Fourth Day at Sea in the North Atlantic

 We drew our curtains for the first time last night because the sun is going down so late and coming up so early that it doesn't seem to get really dark in between.  We sailed into fog again last night so the fog horn was going all night and still this morning.  Captain Aris says we should be out of it tonight.

They put on a beautiful brunch buffet this morning in Compass Rose.  We went when it opened at 9:30 in order to be done in time for Terry's talk at 10:30.  Ate too much of course. Here are a few of the offerings.

Terry's talk this morning was "The Invasion of Iceland & the Faroe Islands".  I hadn't realized that Iceland and the Faroe Islands were occupied by British forces in 1940 and Iceland was handed over to US forces in 1941, even before we officially entered WWII.  It was a strategic move since the British forces were needed elsewhere in their campaigns and we had an interest in protecting the merchant traffic across the Atlantic.  There was no opposition since it was obvious that either Germany or the Allies would be occupiers, and the Allies were the better choice. After the war, we were no longer occupiers of course, but we didn't actually completely leave Iceland until 2006!  This was Terry's last talk for a while as he is getting off in a few days in Reykjavik for a bit of holiday before rejoining us in Copenhagen in a month.  He will be missed.

Back to the brunch for a light lunch of cheese and crackers and little bits here and there.  This afternoon's talk by Diana Preston is "Eight Days at Yalta - The 1945 Conference That Still Shapes Our World".  She's written a whole book about that, so there was a lot of information crammed into a 45 minute talk, but I always learn a lot from these talks.  I'm so glad Regent has them.

At trivia today we came in 3rd with 13/18 points, so a fair showing.  Then the early show was Krew Kapers which is performed by the crew who do the whole thing from sets to costumes to choreography to which acts to show.  Some of them have wonderful singing voices and real dance talent.  They got the most enthusiastic applause and the theatre was packed.  It's fun to see them let their hair down.

And the highlight of the day was dinner with Captain Aris and one other couple, Mary Ann and Jimbo Todd.  I'm not sure why we were invited, but perhaps because we reached thte Platinum loyalty level when we boarded this cruise.  Captain Aris is from Greece and is a most likeable and approachable man.  He and the Todds go way back so it was a dinner of old friends.  I wish I had gotten a picture, but there didn't seem to be a good time to ask for one.

Tonight we crossed the Arctic Circle and we have the certificate to prove it. Sunset is around 12:55 am and sunrise should be around 1:30 am, so 23-1/2 hours of daylight.  We are just 2 days away from the summer solstice.  The cabin curtains will certainly be closed tonight.  And no time change for a few days, I believe.  Tomorrow we are at Akureyri, Iceland, a port that was added when we had to cancel Greenland.