I happened to read somewhere that one possible reason for kids to have problems with their eyesight is that they focus on objects that are closer for longer and more often – like a book or a screen or a toy on the table or floor. They don’t exercise their eye muscles by focusing on the horizon, or infinity. So let’s say that was the goal of our trip to Iceland :-).
The car
When we arrived in Iceland, we had 12 suitcases and assorted hand luggage including bulky camera bags. Which car would fit all this, 2 car seats for the 2 kids, and 6 adults? This one below. And this is us in the car. The boot was later used as a serving area for lunch, area to change into warm clothes, and miscellaneous other purposes.
The home in Hella
When you have a trampoline in such a picturesque setting, everyone in the house, grandparents, parents, Chitappa, Chitti and kids, all go jumping on it :-).
Hot springs
We read that the Blue Lagoon, the most popular hot spring in the Golden Circle would be super crowded. So Arjun found us this smaller, secluded one that was in Fludir, instead. All of us took a dip in the cozily warm waters.
Geysers
Boiling hot water shooting up into the air about a 100 ft. Daksh gazed intently at the pool of water after one such eruption, and said very seriously “There’s a whale in there”. And then he gave us a full explanation as to why he was absolutely correct. Here he is, “testing the waters”.
Gulfoss waterfall
A beautiful beautiful waterfall with two cascades where the sun and the spray created so many rainbows. Daksh was totally in Arjun and Athena’s care during this visit, and looks like they were all having fun 🙂
Seljalandsfoss waterfall
It was a cold and rainy when we set out for our excursions that day. Though we had warm clothes and a full raincoat for Daksh, he was complaining about the cold even before we got out of the parking lot. As we got closer to the falls, he and Thatha spotted a stall selling hot chocolate. After walking about half way to the falls, they both decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to clamber over the rocks to the cave like space behind the falls and get wet. So they went off to have hot chocolate, and we have no photos of the two of them.
The gorge at Skaftárhreppur
We visited the gorge the same day we visited Seljalandsfoss. During the waterfall trip, I didn’t put a jacket on for Vedant, underneath his raincoat. The poor little fellow was really cold and shivered throughout, so Rahul had to hurry through his trip to take him back to the car and warm him up. So we rectified that when we got out to trek to see the sights at this majestic gorge, and Vedant was dressed like a little Eskimo. To his credit, he did not complain one bit, and walked even with the 5 layers of clothing he had on.
Glacier at Mýrdalshreppur
This was another cold and rainy day, and from the start, Daksh didn’t want to go see the glacier. It was my turn to motivate him, and for quite some distance, I carried him on my back, talking to him about rivers and mountains and glaciers. We got to the point where the water and ice of the river met, which was a good 20 minute walk from the car, and what should happen but Daksh would want to use the bathroom. Immediately. So I ran back with him while Rahul stayed back with Vedant and enjoyed the sights with Chitappa and Chitti.
Pingvellir National Park
Pingvellir National Park is a 20 minute drive from Reykjavik, and has some interesting spots, like the site of the first Icelandic parliament, which is just a set of rocks :-), and the spot where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. Daksh was of course more concerned with the quality of hot chocolate served in their visitor center.
Reykjavik
We did a city tour of Reykavik and got to learn more about the history and culture in Iceland. There were a lot of interesting statues that we saw during the tour. We chose this one to honour to be part of our photo. And of course, the tour would not have been complete without hot chocolate for Thatha and peran :-).
