WE SAW SOME.... I will get to that at the end of the day!!!

The storm last night was indeed howling, stupid wind speeds with snow involved to . I was glad to be indoors, however with that and James snoring, sleep was slow in arriving.

And the alarm way too early to be going off, but with our game of thrones tour today and a retry of our northern lights tonight we needed to get going. Breakfast was a buffet, similar to Reykjavik but not quite as grand. The 15 Japanese people in the restaurant along with 3 Europeans hawking too!! Eurgh!! We filled our boots though and went to get ready.

When we emerged, our guide, Alexandra was awaiting us in the reception. She was a Germanic lady,quite rotund with very short hair! The blue Mpv was a little old but stuck to the roads perfectly all day. It was then over to the airport to pick up our trip companions, Karen and Ellen from the states. They were lovely and we had a good natter all day!!

Our first stop was a waterfall about 40 min drive out of the town. It was gorgeous, ESP with the icicles and light from the sun attempting to emerge above the horizon . The snow was DEEP and we ended up thigh deep quite a few times. After a quick stop at a cafe (tourist prices... Even more expensive!!!) we were off again to the area where GoT was filmed. We passed field of pseudo craters which were lunar like in the landscape and then to the area where the wildlings camp. My god this was beautiful! Just so peaceful and the colours out of this world with the sun appearing at a perfect time!

We then here the tale of the 13 santas of Iceland and see a troll valley! Again a crazy sight but wonderful all the same.

Lunch was in a cattle shed..... Not quite as it sounds but good grub all the same. I had one of their beef burgers ..... Although afterwards I went to see the live cows and felt a little guilty! James had some goulash with geysir bread. The bread is quite dense, but cooked in the lava buy the heat from the ground! Mental! Each farm has their own hole at 'the bakery'

We proceeded to the 'love' cave from GoT which in reality was nowhere near as romantic as it seemed on film . Infact the scene was filmed in 4 different locations. It was on a faultline though which meant it was quite cool geographically for me!! I didn't realise how earthquake prone the country was!

The next was the worst place of the day..... I was physically sick in my mouth! The steam vents and stinky mud pits. The smell of sulphur was horrendous. Even through a buff, scarf and base layer it still reeked! No no no no no! It looked spectacular but no!

The steam baths were our last stop. Swimsuit on, outside at -5!!! Brrrrrrrrr!!! Even worse once you had been in the pool and had to get out!!! The big pool was strange as it had hot bits and cold bits in... We abandoned that once my hair had frozen solid and retreated to the 'hot' pool where we decided we should stay until summer when it was warmer! We ran over ice to get back into the changing rooms.... Cold cold cold.

On the drive back as darkness descended the sky began to shimmer. At first I assumed it was just losing daylight but no... If was them... The northern lights. Just a haze to start with, but progressed into dancing and falling lights amongst the stars. So beautiful at well worth the 25yr wait! So excited! Our tour guide stopped the bus for a few mins so we could attempt to take some pictures. They were pretty cool but still a little blurry... Will have more of a play tonight!!!

Tea consisted of a sandwich at the town hostel, cheap beer and cheerful atmosphere! Happy days!!