Dec. 31 - what a blast

What a day! Vicki has already written about it, but I have pics, so bear with me.

On our way to the Secret Lagoon, we saw this moon.

 

 

It remained in the sky all day.

The thermal bath was wonderful. That dash from the inside showers to the outdoor water was hell, but it was worth it. I found where the hottest water was coming into the pool and rotated in front of it, like a rotisserie chicken. I have no pictures, but Cody and our friends from England took a few.

 

 

After bathing and lunch, we got to Gullfoss. Magnificent waterfall, but I was walking like a penguin to keep from falling on the ice. 

 

 

 

Also, in the shop here, I found an Icelandic sweater (actually, Vicki saw it first.). I'll be sporting that all winter in Weaverville. I felt a brief moment of guilt, buying a sweater that I consider expensive, but Vicki pointed out 1. guilt is a wasted emotion, and 2. it was cheaper than most of our meals here. So I am fine.

 

On to geysers! Yellowstone may have half of the world's geysers, but there are a bunch here. There are only about a thousand active geysers worldwide. 

 

 

 

 Iceland is beautiful. 

 

 

Þórufoss, holy ground for Game of Thrones fans (fanatics?)

 

 

See Cody?

 

 

No? Here he is, a bit closer.

 

 At dinner, Cody and I tried some other Icelandic liqueurs: Opal, Bjork, and Birkir.

 

Bjork and Birkir were fine, with Bjork being more of a sweet liqueur. They are both infused with birch. Opal, on the other hand, was horrible - evil in liquid form. Cody says it was worse than the fermented shark. That basically says that Opal is worse than ammonia. 

 

New Year's here is a big deal, and  EVERYONE shoots off fireworks. We saw grandparents taking grandkids out to show them the way. In the states, there might be a fireworks display at an event, carefully regulated, possibly timed. Here EVERYONE has fireworks worthy of a baseball game, and they are all around you. They started at dark and ended around 2 am. It is amazing.

 

This is just to show you a sample of my failures in photographing. You only get to see the good stuff. 

 

 

This tree is perched high over the city. Cody and Cody and I walked up to see it. Gorgeous.

 

Again, it was incredible to stand on that hill and walk through the town and see fireworks going off in every direction. Turn right, and there is a fireworks show coming up from someone’s back yard. Turn left and there are 4 teens setting off a round of 50-60 peonies or chrysanthemums in the air. Then there’s the dad setting off spinners, fountains, and sparklers with his kids. These people must spend a fortune on fireworks for this night.