Southern Iceland

After exploring the region around Vik, we headed back to Reykjavik for our final day in Iceland, stopping at several locations along the way.

 Our first stop was Skogafoss, a thundering waterfall next to the old village of Skogar.  Legend has it that a large treasure chest is hidden behind the waterfall; when a young boy once tried to drag it out, he ripped the golden ring off the lid of the chest.  The ring is now on display in the museum in nearby Skogar. Nate was captivated by this story, and stared for awhile at the ring.

 We spent a few moments in the windy spray at the bottom and then hiked up an icy staircase to the right of the waterfall, which ended in a platform suspended over the cliff.

 The village of Skogar is composed of tiny, thatched-roof houses that harken back to olden times.

 This hut isn't exactly listed in the tourist guide, but we were amazed at how it was literally built into the rock around it.

Our final stop in the land of water, ice, and wind was Seljalandsfoss.  It was raining/sleeting hard when we got there, so Betsy and Nate stayed in the car and laughed at me as I got soaked clamoring up to the fall.  The other person who was up there had to slide back down on his bottom because the stairs were so icy.  After this stop, we headed into gale-force winds and then had to detour on our way back to Reykjavik to avoid a late winter storm in the mountains.  Iceland was throwing us her best (or worst) the day before we were to leave, making our trip to Paris that much more appealing.