Category: Cruise

July 9th was one of those days that makes up for all the other days that may have been disappointing.  Instead of overpaying for a shore excursion, we found it is significantly cheaper to overpay for a rental car in Iceland, and we also lose the crowds.  P.J. felt much better and the weather was sunny.  So, in the morning we drove to the Reykjanesfólkvangur geopark, southwest of Reykjavik.  We passed through moon-like landscapes, scenic lakes and areas with mud pools, fumaroles and smells.  The area was created by men who were drilling for hot water and found a little more than they bargained for.  I hiked to the top of a hill with beautiful vistas over the park and the Atlantic Ocean, while P.J. spent time taking pictures of, and petting, the local Icelandic horses grazing nearby.  I had not expected an opportunity to hike and had left my hiking boots on the ship, so I was doing it on my loafers.  Along the top there were some narrow, slippery ridges, plus a gale force wind trying to blow me off.  Anyway, it was challenging and fun.

Later we drove along lonely roads that could have been in the interior American West, except we were driving along an ocean.  Then we drove further inland and walked in the crack where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge surfaces and pushes the North American and Eurasian plates ever further apart.  At one point we heard what sounded like rain against the car’s windshield.  Alas, it was not rain but bugs that gradually started to foul up our vision.  However, later we did drive into a driving rainstorm and after that our windshield was clean again.  What a country!

Unfortunately, the weather is “back to normal” today: Rain.  And more unfortunate, P.J came down with a cold and cough and does not feel so good.  She felt bad enough to cancel out of her non-refundable shore excursion this morning, so I went by myself.

The excursion went to an abandoned village, across the fjord from Isafjörður.  The trip involved a one hour crossing in a fast boat.  Even though the weather was dreary and wet, the ocean was rather placid so the crossing was comfortable.  I invited myself up front “on the bridge”.  There I had a great view while listening to the crew chattering in Icelandic but, interestingly, ship-to-shore communication was in English.

Our trip leader was a young Icelandic girl whose grandparents hailed from these abandoned regions.  They lived off the land, no need for money.  She explained that almost all the hardy vegetation is edible.  I smelled a plant that had a distinct and very pleasant licorice odor.  The villagers had sheep and some cattle, but fish, seals and whales were also on the diet.  A seal’s flippers were a delicacy because they are very meaty, whereas the rest of animal is very fatty.  They ate birds and bird eggs.  Her grandmother relished a specific fertilized bird egg at the point where the chick’s beak had just started to form … an acquired taste, I guess.  Only the doctor had a horse, which allowed him to travel quickly across his 200 square mile practice area … no roads.  The last inhabitants abandoned the village in the early fifties.  There never was any electricity, but in the end they did have telephone, courtesy of the US navy during World War II because it also served as a watch outpost.  Because of that experience, when the last inhabitants finally left the village some moved to the US navy base at Keflavik, now Reykjavik’s international airport.  Currently it is a nature preserve and you can camp there in the summer.  A few hardy young campers were there, on a cold (46F, 8C) rainy July day.

We crossed the Arctic Circle during the night and almost simultaneously the sky cleared and the sun came out.  Not only did we have no darkness to speak of, but as “night fell” it actually became brighter which threw off my circadian rhythms a bit.  Sailing into the fjord early the next morning many people were already up and about and we were greeted by a pod of whales and beautiful sunshine.  The whole day was lovely, albeit a bit chilly.  The first time in eleven days we did not have any rain!

We were in Akureyri two years ago but then we did not see much of the town because we were out on an excursion most of the day.  This time we had no shore excursions so we took a stroll around town.  We visited a beautiful church with a very interesting architecture.  Then we walked to a botanical garden with a wealth of brightly colored flowers and a nice café.  It was good to sit outside in the sunshine, after so many gloomy and/or showery days.  Later we walked around town and had another little snack at a café downtown.  Ah, the café life!

We walked past a municipal open air swimming pool.  In Iceland most every town has one or more year-around geothermally heated pools and Icelanders make lots of use of it.  We may try it ourselves when we are in Reykjavik.  Heat and hot water are plentiful in most of Iceland and piped throughout Akureyri and also Reykjavik.  No need to meter it; it comes out of the ground continuously.  Years ago, when we stayed in a hotel in Reykjavik our room was very warm.  When we complained they told us the way to control the heat is to open the window.  The environment is very clean.  Almost all energy is either geothermal or hydro-electric.  And the country also leads in the use of electric cars, with charging stations all around.

Today we are sailing towards Akureyri, Iceland.  It is gray and the wind is only moderate but there is a long swell which causes some discomfort to P.J.  That’s why she has not been writing much lately.  I do hope she does get a chance to upload some pictures later.  Tonight we cross the Arctic Circle and the sun will only go below the horizon for about two hours.

We will be in three different Icelandic ports for the next four days.  We’ve been to Iceland many times now.  This is our second time on a cruise and we’ve also made stop-overs in Reykjavik on our way to and from Europe.  Every time I visit, I want more.  I look forward to this visit, hoping for sunny weather for a change.  Tomorrow looks to be promising.

We went to a lecture by an Icelandic geologist.  According to him, they repurposed their only prison, but they are building a new one!  Right now there’s no prison and there’s a waiting list to get in.

There are no trees on the Shetland Islands.  The reason is shallow acidic soil and high winds.  Plenty of grass though, which is great for sheep which outnumber humans more than twenty to one (not counting tourists).

I went on an excursion to Mousa Island (Moss Island), an island off Shetland’s “Mainland”.  It is uninhabited by humans today, but about 2500 years ago people there built one of many stone brocs, cylindrical stone towers.  The one on Mousa Island is the best preserved.  There is some argument among archeologists about their exact purpose(s) but they were probably used for food storage, community gatherings and protection from attackers, like the Romans.  They were all built within sight of each other, so they may also have been used for signaling or other communications.

No people on the island, but plenty of sea birds.  I saw puffins, storm petrels, loons (a Shetland variety), guillemots, arctic terns, and others whose names I forgot, and all kinds of gulls.  We also saw porpoises, apparently rare around the Shetlands, and seals which are not so rare.  Sheep graze on the island with a sense of ownership that is very inconsiderate to the nesting terns.  Terns are extremely aggressive in defending their nesting site.  When a sheep gets near-by, terns dive-bomb the sheep, pecking at their heads.  A woman in our party also got attacked by a tern, pecking her jacket.

My excursion was blessed by calm weather and placid seas, rare in Shetland.  But some time into our walk we had a downpour.  No place to hide in the open Shetland landscape.  Our party started to resemble a collection of drowned cats.  I will walk in freezing cold, howling winds and blizzards, but somehow I never enjoyed walking in the rain because I don’t like getting home in wet clothes.  But I learned something new …  if you keep walking until after the rain has stopped, you will dry out.

Two years ago, when we were in Bergen, Norway, I went back to the ship early because it was too hot.  I wrote in our blog: “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it!” referring to the sunny, hot weather.  This year we went back to the ship early because of rain.  Before the rain started, however, we went up the Mount Fløien funicular, one of the main attractions of Bergen.  There was a waiting line, but not nearly as long as two years ago when there was also a tall ships event in town and the crowds were horrendous.  I skipped it then.  This morning it was cool and visibility from Mount Fløien was excellent, probably better than two years ago when it was hazy.

But around lunch time the rain came.  We made our way down, stopped in a café to have a small lunch in the hope it would stop, but finally we just walked back to the ship in the rain.  Still, we were lucky to get to the mountain before the rain, and all-in-all I found this visit to Bergen to be more enjoyable than two years ago.  When we left Bergen harbor we sailed out from under the rain and into the late day sun on the Atlantic from where we could see the rain clouds still hanging over Bergen.

Today is Independence Day at home.  Our ship is decorated with American flags.  Happy 4^th every one!

Today we are sailing to Bergen, Norway, where we will arrive tomorrow.  We’re in the middle of the North Sea where it is a bit windy, approaching gale force.  Last night we had a brief thunderstorm.  The ship is very stable, but does rock a little.  The rocking motion made for a good night’s sleep for me, but P.J. felt a little bit sea sick when she got up.  She took a pill and felt better but now she’s drowsy.

This morning P.J. went to a presentation in the ship’s theater.  They featured a slide show and to her surprise one of the slides was a picture of me walking around in Iceland.  She is now negotiating for cruise benefits in exchange for retroactive copyright permission.  We, and apparently they, don’t know how that picture ended up in the slide show.  As for me, I am flattered that I can still do modeling at my age.  Did not know I had it in me.

Our cabin is at the stern of the ship.  We have an oversize balcony with a beautiful view over the ship’s wake, but I easily get cabin fever and go out regularly to walk on the deck.  I love walking around the deck, especially in windy weather.  The sky and the sea are always changing and when the weather is not typically Caribbean it is very quiet on the deck of a cruise ship.

On July 12, 1960, I sailed on the SS Rotterdam from Rotterdam to New York with my mom.  I was 14 years old.  It was for only a summer visit to my dad in America. I emigrated later, in 1968.  Yesterday, July 2, 2016, I sailed on the MS Rotterdam from Rotterdam to Boston— from the city where I was born and raised, to the city where I have spent my adult life so far.

Holland America Line has had several generations of ships called the Rotterdam.  But the one I sailed on in 1960 was revolutionary for its time.  After Holland America sold it, the old SS Rotterdam sailed under a different name for a time: the Rembrandt.  When she was finally about to be scrapped, she was rescued, restored, and turned into a museum, tourist attraction, and hotel.  She is now permanently docked in the city of Rotterdam, not far from our cruise terminal.

When we sailed on the new MS Rotterdam, we passed right by the old SS Rotterdam.  Our cruise ship greeted the old ship with three very loud blasts of its horn.  To my surprise, the old SS Rotterdam responded with its ship’s horn, and the two, almost playfully, went back and forth for a while, our ship even producing two-tone sounds somehow.

I found this very moving.  As if I (the new ship) was saying good-bye to my old country and to my youth, and my youth (the old ship) inexplicably responding.