On to Iceland 

Leaving Norway left us feeling sad, but the next part of our adventure was awaiting us.  The group was once again together, having been in separate hotels in Norway.  We had a relatively short flight – just over 2 hours – and then we were in Iceland.  This island country is volcanic in formation.  It is covered with lava fields, some recent 800 years old but many very old 8,000 years old.  The lava fields are covered with moss and lichens.  When you get into the more mountainous areas there are trees and grass and flowers. 

Our first stop was the Lava Restaurant at the Blue Lagoon.  After lunch we were able to go to the Blue Lagoon, but we did not since we had done that several years ago when we were here.  It was a cold and rainy day and we were not sorry to pass this opportunity up.  The Blue Lagoon is actually created by runoff from a geothermal plant.  The country of Iceland uses mostly geothermal or hydroelectric energy.  They are amongst the most carbon neutral countries in the world.

Bob and I walked around the town of Reykjavik, which means Smoking Bay.  When this area was first seen the steam from the ground because of all the geothermal activity made it look like it was smoking.  Reykjavik is the northern most capital in the world.  Iceland has a population of about 350,000 people and there are 400,000 sheep!  We stopped in some stores and went into the very modern church that dominates the city skyline.

We had a lecture this evening by Jonina Olafsdottir, a National Geographic Young Explorer.  She is working on fresh water discovery in the fissures created by the tectonic plate movement here in Iceland.  Iceland is split by the North American plate and the European plate and is growing by about an inch a year.  There is great volcanic and seismic activity here and the land is constantly evolving.  She does deep dives in what she says is some of the purest and clearest water on the planet.  One of our guides said that there are earthquakes every day here.  They are small ones and we have not noticed anything unusual.

Our dinner was at the Iono Restaurant, which is housed in one of the cities oldest theaters.  We were entertained by a women’s choir.  We had wonderful Icelandic foods.

The weather was cold and rainy which was the start of what we learned was the usual weather here in Reykjavik.

Fitbit – 7708 steps, 9 floors and 3.65 mile