We leapt out of bed at 7am, shower, breakfast and ready for an 8.30am pickup for our Golden Circle tour. The initial organisation was a complete nightmare as we attempted to get ourselves onto a coach, the correct coach, ANY coach! Eventually we were on board and seated and after that things improved considerably. We had a good driver and a knowledgeable guide so all set for a good day.

After a couple of hours drive through the hills and snow, our first stop was at the Frioheinar Greenhouse Cultivation Centre which grows most of the tomatoes and cucumbers for Iceland using geothermal heated water from under the ground. It was such a pretty place with crisp, white snow and beautiful trees all around. Inside it was fascinating to see row after row of tomatoes growing on the vine and smell that pungent tomato smell. They are famous for their tomato soup and Simon thought he was ordering us this from the bar, but what he actually ordered was tomato with schnapps and this is what we got ... half a small tomato filled with schnapps! Not quite what we expected!

On our way and next stop was to see the famous geyser thermal park. The weather was crisp and clear and we walked along the path and watched the steam pouring out of the ground and geysirs erupting all around. Quite fascinating. Suddenly it was snowing heavily and within minutes we were completely covered and feeling very cold so were glad to hightail it back to the main building, dry off and get some lunch.

Next stop was the Gullfoss or Golden Waterfall. This was breathtakingly beautiful in monochrome colours, shades of grey and white. We could have watched for some time, but suddenly the snow came down violently once again and we were covered in it and really cold.

Back to the bus and our last stop was the Thingvellir National Park, again spectacular with its shades of grey and white but especially important as being the place where the two major Tectonic plates (European and North American) can be seen to be drifting apart.

Back to the bus and the drive back to Reykjavik and our hotel. With any other planned trips being cancelled due to appalling weather, we had been planning to go out for dinner, but driving rain convinced us that an evening up in the Sky Bar at our hotel would be a much better idea. We enjoyed a light snack and the house sauvignon whilst watching the fireworks which celebrated the end of Christmas and something to do with elves and trolls which we didn't quite understand! (We don't speak Icelandic)