Reykjavik, Iceland (Day 1)

 I forgot to mention that on our walking tour yesterday of Isafjordur we stopped at a small museum and sampled the fermented shark that we had heard about.  It was actually not too bad.  It was more like a small chunk of cheese that got a bit stronger in fish taste as it lingered.  But then we had a little bit of their national drink made from potatoes (like raw alcohol) that took that taste away.

Last night was one of the top 3 in terms of rough seas since we've been cruising.  I got very little sleep - not seasick, just too much rolling and bouncing and creaking to sleep properly.  This morning we boarded our nice bus for our all-day Golden Circle tour.  Our first stop was a vantage point from which we were to have a 360-degree view of the capital (what they call Reykjavik).  When we got out of the bus, it was cloudy.  By the time we climbed to the fourth floor viewing platform, it was pouring rain and windy so our guide did the best she could just looking out the windows.  Then as we left the building, the rain had stopped.  Welcome to Iceland.  Next was a drive through the countryside and heath to the beautiful Gullfoss waterfall and the Geyser area nearby.  We had lunch there (a delicious soup and salmon) before driving to the National Park.  On the way we crossed from the Asian-European tectonic plate to the American plate.  It's very visible from a distance.  All of this area is again heated by geothermal energy.  Even individual residences will drill down to use the water for their home heating and hot water needs.  In our meanderings we saw the house where Reagan and Gorbachev met to discuss the end of the Cold War.  And in the distance the Icelandic President's house which is guarded by one police car and is open for the public to wander the grounds.  The horses here are a breed traced back to the Vikings.  No foreign horses are allowed to be imported and if you take a horse out of Iceland, there is a one year quarantine if you want to bring it back. 

 

Edge of the American plate

The Heath - most of the green is moss

The Geyser area

Getting ready to blow

There she goes

The Icelandic Horse

Beautiful glacial waterfall.  Those are people walking that path in front, which gives a perspective of the size of these falls.

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Lupine grows wild everywhere and not all are happy about it because it isn't a native species.

We were pretty tired when we got back, but Terry Bishop was giving one last performance of sea shanties at 6:00 pm which we didn't want to miss.  Glad we went because he is just so much fun.  We had planned to order room service for dinner, but they were slammed, so we went to Compass Rose.  We shared a table with Mary and Frank who are from southern Virginia.  When Frank said that they were both professional clowns, I comported myself very well.  Michael said he was proud of me for not shouting out that clowns creep me out.  All I said was "Wow, that's intereting.  I've never met professional clowns before."  They are on staff at a hospital and they don't spend all their time in the pediatric ward as we supposed.  They generally don't go to that ward unless invited.  Which begs the question of where they do work.  And they are in a bell ringing group in their town that has actually played at Cargegie Hall.  But even though they've been invited back again, Frank and Mary won't go  again with the group because they felt they were treated badly the last time.  You meet the most interesting people on a cruise.

Tomorrow is the end of this first segment and a turnaround day so we're losing around 300 passengers and gaining the same number back.  I love seeing them all scrambling around packing and discussing travel arrangements, when it's just another day for us.