Skip to main content

Saving the best for last...

Wow, today was a whirlwind! So many awesome things to see in one day, including a volcanic crater, a geyser, a waterfall, a rift between two continental tectonic plates, a national park, a glacier, a huge blue lake, and more! 
 This is a volcanic crater with a lake at the bottom. Yes, the water really is that blue!


 This is the "Golden Falls," the 2nd largest waterfall in Iceland. It is not super big, but at its full strength, it has just as much water falling down per second as Niagara Falls.



Those aren't just clouds sitting above the mountains... that a glacier! The second-largest glacier in Iceland, to be exact. This is just a small section of it.
 This is the "Geysir" area, which reminded me a lot of Yellowstone. This geyser erupts every 5 minutes, and the area around it is filled with steam, more geysers, etc.
 I climbed a nearby ridge to see the geyser from a distance. You get a view of the countryside from here, too.


 Next stop: one of Iceland's National Parks! Again, the water really is that blue, and it's amazing.

 The national park sits on the boundary where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. This big fissure is where the two plates have pulled apart from one another. Because they are pulling apart, Iceland is actually growing about 2 cm each year!

 This spot in the national park is called the Parliamentary Seat. The first Icelandic democratic parliament was established at this spot along the ridge in 930, and Iceland thus holds the record for having the oldest surviving parliament in the world. 

 Another view of the ridge along the plates.
Finished the day off with some Icelandic yogurt and chocolate.
----------
Well, that's a wrap, folks. It's been an amazing, unforgettable, life-changing adventure. I've learned a lot about other people, other countries, and about myself. The world is a beautiful place full of diverse people and cultures. There are so many things we can learn from each other, which is why traveling is so great. It creates empathy, understanding, and connection between us, and helps us realize that we have so much to learn from each other. That being said, traveling also gives us a great appreciation for our own homes and the things that we take for granted. I've loved my time across the pond, but I am very ready to come home to the people and the place I love. :)

Lots of love!

Comments

  1. Jen TJune 22, 2019 at 2:52 PM

    It is so beautiful! That water is really blue! So glad you had this opportunity! So excited to see you TOMORROW!!!! Love you and safe travels! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us on your blog!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

We made it to Scotland! We drove into the country on Friday and then walked an 8-mile trail to reach our hostel. Did I mention that our hostel is right on the edge of Loch Lomond!?!?! The views are incredible! Here are just a few pictures of the loch. This is our hostel, which looks like a gingerbread house perched on the edge of this beautiful blue loch. Yesterday we hiked to the summit of Ben Lomond, a peak near to our hostel. We hiked up into the clouds and got rained on again, but it was still a neat hike with some great views. Here's a picture of my professor's cute son at the summit. He was so proud of himself for making it to the top! :) Loch Lomond! It is WAY bigger than I though it would be! It is the largest lake in Great Britain and is 21 miles long. We get to spend the entirety of this beautiful Sunday here at the hostel and on the lake. Here are some of us enjoying this day of rest. What a view from our couch in the hostel! Wish...
1 comment
Read more

Bronte Country and Yorkshire

Lots of cool pictures from the last couple of days but not a lot of time to post, so here's a super quick update:  The Bronte house in Haworth where Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte all grew up.  The library where the girls probably wrote some of their famous novels.  The Bronte moors covered in heather  This is called Bronte falls, and is a place that the Bronte sisters came often on their walks through the moors.  This was an art instillation along our hike that was called "Literary Landscape."  Today, we are in Yorkshire Dales National Park. This rocky outcropping is where they shot some of the scenes from Harry Potter 7, part 1.  A very different landscape than those we've been in thus far. this might just look like interesting bark at first, but those are actually a bunch of coins stuck into the wood over the years, and the tree has grown up around them.  Lots of love!
1 comment
Read more

Chatworth House

Today we toured Chatworth House. It is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, who still live in part of the house. It has been passed down in their family since 1549. It is also the house that they used as the set of Pemberley in the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice.     A few photos from inside the house.  And another of the outside. :)  The gardens, once again, were probably my favorite part. Here is a maze in part of the gardens, as well as a few other pictures.  The estate is so large that they have these stone markers around the gardens that tell you how far away you are from the front door of the house. I thought this was pretty funny.  There were also several fun sculptures and art pieces in the gardens as well, like this umbrella piece.  Get ready for the biggest scandal of the century: The Lion King wasn't actually set in Africa, it was set in the Peaks District in England!...
1 comment
Read more