As I got out of bed this morning my calves decided to vigorously protest any physical activity. That was unfortunate for them because we had a busy day planned.
Dawn booked us on another tour. I was skeptical at first using a tour company instead of relying on our usual more holistic approach to finding fun things in a foreign country, but I confess we would have never found half the cool stuff they took us to on our own.
I'm also developing a theory about booked tours. Every tour bus is assigned one family which will be loud and obnoxious the entire time. Both times there was one family who talked over the tour guide, pulled the window shades closed (because god forbid you watch the striking natural beauty on the tour you paid for roll by), and are generally disagreeable in every way. Fortunately the tours are so good that one family can't ruin it for everyone else (though they certainly try).
The first stop on today's tour was the hottest geothermal spot in Iceland. Water comes gushing out of the earth boiling. As in greater than 100 degrees Celsius boiling. The air is filled with billowing steam and it is an all around impressive sight. I kept wondering what the first settlers made of it. Surely they knew this wasn't normal. Did they think it was evil? It smells a bit of sulfur. Or perhaps they were cold and thought the magic hot water spot was awesome.
The second stop was the Hraunfossar waterfalls which spring from underneath a lava field. Do you know how it got made? A volcano erupted underneath a glacier. How awesome is that? The tour guides keep reminding us that Iceland is an active volcanic island. I guess Iceland does stuff like this because it has more crazy natural resources than it knows what to do with and likes to mix-and-match them from time to time. The waterfalls and river have carved out a nice little gorge and it was a very picturesque stop.
Up next was the main attraction. We drove up to the edge of the Europe's second largest glacier, Langjokull. Finally, we get an up close look at the white mass that is perpetually on the horizon taunting us. It was staggering. Even more staggering is the vehicle that was to drive us out onto the glacier. It was a converted Nato missile launcher. The owner was obviously very proud of it. He said he had bought it in Poland and taken it to England for retrofitting. He had done the designing of the wheels and passenger carrier himself. The wheels cost $7000 each, and there are 8 of them. They had 5lbs of pressure in them, thousands of studs, and an insane amount of surface area.
I guess the owner is a bit of an ice driving expert. Yesterday someone was telling us about a guy who upgraded "super jeeps" so they could drive through ice and snow with near zero visibility. We were told he was the first person to actually drive between two towns in Greenland with a car. No one had ever done it before because there are no roads between towns in Greenland. Turns out our glacier driver is that guy. (He's also helped out with Antarctic expedition). After he drove us out to the middle of the glacier we all got out and wandered around for bit. We got a chance to talk him for awhile. He was fascinating.
It goes without saying that the glacier experience was amazing. Not only is it a strange alien experience, but the glaciers are super high (they're 500-700 meters thick on top of being on the highland to start with) so the view was stellar. I'm sooo glad we did this tour while we're here. The glacier was really rough and uneven. The tour guides said it's usually perfectly flat but the volcano that erupted in May dusted the ice with ash. Ash is dark and absorbs more heat from the sun. As a result patches that got more ash melt a bit and are pitted and slightly gray.
On our way back from the glacier we stopped at a "barren mountain pass". The place looked like the movie set for mars. This country is a mix of extreme contrasting landscapes. It's truly breath taking.
Once back in Reykjavik we head out and searched for dinner. We ate at a Pakistani place called Shalimar that had a set menu. I was very pleased with the results.
Back at the hotel after dinner (as I type this missive up) Dawn and I are sampling the national liquor of Iceland. It's called Brennivin, but it's affectionately known as "black death." It is a caraway flavored schnapps.
Back at the hotel after dinner (as I type this missive up) Dawn and I are sampling the national liquor of Iceland. It's called Brennivin, but it's affectionately known as "black death." It is a caraway flavored schnapps.
No comments:
Post a Comment