Have you been dreaming of visiting Iceland? Now you can take a trip there without ever leaving the comforts of home, thanks to Google.
The Web giant on Wednesday announced it has updated Street View with new imagery of some of the most breathtaking sights in the Nordic country. Your Street View journey through Iceland begins at the "Golden Circle," a famous loop in the southern part of the country, where you'll find the impressive Gullfoss Waterfall on the Hvítá river.
After taking in the sights there, you can visit some of the country's heritage sites like the Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður national park, UNESCO site Þingvellir, and Iceland's Parliament, Alþingi. Other areas to check out on your virtual journey to Iceland: the Haukadalur Geothermal Area (or simply the "Geysir," as the locals say), the Dettifoss waterfall, and Kerið, a volcanic crater lake.
"In his book Tales of Iceland, Stephen Markley wrote, 'The problem with driving around Iceland is that you're basically confronted by a new soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming natural sight every five... minutes. It's totally exhausting,'" Deanna Yick, Street View program manager, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "We've never been ones to take someone else's word for it when it comes to sightseeing, so we took Street View to some of the most stunning locations throughout the country. As it turns out, Markley was right."
If your virtual trip to Iceland gives you the travel bug, check out our slideshow above of the 7 Wonders of the (Street View) World.
Meanwhile on the Street View front, the British team of an Italian hearing aid company is working to enhance Google's mapping service with audio. At France's Place du Palais, for instance, you can enjoy the ambient noise one might expect to hear on a typical, sunny day in the area: Birds chirping, an accordionist playing, or the sounds of nearby church bells ringing.