Woke up to a lovely breakfast with the family and guests staying at the guesthouse. The sun appeared for our departure to leave the small own of Vik behind and get back on the road, after fueling up the car. So far, we had been blessed with good weather and today would be no different. As we drive, the road starts to approach the massive glacier of Vatnajökull Glacier. 
In fact, it is the largest glacier in all of Europe. Even the part you can see from the road is impressive. It is HUGE (I think 7-8% of the country?). We stop in to the Skaftafell Visitor's Center for a quick hike to a Svartifoss, a black waterfall surrounded by huge basalt columns. 
The hike was nice with smaller waterfalls you could look right over the edge of, mountain vistas and alpine fields full of splashes of color from blue, yellow, green, pink, and red wildflowers. You can see the falls in 45 minutes to an hour. We didn't go all the way down, but the view was nice.
Next, we hustled to try to get on a farm ride out on some sort of reflection pool, sort of like the Bolivian Salt Flats which I already plan to visit in the near future. 
We stopped to see another waterfall along the roadside (at this point, I didn't even get out of the car... after what seemed like waterfall number 8 bagazillion in the last few days, it had to be a pretty spectacular waterfall to spark my interest). There was a Icelandic slight traffic delay as a local crossed the road bridge with her horses. We drove down the dirt road to try to get on the farmhouse tour, but it was unavailable at that time. On we went to Jokulsarlon.
And now, one of my favorite parts of the trip, my first time seeing a glacier ice lagoon. As we drive along the road, the snow and glacier is even closer to the road, with bridges that allow the melted snow and ice flow to travel under the road. We park and climb up a black sandy hill for the first glimpse of Jokulsarlon Lake. It took my breath away. Huge glaciers of all different sizes float on the lake. They are all different colors of blue, from icy blue-green to a blue and white hue. Parts are smooth and parts are rough. 
You can walk on the shore of the black sand and get a closer inspection of melted ice laying on the beach. Every once and a while, a cute seal would pop its head up, as if to say hi. One even seemed to follow me as I walked along the shore. The silence is sometimes broken by the deafening crack of an iceberg. Some icebergs float down a path towards the sea, while larger glaciers create beautiful reflections on the otherwise still water. 
It was fabulous. We drove to the ice lagoon side and see lots more seals and birds playing amongst the floating glaciers (I think the people that run the Kodiak tours feed them fish to keep them there). The reflections and colors change with the change in sunlight. We were going to go on a Kodiak boat ride, but the lines were long, and I honestly just wanted to sit on the rocks and watch the ever changing landscape. We stayed there for hours, and I am pretty sure I could have stayed there for days.
We finally pulled ourselves away to head to our last night of shared accommodation in Hofn. It is amazing how there are stretches of Iceland with seemingly absolutely nothing, but then you would see a little farmhouse miles from nowhere. We checked into our farmhouse in Hofn, played with some of the farm cats, and got a recommendation for a nice restaurant in town. 
Hofn is a fishing village that is known for langoustines (Icelandic lobster). It is where all the lobster soup I had been eating along the way was coming from. The town had lots several fishing vessels near the restaurant to see while we waited for our table. The meal was delicious! I started with a yummy local sausage, cheese and cured lamb appetizer (served on on Iceland-shaped cheese board). For the main course, I had lobster (and a bite of my travel mates horse steak). Full and happy, we all headed back to the farmhouse. As we got out of the car, The Spanish guy and I looked up in the sky... Could it be? There was a dim green light up over the glacier top. My initial thought was that I was imagining it or that maybe the locals liked messing with the tourists by shining car lights from the top of the mountain. Then the light started to dance... I maybe jumped up and down and yelped for everyone to come outside. 
Yup, we were treated a post-dinner surprise visit from the Northern Lights in the darkness of the farmhouse. We stayed out there for almost an hour, watching the show and taking silly photos with the Polish girl's camera (photo courtesy of her, as my camera wasn't good enough to capture them but at least she was able to use my tripod I was hauling around). It was a perfect end to an amazing day! Later that night, we used the internet to get more information about the old US Navy airplane wreckage, in case we had time for attempt number two on our way back the next day.
The last day in Iceland was spent on the long drive back to Reykjavik. We had left a few things to do on the way back in and outside of Vik. This was our only day with not the most optimal weather, but it still managed to stop raining most of the times we wanted to get out of the car to look around. We visited the black sand beach with its geometric basalt columns. 
The rocky beach with sea outcroppings reminded me a little of home, with similarities to a Northwest beach. We also went next to the beach to drive up the cliff near the lighthouse to Dyrholaey to look down on the landscape. We decided we had enough time to spare to make another attempt at finding the old US Navy airplane, this time equipped with better directions and a working GPS. 
Walking back out towards the ocean, we walk through flat black landscape that feels like the moon. It almost seems endless until we finally thing we see the nose of the plane. It is up on a bluff, but in a small dip so is only visible from a specific angle. There are a few people with ATVs, a bunch of guys on dirt bikes, and someone doing a strange wedding shoot. 
Totally surreal. After the hike back, we stopped in the same little town we stopped in for the visitor's center on the way out for dinner and to settle all of the bills (splitting up the gas, car, and accommodations). I had my last Iceland meal of lamb and topped it off at an ice cream store down the road that had ice cream gnomes. I got dropped off at the Bed and Breakfast (it was more of barrack housing, as it was part of the old military base) that I booked near the Keflavik airport for my early flight out the following morning. I let the Canadian girl crash in the room, since it was a huge and she was going to sleep in the airport for her even earlier flight. We missed some kind of party in Keflavik, but the owner of the B&Bs son stayed up chatting as we finished the last of my Cuban rum I had bought at the duty-free on arrival and several of his private stash beers.
Somehow managed to get up early enough for my flight and am finally back to Seattle (of course, it is football Sunday and my Customs agent was a Cowboys fan which lead to lots of jokes). I am glad I got to see Iceland. An now I can say I've seen Europe! Just kidding. While there were plenty of areas and things I didn't get to see, I can't say I wanted to stay much longer. It did make me want to spend some time in Alaska, though, which I may get a chance to do this summer. It feels like a lot of people are on the same circuit on their six day layover to Europe. And while those things are really spectacular, each highlight has lots of other tourists (which is not really my thing). Maybe a 4WD and a little more time would have helped to get off the beaten path a little more.
I was thankful to my travel companions for being flexible and providing me the opportunity to hit some of the highlights and also do some things outside of the general crowds. It is not easy for four complete strangers with different backgrounds, ages, budgets and ideas to be cooped up in a car and small hotel rooms together for several days. There were some bumps in the road, but all in all, I think I could call it a success. There is definitely convenience in not traveling alone and it is nice to share moments with others. In theory, it seems like a good idea and I can see why people do it. But in my heart, I feel like I get the most out of traveling when I am going solo. Probably also why I never liked hostels that much. May be due to more quiet time to think and to process? Desire to be independent (or selfish) in setting my own itinerary and schedule without being concerned about others? Ability to interact more freely with locals instead of travel partners? Need for less reliance on others and finding more strength in just myself? Or just that I spend most of my life around others and sometimes need a break? Probably a combination of all of them.
Iceland trip photos are online or you can view them as a slideshow.
They told me of the plan to meet up for breakfast at the house of some local woman that the Polish girl had met on the plane. The woman lived in Mosfellsbaer, which was beautiful farmland about 15 minutes out of Rekjavik. She apparently runs a tour group called 
After thanking Anna for her wonderful hospitality, we drove through stretches of black lava fields to reach a geothermal area called Krysuvik in the south Reykjanes peninsula. There were not many other cars on the road, but finally we got to the geothermal area had the smell of sulfur but the earth had lots of pretty colors and we walked to the top of a hill to look down. 
The view was beautiful of the mountains, lakes, and nearby farm houses. We stopped to visit with some of the famous Icelandic horses (special breed that is smaller than normal horses) that were by the side of the road before venturing on. 
Some of you know this, but I generally am terrified of horses (and donkeys)... but Icelandic horses are sweet and each seems full of personality, so it is pretty hard to hate them. Along the way, were lots more rainbows... almost to the point that I didn't even think anything of it to see yet another one.
As luck would have it, when trying to find Gjain, we did get to visit a re-created traditional turf house in Stong in Thjorsarsalur valley. The houses were old Viking houses that are covered with grass on the roof. They looked like cute little Hobbit homes! As luck would have it, as we jumped out of the car it started raining. While this meant getting a little wet, it made the most wonderful rainbow right over the turf houses. 
Maybe it was was the "little people" giving us such good luck? Satisfied and starting to get hungry, we piled back in the car and headed to find 
The next morning, we drove to catch a ferry from Landeyjahöfn to Heimaey, part of Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands). The smaller than a ferry in Seattle, but quite nice. The ferry trip is short (about a half hour). It had a beautiful view of the glaciers and black beaches and small little islands along the way. One little island had a huge slope with only one little farmhouse on it, which looked like quite a lovely place to live. We soon pulled into a cute little port town. We all split up with a meet up time to catch a boat back. 
The island is known for its puffins, but it was the wrong time of year for them. I checked out the colorful little neighborhood, stopping to check out graffiti art on the sides of buildings and cute little stores. I lost track of time, and almost missed the ferry back, running through town and jumping on the boat right as they raised the gate. We realized we forgot to turn in our guesthouse key, so drove back to Hvolsvollur to drop them off before continuing on.
On we drove to Seljafoss waterfall. You could see it in the distance from the road, and even from far away, it was breath taking. When we actually arrived, it was gorgeous. The sun was out, and was really fun to be able to walk behind the waterfall. On the way out, we ran across a flock of fluffy sheep playing on a soccer field and went out to play with them as well. They did not seem to want much to do with any of us. Next, we visited a secluded hot spring pool named Seljavallalaug that I had found on the internet. 
None of my travel mates had made it to the Blue Lagoon and I had decided to skip it because it was expensive and seemed like too much of a hassle to get to. The pool was built in 1932 and is the oldest existing Icelandic pool. Hidden behind a bend after a quick walk along a river in a valley below the Eyjafjallajökull glacier, it is a quiet little oasis. We happened upon it when no one else was there. The changing room was a little dark and gross, but the pool was nice, hot, and super relaxing! After a quick soak, a family came along and we moved on. 
We all hopped back in the car and drove to Skogarfoss, another huge waterfall. The waterfall creates a rainbow from the spray, making for beautiful photo opportunities. Though, like many of the Iceland highlights, it was super crowded and full of tour bus after tour bus of unloading herds of people. The girls climbed up to the top of the falls and I stayed below, waiting for the right moment to enjoy the falls in between tour groups and get a few photos without random people in the background.
Defeated, we turned around and headed the hour and a half walk back to the car. On the positive side, the walk back was during a beautiful sunset. I took a few minutes to to enjoy the colors and lay down in the super soft moss (seriously, they should make mattresses out of that stuff) with the little birds chirping and popping out of the grass. Finally back at the car to find our travel companion patiently waiting, we continued on to our homestay in Vik and had to eat at a gas station, the only thing open with food.
I flew from Seattle to JFK and then caught my connection into Reykjavik. I arrived early in the morning and it was a stark difference between the night lights of all of the planes and city life of New York compared to the pretty desolate landscape of Iceland out of my plane window. I took a quick shuttle from the airport into the city and walked until I stumbled upon my hotel. It is my first European country during all of my travels and it felt strange to me. 
I kind of missed the chaos, warm friendliness, and complete different environment I normally feel when I arrive in a new city. I was fighting off jet lag and the 3 hours of sleep I got on the plane, but decided to push through it and go explore the city. The morning started off sunny, but was soon drizzling just like the saying went in Iceland "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change." 
I walked up and down the waterfront to see the Sun Voyager sculpture and the Harpa Concert Hall, eating street food as I went like lobster soup with cream and a lamb sandwich. 
I got my bearings and checked out the architecture such as Radhus with its moss covered walls and colorful houses and looked as the fun graffiti in alleyways and on the sides of buildings. It wasn't as cold as I had expected, so I was able to wander all day, stopping inside museums or shops when the heavy rains came. Went to Hallgrímskirkja, a church with a statue of Leif Erickson outside. I ate dinner in a cute little pub with a local musician and enjoyed drinking a few Icelandic lagers. I turned in early to get a good sleep before my early dive the next morning.
Luckily, I was not the only one with no dry suit experience. We drove out of the city to Silfra Rift. The place was beautiful on a lake. It was my first time seeing all the black lava rocks and moss of white, green, yellow, and sometimes pink up close. We geared up in the cold wind in our dry suits, after being given a quick briefing of the area and our equipment. 
The suit was huge. They warned us that the water was cold as it came straight from the glaciers (2 degrees Celsius!). After immersing into a little pool, you start swimming through these underwater crevices. It is crystal clear water (delicious to drink). Your head and hands go numb in seconds, as they only have neoprene wet suit material covering them. It is shallow, but amazing. The algae was bright green and the water was so blue. No aquatic life, but I did get to see a duck's butt as he floated on the water above me. 
At one point during the dive, I actually got to reach my arms out and touch both the North American and Eurasian plates at the same time. Super different dive for me, but really fun. I had a few buoyancy issues at first, but got the hang of the dry suit pretty quickly. At one point, I forgot to inflate the suit and not just the BCD and felt the "Dry Suit Squeeze" where it feels like you are being vacuum sealed. It is a cold walk back to the vans, and I was glad I chose to only dive it once instead of going back in.
Afterwards I went to few sights along the Golden Circle. Due to Iceland's constantly changing weather, there are rainbows galore. I even saw double rainbows! First was Selfoss, a massive waterfall. 
The sound of the rushing water was tremendous and depending on the winds, you get pretty wet walking along side of the path leading down to the falls. Again, the rich green vegetation next to the black lava rock was beautiful. Next was Geysir, a hot spring erupting geyser. There is a smell of sulphur in the air, but not overwhelming. 
It was quite active when I was there and pretty fun to try as get as close as possible, waiting for the thing to erupt and hoping the wind didn't blow it your way. I watched many a tourist with a full camera set up get completely drenched right. Wandered around the area, checking out the colorful earth and steam seeping out of areas in the ground. Then I enjoyed my first Icelandic ice cream before heading back to the city.
My last real night in Reyjavik before meeting up with three couchsurfers the next day to check out some of Iceland's Southern and Eastern parts, I watched the sunset from the top of the tower in Hallgrimskirche. It was a very nice view and was even better with the sounds of choir practice coming from below. Then I walked the waterfront again, amongst all the evening joggers and walkers. The Harpa Concert Hall has lights under its glass panels that change color and design, which is fun to see at night. 
Afterwards then I treated myself to one of the most amazing restaurant meals I have ever had. I was given the recommendation by a previous co-worker turned chef. The restaurant was near the waterfront and was called Fiskfelagid or Fish Company. They had a four course Icelandic chef tasting menu, using locally sourced food. It was a splurge, but it was fabulous! I had found that while Iceland is kind of expensive, a meal like this at home would have been comparably priced. The first course was fried cod cheeks & scallops with cauliflower couscous and pureé, topped with smoked icelandic skyr and smoked cod foam. The second course was perch with marinated shrimps, fried chicken skin crisps, & pickled celery. The third course was prime of lamb and oxtail with rhubarb, beets, onions, potatoes, water cress. And lastly, dessert was skyr mousse and with liquorice sponge pudding topped with bilberries. Fantastic!
But it meant today would be my last day in Jerusalem, as Yom Hasho'ah is the day after and it will be difficult to travel. I decided it would be fitting to spend my last day visiting Yad Vashem, the official memorial museum for Holocaust victims. It is outside the city center, but easy to get to by tram. 
Although the museum was a bit chaotic that day, as there was to be a big ceremony for the next day's holiday, it was an absolutely beautiful, educational, peaceful, and heartbreaking experience. The museum itself has great architectural design. There are gardens and educational centers, reading rooms, and exhibits. It does a great job bringing together the history of that time, but also highlights the heroes and positives in such a dark time. Most memorable was the Hall of Names, a commemoration of all victims in a high-domed room with photos that seem to bring life to each person as a deep reflection pool in the pit of the floor reflects the images. 
The walls are lined with binders full of personal stories, memorabilia and quotes that brings an identity and humanness to each victim. In another room is one of the existing copies of Schindler's actual list. And finally was a underground cavern of darkness where a Children's Memorial single flame reflects off mirrors and looks like never-ending stars. 
I was glad to go early, right when the museum opened to experience it before all the big busloads of tour groups arrived. I went for a walk in the gardens next to the museum, in an attempt to visit Hertzl's Tomb, but it was closed as they were preparing for the holiday events.
My flight wasn't until 11:30pm that night, so I decided I would leave my bags at the hotel and go explore the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (mainly since they had air conditioning and I knew it would be a long day and flight home. Turned out to be a great decision. It was a really great museum. I was saddened to learn I had just missed an exhibit on graffiti, but I wandered down to the traveling exhibit hall and found a favorite artist of mine's work. I first learned about Vik Muniz through his documentary called Wasteland where he creates art with the help of people who work and live at a huge dump in Brazil, and changes lives in the process. I was so excited to get to see some of his work!
I headed down to see the cemetery where Oskar Schindler was buried and was the only one there. Schindler's headstone was surprisingly plain, but covered in rocks as is tradition to show respect for the person buried there. I sat with my thoughts and added a special rock I had been carrying to take home to the pile. Then I headed down the winding alleyways of the Old City through the Jewish, Armenian, and Muslim Quarters. It was interesting to see the similarities, but also the distinct differences within such a relatively small area. I basically got lost within the walls until I finally popped out by the Damascus Gate.
Once I got my bearings, I headed to Lions Gate to walk around near the base of the Mount of Olives to see Al-Aqsa Mosque, and then into Dung Gate to see the Western Wall and Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock had been shut down due to protests, but I did visit the Wailing Wall. It is split into a men's and women's side. I felt kind of strange, as I knew it was very powerful for everyone around me, but I didn't fully understand the religious significance. 
I did enjoy the prayers written on pieces of paper and shoved into every crack or crevice on the Wall that was within reach. It was kind of nice to think of the Wall holding so many people's hopes, dreams, and wishes. I may have made some of my own wishes, but only in my head.
I woke up early the next morning to make the trek up the Mount of Olives. Everyone told me to take a taxi, but it looked walkable. The walk to the top is up a steep hill cemetery that is supposedly over 3,000 years old and is full of tombstones (some say over 150,000). It actually was a long way to the top, not helped by the fact that I was weaving in and out, looking at all the different graves. Finally at the top, I was approached by several people saying they would "walk me around." I had heard it was kind of a seedy area and there was a strange vibe, so I declined and lost them. I found a bunch of kids with a very kind woman who was teaching them photography. 
She told me to just blend in with the group, and got me into one of the small church grounds that was closed to the public. I walked around with them as the kids watched what I tried to take pictures of and mimicked me. Then we all shared our pictures. Super cute! We all said goodbye after a while as they headed back to school
I wandered into something called the Mosque of the Ascension. There were some guys outside who explained the significance and waived the admission fee and gave me a tour. There is an indented rock in the middle of the floor, which they explain is considered the last footprint of Jesus before he ascended to heaven. I actually had no idea that Jesus was both part of the Muslim and Christian. I headed over and had a coffee at Seven Arches, enjoying the lookout view over Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock. A guide that drove a tour bus offered me a ride back down the hill, but I decided I still had enough energy and could explore more by walking down. 
On the way, I stopped by the Dominus Flevit church that had beautiful and quiet gardens and view of the Dome of the Rock from the altar. A family sang hymns in the church and did not seemed bothered while I sat and enjoyed it. I also checked out the Garden of Gethsemane with worlds oldest olive trees (over 2000 years old). 
At the base of the hill, the Church of All Nations had some of my favorite architecture inside with lots of Corinthian columns and blue ceilings with tree trunks and stars. I wandered back through the Old Quarter and was invited in to the home of an odd Jewish guy. We sat and chatted over coffee and then I went to find some street food and picked up a yummy pizza of sorts that had za'atar spread on flatbread. Exhausted, I headed back to my hosts' apartment, chatted with them for a bit, and crashed out.