We arrived in Iceland late on a clear and cold Thursday night and on the drive from the airport into Reykjavic we anxiously searched the skies for a glimpse of the elusive Aurora Bourealis.
February is supposed to be a great month to view the Northern Lights and when our friends suggested a trip to Iceland to see them, we thought it sounded like a unique and fun holiday.
As the world's northernmost capital, Reyjkavic is Iceland's largest city with 120,000 people - which is actually quite small when you consider that's roughly the population of Carrollton, TX. The town itself was quite pretty and you got the feeling of a quaint fishing village mixed with cultural elements like interesting architecture, music venues, and art galleries.
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| Reykjavic side street |
The day after we arrived in Iceland was our day trip throughout the lower half of the country, and we got to ride around in a Forerunner with our guide Flosi, a native from the island. Flosi had a great knowledge of the island and terrain and was an interesting & funny guide.
At the first stop we went on a walk through part of the national park, taking in the rock cliffs and gorges in front of a backdrop of snow covered mountains. After learning about the active volcanoes and the corresponding geothermal energy that heats all the water, I really felt like the island was alive and as cheesy as it sounds, could feel it's energy emanating out. This 'energy' was reaffirmed when Flosi pointed out the volcano that created the ash cloud that grounded all the flights in Europe a few years ago, as well as several other volcanoes that erupt every few years and that were 'overdue'! :)
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| Near this site Flosi pointed out a Game of Thrones filming site |
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| Gorgeous little town on the river |
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| Geysers, more evidence of the island's energy! |
For lunch we stopped at a roadside cafe/museum located outside of Reykjavic and were able to sample some of the local cuisine. I fell in love with the fish and cauliflower soup, which helped warm us up from the cold temps outside.
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| Lloyd next to a monster truck ('Looks like it's from Texas' he says) |
One of our favorite parts of the trip was when we drove out onto the glacier area. We stopped and Flosi let a lot of the air out of the tires so that we could drive better over the thick ice. The ground was rough and we did some joyriding as we went off road, bumping over the hills and ice. It was freeeeeezing on the glacier and the wind was howling and blowing fiercely, so we tried to limit our time outside the car.
Somehow the jeep climbed up a huge hill and we settled at the top, admiring the views and getting assaulted by the wind.
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| Group on the glacier |
Brrrr
On the way back from the glacier we stopped at a crystal clear glacial stream and had a drink - the water was simply delicious!
Another day in Iceland we took a trip to the Harpa Concert hall, a gigantic steel & glass building clad with geometric shapes and colored panels. I thought the building was so pretty and just loved all the different shapes, colors & textures.
Finally the day arrived when we went out to see the northern lights, we were giddy with excitement despite the horrible jokes from the tour guide. The forecast wasn't good and we were afraid we wouldn't have any sightings, as it's effected by the amount of solar activity, clouds/visibility, and even the placement of the moon. But the bus ventured outside of Reyjkavic to try anyways. We drove around for a while and then suddenly the tour guide pointed to the side of the road, claiming that he had seen them, so the buses pulled into a side road and everyone got out. Sure enough, we saw a bright green horizontal ray across the sky that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie! It was awesome. We played around with our cameras for a while, as it took very particular settings to achieve a good picture, but in the end it was worth it. We stood outside for about 1.5 hours and the horizontal green beam morphed into an array of wavy, squiggly beams that moved and changed and dazzled us.
When the northern lights finally disappeared we were freezing and wanted to warm up, but all agreed it was an amazing experience and totally worth it!
The last day we went to Perlan, a building and observatory on the outskirts of the city. The views were spectacular and it was a great way to say goodbye to such an interesting country. kveðjum iceland , sjá þig næst! 
