Iceland: Jökulsárlón, the Glacier Lagoon

At the end of June, I went to Iceland.  I'd never been, and it had been in my mind ever since I'd had two Icelandic kitchenmates when I lived in Scotland.  In fact, I even had a trip all planned before the volcano blew in 2010.

At any rate, I finally made it.  And, in spite of my back's acting up and causing me lots and lots of scary pain, I did manage to see quite a lot.  

I took 1057 photos, which is hardly what Max would have taken, but I do think it's a bit much for a single blog post. :)  So I thought I'd just do a post on my very favorite thing that I saw there: Jökulsárlón, or the Glacier Lagoon.

I'd seen glaciers before in Canada and Switzerland -- and I saw more in Norway later on this same trip. But I'd never seen an iceberg before this.

The  Breiðamerkurjökull glacier (no, I can't pronounce that either) melts into a lake, which, in turn, flows out to the sea from a very short (like, 2 blocks long) river.  The lake, the river, and the black lava sand beach are filled with small icebergs.  Some of the icebergs have a layer of ash from the 2010 volcano.  Arctic terns, which look like mini seagulls, are everywhere.  It's desolate but totally beautiful. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Here are a few photos so you can glimpse what I saw.  (Remember to click on the pics to enlarge them.)

This is the lagoon with the glacier in the background.  You can see a man and a small boat on the shore for size reference.

Notice the volcanic ash on some of the icebergs.  And isn't that blue just such an attractive color?

Again, people on the shore give you a size reference.  These are not icebergs like the one that sank the Titanic; they're tiny by iceberg standards.  But they are lovely.

Here are the small remains of icebergs on the black lava sand and gravel beach.

Naturally, I plan to post more Iceland stuff later.  Stay tuned. :)