July 27, 2010

• Akureyri, Iceland!

  Iceland is simply gorgeous.  Yesterday we were in Akureyri, and Mom and I were up early to make our Lake Myvatn tour.  When we got off the ship, it was to discover another large cruise ship, the Aida, docked as well; that's it to the left:

  

  We started off with a bus drive-round the town, which was very pleasant, then we headed out of town toward Lake Myvatn.  The first stop was Godafloss, aka: The Falls of the Gods.  Beautiful!  

  

   

  After the falls we went to a geothermal field to see a pit of bubbling mud, and multiple steam vents.  We were strictly warned to not set foot beyond the marked paths, as the ground can be very thin and fragile, and horrible accidents have occurred to those who ventured where they ought not.  

  

  Next was an area of lava formations, where we were again warned to stay on the path, but this time to also stay together, as it is frightfully easy to get lost in them.  The North American and European  continental plates meet there, and I think this is where....it's surprisingly not marked.

  

  

  

  Afterward we were driven to a lovely hotel for lunch, consisting of utterly delicious herb bread that had been baked in the hot ground, fresh mushroom soup (in a metal tureen I coveted), what they called "lake trout" but Mom said was "salmon trout", which I didn't eat.  No dessert, a disappointment to us all.  Oh well!  

  The lake is big, and quite beautiful:

  

  Our three buses were late getting back to the ship, so the sailing was held up for us.  "All aboard" had been 2:30, with sailing at 3, but we didn't arrive back until a few minutes until 3.  The crew was certainly happy to see us.  ;^)

  Mom and I were quite tired from the all-day excursion (we'd left at 8 in the morning), and the inclines in the hike through the lava formations, so we collapsed in our cabin after we got back, skipping both the sailaway festivities and the Arctic Circle Swim (Linda, the annoying cruise director, and some of the other crew jumped into the Lido pool), though we recovered in time to go to dinner.  Tried the show at 8, but found the "electrifying Elvy Rose" to be less than electrifying so returned to the cabin.  Turns out we had to set our clocks ahead yet again (sixth time), so we just read until time to go to sleep.

  Yesterday was also the first anniversary of Dad's death, which was much on our minds.  Hard to believe it was just a year ago!  Been missing Dad and Don quite a bit.

  Time moves on, though, and I came across a verse in Nehemiah I cherish:  "Do not grieve, because your strength comes from rejoicing in the LORD."  (Neh. 8:10b)

  And that's the truth.

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