Gullfoss and Geysir

Wow! We certainly saw some amazing sights today and walked in wind like I have never felt before!

We found a wonderful and cute, almost-American place for breakfast which made Max extremely happy. 

We then walked around the little touristy center of Reykjavik to get the lay of the land. Bustling, cute little place full of unique little shops and restaurants. We also got to see the famous Reykjavik church which we plan to explore more in depth tomorrow.

After walking along the port for a little bit, we realized that we need to dress more warmly before we headed out on our tour for the day so we headed back to our hotel to pile on some layers.

At 12:30, we were picked up by our tour bus and we headed out on the famous Golden Circle tour. For the next 6 1/2 hours, we saw the beautiful countryside of Iceland and stopped at the three big sights. The first stop was at the sight of the founding of the Iceland parliament, or the settlement. 

In 930, Thingvellir was the center of Iceland government, but it is now the spot where continental drift is most obvious. The tectonic plates shift apart by almost 2 cm per year.

We then headed by bus to the huge and beautiful waterfall of Gullfoss. Amazing!!

The temperature was in the upper 20's but the wind was brutal and blowing harder than anything I have ever felt. We could not stand up against it, josh has to squat or it would blow him over and there were times that we were powerless to even move against it! Crazy!! With the paths covered in ice and our footing already difficult because of the wind, it was a major trek to go anywhere but it was worth it. Gorgeous!

We then went on to the famous geothermal geyser area. We saw several small geysers and then the huge Strokkor geyser showed us it's stuff. I got some pictures of the spout with my real camera but didn't manage so well on my phone.

The wind was even stronger here and although we saw many people get blown over, we managed to stay upright and do some real exploring. Max loved the challenge of it all!

We were exhausted by the time we went back to the bus but we stayed awake for the whole ride home because the scenery just remained beautiful with every turn we took.