Though not quite the first attraction of the day, the first thing of day 5 that I thought was fun was that I got a box of chocolate milk with this cat character on it. I’ve seen it a couple of times on the sides of buildings as we’ve been driving and in stores when we’ve stopped, and I have no idea what its name is but I absolutely love it.
Back to the actual first stop: the Diamond Beach. It’s a black sand beach around a glacial lagoon, where said glacier breaks into little icebergs and drops chunks of ice, the “diamonds,” on the shore. The ice itself was nice and clear, and the surrounding hills were also amazing.
The next location was Skaftafell, a national park. Despite the ice, the hike was actually really warm, probably thanks to the bright sun out. Its main attraction was Svartifoss, the Black Waterfall, named for its exposed and well-defined basalt columns. I’ve seen basalt columns in pictures before, but this was the first time I’ve ever been able to see them up close – the patterns in the stone are rather interesting.
On the way back, we stopped by two other places: the Skeiðará Bridge Monument and Dverghamrar, the Dwarf Rocks. The former is a twisted bridge piece torn off during a massive glacial flood, serving as a reminder of the forces of nature. The latter was another set of basalt columns (though this time, we were able to get close and even climb up on them), where we got a great vantage point of the surrounding landscape.
The day ended (and, technically, the next day started) off with the Northern Lights, visible right from our hotel, along with a clear view of the stars. This was the first time I’d ever seen them, and it was really pretty – though we couldn’t see the colors with the naked eye, there were still bright bands of light covering the sky, and we got to see the green from our cameras.
Swanson School of Engineering 