground which we drink” thing and it is an “acquired taste.” I’ll pass.

Next stop was to Gullfoss waterfall. The story goes, a private company wanted to buy the area from Iceland to build a hydroelectric plant but one woman farmer from the area helped mount a protest to prevent the land and area from changing hands. The sound of the water was loud and roaring yet very soothing and relaxing. See for yourself (in HD..Planet Earth has nothing on me).

Geysir geothermal area was the next venture. The water here averages around 100 degrees Celsius (translate really hot degrees Fahrenheit).

For some reason, I decided to see how high I can get while here. Let’s just say I reached a peak and realized one one side was a sheer rock slide or a path back down to civilization. The scenery here is something that you must see for yourself as you have snow-capped mountains on one side and lush moss growing over dried lava on the other. The final stop on the tour was to see the original site of the oldest existing parliament in the world. Also, the rare sighting of tectonic plates pulling apart as we saw The Great Atlantic rift which is pulling Iceland apart 1cm in each direction towards North America and Europe, respectively.

After spending much of my day as Mr. Solo Dolo. I realized that I talked for a sum total of about 1 hr yesterday. Eventually, I spoke with some other folks on the tour about the scenery and randomness in Iceland. Another great day!