Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon, my favorite in Iceland

Okay, I have so many other attractions to talk about after staying in Iceland for a week. But I have to put the Glacier Lagoon first. It is something hard to find in other places- you can see glacier lakes in Alaska but that requires a helicopter ride. And it is SO BEAUTIFUL! No wonder so many movies picked this site. On the list are two James Bond movies and Tomb Raider.

The Glacier Lagoon tour is one of the longest from Reykjavik. Even though the whole +5 hour drive is interesting across lava fields, volcanoes, and three  black deserts, my ass hurts toward the end. Wen the crystal blue iceberg appeared out of nowhere, everything is worth it!

The guide on the boat tour told us it is actually the rainy day that makes the iceberg appear so blue (so long my classes for general physics). There are super blue ones as well as crystal black ones that carry ashes from thousands of years ago.

Several kilometers away is Europe's biggest glacier Vatnajökull, whose ice are breaking away faster than ever and float into the lake and finally the sea.

All the guides I've met in Iceland have great sense if humor, which is only reinforced by their cute Icelandic accent. He talked about how the whole lake was frozen up and polished for James Bond, and longingly remember the days that Angelina Jolie jumped off the boat to swim in the lake. We each got a taste of his special Ice On Rocks.

Some staff were busy cleaning up the firework boxes from the previous nigh, Culture Night on August 24. however, the icebergs are living and dangerous. We saw two breaking and tipping off into the freezing water.

Vik

The minute we left Glacier Lagoon, the sun decided to come out for the first time in a week. We stopped at Vik, the southmost village in Iceland. Vik is near the volcano Katla, with 800 meter of ice directly above, the glacier called Mýrdalsjökull. If Katla erupt, the flood is enough to wash away Vik and almost everything near it. People practice the drill regularly, but no one choose to leave. They all believe if they can escape to the topmost church within 20min, then they can survive.

Vik also has a black beach. Not sure if it qualifies as the top 10 prettiest, but it is very nice indeed.

More waterfalls and more rainbows

We stopped several other times to see waterfalls. Iceland, together with Sweden and Norway, really give me enough waterfall viewing to last for a long time...

Best piece of information from our tour guide: you can see Northern Light now! Not just in the winter! The northern light were seen last week. I was so excited- if I can see northern light this time, my Iceland trip would be beyond perfection.

However, clouds gathered back together and it started raining again when we get back to Reykjavik...

Will talk about other tours and tips for traveling in Iceland as a solo traveller next. Cross that, as a solo traveller without huge amount of money to spend. You can always go to those expensive private river for salmon fishing if you are Prince Charles.