Iceland & Germany

Sitting here, watching the countryside roll by, I decided to write for a bit. Since I last wrote, I have done so much! In Iceland, I rode an Icelandic horse in the country & it was so beautiful! And the horse was so nice. There were purple lupines all over the place, quiet streams, and mountains rising in the not too distant background. It was quite nice. I hadn't been on a horse since I was a kid, but I really like it!

After that, I went on a free city tour and learned more a out Reykjavik & met some girls who I went to the street festival with afterwards. In Reykjavik, you can actually walk through the back yards of political leaders! And into many of the buildings! I have found that Icelanders are quite trusting, which is refreshing. The crime rate is almost  it existent there, too.

We got to hear some nice music at the street festival & the sun felt so nice (Iceland is a bit chilly). After that, I went up I to the top of a church on a hill and got a great view of the city.

The next day, I went on the classic Golden Circle tour. We got to see the edges of the North American tectonic plate & a ways down the road, the edge of the European plate. The reason Iceland does not split in half is that the volcanoes fill in the gaps. We also got to see the famous geysir, which is quite different than Old Faithful. Instead of building up, this one just shoots up, forcefully  with no real warning. It is pretty funny as it startled you the first time.

We also visited the Golfoss waterfall, which is known to be more impressive than Niagara Falls. It is a huge waterfall that cascades down, flattens briefly, then drops down into a gorge. It is pretty amazing!

Germany
I flew I to Munich, Germany, and a friend picked me up. I didn't have much time there, and she has small children, so I didn't do much. We went to the old part of the city and got to hear/see the Glockenspiel (sp?). It is a lot of bells and some figures high up on the old building moving  around, telling a story. Other than that, we walked around looking at some of the old buildings.

When it came time to take my first train, I actually got nervous. It didn't help that I got there later than I wanted to. I did get onto the train in time, but spent the next 20 or so minutes walking up and down the small, crowded hall, bumping into people and moving very slowly, unable to find a seat. This did not help my nervousness. In the end, I had to just sit in the isle with people constantly walking and making me move. But there were many of us doing this, and we had a nice conversation while we enjoyed the scenery. Of all my trains, this is the only one I didn't have a seat reservation for & I wished I did. The other ones so far have been quite easy and quiet.

Austria has been amazing, but you'll have to wait for that post. Time to get back to watching the scenery roll by.