Well, our crazy jaunt to Europe started with a bang. Literally. We were at the airport in NYC waiting to board when we found out about the volcano that erupted in Iceland. We were so worried it would be like last year where the volcano shut down everything in Europe for weeks. But we were able to fly into Iceland just fine. Right after we got there, the airport was closed! Good thing we planned on being there a few days before flying to Copenhagen.
Iceland is hands down, one of the most picturesque countries we've ever been to. Although the climate is a little different from Phoenix, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. To me, it's a fabulously cooler version of New Zealand. The people are incredibly friendly and speak English and the landscapes are breath taking.
We had rented a car so we were able to drive around the country a bit- all the while praying that we would be able to fly out on time. The first day, we went to a black sanded beach.
You can tell it was a bit hazy from the volcano ash.
Most of the country is either volcanos or glaciers, so
everywhere you go is incredibly beautiful, mossy, lava fields with heaps of spectacular waterfalls from glacier run off. So pretty!
The second day, we went to the "Golden Circle." It's a trio of locations that were so cool.
1st the . This is right on the fault line where Iceland is literally being pulled apart by 2 cm every year!
2nd the Geysers. These definitely were in competition with Old Faithful. To my memory, they went off more frequently than Old Faithful, were higher, and you could get closer to it because there aren't as many people. Pretty cool.
3rd the Waterfalls. It was simply unbelievable how much water and power these falls had. Wouldn't it be so incredible to be one of the first people to find these?
The whole second day was SO windy and cold. It felt like your face was being scraped off. We were SO cold, but we kept telling ourselves that we had prayed for this wind and if that's what got us to Denmark on time, then that's what we would have to put up with.
Fortunately, Iceland is so geothermic, they have hot pots EVERYWHERE. (They really don't have to heat the water in their homes.) We talked to an Icelander who said that there are hot pots right on the beach that spill over into the ocean and so it was "quite fashionable" to swim in the ocean. We settled on swimming in the Blue Lagoon. I have never seen water so beautiful. We all know photo shop and cool photography tricks are not my specialty so that's exactly what the natural water looked like.
If I was good at photo shop, I might have changed my face or skin tone, but now you see how sweet the Blue Lagoon was. They have it super set up like a spa with a hotel and an actual spa on sight. It really was so relaxing and very nice to be warmed up after such a windy day.
That night we stayed at an AWESOME guesthouse by the airport. The owner is a genius and an artist so he designed it phenomenally. We slept in the treehouse room. My 4 yr old self was on cloud nine and my 25 yr old self loved it too!
The next day we went to the airport with some apprehension about whether we would be able to fly out. (Secretly, we were ok if we didn't fly out because we wanted to go back to the treehouse guesthouse.) Fortunately, the only flight that was on time, was ours. There were heaps of flights that were delayed/cancelled, but there were no hitches for us. It was a miracle! The Church is true, prayers are answered and Iceland is awesome and very fashionable!
