| 10:30am |
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| Blesi's twin pools, the left one milky blue, the right one transparent |
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| Strokkur. There was a diagrammatic explanation on the cause of the eruption
(including the terms "superheated" and "water ceiling"), but physics majors Thomas
and CK could not make any sense out of it. |
We were all very excited to see Geysir (the Gusher),
the original erupting hot spring after which the geological phenomenoem was named.
(For example, the Yellowstone Old Faithful is a geyser.)
Unfortunately, the original Geysir, which could shot up to 70m high, stopped erupting
since the mid-60's, due to blockage caused by idiotic visitors tossing pebbles into
the spring.
Fortunately, Geysir's little brother Strokkur (the Churn)
was still at work and erupted around every five minutes.
You could watch the water slowly rising through the narrow throat of Strokkur.
Then, a split second before the eruption, the water surface formed a dome, through
which the water bursted through and shot up to 30m high.
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| 1:00pm |
About 6km from Geysir, the titanic
Gullfoss (Golden Falls) dropped 10m,
turned 90° right and then dropped a further 20m into a deep canyon.
This was the proposed site of a hydroelectric plant, which would have dammed the
canyon and immersed the falls, but the plan was dropped due to popular opposition.
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| The upper fall. Esther and Thomas standing at the turn of the fall.
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The lower fall. |
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| Different views of Gullfoss. |
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| 3:00pm |
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| Herd of Icelandic horses at Gullfoss ... |
... and a baby pony too. |
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| Sights on the road to Þingvellir |
After some beer and nice lamb soup (and cheesecake for Esther) at Gullfoss,
we departed for the Þingvellir National Park.
Þingvellir was the most sacred site of the Icelandic people; it was the site of
Alþing, the national assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth since the ten century.
When the Icelanders seek independence from Denmark, Þingvellir became a symbol of
the movement, and indeed independence was formally declared in Þingvellir in 1944.
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| Remember we crossed over the mid-Altantic ridge near Lake Mývatn at Day 7?
To get back to Reykjavík we had to cross over the fault again.
Þingvellir was the site where the fault was the most pronounced.
There are many fissures like these all over the Park. |
This was the wishing pool; see the coins sparkling in the clear
blue water.
Many Icelanders must have wished for their independence here ... |
... and their wishes were granted on 17th June 1944, when one out of every four
Icelanders gathered at this anicent Alþing site for the Declaration of Independence. |
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| The path to Öxarárfoss |
The 20m tall Öxarárfoss flowing down the rift wall. |
Posing before Öxarárfoss |
The Öxará flowing between the rift wall. |
Esther and Thomas between North America and Europe. |
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| Pink-feet geese crossing Öxará |
panorama over Þingvellir. The buildings are the church (small) and the hotel (big).
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The logo of Þingvellir (from the letter Þ) |
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| 7:00pm |
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| Another cute doggie! |
Thomas enjoying the comfortable bedroom. |
We were greeted at Kiðafell Horse farm near
MosfellsBær in suburban Reykjavík
by another friendly farm doggie.
The bedrooms at the Kiðafell Horse were very cozy and there were many books to read
too.
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| First beer and pizza, then ice-cream and chicken.
Beware of ice-cream at KFC: they melted really fast
and got all over your face, hands, etc. |
We had dinner at Pizza 67 (the most famous Icelandic chain eatery);
their spicy pizza was actually quite spicy, and the seafood pizza was interesting too.
Then, at Esther's request, we visited the KFC across the street before returning to
Kiðafell for the night.
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