Here comes the rain again

After a wonderful sunny  day yesterday, we woke to what seems to be the norm in Iceland, cloudy skies and falling rain.  Looking out of our hotel room, it seemed that there were as many tour buses as there were cars.  I guess this place is popular for the tour business.  We went downstairs for breakfast, and sat right next to the window overlooking the river and mountains, though the mountains were shrouded in clouds and rain.  We had a magnificent breakfast.  I particularly enjoyed the Skyr, similar to Greek yogurt.  I added granola and a touch of honey.  Yum!After we had eaten our fill, it was time to pack up and get on the road.  This was another particularly nice aspect of getting upgraded.  Not only did we not have to pay for breakfast, like we had originally planned to do, but we had a buffet, that held us over until dinner.  The accountant in me was jumping up and down with joy.  As we left the hotel, we realized that the rain was not the most unpleasant weather aspect today.  The wind was pretty fierce.  It did prompt us to pack the car as quickly as possible.Once in the heating car, it was time to drive off.  We passed the Bobby Fischer Center on our way.  Since Iceland was home to his World Championship match, and later his home, it was fitting to have the center here.  It houses memorabilia from his career, and has a chess-board painted on the sidewalk outside.  As the musical "Chess" was loosely based on aspects of his career, "One Night In Bangkok" has been stuck in my head all day.  But, enough about my obscure musical references...on with the trip.After driving through the Icelandic countryside being drenched with rain, we stopped off at the Saga Center.  As a bit of background, the Icelandic Sagas are considered the greatest cultural treasure of Iceland.  They tell stories of Viking history in the early settlements of Iceland.  J.R.R. Tolkien was so enamored of the sagas that he taught himself Old Norse so he could read them in their original form.  They had a great influence on his writing.  The Saga Center centers their story around one of the Sagas that took place in the area around the town.  The museum has exhibits setting the stage historically and culturally for Njál Saga.  Then, the exhibits take you through the story.  It was pretty interesting, though Carrie is not a fan of reading explanation after explanation without any interaction.  So, after finishing there we headed to our next stop.Even though museum after museum is not our typical M.O., with the weather behaving like it was, we were willing to make a compromise.  So, we went to LAVA, an earthquake and volcano experience.  It consisted of a room-shaking movie, and exhibits around the volcanoes of Iceland.  The movie showed many of the recent eruptions in Iceland.  After it was over, Carrie wished she could return to her state of blissful ignorance.  I know she was aware of the volcanic history, but seeing the size and power (and frequency) of the eruptions here, caused a bit of worry.  Moving to the Lava experience did nothing to assuage her fears.  There were awesome exhibits on the different types of lava, different types of volcanoes, and different types of eruptions.  The most impressive and (with accurate meaning of the word) awesome exhibit was a representation of the mantle plume below Iceland.  It is MASSIVE.  In some sections is much larger than the entire island of Iceland.  Off-topic thing to mention, in Icelandic, Iceland is Island...and it is an Island...weird, right?After getting a new appreciation for the mountains around us, and the lack of escape routes, we headed out again.  We made a quick stop at an art cafe with a pottery artist.  She was there, and we bought a piece to go in our collection of travel memories.  Carrie even got a picture with her, though I think she was a bit reticent to have her picture taken.  I guess if it gets a sale, it must be done.  :). From there, we headed to one of the most photographed features of Iceland,  Seljalandsfoss.  I guess since it was raining, it would be ok to get up close to a waterfall.  This one is really cool, in that you can walk behind it.  Carrie was on FaceBook Live, broadcasting the view to friends and family.  Oh what wonders technology has given us.  The climb up the hill on the other side of the trail was touch and go, and we were a bit worried that Pat would be able to make it.  She was a trooper, and came through unscathed.  We warmed up with some coffee and hot chocolate, and continued on.We took photos of another waterfall, but didn't feel the need to hike this one.  As the weather cleared a bit, we got some good looks at the volcanoes and glacier close to us...impressive!  We kept driving until we made it to a coastal overlook to see sea cliffs and a natural arch.  On the other side of the bluff is a very important black sand beach.  Carrie put it on the itinerary because it is cool and famous.  I would have put it on the itinerary because the opening scene of Star Wars Rogue One was filmed there.  Let's get our priorities straight, right?  It was truly impressive, and some sea birds were having fun on the beach as well.We left there, and started to head to our rooms for the night.  We stopped off in Kirkjubæjarklaustur (say that five times fast), for dinner.  Carrie got Arctic Char and Les got a Lamb steak.  Both, I think, proclaimed it as their best meal so far.  Pat got a nice salad with grilled chicken, and I settled for a burger.  As soon as we got our food, people started flooding into the restaurant.  I guess we had great timing.We clarified the directions to our rooms for the night, and started the trek.  We are staying tonight in the Eldhraun Lava Fields (well, not in the fields, at a guesthouse...but the guesthouse is located in the lava fields, got it?).  It is from a cataclysmic eruption from 1783-1784 that created the largest lava flow in the world, and nearly destroyed Iceland as a nation.  We had been driving through the field or what seemed like forever -the scope of the lava flow is unimaginable.  We finally made it to the guesthouse.  Our normal procedure is that Carrie and I go in, check in, and get our rooms, then we start ferrying our stuff in.  Not here.  There is a strict no-shoes policy in the guesthouse.  For those of you (weirdos) that have such a policy for your home, that is fine (just weird).  However, in a bed and breakfast type environment, it is extremely odd, and quite a pain.  So, we got everything in one go, so that we could take our shoes off in the entryway, and get our things to our rooms.  Now the next bit, we got into our closets, I mean rooms.  I have seen small rooms, but this one takes the cake.  I think all the space in the room that is not the bed, is probably 1.74 square feet, approximately.  Seriously, it is small.  On the bright side, we have toilets in the rooms, which is not a guarantee in Europe.  So, that's good.  And we will have breakfast in the morning, so again, a mark in the positive column.  Really on the positive side, out the window, is a great expanse of the lava field - desolation.  It is a quite impressive view.  On balance, it's not so bad.  After last night, I really shouldn't complain at all.  We've had such an awesome trip so far, and it's just getting started.