The Golden Circle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Circle_(Iceland)

We decided (well, Cody and Dan decided, and I’m going along) to do one of the hot spring baths here in Iceland. There are a couple of things that were holding me back. 1) I don’t have a bathing suit that fits. 2) One has to shower - naked and in a communal shower - before (and I suppose after) going into the bath. 

Now, look. I know that no one is paying attention to my almost-65-year-old body except me, but I consider me somewhat important to me. I have not showered in a communal shower since, well, ever. The closest would have been the disgusting and embarrassing experiences of PE in middle school. And that was enough to put me off of showering with other people until the end of my days. 

Despite my nerves, the drive gets pretty as the sun comes up at 9:45 AM:

Real-time update: It was great! There were not many people when we got there, so the undressing part wasn’t *too* traumatic. We were at Secret Lagoon, Iceland’s oldest pool. It’s on the Golden Circle, so it was convenient, and it was less expensive (yay!!!) than other more popular ones. We met a cute, young couple from Bristol, UK, so we were able to communicate that all Americans are not crazy Trumpers. Their news covers his crazy missives and statements, so it was great to say that he IS crazy and that a lot of Americans think so.

Now we are off to find lunch - possibly a 🌭 (chips for me!) and Gullfoss, which is a huge waterfall. Here is what we are seeing as we drive:


Lunch is done: I had a smoked salmon and egg salad sandwich and the boys had SS hotdogs… Not a great name for them, Iceland.


As we drive north to Gullfoss, we can see the moon rising  

Dan has better photos, I think. 

Gullfoss is magnificent. And the moon was beautiful.  Dan will have many photos  



We then went to see some geysers - none as impressive as Old Faithful in Yellowstone but still amazing - and then to what felt like the coldest place in earth when the wind was blowing, Þórufoss  This is where some of the Game of Thrones was filmed.



And on the way back to Reykjavík, the sun was setting at 3:45 p.m.



We had a good dinner in town and then went on the hunt for ice cream, but *everywhere* is closed for NYE. It's a big deal here; in fact, as I sit here at 8:30 PM, fireworks are going on all around us, as they have been for the past hour. So no ice cream, AND we got an email that IcelandAir had to change planes and so we have been bumped to economy, although we are on the business class waiting list. However, Cody, who was booked in economy, had the chance to bid for business class and was assigned a seat. Not sure what the hell is going on, but it's somewhat of a relief that US airlines aren't the only ones that are f**ked up. 




Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2026 at 4:27 AM

    Lin - Gorgeous waterfall!! Really brave to do a communal shower!!!

    ReplyDelete

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