Day 90-the Golden Circle

   April 3-A rooster's crow woke us up this morning, one of perks of staying at the Viking Villa.  A related perk was that we could collect the eggs from the chicken house and eat them!  So, the kids did their morning
"chores" and came back with seven eggs.  This gave their Grammy a chance to teach them how to wash eggs.  We cooked them and other eggs that the owner had left in the fridge for a fine breakfast.  Then, we set the kids loose outside.  They burned off some pent up energy and the chickens got to practice their fleeing techniques.  We did see a fox only a short distance away the evening before, so they might need to be able to get away if it comes visiting at some point!  Two of the hens would have been fox food, though, because they were caught by Alex and Spencer. 

   Once the entertainment value of that activity wore off, we set off to be quintessential

 tourists for the day.  Namely, we headed off to visit the Golden Circle of tourist sites: Gullfoss, Geysir, and Þingvellir.  Our only attempt to flaunt customs was to do it backwards, since we were starting from the eastern side, rather than from Reykjavík at the western side, like most people do.  The reason for the name has never been clear to me, except that one of the attractions has the word gold (gull) in it.  Like one guidebook noted, however, "golden circle" sounds much more attractive than "green triangle." 

   We drove north to Gullfoss first.  It is neither the largest, the tallest, nor the most powerful waterfall in Iceland, but it was still an impressive set of falls.  A drop in temperature below freezing overnight had resulted in spray from the waterfall coating most surfaces with ice.  This made the viewing decks and surrounding areas beautiful, but dangerous.



Norm, Diane, Kailey, and Spencer in front of Gullfoss.



   We took advantage of the café at the parking area to grab lunch and coffee and to do a little souvenir shopping before heading off to the second stop, Geysir.  Geysir is the geyser that loaned its name to all other geysers we have discovered since.  It once erupted regularly, but it only erupts sporadically these days following earthquakes or other similarr disturbances.  Luckily, a neighboring geyser, Strokkur, has taken over and erupts every few minutes.  There were also a number of other geothermal springs and hot pools.

Geysir

   After we watched Strokkur erupt a few times, we got back in the vehicles and headed on down the road to Þingvellir.  This is the location that the representative body (as it were) of Iceland, or Alþing, met from 930 AD until it was disbanded by the Danish king in 1798 AD.  Its location also happens to coincide with a fault line between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it interesting geologically, as well and politically and historically.  We stopped at the interpretive center for a while before driving down to explore the actual historical sites and rift canyons.

Þingvallavatn, the lake to the south of Þingvellir.

The Hays grandkids at Þingvellir.

Greg and Misty in front of Öxaráfoss waterfall.

   While we were visiting Þingvellir, I began to feel unwell, although I could not quite put my finger on the problem.  The ride back to the guesthouse, however, made it crystal clear as vertigo began to set in.  By the time we made it to the guesthouse, I could not stay upright

and Misty and Greg had to help me into the house, where I promptly lost my lunch.  I finally made it upstairs to my bed, where everything was fine if I lay in one position with my eyes closed.  I stayed like this while everyone else ran into Flúðir for supper.  When they got home, my mother reminded me that my grandmother would get these sorts of spells and she would need to get antibiotics to take care of the inner ear infection that was causing them or she only got worse.  By this time it was late enough that I did not want Sally to worry about driving me back down to Selfoss to see a doctor.  As I lay in bed, I thought about how this would affect the remaining few days that my family was visiting.  It was doubly troubling, because we were in the Easter holiday week, which could only make the whole process of

visiting a hospital emergency room that much more difficult.  To make matters worse, we had not yet visited a doctor over here, so we had no idea how difficult the process might be in Iceland.  All I know is that it is a nightmare in the States and if the same rules applied over here, it would only be more difficult when you are a non-native who does not speak the language and has foreign health insurance!  Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night as I tried to figure out a solution that would be least disruptive for everyone.