Vik - Skaftafell to Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

After a reasonable night's sleep and breakfast, we headed off at about 8.15. Very few clouds in the sky which is a lovely blue so everyone is happy that there is no rain forecast for today.We head off towards Skftafell National Park, however we stop in 'The Middle of Nowhere' which supposedly was the site of an old farmhouse but now is the site of numerous little rock formations (many of them made by tourists) and it is a really odd little site. Legend now has it that they are little houses for the hidden people (elves) so Jan, naturally, had to attempt to add an extra floor on one of the little folk's dwellings!!! Then onto to various waterfalls that were incredibly 'wow' factor.  There are so many waterfalls in this place that it is impossible to stop at everyone of them. On to Skaftafell National Park where the diversity of sites is amazing.  One side of the road will have lush green woodlands or farmed land, while the other view of is black mountains or the black lava 'sand' for as far as the eye can see, or then there will be large lava carrying streams that are fast flowing down from the mountains as they wind their way out to sea.  And then when you look further ahead there is sheer white at the top of mountains, which is the glacier.  You almost wonder if your eyes are deceiving you - is it the glacier or is it fluffy white clouds? In the distance we see the country's highest peak - Hvannadalshnukur (2,100 metres).  Bjornee is an excellent source of information and tells us that although the park was founded in 1967 it wasn't until 1974 that a ring-round around it opened which made it easily accessible. Earlier roads and bridges were washed away (or more correctly swept away) after volcano eruptions.
As we continue driving we pass a number of views of the glacier.  Apparently Vatnajokull is the largest ice cap in Europe (about 8,300 sq km).  Postcards and photos are just not going to do it justice. We pass several outlet glaciers on the way to Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon where we board one of the 'duck' boat thingies that drives on land then goes into the water and becomes a boat.  (Have a photo but you'll have to wait until I eventually get time to download photos).  Anyway it was one of those most fantastic travel moments that I will never forget. I put the experience right up there with my balloon flight over Goreme in Turkey, walking on the Athabascar glacier in the Rockies and now a Glacier lagoon boat ride amongst floating icebergs! Took heaps of photos and they have come out brilliantly. For those who saw the James Bond movie 'Die Another Day', one of the scenes were filmed in this lagoon. After our 45 minute boat ride where we even got to taste a bit of 1000 year old iceberg (and Jan got to hold a huge chunk of iceberg)we were back on the coach for a short drive to the nearby glacier where we were able to clamber over rocks to be alongside the glacier.  More 'wow' moments.  Finally at about 3 p.m. we stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe where we both had a big bowl of vegetable soup - plus Jan had an icecream (okay, so I'm a dobber...) snow on our return journey back to Vik we have a couple more stops at various waterfalls and even a stop at the Dwarf Basalt columns.
We have had an absolutely fantastic day.  It has been non stop, but every part of the day has just been great. Finally just before 7 p.m. we get back to our hotel and enough time for a quick cuppa and then to dinner. Jan decided that she was going to have a local beer with her dinner - I've never seen her drink beer before so had no idea what she'd be like on it.  So up she goes to the bar and asks for her beer.  When she came back with the beer I asked her if she had used the Icelandic name for the pale ale and she told me she had and how she pronounced it.  I said it probably wasn't said the way she had said it and I told her she sounded more Danish than Icelandic.  With that she told me that she only knew one Scandinavian language.  With that, I told her that talking in English but saying it using her best version of the Swedish chef from the Muppets does not mean that she can speak a foreign language.  I think I hurt her feelings???
However, we moved on from that moment and went into the dining room. I had the dubious pleasure of sitting at the end of the long table opposite Alex (in his late 70s by our estimation, from Fyfe, Scotland).  He is diabetic and left his insulin home in Scotland. He has more teeth missing that present and those he does have haven't seen a dentist since medieval times. He walks with a cane and is very unsteady on his feet, is always late for the bus and being hard of hearing doesn't always get the message.  Anyway, while we were having dinner he was busy with his shoe horn trying to get his shoes on his feet properly. Eventually he got them on properly and promptly showed me.  I told him that he needed to sleep in them tonight so that it won't take so long for him to get ready in the morning.  He said he'll need to be up by 3.30 to be ready for our 8.15 start.  I offered to set his alarm for him. (Earlier on the bus when he was last to get on, 10 minutes after everyone else, I asked him if he had a note from his mum to explain why he was late again, but I don't think he heard me). Anyway, eventually as the evening wore on and my patience with him wore down even further, he looks across the table and says to me, "Why was everyone singing 'Happy birthday' to me (meaning him) on the bus before".  Well I totally cracked up, as we had sung happy birthday whilst on the bus, but to Ian from Glasgow who happened to have his birthday today. Jan was laughing so much that she was crying.  I couldn't talk for laughing so much as I tried to explain that it was the fellow sitting 2 down from him who was having a birthday and that's who we were all singing to.  God knows what he will think tomorrow when we sing Happy Birthday to Mara for her birthday!!! 
Anyway, he's in the room next to us so I told him that if he gets into any difficulty during the night to bang on the wall - the wall the opposite side of our room!  I wonder if he'd like to meet Marianne from Austria???
And on that note I bid you goodnight...