Hello again, Blogonauts.

After several days spent driving, by today my enthusiasm for the steering wheel, gearshift, and questionable automobile upholstery had decidedly dwindled.

But my drive to see interesting sites remained high, so I cobbled together a plan.

First, take a hike in a genuine forest that sits atop a hill overlooking Reykjavik. The spot offered a nice view of the town. There is a museum, of sorts, on the hill, and in the museum was an ice cream shop. There I was able to purchase an Icelandic specialty: Licorice Ice Cream.

The nice clerk at the shop told me that, if I were to go upstairs, I could see one of Iceland's most famous singers: Paul Oscar. She was jealous that her boss was talking with him, but she turned down my offer to cover her shop while she horned in on the conversation.

I couldn't justify chasing down a celebrity I had never heard of, but I did listen to some of his music as I licked my licorice.

Surprisingly, outside the museum someone had installed the biggest bouncy castle that I have ever seen. The entire complex literally ballooned to cover more than half an acre, and although it was unoccupied except for the heavily tattooed crew attending to the blowers, a load of school-age children sat near the gate, looking eager to be let in.

So then, fully invigorated, I decided on a short drive (about 25 miles) to see lighthouses on the southern peninsula.

Lighthouses have an aesthetic all their own. (1) They tower above everything around them. (2) Unlike skyscrapers, the business end of a lighthouse is entirely at the top, where the lights and foghorns are. (3) Lighthouses look uniquely lonely.

And lonely describes much of the territory in Iceland. In my journey around the island, signs of human habitation were rare. Except in touristed areas, the roadways were usually deserted. Villages can be 25 miles or more apart, so farmers would have a hard time borrowing a cup of sugar from a neighbor.

Even on the southern peninsula, so close to Reykjavik and only a few miles from the town of Reykjanesbær and the Keflavik airport, there are few people living here. What soil exists is a thin layer atop lava flows, so what farming exists is equally thin.

You can see the photos of the three lighthouses I visited today in the photo album.

In addition to visiting the lighthouses, the guidebook directed me to a lovely church that, in the same way, sits looking lonely on the desolate landscape. It was constructed of local volcanic stone in 1887, although a church has existed on this site since at least 1644.

Tomorrow is my final full day on this trip to Iceland. Depending on the weather, I may finally decide to go swimming.

Blog to you later!