Tuesday July 12

Last day in Iceland. We slowed down today. Slept relatively late and enjoyed a nice Keflivik Hotel breakfast. Packed up our laundry for a spin at the Cafe Laundromat in the capital city of Reykjavik. But first I gassed up the car using a discount card given to me at the rental agency. I saved 25 cents! 

    Off to our first stop - the Blue Lagoon. This exotic sounding place is a geothermal pool where people go all through the year to dip in the warm mysterious turquoise mineral rich water and cover themselves with silica mud. The water temperature is near 100F. We arrived in the morning but were turned away - next available time was at 9 pm (open past midnight. Remember it never gets dark.) We're flexible. Headed off to Reyjkavik for a day in the city. Cafe Laundromat first stop. The rest of the day we just meandered the central streets of Reykjavik which has a population of 130,000 out of the country's total of 350,000 inhabitants, is a clean city with an abundance tourists and easy to get around. It is a major airline hub and despite its northern latitude, remains busy all year round. After dinner we headed back out to The Blue Lagoon. 

  It's an odd site - set in an isolated part of the countryside, within a moonscape lava field stretching for miles and then there is a large geothermal power plant spewing steam abutting the most visited attraction in Iceland - The Blue Lagoon. A very clever person decided to merge the warm water from the geothermal process with the Icelandic culture of relaxing in the hot spring fed pools and saunas.

       There is an almost ritual like preparation required to enter the Blue Lagoon to keep it clean. Shower before entering. No street shoes allowed in the licker room or Lagoon area. 

      The lagoon area itself was quiet with a New Age music feel but no music. The air temp was in the 50s and water around 100F. Steam rises from the blue green translucent water. It is quite tranquil but the presence of the power plant just down the road is incongruent. There is also construction going on - adding a luxury hotel. Apparently people visit The Blue Lagoon all year round. Along the edge of the pool sits a small kiosk with buckets of silica mud to wipe on your face purported to be healthy for your skin. People float around the pool surrounded by huge lava stones with silica gel masks. The scene looks a little like a zombie movie pool party. But it's not really a pool party. The tone is hushed. We were all surprised by the relaxing and enjoyable ambience and were glad to have experienced it. There was a casualty however. It turns out that waterproof iPhone cases are not necessarily water proof. Alex can give you the details, 

    After a couple hours in the moon pool we headed back to our hotel to pack up and try to sleep a bit before our early morning flight out. Our flight was delayed about 90 minutes giving us time for breakfast and a chance to reach REM sleep. 

    Our journey through Iceland brought us to volcanoes, glaciers cliffs and puffins. Wow!