Let's Go, - To See the World with Your Own Eyes,
-To Measure the World by Your Own Footsteps,
-To View the World from a Truely Global Perspective.
March 2011, ICELAND
It just came to my mind when we were trying to find a place to spend our last spring break. The selection criteria were: proper to a seven-day visit, not costing too much, and outside US but not that far away. We talked about the UK for a while, but when I randomly checking a world map, an island on the Atlantic between the Eurasia and North America suddenly caught my eyeballs. Iceland!!? Why not??!
So in a month or so we bought tickets, worked out itinerary, booked hostels, obtained visas, and then set out in early March (with unfinished mid-term papers lol).
March in Iceland is still freezing cold. We landed at Reykjavik, the capital, in the early morning of a Sunday. A staff from rental car company had already waited there for us. After getting through all the paperworks, we received the key, put luggages into the trunk and were ready to go. It was a Toyota Rav-4 in nice-looking Pacific Blue with GPS. We therefore called it "little blue". Its manual transmission troubled me for quite a while; nevertheless, we finally managed to get "little blue" on the track towards the Golden Circle.
The Golden Circle is about 2 hours drive from Reykjavik, covering 300km circular route which encompasses three of Iceland's most famous landmarks, i.e. Geysir (geysers), Gullfoss (Golden Falls), and Thingvellir (Parliament plains). Our first stop, Geysir, is consisted of several spouting hot springs, surrounding by steaming vents and sulphate soil. The wind was strong and chilly that day (and actually everyday lol), and unfortunately the geysers were shy. We wandered for a long time, then the "magic time" finally came. A big geyser became active and began to erupt every 6 minutes, lasting several seconds and causing spouts of about 20m in height. Watched 3 times outdoor, we were forced by the freezing weather to go back.
(To Be Continued)
So in a month or so we bought tickets, worked out itinerary, booked hostels, obtained visas, and then set out in early March (with unfinished mid-term papers lol).
March in Iceland is still freezing cold. We landed at Reykjavik, the capital, in the early morning of a Sunday. A staff from rental car company had already waited there for us. After getting through all the paperworks, we received the key, put luggages into the trunk and were ready to go. It was a Toyota Rav-4 in nice-looking Pacific Blue with GPS. We therefore called it "little blue". Its manual transmission troubled me for quite a while; nevertheless, we finally managed to get "little blue" on the track towards the Golden Circle.
The Golden Circle is about 2 hours drive from Reykjavik, covering 300km circular route which encompasses three of Iceland's most famous landmarks, i.e. Geysir (geysers), Gullfoss (Golden Falls), and Thingvellir (Parliament plains). Our first stop, Geysir, is consisted of several spouting hot springs, surrounding by steaming vents and sulphate soil. The wind was strong and chilly that day (and actually everyday lol), and unfortunately the geysers were shy. We wandered for a long time, then the "magic time" finally came. A big geyser became active and began to erupt every 6 minutes, lasting several seconds and causing spouts of about 20m in height. Watched 3 times outdoor, we were forced by the freezing weather to go back.
(To Be Continued)