It's not common that a grandmother aged 89 is crowned Queen of Icebergs in north America, but when it does happen it's quite the sight.
On a recent trip to Iceland, Judith Streng became that grandma after her son attempted to take a photograph of her sitting on an ice structure that looks like a throne (宝座) at Diamond Beach in Jokul. Shortly after Streng sat down to pose, the piece of ice broke off and floated into the water.
"I thought it was safe. One girl had been on it and then two girls at the same time, and it was very secure with them. When I got on it, it started to shake and a wave was coming in. A very large wave came in and made the throne kind of shake, and I could tell that I was slipping off," Streng told ABC News.
Streng's story went hot after her 24-year-old granddaughter Catherine tweeted a text message exchange she had with her father about the incident. "My grandmother almost got lost at sea in Iceland today!"
Catherine, who teaches English in Seoul, South Korea, explained via Twitter that her father described the scene vividly. He has a PhD in English, and described the event in the following words, "She climbed to the throne after a wave had pulled back and left it briefly exposed on the beach. Then a wave washed in and removed the ice throne, rocking it from side to side. When the wave left, it lifted the throne and carried her out into the sea with the tide."
Luckily for the Streng family, Randy, a licensed boat captain from Florida with knowledge of water rescue strategies witnessed the whole thing, and was able to save the day (转危为安).