Welcome to the Land of Ice, Fire... and Rainbows?

I couldn't fit my trip to Iceland into one blog post. My time there was very short, but it definitely left an impact on me. Therefore this post  is an addition to last week's post, but with rainbows, lots and lots of rainbows.

I feel this is a good visual of Iceland's philosophy of life, but maybe I'm wrong. I was a tourist after all.

 On all of the tours I went on, Iceland was described to me as the land of fire and ice. This was reflected on all of the other tours I was offered, but didn't go on for one reason or another (time and money come to mind). There are active volcanoes like the one that went off a couple of years ago and grounded all the planes in Europe. There is the giant glacier that provides some of the best drinking water I have ever tasted. There are tours for people to explore both.

Iceland is full of natural wonders. I mentioned in my last post about my Golden Circle tour. The Golden Circle is advertised as a must see if you visit Iceland. There are several tour options, but if you rent a car they aren't necessary (and you can go at your own pace, though you might miss out on the history and geology lessons).

This waterfall on the Golden Circle Tour produced tons of rainbows.

I definitely recommend seeing the Golden Circle at least once if you visit Iceland, especially if you aren't able to go too far outside of Reykjavik. All of the natural wonders are beautiful and allow for some great hiking. I got to see them in my favorite season which added some really pretty colors to my experience.

If there was one natural wonder I think Iceland should add to its list of amazing wonders, it's the rainbow. I don't think I have been anywhere else that has so many rainbows. There was a rainbow the day I landed at the airport, there were tons of rainbows visible when I hiked Videy island, there were rainbows painted on sidewalks and houses, the water falls created tons of rainbows, and there was even a rainbow statue welcoming me back to the airport when I was leaving.

The rainbow when I landed, it rained the rest of the day.

Seriously I saw a rainbow in the sky everyday I was there (the weather is notorious for changing frequently and with little warning).

There might have been a lot of rain, but the city of Reykjavik always had a rainbow after.

Then there are the rainbows you can only see at night. Okay fine, the Norther Lights aren't actually rainbows, but they are a light show like no other and I didn't even leave the city limits. There were only two nights that I saw them. The first night was totally by accident and because another person in my room said you could see them in the park across the street. I personally found that to be amazing. They weren't the brightest from that location and I only had my phone to take pictures. The next night (which was also my last), one of my new friends offered to drive me and another person out to the lighthouse for a better look.

We arrived at just the right time. It was still pretty early and you could see the sun setting in the distance, but the night was alight with vibrant green streaks. I have never seen anything like it before and I truest hope I will see it again someday. I'm sure the lights are a whole other kind of sight if you are out in the middle of no where and don't have to battle light pollution, but for that hour I got to see one of the most amazing natural wonders our world has to offer. It was worth every second in the cold windy night.

Two streaks of the northern lights in the sun set.

 Maybe someday I'll also see the Southern Lights. Anyone want to go to Chile and Antarctica with me?

Along with the natural rainbows, Iceland is very proud (so I was told) to be very welcoming to the LGBT community and very pro feminist. I''m not kidding, there is an amazing example of how much they celebrate their feminist side in the Reykjavik city hall (I will not post pictures, nor will I elaborate). It is not something I would expect to see in a city hall in the USA anytime soon. One of the tour guides had a lot of fun telling us about how they also had the first gay Viking after someone put lipstick on their founder's statue during a celebration.

This wasn't the only house painted like this.

This is why I feel Iceland should add rainbows to its list of descriptive natural wonders (I''m not sure that makes sense, but it's the sentence I'm going with). You can venture into the depths of a volcano in the morning, walk across a glacier in the afternoon, see the northern lights at night, and in between see beautiful rainbows all over the place.

More street art!

 Please add Iceland on you list of places to see. The people are very friendly, the water is some of the best I have ever tasted, and the nature is one of a kind.

The statue outside of the airport.

And no I'm not being paid to say that.

If you enjoyed this post or if it pissed you off, please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. I'm off to my next great adventure and maybe, just maybe I'll find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Until next week.