Iceland - Stop at Land of Fire & Ice

Arrival after midnight and the sun was just setting - with sunrise about 4 hours later.  It did not get 'dark'.  The temperature was in the high 40's (F) and that felt good.  Hotel Keflavik is about 10 minutes from the airport and was pretty comfortable.  Hotel clerk at 1 AM helped us set up the Golden Circle Tour for 7:45 in the morning.  Hoping to sleep on the bus.

First day, Golden Circle tour - we had looked at the forecast and today would be best for the tour and it was.  We had many stops - on and off the bus.  What a fascinating landscape.  They are trying to replant trees as the first settlers decimated the forests as in many countries, but there are very few trees here and they are small due to the wind (everyone, including the weather reporters, talk about having a good 'calm') and then there's the chill.  The average summer high temp is in the 50's, though it felt a tad higher in the sun.

The highlights of this tour was the Gullfoss waterfall...

                                                          and the old Church...












                                                                         The fresco and the sun thru the stained glass were wonderful.

Second day was the Blue Lagoon - Wow, was that incredible!

Di should have called ahead for an appointment for either a massage, facial, or whatever.  Many treatments are done in the lagoon. Huge lagoon where you can even buy a beer or sparkling wine from the 'swim up' bar.

What a hoot, eating in their restaurant in our robes so we could return to the lagoon after lunch!

The 'blue' is quite vivid in the waters right outside the facility... inside is not so blue.  This was a rainy day so the picture won't do it justice.  One guy told us that they had to change they way the facility took the water and used it as it could get too hot.

Then we got back to the hotel and took a cab to Cafe Duus- incredible food and personnel.

We got up early and went to the airport to head on to Paris.  Nice visit.