Iceland, day 2
Today was a fresh day in Iceland, and began with a visit to the local bakery (yum!) followed by Zach and I driving around parts of the "Golden Circle", though not necessarily via the same routes used by most tourists. More on that later.
I learned a lot today:
We ended the day by eating dinner at a Cafe in Reykjavik - a stew made with Icelandic lamb. Yum!
I learned a lot today:
- Reykjavik traffic engineers apparently think that roundabouts on the highway are an acceptable form of traffic control and save money on exits. Lemme tell you, whipping around a roundabout in the middle of an otherwise divided highway is a bizarre experience. Especially when it happens every 3-400 meters.
- GPS units should probably stay with the vehicle they are rented with. In particular, GPS systems used with vehicles that have tires up to Zach's waist should not be rented with little Ford cars without resetting their settings.
- Without tires up to Zach's waist, "shortest route" is rarely the quickest route in Iceland. Though sometimes it is a mighty fun route.
- If Chicago is correctly called the windy city, Iceland needs to be named "the hurricane continent".
- To quote Zach, the weather here is like a DM rolling a d20 on the weather chart with a new roll every 15 minutes. Rain, partly cloudy, and gale-force winds occur in all possible combinations and change regularly.
- I am really glad I packed my coat. I nearly didn't, because Reykjavik is about 10 degrees cooler than Seattle, and I'd been fine without. But wind, rain, and chilly weather means I was actually slightly cold today even with the jacket and hat.
- Þingvallavatn/Alþingi (Thingvallavatn/Althing)
- Rushhour in Iceland (twice!)
- Strokkur and other thermal features
- Some crazy stuff our map called a "road", and
- Gullfoss
We ended the day by eating dinner at a Cafe in Reykjavik - a stew made with Icelandic lamb. Yum!