Golden Circle tour

We left Reykjavik at noon for a tour of the countryside.  We were a group of 14, with a guide from France, who works here in the summers.  Our first stop was at the geysers and boiling hot, very clear pools.  Then it was on to the waterfall.

In the distance are all the people waiting for the geyser to blow, cameras and phones ready...

Too hot to touch!

Gullfoss waterfall

Our last stop was at the National Park where the open air parliamentary assemblies were held in ancient times.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and you can read more HERE

We were dropped off at the parking lot at the bottom of the trail that takes you between two tectonic plates, and our driver gathered us together to explain that this time he would pick us up at a different spot - the parking area at the top of the trail, in 40 minutes.  Read on to see if we all made it!

On one side is the North American plate, and on the other the Eurasian

You can read more about the geology and continental drift on the official park website HERE

Another view of the plates, with the valley and mountains beyond

We reached the top, found the van at the appointed time, and waited, and waited... we were missing one person...  several people said they'd seen her on the trail, and Brad remembered that she had still been in the van when the guide was giving us instructions on where he would pick us up.

Finally he decided we had to go back down to the first parking area to see if she had walked back, so leaving two people at the top in case she arrived there, he took us on a wild ride on a twisty road - he knew several people in the van were due back in the city for another tour and didn't want them to miss it.

He drove like a bat out of hell - I think we were all hanging on and fearing for our lives a bit - as we got to the lower parking lots, heading past the first few, I spotted her orange jacket, and shouted "there she is" - a very apologetic person climbed aboard and off we went to pick up the other two at the top.  We made it back to Reykjavik in time for those folks going on another tour.