Reykjavik - Day 2

Day 2 was all about doing the "Golden Circle" tour of Iceland. It's an 8 hour trip through the beautiful countryside of this country. Normally I am against doing tours because I prefer to go at my own pace. But seeing as I only had one day to do the touristy stuff, I felt like it was the best option.

I booked my ticket online, since you get a discount. I think it wound up costing about $68 for the ticket. The bus picked me up in front of the hotel at 8am, then took me to the central terminal. At the central terminal, I had to pick up my actual ticket, which is kind of weird. This also meant I lost my seat, so by the time I got to the bus, the only window seat available was way in the back.

Eventually the bus lurched off and we headed up into the mountains. As we drove, the tour guide gave information but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. She spoke in a low, monotonous, heavily-accented voice. It's just as well. I didn't care what she was saying. I just wanted to see the sights.

The first stop was a picture spot overlooking the valley. It wasn't much to see. But it was nice. We all got out, took pictures then left. The bus turned around and we headed to the first real stop.

The first stop was Thingvellir, a national park and the site of the original Parliament in 930. It also sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, so you can see where Europe and North America are separating from each other. It wasn't much to look at. But it was interesting. I guess it's more important from a historical perspective.

The next stop was the most impressive and definitely a must see, the Gullfoss waterfalls. That's me in the picture in front of them up above. The waterfalls are actually three steps where the river above falls to the river canyon below. As jaded as I am, I found this a truly spectacular sight. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's something you have to see for yourself. We also had a break to grab lunch, so I grabbed an overpriced sandwich from the shop there.

Next we saw the geysers known as The Great Geysir and Strokkur. Apparently the Great Geysir is no longer that active. But Strokkur goes off every couple of minutes. It's an impressive thing to see. At first. By the fourth or fifth time, it loses its interest. The interesting thing is that you can also see several other hot springs in the area, with the telltale smell of sulfur along with the incredibly hot water. I did stop and buy a few souvenirs for friends/coworkers/family. There are souvenir shops at all the major stops, selling overpriced, cheaply-made crap with "Iceland" emblazoned on them.

We also stopped at another smaller waterfall which wasn't nearly as impressive in comparison to Gullfoss.

After that, everything else was anticlimactic. We stopped at Skalholt, a cathedral. Frankly, it was pretty unimpressive as cathedrals go. By this point I was tired from walking around all day and couldn't wait to get back on the bus.

Lastly, we stopped at some tourist trap/local greenhouse. I assume they must have some sort of arrangement with the owners to get the tour buses to stop so they could sell ice cream and sodas to the tourists.

Overall the geysers and the waterfalls were worth seeing. I could have done without the cathedral and the tourist trap at the end.

I tried to exercise a lot of patience during the day as I have a natural loathing towards tourists. I managed to make it through. But by the end I had a massive headache and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel. The bus let most of the people off back at the terminal then drove the rest of us to our respective hotels. Naturally, I was the last stop. As the massive bus lurched around the corners of Reykjavik, I cringed every time we passed a street lamp or signal light, narrowly missing by inches.

I was thankful to finally get back into my room, where I quickly passed out from exhaustion and fell asleep. Now today is all about meetings before I head to Amsterdam Tuesday morning.

PS - If it sounds like I am not having fun, it's not true. I am enjoying my time here. It's just some of the touristy things aren't all that impressive.