So as you can tell, my title for this blog is pretty loaded. I'll start out with the waterfall. It's called Gullfoss, which means Golden Falls. It's beautiful and very majestic. I was speechless during most of it. I couldn't believe the sheer beauty of what I was looking at. It gave me a profound appreciation for God's creation; God is a wonderful artist. Posted below are links to the videos of the waterfalls that I took. The videos don't do them justice, but I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkQdQJWJWJo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLffHZPUWGg
The geiysers were really amazing too. We were not allowed to go off the path there, there were several pits in which the water was boiling, so it was too dangerous to walk off of the path. I got video of that also, which I will post in here as well. It was so cool...the water turned a really vivid color of blue before the water shot into the air....very impressive! After seeing that we went to a souvenier shop where I was able to find a gorgeous Icelandic wool sweater...it's got purple in it! It was expensive but totally worth it. I also posted a link of the video of that below as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FENob4-8Syc
When we got back to Gunnar's place, dinner was waiting for us. We tried a wide variety of Icelandic foods....including fermented shark and ram testicles. The shark is poisonous when uncooked due to a high content of uric acid and trimethylamine oxide, but there is a special way to prepare it to make it edible. Copied from Wikipedia, here is how it is prepared; "It is placed in a shallow hole dug in gravelly-sand, with the now-cleaned cavity resting on a slight hill. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are then placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. The fluids from the shark are in this way pressed out of the body. The shark ferments for 6-12 weeks depending on the season in this fashion. Following this curing period, the shark is then cut into strips and hung to dry for several months. During this drying period a brown crust will develop, which is removed prior to cutting the shark into small pieces and serving. The modern method is just to press the shark's meat in a large drained plastic container." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl ) I posted the link where I got that section from if you would like to read further. It sounds gross, and while it's not the best tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth, it wasn't as bad as many TV documentaries made it out to be. I'm a very picky eater, and I had two pieces. We got it on video and I arrogantly put the piece of fish into my mouth, chewed swallowed, and after the camera stopped rolling, about 5 seconds after I involuntarily gagged. The ram testicles, however....those went down rough. Not good. But I tried it. I also tried whale meat, which tastes surprisingly like beef. I tried it thinking it was deer or some other sort of meat...but when I learned it was whale, I was floored! Very tastey!
That is all for now. It is far too late....until later...Grace and Peace!
Jenna
Creator God,
Thank you for the wonderful beauty you have created here on earth. Thank you for our eyes to see and our ears to hear the wonderful things you have crafted. You are truly amazing. Amen.
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