2nd Day in Iceland

I woke up on Sunday and had some breakfast, and then went for a quick walk before church. A few of us went together to Hallgrimskirkja, the main church in Reykjavik. The service was interesting. The Church of Iceland is Lutheran, and there were definitely times where I knew that for sure. But at other points throughout the service, I wasn't always sure. However, when I saw Luther's Rose on the back cover of the Hymn Book, I stopped wondering and knew that I was in the right place. 

The church is very simplistic, but that really adds to its beauty. There should be some pictures up on my Picasa Web Albums that should help illustrate the church. Experiencing the service in Icelandic was very interesting. Even though I understood almost nothing, the order of service was similar, and the ushers gave us a helpful english guide to the service. Communion was cool. Everyone forms two lines in the center aisle of the church, and they move forward towards the pastor and move into one line. Communion is by intinction, and after you have received the Communion, you split off to your respective side, make the sign of the cross for yourself, and return to your seat. I can now say that I have received Communion in German and Icelandic Churches. Soon I will be able to include a Norwegian church in that list.

After the service, the entire group headed out for a bus tour. Our first stop was Thingvellir, of the Thing Plain. The Thing was the Icelandic parliament that was in existence during Viking Times, and this is where both Iceland and Norway get the name for their parliaments from. The Plain itself lies on the fault that separates the North American and Eurasian (tectonic) plates, so the area is continually splitting apart. From the Thingvellir, we moved onto to Gulfoss, the two famous waterfalls in Iceland. These were very beautiful and powerful, but it was so windy, wet and cold that most people went in to the cafe after snapping a few quick pictures. I had a nice grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup. We then finished our tour with a trip to see the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. The word geyser is actually derived from Geysir, an Icelandic word. We had a good time waiting for the perfect eruption to get a PLU group picture with. 

Back in Reykjavik, we went out for our first group meal at a restaurant called Geysir. I had a Viking beer and Wiener schnitzel with potatoes, something that I haven't had for quite some time. After dinner, we walked back to Sunna and went to bed, ready to start up on Monday.