Gullfoss, Icelandic Land of Human Sacrifice (Almost)

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Gullfoss, Icelandic Land of Human Sacrifice (Almost)

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Wonderful waterfall called Gullfoss -- for a sense of scale, spot the teeny specks of humanity along the left edge.

But there's no railing or protective fence. Just a small reminder rope. Apparently tort law has yet to reach Iceland.

So some people wander a little close to the edge. I thought for a moment that I might even see an accidental human sacrifice.

Same level of non-security around Geysir, the giant geyser after which all other geysirs are named. (Actually, Geysir hasn't geysed much in many years, so most people hang out around its little brother, which blows a crowd-pleasing 35 feet in the air every 3 or 4 minutes. Pretty remarkable.)

You can get pretty much right up to the edge here, too; a half-dozen tourists get scalded around here each week, in fact. Not my idea of a great souvenir, but hey. Got close enough myself (after checking the wind direction!) to get this pic -- not of the explosion, since I'd seen geysers before, but of the millisecond just prior, as surface tension creates an enormous four-foot superbubble.

Talk about a cliffhanger. More shortly.

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