Greetings from Iceland and one very tired tourist. We started our day at 8AM with a 30 minutes bus ride to the geothermal power plant (Nesjavellir) that provides Reykjavik with its electricity and its hot water. It was very interesting to learn how they separate the water from the steam and then dry out the steam further to protect the turbines as the steam passes through to create energy in the generators. The borehole at this facility goes down 3000m and brings up water that is 300 degrees Centrigrade. oh man I am super tired right now and I have SO many cool facts about the plant but I will have to leave those for another day.
The next stop was Thingvellir which is 1. close to the country's largest freshwater lake, 2. the site of the edge of the North American plate and 3. The site where Iceland's first parliment convened. It is quite a dramatic place, you can actually see where the tectonic plates have shifted apart - probably at least 20 feet and there is a huge divide and then the ground is significantly lower on the other side.
From there we drove on to the Golden Falls (or Gullfoss) - WOW WOW!!! This place was amazing - the falls were similar in size to Niagra Falls (at least as well as my memory serves me, but they were falling from ice covered shores so it was amazingly beautiful. Then there was the WIND! I have NEVER in my life felt such a strong wind! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! You could lean hard into the wind and not fall over, you could turn your back to the wind and jump up and you flew! You could hardly hold the camera in your hand to take a picture but it was so much stinkin' fun! We were already running out of time so a couple of the professors and I ran down as most people were already on the bus to a spot where you are literally standing above this chasm where the icy water is rushing down - incredible!
Then we were on to the Geysir (the origin of the word geyser for water spouts) I think I have pretty fabulous photo of me and geysir - it was pretty amazing to see and it is in an area where there are many hotpots bubbling away with scalding hot water. We then settled in for a 2+ hour drive to the Blue Lagoon. The drive there took across a couple different ecosystems and a couple small towns. Some of the landscape reminded me of South Africa with the low growing bushes and shrubs but other spots made me think that this must be what the moon looks like with all the lava fields spotted with patches of ice. It really was a gorgeous drive, I kept pinching myself saying, really, do I really get to be here too?
Finally we arrived at the Blue Lagoon - the infamous mineral hot pool - and I have to say late March/early April is the time to be here, there are no lines, no waiting, no crowds, it is great. There is quite a system to getting your key, your locker, yourself cleansed properly prior to going into the lagoon and then protocols for what to do while in the lagoon itself. But we managed to stumble through, and it was just as incredible as all the reports. The water is an incredible shade of blue, the water is so wonderfully warm and soft and the lava floor mixed with the silicon mud was really quite cool And, we all took part in the mud masks while we were in the lagoon - too bad we didn't bring a waterproof camera - or maybe better that we didn't. Pretty hilarious!
A quick dinner and we loaded up to be brought back home. Whew- it was a FANTASTIC DAY!!! and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be here. Thanks to all of you - which pretty much everyone reading this - who made this possible for me in his or her own way!
Hope all is well for all - all around the globe.
-Anna
No comments:
Post a Comment