Second Boat Day.

When I was researching things to do at the various ports, the only place that just didn’t appeal to me was today’s stop, a small port called Isafjordur. I don’t know why, but looking at it (via YouTube and Google) it just depressed me. How silly, I know, but I really didn’t want to get off the boat there.

I figured since we had been on the go since we left Cranbrook, that maybe we would enjoy a good sleep-in and a lazy day and just check out all the places and thing to do on the boat. It was raining, raining hard when we woke up, so that settled that. 

We went and had a leisurely breakfast (come on, how can the coffee be so bad?!) and then we looked at each other and thought “We should at least get off the boat”. 

I had anticipated lots of rain in Iceland so I had purchased a puffy jacket that scrunched up into a small ball so I took that out, and Steven had a light rain jacket, so we covered up and walked down the gangplank, the rain was coming down in torrents, we looked at each other and walked to the other gangplank and went back in. 😂. I don’t mind a bit of rain, but this was horrendous, and there was really nothing to see here. No use being miserable. I just didn’t feel right there. I don’t know, maybe nothing, maybe a gut feeling to listen to. In any case, we shook ourselves off like wet dogs and hung our stuff to dry and decided to check things out on the ship. That was the only time I needed that jacket, that was the only rain we saw. 

By now, since we had slept in a bit, it was lunch time so we went to “The Local Bar & Grill” and I had sausage sliders and Steven had a cheeseburger. Then we went over to Starbucks and had a cappuccino and guess what? It was Steven’s first cappuccino (as he isn’t a coffee drinker) and also his first Starbucks. He totally enjoyed the coffee.

There is so much to see and do on these ships. Lots of really good entertainment, lots of mediocre entertainment and lots of weird stuff like bean bag toss and charades. But honestly, you can only be bored if you choose to be, even if you have to make an origami whale and learn to fold napkins into shapes to kill some time.

And food? I know many of you have been on cruises, but the amount food never ceases to astound me. There are eight specialty restaurants, twelve (yes, twelve!) bars and lounges, the big buffet, two other sit down restaurants and a pizza place. No lack of finding somewhere or something to eat.

We went up top where there is a Fun Zone with arcade games, a speedway that goes all around the top deck, water slides, a drop slide (remember that….more about that later), a mini golf course, electronic game things that I don’t understand that involve full size cars,  virtual reality places and likely so much more. We were the only people there! 

The shopping was minimal, much less than I’ve seen on other cruises. A purse store selling Gucci and the like, a watch place selling Rolex and other expensive watches, a high end perfume shop, a “regular” shop selling t-shirts, sweaters, hoodies and such, plus a small area like a wee drugstore where you could get toothpaste, Gravol and other small necessities. Oh, and the Duty Free. Man, talk about cheap booze. I hate to shop so I was fine with the lack of it. They did have vending machines near the men’s bathroom (not in it, but outside of it) selling condoms and tampons. That just struck me as odd, you’d think it would be in the bathrooms. 

The swimming pools were nice, as well as the hot tubs, lots of lounge chairs, but because of the rain today, not a lot of people were utilizing them. 

And of course there is a huge spa where you can get all the treatments you can think of, from acupuncture to fancy massages, hair and skin treatments and holistic treatments too. None of that is for me, and the more I read what I have written, the stranger I think I must appear. I’ve never had a massage or a manicure or pedicure because the thought of strangers touching me gives me chills. In a creepy way. And I don’t really like people, and I like to be alone and I love cemeteries and the dark. I see colours when I speak, and while I always thought I was a fairly normal person, I’m beginning to think otherwise! 😂

After spending the afternoon checking out all these interesting places, and watching the drenched people come straggling in, pretending they had fun as they squished and dripped their way to their rooms, I was glad we had stayed aboard today.

Soon it was supper and we chose The Commodore room tonight. Dinner was cheese ravioli with lobster sauce, brisket and fruit for him, and bruschetta, bacon & bourbon chicken and fruit for me. And then, *sigh* a waiter delivered a small cake to our table and a bunch of staff came and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”. The whole song, not just a line or two. Everyone looked. Everyone clapped. The staff said “Fifty Years!” And they clapped some more. I wanted to slither right under the table. And then people recognized us in the elevator and would say “Hey, we saw them singing to you, congratulations.” I understand that people are just being kind, but I thought I would die. I thought the 12 tins of water was our gift, not a public display. 

We went to a show after that, Bossa Nova Beat, which was sort of like a WestSide Story, and absolutely fabulous. The costumes and dancing was top notch, Broadway calibre. So much sparkle and glitter, and spectacular music. 

We left the port at 5:30 PM and at approximately 9 PM we entered the Straight of Denmark and crossed the Arctic Circle, which really doesn’t mean anything unless you are a geography geek like me. The water was really rough, and I woke up to a weird ticking/dripping sound. I couldn’t figure it out, I was pretty sure that it wasn’t (fingers crossed!) water dripping, but it was driving me crazy, so I got out of bed (this is around 2 AM) and tip-toed around the room, listening intently. Eventually I realized that the boat was rocking enough that it was causing the coat hangers in the one closet to bang rhythmically against the closet walls. So I had to take them all down and stash them in a drawer. They are those non-steal-able kind that you have to unhook the hanger part and leave the other part on the rod. I couldn’t quite reach and I was getting really frustrated. “FFS” came out of my mouth quite frequently .Steven heard me and must have thought I was nuts. 

He: What are you doing?

Me: Taking the coat hangers down, they’re making noise.

He: What? They’re what?

Me: (in a most cranky voice) They. Are. Making. Noise.

He: Uh, oh, ok then.

Me: Just go to sleep and leave me alone.

He: Ok then. ‘Night. 

Stupid coat hangers. 

But the rocking of the ship was soothing, albeit really noticeable. I imagine a few people were sea-sick. We both loved it though. 

And that was Day 2 on the ship. Other than the coat hangers, it had been a perfect day. And the rain. And the singing. But yeah, other than that, perfection. 😉

These are the annoying coat hangers 

The main atrium of the NCL Prima. Sort of both modern and vintage. It’s a new style for NCL and people either love it or hate it. I love it. 

Mini golf on the top deck.

Raceway on the top deck.

Electronic things in The Galaxy.

Møre electronic things.

It felt sort of like how they envisioned the future in the 50’s.  Very cool.

The cake that embarrassed me. That’s my finger mark in the icing. 

The artwork on the ocean walk.

Gloomy Isafjordur in the background. Very industrial port, not inviting at all.

More artwork.

Bye bye sad little town. I’m not sure why I didn’t like you, even when the rain stopped you didn’t appeal to me at all. 

First Boat Day

 Somehow the time change has screwed up my dates. We have been here for three days, we left home on September first, but today is September fourth, so my Post Titles are all wrong. Oh well, it’s Day One on the boat.

We aren’t new to cruises, but I am always amazed at how things get more streamlined all the time. The first cruise we took, eons ago when the kids were young was nothing but crowds and lines, and finding your muster station was insane…all the passengers had to be there at once. It was pure chaos. It got easier with each  subsequent cruise and this one was such a snap. You have to check in online at home and watch a 2 minute video. And that was that. 

After the online check-in you pick the time when you want to board, and I picked 1:30 pm so that we would not have to rush in the morning. Then the cruise line sends you umpteen messages telling you to not arrive early or you will be turned away as they do not want masses of people and crowds. They were sort of scary, very stern.

But, because I fear being late, the logistics of getting to the cruise port from our hotel had me stressed (how long will it take? Traffic? Are there enough taxi’s in the city? What happens if we arrive at 2, and not at 1? Do we then have to go to the end of the line-up? A walk of shame?) The fellow at the hotel told me it would take 3 minutes for a taxi to arrive, and another 5 to get to the port. I did not believe him.

I should have. We checked out at 11 and were at the port by 11:12  The thought of waiting over two hours was discouraging, so I asked an NCL rep if there was somewhere to leave our luggage and sit, since we were two hours early. She just smiled and sent us straight through, we showed our ID, got our keycard, dropped our luggage off and were on the ship by 11:25. Of course we headed straight for the buffet to sit and have a (long awaited for) coffee. And guess what? The coffee was just as bad as everywhere else, if not even worse! Seriously, what gives? So we ate cake instead.

We did have to go to our muster station and scan our keycards to prove that we knew where to go in case of a disaster, but that was on the way to the buffet, so that was ok. I instantly forgot how to get there, but luckily no disasters occured. 

The whole thing was just so simple. No line-ups. No crowds. Everything was calm and organized. We just breathed a sigh of relief that everything had worked out and were finally here, ready to relax. 

They announced that the rooms on our deck were ready earlier than I anticipated, so we headed up there to check our room out and to get a bit organized. My luggage wasn’t there and I was beginning to panic, but they said that often it doesn’t arrive until six pm, which is exacly when mine showed up.We explored the ship to get our bearings and decided to go to Hudson’s for dinner. I had a Greek salad, shrimp scampi and crème brûlée. I won’t post too many pictures of food. Although, actually, yes, yes I will. We had a really great table for two at the window. I don’t do the sharing with strangers dining thing. Sorry to sound uppity, but that’s the way I am. “Ew David, people,” 

After dinner Steven wanted to check out the casino. It was really big, bigger than I thought, about 250 slots plus the live tables as well. It’s a good thing that we did check it out because I put $50 in a machine and on my 3rd spin (.88 cent spins) I won some US money. $20, 249.05 to be exact. Winner winner chicken dinner. About $27,000 Canadian.  So…ummm…Day One was a success. And because this is not the United States, nothing was held. They cut me a cheque for the full amount.

It was bedtime by now and I just wanted to sit on our balcony and watch the world go by, and count my blessings. 

 Lucky 50th Anniversary present. 

.88 cents turned into a bit more than .88 cents.

Crème brûlée

They called this scampi, but I’m pretty sure it’s an Alfredo. 

Greek Salad.

Our first dinner was a great window seat

Shower with elbow room and no flooding.

Good size bathroom.

Great stateroom, lots of storage and space.

King sized bed. Nice change from the last place. 

A dozen tins of water, gratefully accepted. The ship water is perfectly fine, but this is just so handy to keep in the fridge.

The little snack we had when we first arrived on the ship. We may or may not have had seconds. 😉

September 3. Day 3. Part One.

 Woke up about 7 this morning and peeked outside to see yet another sunny day! Three for three!

Hopped into the shower and managed to not flood the bathroom today. There is not a lot of space in our room, so it’s like a game of Tetris trying to get ready and dressed, twisting and turning in order to avoid an elbow to the eye.

Eventually we got to the breakfast room, and I have to say, with all the restaurants we’ve been to, including this place, the coffee has been….horrible. Not just “bad”, but “really, really bad”. It’s exactly like very strong, and old, instant coffee. The dregs of the pot that sat on a campfire overnight. And this has been everywhere. And to make it worse, they don’t use cream, not even 10% or half & half. Just milk. I daren’t complain as I know “when in Rome” and all that, but still….coffee is a world wide thing and how can it go so wrong? But I sucked down a cup anyhow, just to get that caffeine.

We went out for our daily walk and I picked up a couple of tiny souvenirs, tiny being the operative word since we only travel with carry-ons, so not a lot of room for extras. I have a friend who collects fridge magnets and another who collects shot glasses, so you can’t get much tinier than that! Icelandic people are wild for black licorice, and it’s everywhere, and we love it too, so a few packages of different kinds of that for us, and a small container of hand harvested Icelandic flakey sea salt for me, and Boom!, shopping done. The Bonus (that’s the name of the main grocery chain) store was just up the street so we did our licorice hunting there, and there were shelves and shelves of it. Other country’s grocery stores are the best! 

A little Icelandic info for you today. The population of the entire country is only about 390,000 and of that, 140,000 live in Reykjavik.There are 4 other major cities, one with a population of 40,000 and the other three with 20,000 (more or less). The remaining people live in small coastal villages. There are no settlements in the highlands and central area as the weather (the wind and rain) make it quite uninhabitable for the majority of the year.

About these little villages though, I found this quite fascinating. The government says a that all small towns, even with a population of less than 200, must have the essentials to live a content and complete life. That means a grocery store, an urgent care facility, a library, a school, a gas station, a post office and a liquor store. Every little town. This helps ensure that young people (well, all people I guess, but of course the young are the future) won’t move away, and everyone has a life they can enjoy. There is very little homelessness in Iceland, only 0.3% of the population and those that are homeless do not sleep on the streets, they have sufficient temporary shelters.  Crime and drug use are also very minimal. In 2022 the homicide rate had doubled from 2021….from 2 to 4.

And tipping is not a thing. Many locals get incredibly offended by the practice of tipping as they make a decent living wage and they do not feel like they need “hand-outs” from strangers, particularly Americans. They consider it an abhorrent practice and it is simply not part of their culture. I didn’t realize how ingrained tipping was because I felt so cheap when I left a restaurant and didn’t tip.

Speaking of Americans though, there was a Starbucks on the shopping street, and much as I didn’t want to go there, the urge for a decent coffee was stronger than my dislike for Starbucks. A small $10 cappuccino was worth every penny. It was filled to the brim (coffee pun!) with tourists, most seemed to be North American, we do need our good coffee.

Back to our hotel to check out. We are catching a cruise ship today to continue our adventure. 

Everything is so clean, even the plant pots.

Early morning enjoyment!

   A lot of street art.

I was never really sure what I bought, other than the Coca Cola, or what it cost.

I mean, damn, can’t get away from him.

These little guys were everywhere, but they eventually turn into the photo below.

I was told that I had to eat a sheep hot dog, and it was delicious!

September 2 Day 2.

 We woke up at approximately 7AM and I looked outside, expecting rain, but the sun was out there already! In the  weeks before this trip we checked the weather daily and rain was forecast for every single day. And every day for the next ten days. And when those ten days were over, the weather app showed rain for the next ten. All I wanted was at least one sunny day, and I figured that yesterday had been our lucky day, but maybe….fingers crossed….today will be lucky too?

I’d like to say that I jumped out of bed, hopped in the shower and was ready to go, but that wasn’t quite true. I don’t jump out of bed anymore for fear of snapping something and while I did hop in the shower that’s because it was on a pedestal about 8 inches high. It was oddly shaped, almost like a trapezoid, a strange little corner shower,  and the shower curtain came nowhere close to fitting. It was a handheld nozzle, which is not unusual, but it didn't have a hook to hang it from, just a ledge about waist height. The shower curtain needed to be held shut with one hand to keep torrents of water from flooding the bathroom and then the other hand had to hold the nozzle and I didn’t have a third hand to use soap. It was a conundrum for sure. I tried so hard to be quick and efficient, but the controls were finicky, and the hot water is HOT…and I kept dropping the nozzle and dropping the soap and struggling with the shower curtain, and when I got out it was like stepping into a bathtub…water everywhere. *sigh*. When we walked into this room for the first time yesterday, Steven noticed the hardwood floor outside the bathroom was seriously warped, so I guess I’m not the only one who can’t shower without causing a disaster. I ended up using almost all the towels (of which we only had two bath towels and one hand towel!) to mop up my mess. Good thing I woke up early.

But eventually we were ready to head downstairs for a quick breakfast and to check out the neighbourhood before our 12 o’clock tour of The Golden Circle.

Our hotel was in a fairly central area, on a corner where one street had lots of shopping, one had restaurants and hotels, one went towards the ocean (only 2 blocks away) and the other was more local with apartment buildings. Everything was very clean, buses zipped by every few minutes and back-packers were everywhere, loaded to the gills with their hiking necessities. Some of those packs must weigh 65 pounds. There was a time when I would have loved to do that, except that’s not true at all. There has never been a time when I wanted to do that. All the stores are filled with puffy coats, back-packs, hiking gear etc. There are a lot of second hand stores with all the gear as well, I guess when the hikers are on their way home, they sell their items to lessen their load, and newcomers can pick up quality gear at a good price. We checked out hiking boots, a decent (read: not overly great) pair was easily in the $400 range. I will say though, I have friends and nieces who hike and it really does look like a glorious way to see the world. It’s just not for me. 

So we wandered the streets for a bit, walked down to the ocean where there is a walking/biking trail that winds all around the waterfront. The rocks are huge and they seem to have been polished, people are curled up, just watching the waves and even reading in the sunshine. It’s very peaceful, and again I have to mention the cleanliness. Not a scrap of paper anywhere.

The tour I had booked for this afternoon had their pickup spot directly in front of our hotel, so that was super handy. I chose a small-group tour company that only had 16 passengers (because, you know, people….) and they were on time to the minute.

 The Golden Circle is a 230-km loop from Reykjavik that ties together three of Iceland’s most famous natural sights, as well as some other stops. Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as being the place where a lot of Game of Thrones was filmed, a show that I have never seen, so I was not one of the excited people taking photos of places that they recognized from the show. This is the location of Icelands first parliament however, making it the oldest parliament in the world. First established in 930 AD, it was an open air assembly where villages gathered to administer laws and justice. I can picture how it would have been, fires with roasting meat, small huts with familes enjoying the annual gathering, people trading their wares with each other.

But more interesting is the fact that this is the only place in the world where you can stand between two continental plates, the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. They are slowly pulling apart at the rate of approximately an inch a year, which is really rather a lot when you think about it. You can physically see and walk between the two plates. 

A lot of social media influencers post pictures of themselves with their hands touching both sides of a narrow gorge, saying they are touching both North America and Europe at the same time, but that’s a fallacy, the tectonic plates don’t really work that way, and besides, the actual rift is too wide to touch both sides at the same time.

The second stop was the Gullfoss waterfall. Gullfoss means “Golden Falls” and it was quite spectacular. The force of the water causes a huge amount of wind and spray. Considering how hot it was as we stepped out of the bus, it was quite amazing how windy and cold it got within 50 feet. My hair was a whirl of tornado atop my head and men’s hats were flying everywhere. It has two major drops, so it’s sort like two waterfalls in one. The river enters a large, deep gorge and carries on to the ocean.

It was featured a lot in the TV series Vikings. 

The next stop was Geysir Geothermal Area. The whole area sits on top of a vast boiling cauldron. The most famous geyser here is Strokkur which erupts every 5-7 minutes, along with other smaller ones. There are pools of boiling water, bubbling mud pits and steaming fumeroles. It’s how I imagine being on another planet would be. It’s similar to Yellowstone, but more otherworldly. (The English word “geyser” is from the Icelandic word “geysir”) 

Because the geyser erupts so frequently, there are never too many people waiting there, so it’s easy to get a nice view. The sulphur smell wasn’t very bad at all, although to be honest, everywhere in Iceland smells slightly sulphurous when you turn the hot water on, but the cold water is the best in the world. Literally. 

As we were leaving here, our bus driver hit some sort of bump or rock and there was a large noise. Steven looked at me and said “Well, that’s gonna be a problem”, but she kept on going. We drove a bit more and she suddenly said “I think we will stop and visit some Icelandic horses”, which of course no one minded at all, but it hadn’t been on our itinerary. 

We had a quick lesson on the horses, which of course everyone calls them Icelandic ponies, and that annoys the owners to no end, as they are not ponies at all. They have a fascinating history though:

They were brought here by the Vikings in approximately the year 930. Of course the Vikings only brought their strongest horses, and for over 1,000 years there has been absolutely no crossbreeding in Iceland and this extraordinary isolation has allowed the breed to maintain it’s purity, so the horses are now considered the purest breed in the world.

Aside from that, they also have the ability to survive in a harsh climate, having an unusual double coat and they are also long lived. 

Most horses have 3 gaits; walk, trot and gallop, but these amazing ponies…oops, horses, have 2 extra gaits…they can tölt and flugskeiǒ. I am not a horse person at all, so I have no idea what this means, other than it is quite incredible and fun to say.

Because of their purity, they have no afflictions or diseases and national laws are in place (and very strict) which prevent any foreign born horse from being imported into the country and any exported animal is never permitted to return. Thus, breeders, racers etc only send their second or third best horses out of the country, keeping their best horses for national breeding programs, since #2 and #3 will never return.

So as we are petting the horses, we notice the hood of the bus is up and our driver is talking on her phone to someone, and sure enough, something is leaking out from under the engine.

She told us that the steering felt wrong and she had phoned a friend. Before we knew it, this large beefed-up truck roars up and a large beefed-up Viking jumps out. They confabbed a minute and she learned that the power steering fluid was somehow gone. (Couldn’t have been the large object she hit? 😉) The Viking (because I will continue to insist that we were rescued by a Viking) fixed it enough so that we could drive a couple of miles down the road back to the geysir place where there was a large gift shop, restaurant and museum. It was a fine place to wait for a new bus and I think the gift shop (which was massive!) had an influx of extra sales. 

There was an odd statue outside the museum, a young man on another man’s shoulders, grasping his underwear. Turns out that wrestling is the national sport and the museum is dedicated to all things wrestling in Iceland. but whoever designed this statue must have been laughing. Or drunk. 

Eventually our new bus came and we continued on. The break had been welcome, some shopping, a snack and a bathroom break. It was maybe an hour extra in our day.

Next, and final stop was Kerid or Kerið crater, also called The Eye of the World or The Eye of God, depending on your beliefs, because it looks remarkably like a human eye when seen from an aerial view. It’s a 6,500 year old crater formed when a volcano collapsed into itself. I’ve seen pictures of it before, from above, and while most of them are AI generated to look way too human, it is still a stunning sight.

After this we drove back to Reykjavik, had a fish & chip dinner and hit the sack, in our tiny little beds. Our open window, even though we were on the 4th floor, let in the sounds of young people laughing and having a bit of a party in the pedestrian street only below us. In hindsight I guess they could have been arguing and taunting each other because I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but it sounded pleasant. It had been a spectacular day, full of amazing things. What a country!

The little breakfast area in our hotel.

Walking the streets near our hotel

Another street in the other direction. 

Many buildings are brightly coloured.

We seem to find casinos everywhere we go!

A random statue.

Men and boys always fascinated by large machines. 

The walkway two blocks from our hotel. Look how polished the rocks look. 

Mr. Serious concentrating on not sliding right off that rock.

The rift of the tectonic plates.

A tiny church with a tiny cemetary

 

The North American plate and the Eurasian plate.

Godafoss waterfall.

It was so loud, and so windy, but so beautiful.

The gorge that leads eventually to the ocean.

Strokker Geysir in its calm before the storm.

Starting to blow!

It went higher, but so fast that it’s hard to get a picture.

The little geyser, it only went up a couple of feet

Icelandic horses wanting to be petted.

They are very social and like to have company.

Hoping for snacks.

The modern Viking method of transport.

The modern Viking. Notice the women gazing at him. 

The room of Thor in the museum part of the gift shop. All things Thor. ☺️

Fish & chips for dinner. Not sure what it cost, I didn’t want to know anyhow. 

The unusual statue commemorating wrestling.

The Kerið crater. It was quite large, if you zoom in you can see people near the water at the 10 0’clock position.