Golden Circle & Snowmobiling

We woke up around 7 am and got ready for our first excursion in Iceland called the Golden Circle. We had some fruit and yogurt from our groceries and waited for our pick up. We had booked with Extreme Iceland but they apparently contracted out the job to Mountaineers of Iceland.

Our tour was booked for a super jeep which has its own air pressure system driven by our guide, Arni - however his name appeared to be pronounced Ani. Arni speaks with a slight Australian accent as he lived there for several years. Here's a photo of the super jeep which requires a truck license:

We drove in the dark out of the city and Arni pointed out various things like the domestic airport, mountains, and a church with a cemetery decorated with neon lights. We drove by a small waterfall which had a salmon ladder beside it pictured below:

And here's a photo of the desolate road early in the morning:

Our next stop was to see Geysir in a world renowned geothermal hot spring area and the hot spring after which all other spouting hot springs on earth are named. Here's a photo of us walking up to the area:

You can kind of see the smoke / bubbling in the following photos, but I missed the 3 - 4 geysers that actually blew and was higher than Old Faithful of Yellowstone per the information station:

And here's our wonderful group shot taken by some fellow New Yorkers:

We went into the cafe and had donuts thanks to Donna and headed back to the super jeep. We were then off to the famous Gullfoss (the Golden Waterfall). Here are some photos where parts of the waterfall are frozen:

Here's Christina and I and then the obligatory selfie:

And some photos from the higher viewing platform:

Next we drove along the adventurous and bumpy Kjolur mountain road on the east side of Langjökull Glacier (Long glacier), the second largest ice cap in Iceland after Vatnajökull, with the size of 953 km2. Its volume is 195 km³ and the ice is up to 580 metres thick. The highest point of the ice cap is about 1,450 metres above sea level. Langjokull is melting quite fast, and some researchers believe that it will disappear in about 150 years if climate change continues at its recent pace.

We arrived at base camp where we put on snow suits over our clothes and helmets. After learning how to use the snowmobiles, we went out for our ride in a complete whiteout. But we snowmobiled in single file and after about half an hour took a break. I was definitely more comfortable on our way back and sped more. Here's our halfway break group photo:

Also Arni took a fun video that Rosemary posted - we are turning sideways and making duck faces to make ourselves thinner in our bulky snow suits, and laughing in the snow:

https://www.facebook.com/rosemary.saporito/posts/10209700901774321

We then reversed our route and down from the glacier. On our way down from the glacier, we enjoyed snacks and my favorite dried mangoes. Liam enjoyed the mangoes which made me so happy! Also Arni said there are such few trees in this climate, that 5 trees make a forest. Here's a photo of an Icelandic forest:

We stopped back at the cafe of the waterfall for some lunch and then headed to Thingvellir National Park, which is one of this country’s most significant historical sites because it was here that Iceland’s first parliament was founded in the year 930 AD. Thingvellir is one of the most frequently visited tourist sites in the country. Each year, thousands of visitors go there to become better acquainted with Iceland's greatest historical site and jewel of nature.

At Thingvellir, the Eurasian and North American plate boundaries which run through Iceland are clearly visible - the plates are moving apart here and the land between them is subsiding. Here's a photo of Donna in front of and pointing at the North American plate:

And here's a photo of the ridge / valley in between the plates - people actually snorkel / scuba in the water which is apparently super clear between the continents:

Here's a photo of Christina and Shirley up against the North American plate which gives you perspective on how big it is:

And the walkway up to the top:

The lighted house is on the Eurasian side while the left is North American:

Shirley told Arni earlier in the day she wanted to put one foot on each continent and he was like "ummm, the continental divide is pretty wide." She responds, "what if I lie down?" And he disappointed her by explaining it's about 4-5 miles! For fun, here's a photo of Shirley's attempt:

We then headed back to Reykjavik which took about 45 minutes and passed by Hofdi House which is where Reagan and Gorbachev met and started the end of the Cold War in 1986. 

After returning to the hotel, we got ready for dinner at Dill, considered one of the best restaurants in Iceland. I made reservations months ago! Here's our starter champagne and tasting menu with the choice of 5 or 7 courses:

Here's the visualization of our 7 course tasting menu with some amuse-bouche:

We had a private room for most of the night which was convenient as we broke out into song throughout the dinner, but eventually another American group from DC joined us. As we chatted, we realized one of the guys, Atanu was from Buffalo and went to high school with my friend Mikey. We took this selfie and sent it to Mikey - they apparently took the same girl to different proms:

After dinner, we tried to go to Kiki Queer Bar which we thought would have karaoke again like last night where Dresa, Zack, and Cindy sang "It may be right" by Billy Joel. Alas, they didn't have karaoke tonight, so we called an audible and headed to Kaldi bar which is a local brewery. Here's a photo of a dark and light beer - Zack was kind enough to buy us a round and of course, Brennavín shots:

Dresa joined us for drinks - she had opted for a whale watching tour that included a Northern Lights component as well today, but like us, it was cancelled again tonight due to the weather forecast. We leave you with our blue steel and duck face photo from Kaldi bar to end the night and as we cross our fingers again that we get to see the Northern Lights tomorrow (our last night in Iceland)!