August 24, 2016

At sea!

After breakfast we attended part of a lecture, “Iceland, Land & People”, our first stop will be in 2 days then Holland America had a Mariner’s Reception to honor folks with 100, 300, 500 and greater days aboard any Holland America ship.  As we only have a bit over 200 days we only received the complementary champagne.  After this we were led to the main dining room for the Mariner’s Brunch.  Tried for a nap after the brunch but had two emergency announcements in our cabin for “Bright Star”, code for the ship’s doctor that there was a pediatric emergency in cabin 1007.  Holland America should either buy the doctor a pager or cell phone or deny children passage.  The Ocean Bar caught us a 4:55 PM for the two-for-one drinks just as they were making “last call”.  This is formal night so the ship’s photographers were setting up all over the ship to capture folks in all their finery before and after dinner.  We ducked back to the cabin and then slunk up to Lido for a light supper without our formal duds before making our way to the theater for “The Unexpected Boys” with a musical tribute to Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons.  We liked it as we recognized all the music.  This was a fun evening even without being trussed up in a tux.  Tonight was second straight night we’ve saved an hour by turning our clocks back one hour.

August 25, 2016

At sea!

Up early as our bodies have not recognized the time change.  Bob away to the Lido for coffee at 5 AM.  After breakfast we attended  a lecture about the three places we will be seeing in Iceland, Akureyri, Isafjordur and Reykjavik.  Iceland is greener that Greenland while Greenland has more ice that Iceland.  Iceland has 330,000 people.  After lunch in the Lido we gathered around the pool for the Arctic Circle Polar Bear Plunge, lots of participants and lots of fun.  Highlight for Bob was ice cream.  Following a nap we found the Ocean Bar for “Happy Hour” and conversation with a Canadian that looked exactly like Santa Claus.  He has promised a photo tomorrow with him in his red suit.  Dinner in the Lido followed by Andy Bunger, German playing many instruments with the ship orchestra backing him and it was quite entertaining.  Return to the room for preparation for our adventure tomorrow at Akureyri.

August 26, 2016

Akureyri, Iceland

Temperature 49 when we disembarked the ship, didn’t get any warmer all day, cloudy and intermittent rain all day but mostly when we were in the 8 passenger Mercedes Benz Sprinter van.  Audun was our driver/guide to all the sights.  Our first stop was Godafoss, a large falls created from glacier melt higher up.  

It makes a lot of noise and moves a tremendous amount of water.  A rest stop at a cafe where Iris discovered some trolls.

Skutustadir-Lake Myvatn was created from bubbling steam vents of the volcanic action.  The ground is covered with lava from eruptions over the centuries.  The lake created from all this is beautiful.

The lava flows created some interesting structures.

Even though it was not Christmas Audun decided we needed to see where the Yule Lads hang out a Christmas time.  They are the 13 sons of trolls and have names that fit their habits i.e Door Slammer, Spoon Licker, Sausage Swiper and Skyr Gobbler.   For more information about these guys go to www.visitmyvatn.is.

Heather and wild flowers grow all along the paths surrounded by the lava rock and stones. 

Namafjall Hverir is an active bubbling cauldron of sulphur pots bubbling with steam and smelling bad.  Pipes run from these high temperature pools to houses to provide heat (cheap).

Dettifoss is another falls that has the greatest volume of water of anywhere in Europe.  It was a pretty good walk from the parking area to a point where we could view the falls.  There are two falls in this park, we chose Dettifoss and made the trek.

On our return to the van we glimpsed the other falls in the distance so we got to see both without having to hike to the other one, Selfoss.

The last official stop was a little visited falls, Hafragilsfoss, very impressive.

Myvatn Lake drew our attention on our way back to the ship so we had a photo op at the parking area.  Notice the steam coming from the earth that powered the first electricity plant in this area.

A quick photos from the van of the troll marshmallows, some are white, pink, green and black.  We were told these are for the trolls to eat; white - vanilla, pink - strawberry, green - mint, black - licorice.  Some say the white is troll toilet paper.

Our departure time for the ship was getting closer by now and Iris was beginning to panic but Audun turned off the main highway onto a gravel road and drove us up to a great photo point overlooking the fjord.  This was Audun’s house.  

After a quick photo it was back to the ship where we entered exactly one minute before the “all aboard”.  The lads were preparing to take up the gangway.

Once on board we removed all the clothing layers and made our way to the Ocean Bar for a much deserved drink before our dinner in the Lido.  There was no show tonight so after our dinner we attempted to read in bed.  Big mistake as we were both asleep at 7:30.