Thursday, August 28, 2008

Skaftafell, Svartifoss and Jökulsarlón

(After crossing one small creek on an aptly named 4 x 4 road, I bounced and scraped my way over rocks until I got to this next crossing. I didn't think my tiny rental and I stood a chance, so we sadly turned back before reaching the enticingly named Beautiful Falls.)

(Svartifoss - Black Falls. These black basalt columns are the ones after which the church in Reykjavík is modeled.)

(Traditional Icelandic turf houses at Skaftafell National Park. On the back side of this park is the largest glacier outside of the Poles.)

(After some wind and rain, things calmed down when I reached Jökulsarlón, a huge glacial lagoon filled with icebergs.)

(This lake actually didn't even exist until the 1930s and has been growing steadily ever since. Global warming, shmobal warming. Menh.)

(The same picture, but without that little piece of ice in the front. I like them both.)

(This entire lagoon was frozen for one of the recent James Bond movies in which the setting served as Siberia. It was also used in Lara Craft: Tomb Raider and some other old Bond movie.)

(Looking along the rocky banks of the lagoon, I saw 5 or 6 seals swimming around in the water, one of which stared me down for about 2 minutes. I think we know who won that battle.)

(More ice. Yes, I touched the water, and yes, it was cold. Makes sense.)

(The chunks of ice eventually make their way from the lagoon through a small channel into the ocean where some of them are washed up on to the black sand beach before eventually melting away...or the return of winter, whichever comes first.)

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