Adventures in Iceland, Part 1

Over reading week, I decided to take a solo trip to Iceland.  Iceland has been really high on my list of places to visit so I didn't mind going alone accompanied by my Kindle, laptop, and ipod!  I left on a Saturday and did not get in until it was already dark.  All I did that night was write one of my essays due over reading week (see I was productive!) I spent a few days exploring Reykjavik.  The city was surprisingly walkable, although the sidewalks were coated with ice.  It snowed some and at times was really, really windy.  I've lived in Colorado where hurricane force winds are a regular occurrence, but I've never been in winds that quite literally swept me off the ground.  It was insane!  Our tour guide said that Iceland is second only to the Falklands Islands for the most wind! 

I liked the city of Reykjavik, it was the perfect size and the streets were never too crowded.  In fact, the most crowded place I went in all of Iceland was the Whales of Iceland museum, which was just me and a bunch of families with small, Scandinavian children.

One of my first excursions was an Icelandic pony ride on lava fields.  The ponies were adorable and the scenery was amazing!

The next day, I went on a horse theatre and Northern Lights tour.  The horse theatre consisted of Norse mythology and legends and was really quite cool!

Afterwards we drove around trying to find the Northern Lights and we finally found them!  They were really faint and looked sort of a like a green rainbow and a bit of a cloud.  They were too faint to end up on photo, but it was still really cool to see since seeing the Northern Lights was high on my bucket list.

After a few days on excursions and exploring Reykjavik, I began my tour with Gudmundur Jonasson Travel.  The day we left was really snowy so our itinerary got changed a bit.  That's pretty typical of Iceland...just deal with the weather!

We drove to the South Coast of Iceland to stay at a lodge called Arhus.  I had my own little cabin right along the Ranga River!  When we got there, it was pouring and sleeting rain so I spent a couple of hours writing in my cozy cabin and listening to Of Monsters and Men (especially Lakehouse - I like my life to have a soundtrack).

Check back tomorrow for a recap of the second part of my trip which includes glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes, Blue Lagoon, geothermal pools, etc!  I'll also be recapping my trip to Italy from a couple of weeks ago, plus finally catching up on my British adventures.

Thanks for reading!