Iceland

During May 2-6, 2009 Dear and I and our friends went to Iceland. On our way to Iceland, we stopped at Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for a half day visit before heading to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Iceland is located in the north Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Arctic Circle. Geographically, Iceland is a part of the Mid-Atlantic ridge, which rises above sea-level. We therefore had a chance to visit and study the continental drift between North America and Europe in Pingvellir National Park. We also visited Gullfoss fountain, Geysir hot spring, Langjokull Glacier, and the magnificent Blue Lagoon. One new thing that we experienced is that Iceland, in May, has very short days and long nights. During our visit the sun rose at about 3 a.m. and fell at 11 p.m. The next different thing that we found is that there are very few people in the country. There are only 320,000 people occupying 100,000 square kilometers, or 3.2 people in a square kilometer. It was quite strange when you opened the curtain in the morning and saw nobody in the streets. However strange and unique, Iceland is one of the most naturally beautiful countries on earth.