August 23 - Golden Circle, Iceland

Today we had an excursion and had to get up before the sun as it started at 6:00am. We stepped off the ship and it was even colder than yesterday! Wind chill factor made it feel in the 20s, Yikes!! 

The first thing we visited was Thingvellir Park. It is where the Eurasia and North American tectonic plates come together. I actually walked between two continents







Then it was on to Geysir (Geyser) area to witness the Strokkur geyser, just slightly smaller than 'Old Faithful' in Yellowstone National Park.

There were lots of steam venting everywhere. 


Here is the progression of the geyser




We visited Gullfoss Falls, running down from the glacier, which was breathtaking. 




The Glacier - it's the light blue near the bottom of the picture

Did I mention my friends Tammy and Rich Triplet, along with his brother John and his wife Eileen, joined the cruise for the last leg of the UWC? That is Rich with me, the ultimate selfie taker

We all had lunch and caught up


We then visited the Hellisheidi Geothermal power plant, which is the 8th largest in the world and largest in Iceland. Situated in a valley that has a very active geothermal source (ie. lava under the surface). It has the capacity of 303 MW of electricity and 200 MWth of hot water for Reykjavik's district heating.  



and here is the great scenery of the Golden Circle







National sport of Iceland. I don't understand the concept or premise

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