>From Boston Globe By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent
WHERE: Reykjavík, Iceland WHEN: One week in February WHY: "We hadn't had much snow in Boston , and last year at that time I was in Brazil, so I thought I'd go somewhere completely different," she said. HOST OF VIRTUES: "I stayed in town at the Salvation Army Guesthouse ( guesthouse.is ). It was practically empty and so clean. It was much nicer than I thought it would be, and the people were really helpful," Doyle said. MOSTLY COLDER: "People were laughing at me a little a bit, like, 'Why are you coming here now?' When I looked it up online, the temperature didn't seem that different than in Boston, but once I got here, most of the time I was just freezing," Doyle said. "But the whole city is powered by geothermal, and all the water was really hot. That was like a reward." SKY WATCH: "The first night there I went on a tour to see the aurora borealis [northern lights]," she said. "I was going to go on that tour every night until I saw them. We were on a big bus with about 35 people that we picked up at hotels, mostly Europeans. As we drove, you could just feel the excitement. I saw these three bright green lights and I just gasped. The lights were changing right in front of us. Then they were green and pink in different places. I felt really blessed to see them." GIDDYUP: Doyle managed to find an even colder activity that week. "I go horseback riding when I travel. I'm small myself and I like the idea of the horse being more compact," she said of Icelandic horses, which are shorter and stockier than most breeds. "We were riding in the mountains and it's icy," Doyle recalled. "The horses are confident, but I was still nervous." After a rest, the guide told the group that the horses knew they were halfway and would be anxious to get home. "As soon as I got on, my horse immediately started galloping up and down hills. The guide couldn't catch up to me. My feet came out of stirrups and I had no horn to hold onto, so I was just really squeezing my legs." She made it back intact, "exhilarated but glad to be alive . It took a while for everyone to come back because I had gone so fast." Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
