Started the morning with a knock on the door at around 5:30 am that the northern lights were out. They weren’t strong, but still pretty cool to see. It made me wonder though if I had seen them as they almost looked like stray clouds. Sadly the camera didn’t pick up any of it.
Went back to bed for a few hours. At breakfast, we were told there was a little change of plans and that since the sun was out we would go hike the Drangajokull glacier first before horse back riding. It was 1 1/2 hours drive to get to place we would start our hike to the glacier and the hike was about 1 1/2 hours to the glacier. It was a desolate area with only 3 other people there. We walked over rocks, rivers and boulders to get to the glacier. At one point, the river was pink from the iron in the nearby rock. When we got up to the glacier, they said they had a treat for us. I was thinking it would be hot chocolate, but then I saw one of the guides pull out a coke bottle with orange liquid. Not knowing what it was, I had her pour me some. The other guide then put some glacier ice in our cup. The liquid ended up being whiskey. Surprisingly tasty! Especially with 10,000 year old ice in it. I took a bunch of pictures of and in the glacier. I can now say I touched a glacier on both hemispheres. I am truly a lucky person! After spending about a 1/2 hour on the glacier, we walked back.
On the drive back to the guest house, one of the guides asked if we wanted to go kayaking after dinner. We thought it odd to sea kayak in the dark, but figured they must know what they were doing and agreed, however, before dinner, another guide stopped by to say there wouldn’t be kayaking tonight because it would be dark, but we could go at 8:30 am tomorrow. Seems a little early, but I guess I am game.
At dinner tonight, we had a salted fish appetizer in olive oil. The main dish was white goose with a pesto sauce. For dessert, I had a blueberry and ice cream dish.
Instead of kayaking, after dinner we drove down the road to a neighbors hot pot (think large hot tub, but filled with water from the hot springs) and watched the northern lights. They were just spectacular! I didn’t want to leave although I was very hot and it was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit out. We eventually left at around 10 pm. Came back to the guesthouse and stood outside watching the Northern Lights until 11:00 pm. I didn’t want to go back in. Sadly none of us got our cameras to take a picture, so I will have to etch the sight in my memory.
[modula id=”4445″]