things seen: in Iceland

waterfalls over lava formations, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

(Above: Water falling over lava formations near Reykholt.)

Without going into too much detail I have chose a few (ok, like 20) of the best pictures (of a possible 400 +) I took in Iceland to share with you all. I'll try to keep my descriptions brief, because it'll be long just in terms of photography.

First off, there is not one thing, one geography, one mindset that can describe Iceland. Sure, a lot of it is still pure, wild (cold) nature, but it is so vastly different from one moment to the next, it's hard to believe you're still in the same country, let alone such a small one. We drove the circumference (on the "Ring Road" or Road 1) and saw so many amazing, varying sights.


I took so many pictures of interesting street art, it was hard to pick one.


Boiling mud pits. Sulphuric (aka STINKY) boiling mud pits. The land around this area was covered in red sand. It seriously looked like we had landed on Mars.


Volcanic crater/lake.


Glacial Ice. Apparently only blue because water can't absorb blue out of all the colours in the spectrum, and thus when hit by light, blue is the colour that reflects. We got to eat a piece of this 2000 year old glacier. Surprisingly refreshing and not at all stale, given it's age.


Black Sand Plains. Which quickly turned into...


A sand storm. Through which we (ok, DH) had to drive.


Volcanic ash covering a field, from the most recent eruption.


Turf Roof Houses. Surprisingly roomy.


Thingvellir national park. Where the two plates meet and where Iceland held it's first parliament in the 10th century.


More street art, I suppose. But a fun (and perhaps helpful?) reminder for guys (and any ladies who like to rock the tie)!

And of course, there was knitting... knitted goods, knitted artifacts, even some knit-tagging. But that'll have to wait for next time!