Iceland 3: NYE, and Golden circle to Kirkjubæjarklaustur

Dec 31st: Side trip to Geysir and Gullfoss on the way back to Reykjavik (it's amazing how quickly my fingers have adapted to typing the word 'Reykjavik'). But first, we had to survive another crazy mountain pass with 20m/s gusts, and horrible, horrible snow drifts. Visibility less than 10m!

Gullfoss is truly deserving of its name: Golden Falls. It is Europe's most powerful waterfall, where the mighty glacial river Hvítá falls in 2 steps into a narrow canyon (following a fissure in the lava). From the top, it looks like the entire river disappears into the earth.

The geysirs at Geysir were fun to see as well. Strokkur is supposed to erupt every 5-7min. But we definitely waited more than 10min for the eruption in this video, and less than 1min later, it erupted again! I like how the water wells up like a massive bubble/lava lamp, before shooting skywards. It feels... alive.

Back at Reykjavik, explosions filled the air. I thought S. America had crazy fireworks. I was wrong. Fireworks in S.America are like brief sputtering candles, compared to full scale WWII in Reykjavik. Surely, the entire armament of WWII's gunpowder was spent from 4pm-4am that day. Hard to believe they were all personal backyard fireworks. Peak in activity at 12mn, even the ships in harbor joined in with their foghorns.

Went to a bonfire. Too early to go to bonfires at 10pm. Mostly tourists there. But there was a group of icelanders who appeared at 10.30/11pm, singing what sounded like a traditional icelandic song. The Iceland Nat'l Museum has a fairly comprehensive section on Icelandic Christmas traditions. Yes, yes, Dec 25th is over. But festivities last till Jan 6th (Twelfth Night). Interesting that Christmas for them is not Hallmark Cards and frenetic shopping, and is instead family, Yule Cats, and the disruptive Yule Lads. Although since 1746, by public decree, Icelandic parents are prohibited from scaring their children with fiends and monsters such as the Yule Lads. I wonder what would happen if we tried to pass a similar public decree in S'pore...


For me, the passing of 2012 brought mixed feelings. Strange to be in Iceland, wearing pjs, watching fireworks outside and Flash Gordon (and later a similarly retro movie) on TV. But beyond that, not sure what 2013 will bring for me, when I've always been sure before.
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Jan 1st: drive to kirkjubæjarklaustur. Nothing was open that day, except a gas station midway. Massive grocery shopping occurred the day before. But considering the dismal 'grocery store' at kirkjubæjarklaustur, we should have bought a whole lot more.

Stopped at Seljalandsfoss for an official group photo. Picturesque. Pity could not explore the path behind the falls due to snow/ice.

Photo credit: YH

Dyrhólaey arch and Reynisdrangar sea stacks: black sand beach, seagulls, beautiful basalt rock formations shrouded in just a smidgen of fog. Life is Good.

Cabin on the lake at kirk. Sleeping in the loft with SW, YR and S! Challenging to maneuver in tight, low space. Also challenging not to think about the 9 barbie dolls watching us sleep from their dollhouse.

Dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, while watching ballet and Vienna Philharmonic on TV. The cabin only had one working TV channel, it must be some Icelandic cultural + gameshow channel. Eventually, we gave up on the TV, and watched futurama episodes on SQ's iPad.

Photo credit: YH

9.30pm: more fireworks. I had a good view from the window in the loft. This show was definitely professionally choreographed. Nicely done. (I am now a fireworks connoisseur.)

what animal did this skin belong to??