Spend the morning being lazy and reading. Later went for a walk and hiked among the tons of public art (sculptures) outside the city center.

Waited for the tour bus (again) and was starting to panic (again) when they were fifteen minutes late, but they showed up.

First stop was Kerið Crater, not to far outside of Reykjavik. It's an old crater - quite deep - with a lake inside it. Nothing like the scale of Crater Lake in Oregon, but also very beautiful. The surrounding rocks are such a bright green from the moss and grass. Here I realized that it may be beautiful and sunny out but it's cold! Maybe 4° C (39° F) and with the brisk wind...

We drove by the Langjökull glacier - Europe's second largest - and it does look big. Stopped at Gullfoss (literally "Golden Falls"). These are beautiful falls. They cut diagonally across a canyon and fall in a couple levels. You can get as close as you like (or dare) to the water at the top or half way down. Hiked around the falls and along the canyon rim for an hour.

Geysir was the first geyser ever discovered - and is where the word "geyser" comes from. Unfortunately the Geysir geyser is mostly dormant. They used to pour soap into it to force it to erupt on demand - obviously not done anymore. Fortunately there is another geyser (Strokkur) in the park that erupts every four to six minutes. It's no where as high as Geysir, but still spectacular - and not much of a wait (as I remembered sitting in a hail storm in Yellowstone waiting for the Riverside geyser for over an hour - before giving up!) Sat through five or six eruptions then wandered through the other springs - not too exciting since the wind rippled the surface preventing good visibility in the normally crystal blue water.

The last stop on the tour was Hveragerði a large village (almost two thousand people) that is almost exclusively supported by geothermically heated (like all of Iceland) greenhouse farming. The greenhouse we got to visit was a total tourist trap - tacky souvenirs took up at least eighty percent of the the space.

Back at the hostel I just couldn't motivate myself to go get diner so I made do with the vending machine (not exactly healthy). At some point a large fireworks display started going off over the city. I stepped out to watch it and when I glanced the other direction got a real show! The Aurora Borealis display was incredible.

It started out as a line across the sky. It looked like a long cloud lit by the city lights underneath - except it was slightly green and the city wasn't under it. Really not that much different from the faint aurora I saw over Isle Royal in Michigan - but much brighter. As I watched it clarified and turned into a wall or ribbon - and then in began to dance. "Dance" seems like such a cheesey way to describe it, but really it is the only way I can - and it's inadequate. The ribbon looped and swirled into its self, creating a spiral maze with purple and blue flares as well as green. The aurora was spectacular and grand, yet personal. It touched me and I couldn't help but wonder if everyone else would see the same thing, or if it would be a totally different show for everyone who watched. Eventually it settled down to the same faint "cloud" and I felt the cold again.

Got my gear mostly packed so I could more easily catch the five thirty bus tot the airport. Finally got to bed around one - the five AM alarm is going to be brutal...