Roadtripping Around the Golden Circle...and more geothermal pools

Day 2 in Iceland started off with a well rested group of friends. Todd, Mijin and I took a walk to collect our rental car through some neighborhoods near our hotel. The apartment buildings and homes seemed to all be painted a dull gray color which was kind of a bummer. Given how it's dark for several months of the year, I would have thought that the houses might be nice bright colors but then I am a crazy American. (Wait until you see the fluorescent house we saw in downtown Reykjavik.)

We picked up the rest of the group at the hotel and headed out on our driving adventure. We made a few stops along the way at some scenic spots.
























We drove through Thingveiller National Park on our way to Geysir, the original geysir which is where the word derived. Apparently geysir is the only Icelandic word to be incorporated into the English language. And trust me, if you were here, you would understand how that was the only word to make it - six letters and easily pronounceable is a rarity around here. While the original Geysir doesn't erupt regularly any more, it's neighbor, Strokkur, erupts quite often and in our 20 minute visit, we saw it erupt about four times. The whole area is bubbling as you can see from the few other pictures.


























From Geysir, we headed about 10 minutes down the road to Gullfoss, Iceland's most famous waterfall. It was amazing to behold and absolutely beautiful. I had to take lots of pictures.


















After a lunch of delicious lamb stew at the cafe, we drove down to Hveragerdi and couldn't help but take some pictures of the beautiful landscape along the way.











In Hveragerdi, we visited the public swimming pool. Icelanders visit their public pools all year long in all types of weather. The term public pool means a bit more than what we think about in the states. First they are all geothermally heated, from the lap pool to the kids pools to a few spa pools which can range in temperature. The two public pools we visited (more on the second and amazing one later) had spa pools ranging from 38-44 degrees Celsius (aka 100-111 Fahrenheit). They are deliciously warm especially when the air temperature is in the mid-40s. They also seem to all have a steam bath and likely a sauna. AND IT ONLY COST 550 KRONA TO GET IN!!!! That's less than $5 for this awesomeness. It was great. A lovely way to relax...as you can see from these few pictures.














We drove back to Reykjavik, unloaded at the hotel, and then headed into downtown to find some dinner. Instead of actively looking for dinner, we did touristy strolling. We stopped first at the famous hot dog stand, Baejarins Beztu Pylsur to partake in the tradition, and because everyone who goes to. Iceland seems to eat here at least once, if not more. The hot dogs are delicious as is the mysterious brown sauce that comes on them.






We walked to Hallgrímskirkja which you can see from pretty much everywhere in Reykjavik. The sun was just starting to set, so the light for our pictures was pretty great. A statue of Leif Erikisson, a gift from the US, stands in front of the church. Stay tuned for a later blog post which will include our visit to the church and stop at the top.


























While Katie and Jim went to scope out a place for dinner, the rest of us walked down to the harbor to take photos of The Sun Voyager sculpture, and the light stayed hauntingly beautiful while we were there.











After dinner, we went out for drinks, particularly shots of Brennivin, Icleand's signature distiller beverage.


A good time was had by all. Tomorrow - The Blue Lagoon!