Golden circle

Today we had a good time on a small bus tour of the Golden Circle - the main attractions out of Reykjavik. The driver had an Italian, Polish, Icelandic accent - with perhaps a trace of Scottish - which meant some of the finer points of his commentary escaped me. For example, it wasn't clear at one stage whether he was taking us to see a glacier or a geyser or to meet an East London geezer.
Iceland sits on the meeting of the Nth American and European tectonic plates. With a bit of tension in the plate department, Iceland has plenty of volcanoes, geysers, hot springs etc.
So we saw a crater up close and a geyser up close. Pretty speccie. And we saw a fissure line where rock has broken through in formation. This was a treat - a beautiful setting where the Icelandic 'parliament' used to meet out in the open (no buildings). From early times, there was no central government, but chieftains from diierent regions used to come together every summer to agree on a few rules. Rules were not written down but had to be recited by learning specialists. We also saw a pretty speccie waterfall (Gulfoss).
The country out there was pretty green. They've been doing something to restore the country after practically all trees were chopped down and the land was overfarmed. The forests are young and they apparently say that, if you get lost in the forrest in Iceland, just stand up!. They've also introduced plants from other countries to improve the soil.
The weather has been cold but not freezing. It might be around 15 degrees but the wind is the chilling factor. We also encountered some rain today. I haven't had need for my doona-with-sleeves jacket yet, but who knows.
Oslo was a mere stepping stone in the price hike on this trip. Here, a couple of rolls for lunch today cost us $55.Read more