After my first full day in Iceland I feel that I am becoming familiar with what the island does and doesn't offer. A few things that are just about impossible to find here: a place that serves breakfast, any Iceland soccer apparel on match day, or a large quantity of trees. If none of those are deal breakers for you, then you're in for a treat.
Iceland has a plethora of natural wonders, wind, and the world's most beautiful women. I mean honestly, they are drop-dead, slap-yourself-in-the-face-so-you-know-aren't-dreaming, pick-your-jaw-up-off-the-floor, blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauties that will make you hate yourself for not being able to say something clever in Icelandic... Or English (or even create a full sentence).
Anyways, let's talk about nature. Brian and I left the hostel at around 8 am and drove through the Golden Circle which includes 3 main sights: a national park, waterfall, and geyser. We hiked between the European and North American tectonic plates, which drift apart about 18mm a year, spent a few minutes watching the boiling water be shot from the sky in Geysir (yes, that is the name all "geysers" were derived from, and finished it out with a stop at Gullfoss one of the largest waterfalls in Europe and a very popular tourist attraction.
We concluded our Golden Circle expedition and retired to the small, seaside town of Eyrarbakki. When we arrived, we were the only people staying in the hostel so we promptly capitalized on the silence and took a 2 hour nap. I realize that in both my posts so far I have alluded to the necessity of sleep, but the 24 hours of daylight has thrown my circadian rhythm completely offbeat. As I write this, it is 10:36 pm but outside you would think it was noon.
After a brief siesta we were back to Reykjavik, about an hours drive, to watch the soccer match of Iceland vs. France. Iceland has never qualified for a major tournament but have taken Europe by storm and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Euros.
I spent a large portion of our time before the game trying to track down an Iceland jersey, scarf, or even beanie but to no avail. The patriotism in this country is remarkable, or at least it was on match day. Manikins in windows donned Iceland jerseys or had flags draped over them, all employees were decked out in the red, white, and blue of Iceland (some even with painted faces), and stores were closing up prior to game time. Over 8% of the country had actually ventured to France to support the team and I even heard, though I have no way of verifying if this is true, that all but 70 citizens watched Iceland defeat England in the previous round.
Brian and I carved out a bit of grass on a hill in front of the big screen with about 15,000 locals and watched the game, well really just the first half. By half-time France had a 4-0 lead so we decided to begin the drive back to our hostel. Tomorrow we will journey to the East side of the island, making a few stops along the way at landmarks that have caught our attention. I will be sure to include pictures of those adventures as well.
For now, I am going to finish my rum (don't judge me, Hemingway did this while writing too) and retire. I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July.
But seriously, the women here beat out Colombia which I didn't think was possible.
Gullfoss North American/European tectonic plates
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