The aurora explained

The day started with rain and it never ever stopped. One rainy day out of 14 isn’t bad though. We drove to Aurora Reykjavik to find out the science bit behind the aurora. I thought it was something about the sun and energy, but not quite sure why. A great video explains pulses from the sun, that emits plasma, which goes past Mercury and venus, but it doesn’t do the same with earth because we have a buffer. So the energy goes around the earth and because of the magnetic field it is drawn to the poles. Simple.

The main feature of the exhibition was a panoramic video of Northern Lights photographed in Iceland. It was fabulous. You could clearly see the blue (more nitrogen) and red light (more oxygen). Half way through, a tour group joined us in the room and the guide was speaking in English. So, we just stayed an pretended we were part of the group. Including the masterclass of setting up your camera to capture the lights. He set up Ali’s camera to capture them.

The panels explaining the different reactions to them around the worth was interesting. In North America, the Northern lights were thought to be shadows of dead relatives. In Sweden it was thought to be really dangerous to be outside when they are visible, so you must clap your hands. In Finland, they were reflections of great amounts of fish in the ocean. In Iceland, if you gave birth under the Northern Lights, the child would be cross eyed.

Time to get out of the big city, via a few churches. The churches at Hvalsnes and Utskalar are great. We are staying in Gardur tonight so stopped at the lighthouses before heading to our guesthouse studio. The tall lighthouse is the highest in Iceland. The smaller one is older and being renovated. It’s the first stop for migratory birds when they return to Iceland. Alas we spotted Eiders and gulls only, we are a tad early for bird watching.

Every time we have visited Iceland, we have gone to the Blue Lagoon, it’s tradition. We have visited in all manner of weathers. The time we visited in the wind was painful, it was like a thousand pins being stuck in your face and there were waves in the lagoon. We’ve also had calm sunny weather. This time we had rain which is a little surreal, but we were wet anyway. Previously we have just rocked up and went in. Now you have to pre book an allotted hour to arrive. There were people everywhere, but as soon as you leave the bar area in the pool, you can find your own quiet spot to sit and ponder in the warm water. Ali had a silica mask. I just watched, I learnt my lesson on the first trip when I put it on my face and then my face felt like it was on fire.

We stayed so long that it announced the lagoon was closing in 15 mins! A skyr smoothie in the café and then back to our lodge for our last night in Iceland…on this trip anyway.