The Land of Ice and Fire (but mostly just ice) - part V

After the morning's fantastic glacial lagoon experience, we broke for lunch (simple soups and sandwiches) and romped around on the beach, posing with the colossal ice structures that had washed up on shore.

Our gracious friend Jerry was throwing pebbles at us while we were trying to get a photo.

Sketchy dealings in the mean streets of Eyjafjallajökull

I did a very undignified army crawl to get this picture

Pretty sure this is how Icelandic people are born.

Then it was time for our afternoon tour, this time of the glacier itself.

We wrestled on our crampons and took childish delight in wielding our ice axes.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Our tour guide's name was pronounced like Aileen but I'm sure it was spelled differently. She was a fantastic guide and taught us all about the features of the glacier.

Measuring the depth of the stream with her ice axe. Some of them were surprisingly deep. Eep.

A small glacial kame. Kames form when glaciers melt and streams carry sediment that pile up as a delta.

A deeeeeep crevasse. We had to tread very carefully to get photographs of this!

At one our guide asked if we were thirsty and suggested taking a sip of pure Icelandic glacial water from one of the many streams we encountered. Of course, the proper Icelandic way was to lower oneself over the ice axe, sip the water, and do a pushup to get back up.

Phil takes a gander 

The boy showing off with his raised leg

My form needs some work...I blame all the hot dogs.

If the background looks familiar, it's because this glacier is a popular backdrop for film and television. Game of Thrones (the wall scenes) and Interstellar (Matt Damon planet) are among two of the more famous productions that have stopped by.

I was pleasantly surprised by how different the glacier appeared depending on the angle and light. It wasn't just one massive ice formation; there were different textures and colors everywhere. It was a visual smorgasbord of ice.

We even practiced using our ice axes on some of the walls and pretending to ice climb.

Our tour came to an end all too soon. We packed into the van, dozed off on the drive back to our cars, bid farewell to our guides, and headed to the town of Hofn for dinner, as we'd heard it to be described as "lobster capital of Iceland".

Well, lobster was a bit of an overstatement - Icelandic lobster is actually langoustine, which are smaller and lighter than their coveted cousins. They were still very delicious, but our ravenous appetites weren't quelled with light seafood so we found a convenience store and ate more hotdogs and soft-serve ice cream. I felt like a five year old kid. It was awesome! 

It was yet another fantastic day in Iceland filled with good food, great friends, and jaw-dropping views.