Kickin' Flavour Wraps

leaving Reyjavik on what was described on our itinerary as "full day excursion"
adventurous
commuters on the tundra
this is about 15 minutes outside the center of the city

total whiteout across the highway
its safe to say I was freaking out
we made it through; beautiful country pictures begin here

we went to a geothermal power plant
group shot

powdered powered power plant

heading up north into nowhere
just the way I like it

salmon rivers
out in the wilderness they build houses for the mythical icelandic elves
true story
icelandic horses

we went to a geysir
apparently, THE geysir which all other geysers were named after.
apparently.



we were excited

the geyser was excited
action shot: scroll down really fast





snow-covered river

i believe this fine art was a portrait of our original hostess at the prestigious (and legitimately tasty) Geysir restaurant
buffet lunch=good lunch
taxidermy gift shop
rivers

our valiant steed
we wandered into nowhere on an icy trail

signs in tongues
EPIC











one of the coolest places ever.
We were here because a character in one of our sagas threw himself to his un-Viking death here.


group shot
better/worse group shot




then we went to the crack through iceland that is the division between the north american and european tectonic plates
it was about as amazing as you would think it is
Lucy in the wind
also happened to be the site of VIKING PARLIAMENT
oldest parliament in the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing

The Althing is one of the oldest parliamentary institutions in the world, this including the Faroese Løgting and Manx Tynwald.^[1][2][3] Its establishment, as an outdoor assembly held on the plains of Þingvellir from about the year 930 AD, laid the foundation for an independent national existence in Iceland. To begin with, the Althing was a general assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth, where the country’s most powerful Leaders (goðar) met to decide on legislation and dispense justice. Then, all free men could attend the assemblies, which were usually the main social event of the year and drew large crowds of farmers and their families, parties involved in legal disputes, traders, craftsmen, storytellers and travellers. Those attending the assembly dwelt in temporary camps (búðir) during the session. The center of the gathering was the Lögberg, or Law Rock, a rocky outcrop on which the Lawspeaker (lögsögumaður) took his seat as the presiding official of the assembly. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time. It was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of Althing to those attending the assembly each year.
Morten is awesome

I am the law-speaker
View from the top of the law rock from far right
on
through

all the way
to
the
very
very far
left

climbing up to the top
group shot

view
from the tippity

tip
top.
I think you can see why they had it here.

Risa is popular