The Golden Circle

We headed back to the mainland to do the Golden Circle.

Gulfoss

Geysir--THE geysir named Geysir for which the word geysir was coined.

It really was very impressive to see it shoot up every 5 minutes. I thought we would stay to see it once or twice, but the kids were enthralled and we had to drag them away an hour and a half later.

Our cabin

We even had our own personal hot tub heated by the local geothermal waters.

We split the Golden Circle into two day. The next day we visited Thingvellir National Park. It is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atantic Ridge. You can see the rift between the tetonic plates. It is also home to the largest natural lake in Iceland. It is also the site of Iceland's first Parliament, as well as one of the world's first, established in 930.

This waterfall is the sad site where our Lonely Planet Iceland travel guide fell out of my pocket as I was climbing on some rocks and travelled to a new home somewhere down the river.

Site of the first Parliament

And again, no day is complete without a trip to the thermal swimming pool, this time at Laugervatn Fontana.

There was a mix of hot and cold water in this later, so it was important to be careful

This was a very unique steam room, powered by a natural geysir underneath.

Westmann Islands

Bakery breakfast of champions on Heimaey, Westmann Islands

Then it was time for some puffin spotting

And it's a puffin! Most of them were in the water, but we caught a few on the cliffs

Next we headed to the natural history musuem, where we were able to get up close and personal with a real live baby puffin!

Finally Evaëlle's turn. I was a little surprised that the curators let her give it a shot after her antics screaming, "MY BIRD!!!" while her brothers were holding it.

A touch pond; pick up the crab if you dare.

A

Lunch!

And next another museum. More info on Westmann Island Mormons.

Another notable historical event of the islands: the pillage by Algerian pirates in the 1600's. Basically they came, raped, killed and took slaves back to Algeria. The illustrations on the wall recounted the event in graphic detail. And today, the kids can dress up as the Algerian pirates.

And of course, more thermal swimming pools!