Iceland! The Golden Circle... and Swimming!

Shannon and I had a great second day in Iceland! We headed out to do the Golden Circle tour.  This is a three(ish) stop tour of some of the best nature sites to see close to Reykjavik.  After an easy bus transfer, we were off!

Our first stop was to the Fridheimer farm.  This is not a normal stop on the tour, but since we did the full day, the tour company added it.  The farm produces tomatoes for Iceland and we learned about the farming in the country.  Since it's cold and dark here, they produce most of their produce in greenhouses.  They use the geothermal energy (namely, hot water) to heat the buildings/plants.  This also means they don't really have a season, they pick tomatoes every day of the year.

We had some delicious fresh tomato soup and headed out.

Our next stop was Geysir.  It seemed to be essentially the Old Faithful of Iceland.  We hung around and saw the Strokker Geyser blow.  One notable thing about this area is that the "old Geysir" which is no longer active is where the name "geyser" came from for everything else all over the world. 

After a quick lunch, we were off to Gullfoss, the famous waterfall.  At one point there was talk about selling and damming the waterfall, but now it is seen as a national treasure.  When someone in Iceland says something ridiculous, a common reply is "then what next, sell Gullfoss?"

The next stop was our favorite.  Iceland is at the point where the European and American continental plates meet and we went through the rift area to a place called Thingvellir.  The big valley here is in no-mans land between the continents.

  This is also the area where in the 800-1200ish time the government met annually at the end of summer.  It felt very medieval and was overall beautiful.

Finally we were on our way home.  We grabbed dinner at another hotdog stand (yes, hotdogs again).  We briefly talked about the vague "hotdog shame" sometimes we have in the US (especially Seattle?).  The Icelanders embrace and love their hotdogs, none of this concern over health... anyway...  here's a hotdog with bacon and Icelandic sauce (sort of half mustard, half mayo). 

Then we headed into the local Laugardalslaug (that's our neighborhood) pool.  Swimming and geothermal pools are a HUGE part of the culture here (besides hotdogs).  Since warm water is so easy to get to (drill in the ground, find boiling volcano water) and the dark cold days, hot tubs are a big deal.  We tested a variety of different temperatures and Shannon determined that her favorite was 40 degree C sea water.  My favorite was the slide that led into the cool(er) water.