Iceland Pictures - Day 2 - Hveragardi, Athingy, Geysir

     Oh the joys of being hungover in a foreign country on a tight time schedule. As became customary on the trip, we woke up to Neil (who has some diabolic trait of rising as soon as it turns light out) screaming, "Daylight's a wasting, boys!" So we left Reykjavik in a hurry heading for the Icelandic plains and the site of their old school parlimentary gathering, and Geysir, where all "geysers" get their name.

     We drove through "HvammSandwichvm" (Hveragardi- but who can say that?) and stopped for another round of hot dogs, but got sidetracked by a really good backery. Great sandwhiches. Don't worry we stopped back for hot dogs the next day. And they were damn good, too. So the route for the day was Highway 1 (the "circle route" - we actually took the wrong road but we weren't no stinkin' backtrackers) to Hvamsandwich then up 35 to 36 to Laugarvatn and Pingvellir.

     A word about Pingvellir: it was the site of the old Icelandic parliment, where Icelanders would travel once a year to meet, make laws, settle disputes (usually violently), and generally have a good time. There is also a fissure in the earth there that splits Iceland in two. Pretty cool.

     So, slightly hungover and still mostly jetlagged, the trusty Opel station wagon sped us on our way . . .

Still being slightly messed up, we missed the "correct" turn to head to the Alpingy and of course, we ain't no damn backtrackers, so we figured we could just travel the long way around, through Hveragardi and up from the East side.	Anyways these shots are from a cool overlook on Highway 1 overlooking Hveragardi (where we turned onto Highway 35 and headed North).
Shannon's shot from the overlook. I'm not sure which was more grey, the sky or our heads after the night before.	We stopped at a small rest area (they sold hotdogs) to take care of business. It was right on the outskirts of Pingvellir (still Hwy 36).
The 2 tectonic plates that Iceland sits on caused a huge volcanic ridge to rise up out of the earth. There were plenty of waterfalls, and this was actually inside the fissure.	You had to follow a walk way up and over the south side of the fissure then you climb back down into the crack.
Fortunately for our not so coordinated selves, they had a wooden walk way up and in to the waterfall.	It was also basically our first oppurtunity of the day to take some pictures, so we took plenty, yes indeedy.
Here is Seth manuevering in to get a shot of Neil, who is risking life and limb (or at least a mild headache) by getting so close to the falls.	Two wet guys.
Reorganizing the Opel before the trek up into the Alpingy. We couldn't figure out how to get up there, everything around here was closed, including the hotel which apparently has some nice leather couches good for sipping whiskey.	Eventually our 4 heads together could sort of figure it out and headed up a soggy trail beside the hotel. The church in the distance is Iceland's oldest existing church. There were absolutely no tourists here. I imagine in the summer this place is packed with gapers checking everything out, at least there was tons of parking for tour buses and wide paths and lots of places to sit.
As best as we could figure, this was the infamous "Law Rock" where the King made judgements about who was right, and sentenced people to death or slavery.	Of course, we made some proclomations from the Law Rock as well.
After proclaiming things like "we shall only use viking names" etc., we walked down the path towards a waterfall . . .	. . . and immediately climbed on the rocks surrounding it.
My knee was in a lot of pain thanks to Shannon pushing me down the stairs at the bar the night before, but I managed to hobble around ok on the rocks. Somehow, this is a different picture than the previous one.	Seth climbed on the rocks, too.
Here's a shot looking back at the law rock, and what I would presume when it's tourist season is a flagpole that proudly flies the Icelandic flag.	Oh boy, isn't Shannon funny, Seth?
The waterfalls spilled out of the crack in the earth into the plains.	After the falls we headed back past the law rock, and as young men are wont to do, we climbed up.
Here we are on top of the crack in the earth. The kept it roped off, because just beyond the rope there was about a 200 ft straight drop off into the fissure. Didn't really stop us from ducking the rope and checking it out.	Butler surveys the terrain.
There was a concrete post (seen in the previous picture) with a cast iron "locator dial" on top of it. We all picked out our favorite places in Iceland and pointed to them.	This is us driving away; the sun came out sometimes and it was beautiful when it did.
Here we are not backtracking on the way to Geysir.