Great news. I found the keyboard tricks that do this: þ ð
This is about to become important. See, today, we went to þingvellir National Park. It’s apparently a UNESCO world heritage site, making itself a member of the long list of these sites we’ve managed to visit in our adventures. It was a spot where the Vikings used to have their parliamentary assemblies and marks the spot between the North American and Eurasian continental plates. Apparently, this is a spot that scuba divers love to visit so they can swim in the waters that flow along this fault line. Also, let me check with Cas- okay- it’s pronounced thing-fed-ler. Yeah. Obviously.
That was pretty spectacular. But from there, we headed to Geysir. Your American brain wants to say guy-zurr. Sure. But it’s their word, and they apparently pronounce it geezer. I like to think of it as an old geezer. They promise that the most active geyser erupts every ten minutes, In our experience today, it was more like four. And boy oh boy, does it ever shoot up into the sky. Just. Wow. It was really something to behold. We’ve had more breathtaking moments on this trip so far, and we’re nowhere near the halfway point.
That takes us to Gulfoss. Gul=Gold; Foss=Falls. I didn’t see any gold, but I was adequately stunned by the pretty waterfall. Also, the spray from the massive force of water hitting water produced plentiful rainbows. Maybe the pot of gold was just out of sight. We did a fair amount of marching about near and around Gulfoss. I had to stop and wipe my glasses, a problem compounded by the fact that my usual move (wiping them off with my shirt) was not useful, as my shirt was a little damp, too. Regardless. Þingvellir, Geysir and Gulfoss were winners.
And it was on to the tomato farm. Cas was trying not to look as un-enthused as he was on this one. It’s a whole farm where they have greenhouses that produce tomatoes. They love tomatoes. Oh, gosh, the tomatoes there are great. One thing, though, Cas is no fan of tomatoes. He likes salsa. Lots of love for marinara sauce. But hand him a nice, ripe tomato and he will politely decline. Today, he tried the tiniest of small bites and handed me the rest. That was a spectacular display of politeness for him. Seriously. Until it becomes salsa or something, he is super not interested. Regardless, we had a good time at the tomato farm, we learned a little more about Icelandic horses and their unique gaits, we ate some tomato soup (which apparently gets a pass form him since the tomatoes are all smushed) and we had another beautiful, uncharasteristally sunny day in Iceland. We keep hearing from every person in the tourism industry here how unusual this weather is. Maybe it is for folks who live here, but for us, it’s been gorgeous 100% of the time. Oops. I just got smug- I tempted fate. Tomorrow will probably be really crappy. It’s like saying no hitter in the middle of a baseball game. Yeah, that one’s on me, folks. Also, the forecast calls for rain, so there’s that.
Anyhow, we got to our very nice hotel in the Golden Circle and checked in. We stopped into our room and got ready for dinner. We had a glass of wine beforehand and then had dinner with our new group. There are nine people total, and Cas is one of two men- besides our tour guide, whose name I will attempt to write after I ask him again how to spell it. It sounds a bit like the word kiddy, but with a little of an rrr sound in the middle of the word. More on that later. In the meantime, there are what I can only imagine are geothermally fed hot tubs at this hotel. They’re outside, and the current temparetre in Farenheit is 53. So, if you’re Heather and Cas, what do you do?
I think you know that answer.
Good night from Hotel Grimsborgir!
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