winter revisited

After a few days of relatively sunny, warm weather  it is now blustery outside and snowing. Not a bad change as I feel like nestling in for a few days of work inside after roaming around the countryside. I've officially done a good portion of the tourist destinations around Reykjavik.

Day 2 (of the car rental):

My flatmate Ashild and I decided to take on the Golden Circle. The  route  travels to the Althing ( the site of the early settlement's parliament ), the Geysirs and the Gullfoss  (a picturesque waterfall situated in the agricultural segment of the southwestern part of the island). We also drove within eyesight of Mount Hekla, once thought to be the gateway to hell (!).

The  location of the Althing was amazing. Not 20 minutes out of Reykjavik we were traversing a barren white snowscape with volcanos and billows of steam in the distance. This changed to browner, shrub covered lava fields as we descended into the valley towards the lake Thingvallavatn. At the base of the valley where the river enters the lake is the location of the Althing. I guess the Vikings knew a thing or two about drama because the location is stunning. I now know where the name "Logberg" comes from as this is where it is located. The "Logberg" or "Law Rock" is where the "logsogumadur" or "law speaker" recited the law to the assembled parliament each year. I had always associated Logberg with the Icelandic newspaper where David used to work so it's nice to know the reference in the 'old country'.

Next on the list was the Geysirs which took about an hour to drive to. We stopped at the side of an old volcano crater on the way which was neat. The land surrounding the geysirs is bubbly and steaming and too hot to walk on. The main Geysir doesn't go off very often because a bunch of tourists threw rocks into it in the 1950s which plugged it up (darn tourists), but the other geysir called Strokkur goes off about every 5 minutes so we saw that a few times. No matter how cynical you want to be about tourist destinations there's a reason why everyone goes there and the geysirs were no exception! I, like everyone and their dog, took a picture of the geysir going off. I also took a picture of everyone taking pictures in order to feel more intellectual about the whole process. Really,  I was squealing with excitement along with everyone else ;)

Last stop was the Gullfoss waterfall which was quite stunning- especially since the walls of the canyon were covered in ice and snow. Some tourists were going ridiculously close to the edge of a snow covered precipice so we didn't linger for fear of seeing some one slip off. I think I worry more about tourists since living in Banff and seeing all the crazy things people do on vacation. We decided to go and have a coffee at the gift shop. All in all a good day.

Day 3:

This was the last day I had the car and so I decided to go back to the lava fields that I had noticed on the way in from the airport. I feel that I actually began to hit my stride with the picture taking. I think  it was helped by the overcast day- good light and more atmosphere. I even found a good, but cheesy, neon motel sign to make me feel at home. I rounded off the day by visiting the Blue Lagoon and checking out the local bouldering gym ;) 

The Blue Lagoon is notoriously crowded and expensive but as I visited on a Monday in April it was pretty quiet. Quite an odd place though. I descended into a milky blue pool surrounded by black lava. Other tourists and hot springs aficionados emerged from the mist with white mud plastered all over their faces. I guess the silica mud is supposed to be a good exfoliant. I figured "when in Rome" and plastered myself with the goo too. I followed this up by taking in a steam bath in a hobbit hole-esque steam room where the steam comes up through the floorboards. I have to admit experiencing alternate bouts of glee and smothered giggles at the whole experience. It was pretty ridiculous but I'm not going to bash it because the water was a fine temperature and I stayed there for over an hour.

It was also great to have a session at the climbing gym- I really do miss it when I don't climb. I'm also feeling much better after battling a cold for the better part of two weeks so getting some exercise felt nice!

Today was a logistics day as I discovered there is a black and white darkroom where I can process my dream pinhole photographs while I'm here. ( Previous examples of this work are at : http://www.sarahfullerphotography.ca/portfolio_dream.html.) If I can find a scanner I may actually be able to post pictures on this blog! Whoa! I've also decided to process some of my E-6 and C-41 to see what I've got for images so far. I'll have to admit my work is trending off into another direction from my original proposal..Not surprising I suppose. I'll have to see what comes of it! In any case, I actually 'made' something today by developing the film so that's an accomplishment! I've also bought a sketchpad and pastels so may actually do some drawing. What a novelty for me!