Reykjavik

August 28, 2016

Reykjavik, Iceland

Beautiful sunshine today, 50 degrees with the promise to get up to 52.  Yea!

Early breakfast before the 12 of us met at the gangway (notice I now refer to this a gangway not gangplank as previously since someone explained to me that if you exit the ship via gangplank you won’t be returning).  Jon was waiting at the gate to the pier with his new 12-passenger Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and we all piled in to begin our day in and around the capitol of Iceland.  As I mentioned earlier Iceland has 330,000 inhabitants and 200,000 of them live in Reykjavik.  Leaving town we drove past the building where Bobby Fisher won the world championship of chess from the Russian many years ago.  Fisher became a citizen of Iceland and is buried here.

We drove by the Hellisheldarvirkjun Geothermal Power Plant (name probably does not just fall off the tongue) where steam from deep within the earth rises from the ground.  This is used for electricity production and heating of homes.  We arrived at the Thingvellir National Park where we took a walk between two continents.  Thingvellir is one of the only places on earth where the effects of major tectonic plates moving apart can be seen.  This is the original site of Iceland’s Parliament which ran from 930 to 1262.  This is considered the oldest elected parliament in the world.   Really interesting and beautiful place.

Then a drive through the countryside before a stop at Gullfoss - The Golden Waterfall, very powerful and majestic water movement that can be viewed from two levels, very close and personal and very damp from the mist.  Didn’t take us much time to photograph this.

We drove a bit then Jon found a great picnic place as we had all brought sandwiches from the ship.  In a forest of birch and fir trees he found a place with picnic tables under a full canopy of trees where we enjoyed a nice rest and lunch.  Jon found a monument close-by that we all thought looked like a totem pole like seen in the Pacific Northwest or Alaska except this one was natural, not painted.

From here we had a short drive to the Stori-Geysir or Great Geyser to see the eruptions and the hot springs activity.  The blast of hot water happens about every seven minutes and the column rises up to 30 meters.

Kerid, the Crater is an inactive volcano crater formed by an explosion.  It has a lake in the crater that is 55 meters deep with emerald green water.  Formed about 6,500 years ago and lies at the northern end of a row of craters known as Tjarnarholar (in case someone asks you) it is oval in shape, 270 meters long, 170 meters wide.

About 40 minutes later we returned to Reykjavik.  Our first stop was the church built in the 20th century.  This is Lutheran country and the Hallgrimskirkja Church is state-supported, similar to how the Church of England operates.  We had an exterior photo op but as it was Sunday and services were going on at 3 PM we were not allowed to see the inside.  Folks were lined up to walk up the tower but that did not seem to interest anyone in our group.  From here Jon drove us through the downtown area, the old town, the old harbor area and along the coast.  Our last stop was the sculpture of an “Sun Voyager” ancient sailing vessel displayed on the shore.

We settled up with Jon here then he drove us to the port where our ship was docked.  Our trip today restored our faith in stories of Iceland’s beauty.  It was magnificent. We were really tired by now but after a quick stop at the room we made it to the Ocean Bar before having our light supper in the Lido.  Another day of early to bed, 7 PM.  Hope we get healthy, wealthy & wise!

August 29, 2016

At Sea

Leisurely morning, Bob got coffee for us to enjoy in the cabin and we caught up on some emails (internet is back on after several days outside satellite range).  Breakfast with a couple from California living in the area of all the high tech companies’ headquarters (Apple), originally from New York, bemoaning the high property prices.  He, former Mobil Oil engineer, and Bob had something in common re. work.  We tried to attend a lecture on Greenland at 10 AM but by the time we got there at 9:45 not a seat was left.  So we looked at a future cruise to Asia for October 2017, that’s a maybe.  Lunch early so we could lie down for a few minutes before the 2 PM lecture.  We arrived at 1:00 and were able to get a good seat.  Very interesting with slides of Greenland and the route our ship will take tomorrow.  Looks like good weather tomorrow so we should see lots of glaciers and scenery.  Formal tonight so we duded up and had drinks in the Ocean Bar before heading to the Pinnacle Grill for a really good dinner of filet mignon, baked potato, mushrooms, spinach and chocolate volcano for dessert.  Too much but really good.  Skipped the entertainment as it was the ship’s singers and dancers.  So read awhile and another one hour time change tonight so early to bed on the new time.