Iceland Day Two: In Which We Do NOT See The Northern Lights

February 26, 2012 in Europe, Iceland, Travelogue

Sad but true. We did not see the Northern Lights.

I was really hoping too… and we’re going to take our own car and head out tomorrow night for another search.

But what we HAVE seen has been phenomenal.

First, I have an announcement to make: I slept ELEVEN hours last night. Eleven! Me, the chronic non-sleeper. This was a very good start to the day.

Partial list of what we have seen so far:

A “blue” Arctic Fox
Puffins
Volcanos
Waterfalls (more than we can count, and spectacular!)
Black volcanic sand
Glaciers
Water in every form: Snow, sleet, rain, hail, fog, slush, boiling, freezing, frozen… all in nature within a 2 hour drive

What we’ve tasted:

I told you about the dried fish and “putrified shark,” the preferred term, evidently, yesterday.
Lobster soup (out of this world good!)
Local beer
Various candies we can’t pronounce all involving chocolate, some licorice as well
Heavy seeded bread
And a schwarma plate. I know, I know… but we love it and it’s hard to find on Cape Cod.

Again it’s late… and again I’m going to let the pictures do the talking. Iceland reminds us in lots of ways of Hawaii. No surprise, I suppose since they were both birthed from fire through the oceans. The black rocks, the volcanic sand, the intense heat from deep inside the earth, the bananas. Yes, they DO grow bananas here, they have the biggest banana crop of any European country, according to our guide. Of course they’re all grown in greenhouses, but bananas are bananas, right?

Of course we didn’t hike on any glaciers in Hawaii…