to the land of the vikings
Oct. 22nd, 2010 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovereigntyi've finally put together my Iceland trip picspam! you can thank Jonsi for putting me in the mood lmao. and i decided to make just one post so beware the ~50 photos below;;
i went to Iceland back in the beginning of june with Kelly from Canada and Sarah from Australia. it was only a 3-night trip because it was in between one of our 7-day exams and my return home! i flew home only 2 days after i got back from Iceland which was insane. but more than worth it. the round-trip flight cost $500 not even joking but after talking with my mom, we both figured we wouldn't remember the money in 10 years, we'd just remember that I WENT TO ICELAND.
also worth nothing that the sun didn't really ever set while we were there. it doesn't at all during the middle of summer but it sort of set while we were there i.e. the sun went down but only for 2-3 hours and it wasn't long enough to ever go dark. in contrast, the sun doesn't really ever rise during the dead of winter. i would love to experience both times fully in the future.
alrighty then! ICELAND!!
this is pretty much what most of the landscape looks like ahahah except no, there's heaps of volcanoes everywhere. like, every mountain is a volcano which is ridiculous.
first stop on the Golden Circle tour! one of the major geothermal power plants in Iceland.
the presentation was rather boring but my two friends sure weren't lmao. Kelly on the left, Sarah on the right
geothermal power pretty much powers most of Iceland which makes sense considering that the entire island is made of geothermal energy
more inland the landscape looks like this so more green :)
next stop on the tour was a waterfall. it was so hot out i was wearing a tank top, not kidding :|;;
the most famous waterfall in Iceland! Gullfoss! it was beyond incredible. this photo and words don't do it justice. rather hard to tell how huge it is in this pic too but let's just say it's ENORMOUS.
the walk down to it was fine, the walk back up not so much......
and once we got there we got soaked immediately
but loved the sound of the roaring water
then we went to the Strokker geyser. fun fact: the word "geyser" is Icelandic!
decided to hike up this hill while we visited the geyser but only made it halfway up lol;;
but our view was still great!
luckily for tourists, this geyser goes off every 5-7 mins
not photoshopped at all o____________o
every now and then the eruption would be bigger than usual and we stood too close one time. scared us bad and everybody else -- we all ran away asdfghjkl;lkjh
then we went off-roading! in a tour bus. it was ridiculous. but a lot of the roads aren't paved in Iceland.
next stop was where the Eurasian and North American plates were splitting Iceland apart! Kelly and me felt closer to home?? 8D;;
oh the power of nature
this spot is rather important for other reasons too! this rock is the "law rock" because this spot was where the world's first parliament was held! the vikings had it obviously and they decided to have it in Iceland go figure, guess Norway and Denmark weren't good enough
next day we went to the Blue Lagoon, naturally heated hot springs~ the water was murky white because they had a type of volcanic clay to put on your face around the pool (we played around with it >_>;;)
really relaxing and really nice~
yeah idk either
i fell in love with the landscapes of Iceland. a lot of people think its ugly because its barren but i think its beautiful
one of the many small towns near Reykjavik (the capital)
that night we went on a volcanic aftermath tour. after the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, they set up some aftermath tours and we took advantage even if nobody else does (the eruption hurt their economy more, idk why, stupid people kept thinking the other volcano was gonna go off but Icelandic people were like "uhhh no. we know our volcanoes better than stupid American news people jfc.") ANYWAYS. it was a night tour but the sun never sets during the summer LOL so these pics are technically around 8pm.
this is the car we rode! there is no road to the volcano and so they go off-roading through rivers and stuff. ignore me i'm being stupid
ash covered everything. nothing grew past a certain point along the way once you got closer to the volcano
as barren as it was (is), i still thought it was breathtaking. btw that;s ASH blowing in the distance
yeah, ASH blowing everywhere
then we got there! that's the glacier below the volcano. that giant crack is from when the volcano erupted. tons of water rushed out and totally devastated everything around the area, flooded roads and bridges, etc.
nice to see other people there lol
it was a lot to take in
good contrast photo to show how barren and desolate the place was. grey covered everything.
OK this photo needs a backstory. we were the only ones on this tour and at one point Kelly was like "dude this guy could be a serial killer" and we were like holy shit we're going miles and miles away from anything (no towns anywhere near the place, at least an hour's drive away) and we're 3 tourist girls and he could totally kill us and nobody would know. AHAHAHAHA RIGHT??
and then after going through a particularly big river, he was like "wanna take pics of me going through it?" because it was really awesome and we were like sure! he goes across and then across again and then again and it looked like he was driving away without us and we were like OH NO KELLY WAS RIGHT and laughingly going "ahahaha he's leaving us oh god please don't leave us oh god what is he doing." he came back and it was fine but still ridiculous lmao;;;;;;;;
but no he was a really nice guy, he reminded us of a dad. really friendly, told good stories, stopped whenever we wanted so we could take pictures, etc. the funniest bit was that he played Coldplay on FULL BLAST. the car was vibrating it was so loud. it oddly fit the landscape and stuff but it was pretty ridiculous and hilarious
next stop on the tour was the equally famous waterfall Seljalandsfoss.
our guide said if we made a wish while underneath the waterfall and thought about it everyday, it'd come true. we thought that was cute and did it :3
even if it was really wet underneath it, got totally soaked, and the climb down on the other end was super dangerous
next day we had some fun around the town. this church could be seen from anywhere in the city so we decided to check it out. rather terrifying. the statue out from was donated by the USA as thanks for discovering North America! :DD
view from the top of the tower. that's old town of Reykjavik~
path to the beach near our hostel. these Alaskan lilacs grew all over the island, so beautiful~
the beach! wasn't nearly as cold as i thought it'd be, it was just like Californian water :|;;
in the airport on our way home. flight got delayed TWICE, and we were angry because we had woken up at 4AM to catch the stupid thing only to have to wait 5 hours asdfghjkl;lkjhghjk
so yeah Iceland. it was........ incredible. beyond words. its not something i can show through words of even pictures very well. it was out of this world but very much a part of it. but you have to experience it. it's a life changing place and i hope to live there for at least some part of my life.
i went to Iceland back in the beginning of june with Kelly from Canada and Sarah from Australia. it was only a 3-night trip because it was in between one of our 7-day exams and my return home! i flew home only 2 days after i got back from Iceland which was insane. but more than worth it. the round-trip flight cost $500 not even joking but after talking with my mom, we both figured we wouldn't remember the money in 10 years, we'd just remember that I WENT TO ICELAND.
also worth nothing that the sun didn't really ever set while we were there. it doesn't at all during the middle of summer but it sort of set while we were there i.e. the sun went down but only for 2-3 hours and it wasn't long enough to ever go dark. in contrast, the sun doesn't really ever rise during the dead of winter. i would love to experience both times fully in the future.
alrighty then! ICELAND!!
this is pretty much what most of the landscape looks like ahahah except no, there's heaps of volcanoes everywhere. like, every mountain is a volcano which is ridiculous.
first stop on the Golden Circle tour! one of the major geothermal power plants in Iceland.
the presentation was rather boring but my two friends sure weren't lmao. Kelly on the left, Sarah on the right
geothermal power pretty much powers most of Iceland which makes sense considering that the entire island is made of geothermal energy
more inland the landscape looks like this so more green :)
next stop on the tour was a waterfall. it was so hot out i was wearing a tank top, not kidding :|;;
the most famous waterfall in Iceland! Gullfoss! it was beyond incredible. this photo and words don't do it justice. rather hard to tell how huge it is in this pic too but let's just say it's ENORMOUS.
the walk down to it was fine, the walk back up not so much......
and once we got there we got soaked immediately
but loved the sound of the roaring water
then we went to the Strokker geyser. fun fact: the word "geyser" is Icelandic!
decided to hike up this hill while we visited the geyser but only made it halfway up lol;;
but our view was still great!
luckily for tourists, this geyser goes off every 5-7 mins
not photoshopped at all o____________o
every now and then the eruption would be bigger than usual and we stood too close one time. scared us bad and everybody else -- we all ran away asdfghjkl;lkjh
then we went off-roading! in a tour bus. it was ridiculous. but a lot of the roads aren't paved in Iceland.
next stop was where the Eurasian and North American plates were splitting Iceland apart! Kelly and me felt closer to home?? 8D;;
oh the power of nature
this spot is rather important for other reasons too! this rock is the "law rock" because this spot was where the world's first parliament was held! the vikings had it obviously and they decided to have it in Iceland go figure, guess Norway and Denmark weren't good enough
next day we went to the Blue Lagoon, naturally heated hot springs~ the water was murky white because they had a type of volcanic clay to put on your face around the pool (we played around with it >_>;;)
really relaxing and really nice~
yeah idk either
i fell in love with the landscapes of Iceland. a lot of people think its ugly because its barren but i think its beautiful
one of the many small towns near Reykjavik (the capital)
that night we went on a volcanic aftermath tour. after the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, they set up some aftermath tours and we took advantage even if nobody else does (the eruption hurt their economy more, idk why, stupid people kept thinking the other volcano was gonna go off but Icelandic people were like "uhhh no. we know our volcanoes better than stupid American news people jfc.") ANYWAYS. it was a night tour but the sun never sets during the summer LOL so these pics are technically around 8pm.
this is the car we rode! there is no road to the volcano and so they go off-roading through rivers and stuff. ignore me i'm being stupid
ash covered everything. nothing grew past a certain point along the way once you got closer to the volcano
as barren as it was (is), i still thought it was breathtaking. btw that;s ASH blowing in the distance
yeah, ASH blowing everywhere
then we got there! that's the glacier below the volcano. that giant crack is from when the volcano erupted. tons of water rushed out and totally devastated everything around the area, flooded roads and bridges, etc.
nice to see other people there lol
it was a lot to take in
good contrast photo to show how barren and desolate the place was. grey covered everything.
OK this photo needs a backstory. we were the only ones on this tour and at one point Kelly was like "dude this guy could be a serial killer" and we were like holy shit we're going miles and miles away from anything (no towns anywhere near the place, at least an hour's drive away) and we're 3 tourist girls and he could totally kill us and nobody would know. AHAHAHAHA RIGHT??
and then after going through a particularly big river, he was like "wanna take pics of me going through it?" because it was really awesome and we were like sure! he goes across and then across again and then again and it looked like he was driving away without us and we were like OH NO KELLY WAS RIGHT and laughingly going "ahahaha he's leaving us oh god please don't leave us oh god what is he doing." he came back and it was fine but still ridiculous lmao;;;;;;;;
but no he was a really nice guy, he reminded us of a dad. really friendly, told good stories, stopped whenever we wanted so we could take pictures, etc. the funniest bit was that he played Coldplay on FULL BLAST. the car was vibrating it was so loud. it oddly fit the landscape and stuff but it was pretty ridiculous and hilarious
next stop on the tour was the equally famous waterfall Seljalandsfoss.
our guide said if we made a wish while underneath the waterfall and thought about it everyday, it'd come true. we thought that was cute and did it :3
even if it was really wet underneath it, got totally soaked, and the climb down on the other end was super dangerous
next day we had some fun around the town. this church could be seen from anywhere in the city so we decided to check it out. rather terrifying. the statue out from was donated by the USA as thanks for discovering North America! :DD
view from the top of the tower. that's old town of Reykjavik~
path to the beach near our hostel. these Alaskan lilacs grew all over the island, so beautiful~
the beach! wasn't nearly as cold as i thought it'd be, it was just like Californian water :|;;
in the airport on our way home. flight got delayed TWICE, and we were angry because we had woken up at 4AM to catch the stupid thing only to have to wait 5 hours asdfghjkl;lkjhghjk
so yeah Iceland. it was........ incredible. beyond words. its not something i can show through words of even pictures very well. it was out of this world but very much a part of it. but you have to experience it. it's a life changing place and i hope to live there for at least some part of my life.
