Strandarkirkja, Thingvellir, Oxararfoss, Úlfljótsvatnskirkja

Just  moments after pressing the "publish" button to yesterday's blog, I received notification that my arrival COVID test was negative and I was released from quarantine.  My plan had been to spend most of the day photographing and arrive at my hotel in late afternoon.  Alas, I had skipped most of my list in order to quarantine.  Now it was 4pm and I thought about sitting around JFK the night before.  It was a time to do something.  My favorite of the day that had been skipped was a church along the southern coast, about an hour from Reykjavik.  So I headed out in rush hour traffic.

Strandarkirkja (Lutheran) is known as the miracle church dating from the 12th century.  It was founded after sailors in peril prayed for salvation and landed at Angel's Bay.  To this day it is a haven for maritime prayers.

Up today and number one on my list for the entire trip is Thingvellir National Park where the first assembly in Iceland was held in 930.  The place has been home to a church for a thousand years.

The mid-Atlantic ridge formed due to the splitting apart of the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate.  This is illustrated by the Almannagjá rift gorge which visually shows the walls of the separating plates.  I wanted to stand with one foot on each plate.

I promised you waterfalls and Oxararfoss is the first of many.  It also gives me a chance to practice my "long exposure photography" techniques.  

This is what it looks like when I photograph and why you probably don't want to be with me.

I shouldn't have been worried about crowds.  This is the bus parking lot around mid-day.

Úlfljótsvatnskirkja is another very pretty church in a pretty setting.

Also on my list are Icelandic horses, unique to the country.  This is my first try.  The horses are not hard to find.  What is hard is to find a place to pull off of the road.  Icelandic roads are narrow with no shoulders.  This isn't a great shot.  I'll try to do better.

Just a little farther down the road I spot another church that wasn't on my list.

Continuing to my hotel I pass and give you a sneak preview of tomorrow, Strokkur, a geysir that erupts every four to five minutes.  Iceland gave the world the word "geysir" but the world misspelled it.

Along the way today, I found that could read Icelandic very well.

And finally, here are some other animals that I met today.

It's late.  I'm tired.  Goodnight.