Day 1 In Iceland

The Flights

Not much to the flight Denver from SFO but we learn that it is SNOWing in Denver! Hmmmmm...

The flight to Reykjavik is delayed for about 1 hour as they worked on deicing the plane. "Look at the ice on the wings, Stephany...Look at the icecicles under the wings," I said pointing to the plane as we sat in the airport, "we really can't take off with ice on the plane like that.  Surely they are deicing it."

Later Stephany tells me that about a week before we left, she had a thought about ice on the plane. A fear of hers I find out. “I'm going to take every though captive” was Stephany's response to the thought that had entered her mind those few days ago. And here I am telling her that we cannot take off if there is ice on the plane AND the plane is now taxiing down the runway laden with ice as I speak..."No, they have to melt it off. Planes have controls that will melt the ice off...", still taxiing down the runway with ice on the wings... Ahh, we have stopped..waiting, waiting for the ice to melt. Little did I know that on the flight to Denver the fellow sitting next to Stephany told her that if there is ice on a plane it will crash on takeoff. Opportunity for fear that was not taken!

We Arrive!

We arrive safely in Iceland, get our rental car and start the drive to Thingvellir on absolutely NO sleep for 20 hours. This makes Stephany brain dead so she can't form a sentence or decipher a map. “Is this what they call jet lag?” she asks. 

Although my brain is functioning, my patience is thin...ok... non-existent! Stephany still loves me, though and we got a good laugh over it today.

Oh. I forgot to mention that it is SNOWing! We were told by the young man from the car rental agency that this is the coldest April (and now May) Since 2000!  Later we were told that the winter in the East and North is the worst in 36 years; so much snow that the locals are concerned (about flooding???)  Great, Lord!  What's up with this?!

We finally navigate our way through Reykjavik with the reluctant help of the GPS that came with the car.  Stephany affectionately calls 'her' Phyllis Dilly and wanted to toss 'her' out the window every time she turned off (which was often) or exclaimed "recalculating..."

Whew!  Finally onto the road out of Reykjavik and toward our destination of "Cottages on Lake Thingvellir".  (The 'Th' is actually a funny looking P that is pronounced as 'th'.)

This Way to Thingvellir

 We saw this 'cute' church shortly after leaving Reykjavik.  Look at the majestic mtns in the background!

 We arrive at the Cottages at Lake Thingvellir, which are in a lovely setting by the Lake.  The cottages are rather nice and a walk along the chore would be in order if it wasn't snowing...

  

We arrive at “Cottages on Lake Thingvellir” at about 10am, get all baggage into our cabin and lo-and-behold there's “no water in the sink”, Stephany said to the owner. (No, Stephany...I think you mean, “There's no running water”). Sure enough the pipes were frozen! So, we get our luggage and move to the cabin next door...an upgrade to a 2 bedroom cabin with queen sized beds in each room. WooHoo! We rest, take a hot shower, look at the accumulating snow and decide to drive to Thingvellir National Park for a wonderful day of beautiful sites which included crossing the continental divide, seeing what was either large ducks or small geese, beautiful clear rivers and a gorgeous waterfall.

 

Well...this kinda looks like the pic I saw online and posted earlier.  Thingvillir is a very important area in Iceland.  The rift between the Eurasian and North American Plates (see picture below: "Everyman's Gorge"), was the meeting place of the Alpingi (general assembly) legislative body of Iceland.  In This area is the "Law Rock" where the "Law Speaker", who had a 3 year term of office, would recite from memory all the laws of the Land.  One third of the Law was recited each year. Everyone was welcome to come during the summer when major decisions were made.  Each farm community had a representative and major issues were decided by majority vote.  It is interesting to note that IF a person did not agree with the decision they were not required to abide by it.

In 1000 AD the question of whether-or-not Icelanders were to adopt Christianity was brought before the people.  The people were split between keeping their pagan beliefs or adopting this new religion of Christ.  I find it amazing that, in order to bring UNITY, the people decided that the Pagan Chieftain or Priest was to spend a day in prayer and return the next day to tell the people what he decided.  The Pagan Priest decided that Christianity was to be adopted by the people of Iceland.  However, those who wished to continue to worship the pagan gods could do so but such worship was to be

conducted in secret.

In 1944, the inauguration of the Republic of Iceland (independence from Denmark) took place in Everyman's Gorge close to the area of Law Rock.

The church building you see in the photo is the first place that Lord showed me to blow the shofar--no wonder with this history!  Both Stephany and I found Thingvellir to be a place of great peace as well as beauty.  I believe that God did whatever He did in the atmosphere when I blew the shofar.  You have to realize that I don't go around blowing a shofar.  I don't like to make a spectacle of myself--I prefer being hidden.  Behind the church is a circular area with a path, in the shape of the cross, bisecting the grassy knoll.  As I prepared to blow the shofar Stephany and I suddenly heard birds singing.  We hadn't heard a single bird anywhere since arriving at the Lake or in Thingvellir other than geese.  As soon as I made the decision to blow the shofar, the birds stopped singing AND, when I looked up, I noticed that there was no one in sight--every tourist had left (thank you Lord!).  I blew the shofar in the direction of the Law Rock (designated by a flagpole).  Then I went to the church and blew the shofar again.  This time I heard the sound echo through the area.

What happened?  Don't know but I suspect that an awakening has occurred; an opening of the heavens if you will; a call back to Christ.  All I do is what I think I am supposed to do...

Above:  A church has been in this area of Thingvellir for centuries.  The buildings to the right of the church were the residence of the parish priest but is now the office building of the National Park.

Below:  Everyman's Gourge.  The American plate is to the Left; Eurasian to the right.  The path is going North.

 
Below:  Beautiful Oxar'arfoss (waterfall of the Oxar'a River)

Well, I am going to publish this now.  Hope there aren't many typo's...I am quite tired!!!

Blessings to you all!