Iceland 1 - Day 7 March 21, 2014

Since Sneifellsness is such a vast and beautiful are we decided to make one more trip to this area.  One of the primary locations we wanted to visit were the waterfalls of Hraunfossar and Barnafoss. Hraunfossar (Lava Falls) that is a series of cascades of bright, turquoise blue water that comes out from under the moss covered lava channels that are below surface level. Further upstream is Barnafoss (Children’s Falls) that has rapid moving torrents. Folklore indicates that two young boys disobeyed their parents and and fell to their deaths when crossing a narrow stone bridge that spanned the river.  The mother cast a spell on anyone who crossed the bridge, that they would fall into the river and drown.  It is believed that this bridge collapsed in an earthquake soon after the children died. A ne bridge in the same area gives viewers and excellent view of the river and the ravine it flows through.Our first stop was a roadside waterfall cascade on Laxa i Kjos (Salmon river in Kjos). This river is known for the salmon that run and for the fishing that is plentyful. However, in July there is a very significant run of large sea-trout.We next stopped at another small waterfall on Hvalfjarðarvegur or Route 47.  This river and waterfall that had a number of sheep pens (empty of sheep) on the right as viewed from the front of the falls.

Next stop was a unique church.  The church was closed but the facilities were open.  Some of the folks had to be supported while walking to the church as it was becoming impossible to walk, The winds were gusting to 80 or more miles per hour.

We continue - determined to reach our destination.  En route we see a number of Icelandic horses and decide to stop for some horse images.  This was a very brief stop - the winds are up over 100 MPH - warnings are posted and we have no choice but to return to Reykjavick.

We spent the afternoon in the hotel waiting woe the winds to abate.  After dinner a few brave ones headed to do some night photography along the shoreline and the city.  The Viking ship sculpture at night is very photogenic.

Next we wanted to photograph the new massive church as a background elect to an older church from across Tjörnin the city pond. Tjörnin is a natural small lake supported by some geothermal heat and is home to many species of duck, geese and a few swans.One last spot.  The Hallgrímskirkja a Lutheran parish church.  It is the largest church in Iceland and the sixth tallest structure measuring 244 feet in height.  It isis named after  Hallgrímur Pétursson a Icelandic poet and clergyman.The architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937. He designed the church it to resemble the basalt lava flows found in Iceland and took 38 years to build ending in 1986.The large pipe organ designed and constructed by the German organ builder Johannes Klais of Bonn has 5275 pipes and weighs 25 tons.The sky is totally overcast and there is no chance of seeing an Aurora.  We head back to the hotel to retire for the night.