July 25, 2010

  • Iceland!

    Cruising Prince Christian Sund yesterday was phenomenally beautiful!  The captain took us one of the long ways, involving serious sailing skill, we were told, and I'm thrilled he did.  The mountains and glaciers and icebergs were stunning.  Mom and I could sit in our cabin and watch Prince Christian islands go by (apparently they tend to be numbered); PC island 4 had a tiny town, and a couple of motorboats zoomed out to have a look at us.

    Last night was the Master Chef's dinner, where chef hats were provided for everyone to wear, only I'd not known about that and had decided to wear a black top and slacks with a $10 necklace/earring set I'd bought onboard with a horn on the necklace, and the Viking horn headgear.  When Mom and I went up to the Crow's Nest for a drink before dinner, darned if some people didn't applaud my attire.   The waiters at dinner performed a "napkin ballet", and I took a video with my cellphone but there's no sound.  Hadn't realized if it's set on vibrate, it won't record sound.  Boo.

    Mom was a sport and donned the chef's hat.  silly

    This morning the shipped docked at Isafjordur, Iceland, about 10:30 a.m., and Mom and I went on the Fjords and Flowers excursion today, which took us through a long tunnel through a mountain...part of it ONE LANE, with the traffic coming toward us having right-of-way, so the bus driver would pull over to one of the spots provided along the side, until the other vehicle had passed.  It was a busy day in the tunnel, according to the tour guide, as we'd had to pull over for six cars.  We went to a garden in a town the name of which I never grasped.  Mom had been told about the macro setting on her camera, so vastly enjoyed herself taking up-close photos of flowers.

    After the garden the bus took us to a fishing village called Flateryi, pronounced "flattery."   First we went to the church, where there was a singer to entertain us.  Except instead of Icelandic folk songs or something equally suitable, he sang songs he'd written, including one that had a chorus line about "go out to get high, I don't know why."  Strange music to hear in a church!  He kindly brought his first CD for us to purchast, but I'm pretty sure he didn't have any takers.  The church was incredibly lovely, however!

    We had coffee and pastries at a cafe, then strolled around a bit before boarding the bus to return to Isafjordur.  The excursion pamphlet said we were first supposed to visit the Maritime Museum only we didn't, and I'm considering requesting a refund for the admission cost.

    The cafe (isn't this exciting?):

    In Isafjord I walked around before returning to the ship, and went into the church, which had been built fairly recently as the prior church had burned.  Got to say, it's the first time - and most likely the only time - I found a flock of metal birds at the front of the sanctuary:

    A shot of Isafjordur as we sailed away:

    After dinner tonight we went to see Chris Diamond, a magician/comedian, and enjoyed his show a lot.  How on earth he got that guy's $100 bill into the center of a lemon that was carried on-stage in a basket of fruit, I can't imagine! 

    Tomorrow we arrive at Akureyri, Iceland, where Mom and I have to be in the Rembrandt Lounge at 7:50 a.m. (the horror!) for the 6 1/2 hour excursion to Lake Myvatn, which should be spectacular.  Early, and long, but spectacular. 

    Due to the need to get up a good bit earlier than is my custom, I came up to the cabin directly after the show instead of going to the Piano Bar to listen to the music and play games on my iTouch.  The view from the verandah window has been fabulous, as we've been sailing north along the coast of Iceland, but all of a sudden here came the fog, and with it, the fog horn.

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