We set out early today. Rising with the sun to make an early shuttle to the Golden Circle. We had tickets for a day trip that would take us all over the south west of the island, visiting the natural wonders of the Glacier waterfall, the North American / European Tectonic rift, the seat of the first Parliament in the world and finally the famous Geysir in Geysir. The spurt of water and gas known the world over is named after a place… who’d have known.

First stop was a thermal power station, drawing it’s heat and energy directly from the steam and hot water rising naturally from the ground below. We learnt that Iceland is entirely powered off thermal energy drawn from the pressure the two tectonic plates create by fusing through the middle of Iceland. Iceland is unique in that it sits on both the North American and European Tectonic plates with a 7km rift between the two that is constantly expanding 2 cm every year. Hot water rises from deep within the earths crust at a temperature of 83 degrees and is pumped to Reykjavik several kilometers away without losing more than 2 degrees so efficient is the system of pipes. Additionally, rising steam provides steam pressure to drive huge turbines that power the nation. What a dream to have your country’s energy needs met in a green earth friendly way, using the earth’s natural renewable resources to great effect.

Next stop was a rift cut through the earth by the constant melting flow of Iceland’s second largest glacier. The land out here is flat for miles, until it hits the base of the distant mountains and the Glacier beyond. As we disembarked the bus there was the distinct rumble of a distant river, though the ground around us was flat and undisturbed. Shirin and I walked around the Visitor’s Center and down a pathway towards the noise when the shadow in the distance rapidly grew into a Grand Canyon like chasm cut in the earth. The work of a Glacier melt river slicing down through the bedrock like a knife through butter.

At this point in the river, the land had fought back and won, forming a vast waterfall several hundred feet across and a hundred feet high. The sound was deafening, the water boiling as it tumbled to the rocks below. Shirin and I walked out to where the waterfall tipped over the edge and took pictures. She got worried and vocalized loudly as I bent down to touch the freezing glacier melt. “Don’t” she cried, terrified I’d lose my footing and fall in. 6 months ago I wouldn’t have thought a moment about climbing down those rocks to touch the freezing water, but my new wife had a point. I am not to think of myself anymore, but my family. We worked our way back along the ridge and up the staircase to the waiting bus. Apparently the Icelanding government had wanted to harness the power of the waterfall for a hydroelectric plant but a woman had petitioned for it to remain in it’s natural state as a symbol of Iceland’s natural wonders and she had won. Thank God she had. What a fantastic splendor to witness out in the middle of nowhere.

Next the bus swung deep into the heart of Iceland where the greatest show awaited. As the bus pulled to a stop the distant geyser gave a show, exploding water 40 feet into the air. We would stop here for a while affording us time for pictures and a spot of lunch. Shirin and I went straight for the geyser and stood fascinated as the water seemingly boiled up out of the ground and bubbled over the edge of the geyser pool. Steam rolled out and away, like some witches brew and bubbling water spilled through a cut in the stone, running in rivulets down the hill towards a field dotted with plumes of steam and bubbling ponds. Suddenly the geyser pond blistered like a balloon expanding releasing in a sudden burst an explosion of water and steam shooting into the sky. So sudden was the explosion I nearly fell over, having preoccupied myself with the study of a bumble bee bathing itself in the runoff. We stayed for 3 more explosions, the earth sending forth another torrent every five minutes or so. Sometimes there’d be a tremor following the first eruption and a second would follow in quick suit. Sometimes the water would boil as if to burst, only to build the tension that much more as the bubble subsided into the pond. The surface water seemed to bubble and retreat, almost as if the ground, the very earth was breathing.

Our final stop was the actual location of the world’s first parliament. A raised slope at the base of the wall where the North American Tectonic plate rises out of the ground like a 5 story granite wall. It is immense and dramatic and a fine place for the seat of so important an institution. Fascinatingly, Iceland’s disparate chiefs gathered together in the early 1200’s to form the world’s first parliament. A means of unifying laws and practices for various peoples of Iceland at that time. The power of the hill was put in the hands of one man, the law speaker, who would dictate the laws as passed down through oral tradition. For many years the laws were not written as there was no literacy so all history was an oral or pictorial history. Parliament meetings would take days if not weeks to complete and all in attendance would set up shop making good use of the captive audience.