Iceland #3 - Geysir and Gullfoss

Our lovely apartment. Address: 12 Bergstadastraeti (cannot pronounce for the life of me). Christian waiting patiently for our tourbus pick-up.

Christian in his Nordic sweater, mom's hat, dad's scarf, and his own monkey

Living Area

Dining area and kitchen

Above pics of the apartment were taken at 5:30am day of departure. So it's 5:30am and we're supposed to depart for Paris at 7:50am but our ride didn't show up and when we called it turns out all flights out of Keflavik are delayed due to wind. I thought Iceland was accustomed to high, gusty winds! Apparently not. So we woke up poor Leelee at 4am for nothing. Dae's trying to get the little guy back into bed.

Yesterday we took a 6 hour bus tour to the two other 'must-see' tourist stops in Iceland, Geysir and Gullfoss. Not quite sure what we were thinking toting a 2 year old on a confined tour bus, but that was the shortest tour we could find and I was kind of bound and determined to get to those two spots. He did OK. The stops, meanwhile, were magnificent. Iceland is so interesting, with so many interesting natural wonders.

Here are our photos:

Little geysir?

The main geysir. Pre-eruption calm. The water is at 80-100 Celsius...we held onto Leelee tight!

Eruption!

Leelee walking the geysir path. He was the only toddler/baby around for miles. Not sure if we spotted another child, in fact, at any of the sites! Pretty sure they all thought we were kinda nuts, which we are.

Cool little mini-ponds everywhere

Dae has explained the mechanics of a natural geysir to me at least twice, but apparently it's not interesting enough for me to retain, because all I remember is something about water naturally lying beneath the ground and something about vapor and pressure? Not quite sure. Same goes for geothermal energy. My question is, how does he know all that? I asked him last night if it's something he specifically learned (did I miss that class?) or just something he derived on his own. He said, not without a hint of condescension, it was 'basic science'. Oh, OK, thanks. Go ahead and quiz me on celebrity gossip, mister!

So the geysir shoots up water every 5 minutes or so. It is really cool. First, when it's about to blow, the water starts rising and falling. Then a big turquoise bubble of water explodes through and shoots up in the air. Then all the water goes back into the middle like it's draining. Rinse and repeat! hehe. Oh btw they say "gay-zeer". Pretty sure they're probably a little more accurate.

Below, Gullfoss:

Gullfoss was absolutely gorgeous. Breathtakingly gorgeous. We went to Niagara falls a couple years ago and while Niagara falls dwarfs Gullfoss in size, Gullfoss makes up for it in esthetic magnificence!

These last three photos were taken by Dae while Leelee and I stayed in the warm comfort of the tourbus. It was freezing and windy! So I am not sure what the name of the last stop is. Oops! We'll just label it "miscellaneous Iceland scenery":