On our first day we reached Iceland at 5am. We napped and woke up and ate lunch and were ready to sally forth.
For our first trip we picked Þingvellir and the Golden Circle. Þingvellir is a national park (the "Þ" is like "th" - so Thor is "Þor"). It's of huge historical significance. From the ninth century when Iceland got settled, the tribes meet here to chat and make new laws and drink beer and wrestle horses and kill each other and convert to Christianity. It's also one of the places you can see the North American plate drifting away from the European plate at the rate of about an inch a year. I explained this to the kids. A little bit later Evan looked up at a rift in a nearby mountain and said "Daddy - I just saw the plate move a bit". Here's a photo of one of the rifts. On second thought I should have shot video.
Then we stopped at a waterfall. Our first.
In Iceland waterfalls are as common as hipsters in Austin during South By. This one was a garden variety - small stream, short fall but it was in Þingvellir park so we walked up to it. Evan decided to follow Vivian and me after we left. He lost sight of us. When Jo caught up with him he was standing on the path yelling "Daddy - where are you?" into the rain.
We finished up our evening with a stop at Geysir.The original geyser after which all others have been named. Far bigger and more frequent that Old Faithful. But either due to tourists throwing rocks into the vent in the 50's or frequent earthquakes (the stories were hard to verify) the innards of Geysir aren't what they used to be and he doesn't spout reliably any longer. He didn't oblige us. But a few steps to his right was Stokkkur. The world's more frequent and reliable geyser. We stayed for 15 minutes and saw at least three discharges. I didn't take my camera. But here's a time-lapse from the web (obviously taken on a different day - look at that sky).
We drove back in daylight in the middle of the night. In Iceland Vivian doesn't need a car seat. We rented one for Evan for about twice as much as it would cost to buy a new one. This transpired by the time we were almost home.
Vivian: "If I lived here would I need a car seat?"
Me: "No"
Evan: "If we are in a wreck my car seat will keep me safe and you will die"
Vivian chewed on that for a second. Then "if I die will you put all my favorite things in with me so they are in my ash"
She remembered that we put Grandpa's boutineer and the card she made for him with my dad's body for his cremation. My dad had worn this boutineer at our wedding and later that evening he had placed it in front of my mother's photo back at home where it lay till he died.
She continued "...And put my ash in the same river as grandpa and don't forget my favorite foods". All in a jolly voice with all the regard that a seven year old has for death.
For our first trip we picked Þingvellir and the Golden Circle. Þingvellir is a national park (the "Þ" is like "th" - so Thor is "Þor"). It's of huge historical significance. From the ninth century when Iceland got settled, the tribes meet here to chat and make new laws and drink beer and wrestle horses and kill each other and convert to Christianity. It's also one of the places you can see the North American plate drifting away from the European plate at the rate of about an inch a year. I explained this to the kids. A little bit later Evan looked up at a rift in a nearby mountain and said "Daddy - I just saw the plate move a bit". Here's a photo of one of the rifts. On second thought I should have shot video.
Then we stopped at a waterfall. Our first.
In Iceland waterfalls are as common as hipsters in Austin during South By. This one was a garden variety - small stream, short fall but it was in Þingvellir park so we walked up to it. Evan decided to follow Vivian and me after we left. He lost sight of us. When Jo caught up with him he was standing on the path yelling "Daddy - where are you?" into the rain.
On the way back from the falls to the car Evan jumped in every puddle.
Me: "Evan - jumping in puddles will make your clothes and socks and boots wet"
Evan: "I know, daddy"
Me: "And then you will be cold and miserable"
Evan: "I won't"
Me: "And then you will cry and wish you hadn't jumped in puddles"
Evan: "I won't"
Me: "...then jump"
Evan's boots and socks and pants were drenched. Jo took them all off and he proceeded on his way in his skivvies.
Our next stop was one of Iceland's great falls - Gullfoss. Iceland isn't commercialized. On their busiest tourist highway the hotels are set back on long winding country lanes with signs like "Edda Hotel ----> 7 Km". But the walkway to Gullfoss went right by the gift shop and restaurant. Vivian and I went in to get some hot chocolate. Jo and Evan stepped in a moment later. Jo had fashioned an outfit for Evan out of the yellow backpack/blanket combo they gave the kids on our Iceland Air flight. He looked like a little Dalai Lama.
We finished up our evening with a stop at Geysir.The original geyser after which all others have been named. Far bigger and more frequent that Old Faithful. But either due to tourists throwing rocks into the vent in the 50's or frequent earthquakes (the stories were hard to verify) the innards of Geysir aren't what they used to be and he doesn't spout reliably any longer. He didn't oblige us. But a few steps to his right was Stokkkur. The world's more frequent and reliable geyser. We stayed for 15 minutes and saw at least three discharges. I didn't take my camera. But here's a time-lapse from the web (obviously taken on a different day - look at that sky).
We drove back in daylight in the middle of the night. In Iceland Vivian doesn't need a car seat. We rented one for Evan for about twice as much as it would cost to buy a new one. This transpired by the time we were almost home.
Vivian: "If I lived here would I need a car seat?"
Me: "No"
Evan: "If we are in a wreck my car seat will keep me safe and you will die"
Vivian chewed on that for a second. Then "if I die will you put all my favorite things in with me so they are in my ash"
She remembered that we put Grandpa's boutineer and the card she made for him with my dad's body for his cremation. My dad had worn this boutineer at our wedding and later that evening he had placed it in front of my mother's photo back at home where it lay till he died.
She continued "...And put my ash in the same river as grandpa and don't forget my favorite foods". All in a jolly voice with all the regard that a seven year old has for death.
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