Today we took a bus tour of the Golden circle and it was amazing. It consists of 4 stops each with their own unique feature that even the cold, wind and rain couldn't stop us from enjoying.

Rekyavik has a large snow capped mountain that you can see access the water. However just minutes into our drive to the first stop we found ourselves seeing beautiful mountain after mountain. It was a bit hard to digest at first because everywhere you go you see awesome scenery. We were told everything gets a bit greener during the summer season, but we still loved it all. During the drive our tour guide would pass the time by telling us stories about the areas we were driving through.

The first stop was a volcanic crator named Kerið:

That was kind of it in a nutshell. We didn't have very much time to spend here, so it was more of a "hop off the bus and read this info card" type deal, but it was very cool to see in person. Also here we were introduced to the way the rest of the world views dangerous falls. It's very much a "here's a sign telling you not to get too close and that's it" kind of deal. Truthfully I think it adds something to the experience knowing that you're not being walked around by the hand everywhere and that it's up to you to keep yourself safe.

After that we traveled to Haukadalur which is a geothermal area containing two famous Geysers: Strokkur (which erupts every 6-8 minutes) and Geysir (the word geyser is based off Geysir, though it no longer erupts).  

We stuck around to watch a few eruptions and see the other hot pools in the area.  

Next we traveled to the Gulfoss waterfall. This required a bit more walking to get to, but it was definitely worth it. As you descend a large staircase you can gradually hear the water getting louder and louder. Mind you, it's still raining/windy/cold so we were paying extra attention to the steps beneath our feet, and then suddenly this appears:

Leaving the staircase, you walk down a little path that ends on a bit of a rocky platform where you are right up against part of the falls.  

Our last stop was Þingvellir national Park where you can actually see where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates collide.

Our guide walked us into the ridge and began telling us about the area. Technically our group wasn't supposed to go down there (time constraints), but our guide mixed up his groups and promised earlier we would, so he briefly brought us down there.

There was a bit of a scenic perch above the ridge that gave us a great view of the surrounding area. The skies even started to clear up and we could see blue for the very first time since we arrived:

All in all it was a pretty awesome tour/day. After we got dropped off back in the city we headed back to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and this time we were seasoned pros (not a single nasty look woo).

* Side note - I'm taking more pictures than I'm uploading, but I will try to put all of those on Facebook when we get back.

Tomorrow we have a long day trekking down to the southern coast to see the black beaches, waterfalls and glaciers. Stay tuned

Btw it's 11pm here and still pretty light outside - crazy!