Southern Iceland

We have spent the past 2 days roaming the southeast part of Iceland. There is one main road which rings the island. It is mostly paved. Eighty percent of the population lives in Reykavik so the rest of the country is extremely sparsely peopled. There are few stores or places to stop. The silence is wonderful. The birds are so different, especially their calls. There is one that is a guillemot which sounds like a whirly bird. There are many hot springs. Monday we went to a waterfall , climbed up behind it and were able to stand in a grotto with the water falling, forming a rainbow in front of us. It was so awesome and we had it pretty much to ourselves. Our hotel is out in the country and had a hottub outside our room in which we sat drinking wine and looking at the snow capped glaciers and volcanoes off in the distance a few miles.
Yesterday we went on the Golden Circle which included a stop at the first Icelandic church, then the geysirs, followed by a visit to Gullfoss the largest waterfalls in the country. In the later afternoon we ended at Thingvellir the site of the world´s first parliament dating from 970 AD. The setting was truly spectacular. At the end of a huge blue lake surrounded by high jagged rocks bisected by a waterfall. This is also the site of the division of the tectonic plates separating the Americas and Europe. Very cool day. Of course we have not yet seen the dark. The sun really does not set and those dark shades come in handy. Today we are off to Reykavik and the blue lagoon with a flight to Copenhagen at 1AM. NO sleep for us !