It's actually a bit brighter than this in person. Hard to take a decent picture through the window.
It's hard to see with the houses, but I'd like to walk down to the sound either tomorrow or Friday to actually see the sun "set" and get some good pictures of the light like this. It's crazy how light it is! We can't get over it. Katie says she woke up around 2am last night and was sure it was still light out. I don't think it ever really gets totally dark at this time of the year.
Today was another cool day. We went to the Blue Lagoon, a thermal hot spring about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik and one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions. It's a huge spring (something like 5000 square meters) with water constantly circling through it. The water, a mix of salt and fresh water, is light blue and very milky due to the extreme amount of minerals in it; silica and sulfur are the two main ones.
Some of the water supplied by the springs. This area is outside of the actual Blue Lagoon spa area. Also, all that dark rock is lava rock.
The water is also just over 100 degrees, so it's really nice and comfortable, particularly when the air is only in the 40s or so.
At the Lagoon, you just wander around the pool. The deepest point is only four feet or so, so it's shallow and you just stand or sit around. There's a bar where you can get drinks and areas where you can put on mud masks (of the silica mud that's in the lake). It's funny to see people wandering around with the masks on their faces - men and women. We were lucky that there weren't too many people when we were there, so it wasn't overly crowded. It also made the experience feel less touristy, though even had there been more people there, it still would have been really cool! It was probably just more relaxing today than it would be in, say, July or August.
Looking out over the Lagoon from the main entry.
Some of the other areas to wade around.
You can see that the black lava rocks are covered with the minerals of the water. They become white and glossy and as smooth as marble. Same goes for the wood in the water; it almost seems like petrified wood. Those minerals are the same things that are in the mud masks.
A better view of the main spring with lots of steam. If you stand by the spring the steam engulfs you and you can't see anything around you until the wind blows the steam away.
We waded around in the water for a few hours. Twice we put on the mud masks and another time got to try a free sample of an algae mask offered by one of the girls who worked there. Katie and I also tried the sauna and steam rooms but not for very long.
Creatures from the Blue Lagoon.
And more.
It was a nice, lazy day - but a lazy day in a place that's very cool and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! So the good kind of lazy.
We had to shower for a long time after being in the lagoon because of all the minerals. I shampooed and conditioned my hair about four times and it still feels kind of icky. But my skin is nice and smooth! And I'm (wishfully) thinking that all the heat and steam helped with the cold I'm fighting right now. We'll see...
Outside the Blue Lagoon near some of the other water.
Tomorrow is a big nature-y tour. We're going to see all kinds of stuff - and it's supposed to be a clear day. Should have lots of cool pictures tomorrow!
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