Reykjavik, Iceland, August 12, 2017

Reykjavik, Iceland, August 12, 2017

Day One

Things I'd learnedabout Iceland: Not much ice, only inland glaciers; not many trees, only 1% of the island was naturally forested; lots of lava, mostly rocks. When I woke up August 12th we had arrived in Reykjavik. I opened the curtains and saw a narrow channel and across the water a spit of dark green land and a multi-windowed, white building with a steep roof. No ice, no trees. In the distance was a rocky, volcanic ridge and blue sky above. Iceland!

A quick trip up to the Lido for breakfast and a look out the other side of the ship. Ewwwww. We were docked in a commercial port with absolutely nothing to make it look attractive. Lots of big metal buildings, a big pile of junked cars, a container of old tires and since we're tied up at the end of the dock allowing room for the storm-delayed Koningsdam, a long, long walk from the ship to the terminal. Reykjavik itself is in the distance. The skyline is low save for the soaring steeple of the Lutheran cathedral. This is an ACTIVE volcanic island with constant earthquakes and eruptions so I guess skyscrapers wouldn't be the wisest choice. Plus the entire population of the country is 340,000 with 200,000 in and around Reykjavik so giant apartment complexes probably aren't necessary.

We'd selected an afternoon tour around an active volcano just a few miles from Reykjavik with thoughts of taking the shuttle into town in the morning to poke around a bit. However, it wasGay Pride Day in Reykjavik and all the major roads in and out were closed in anticipation of the large crowds (100,000) and parade. No matter, the cruise terminal building is actually a very large store with oodles of souvenirs to take home, post cards, stamps, a mail box and free wifi. The trick with the wifi is to get online when relatively few people are doing the same otherwise you just watch the wheel spin as you try to download email. Since we'll be in port for two days pretty much all of the crew will have time ashore at one time or another. These guys are wifi wizards. Somehow they all seem to snag enough band width to Face Time with their families halfway around the world while I'm watching "Downloading..." on my phone.

The weather seems to change constantly; one moment it's bright and sunny and then a bank of dark clouds appears and it's raining and then it's sunny again.It's chilly but not off-putting, maybe 50 or so.

The island is as eerily beautiful as advertised, all volcanic rifts and fields and steam rising here and there from the active geothermal pools just below the surface. As the lava ages, after a thousand years or so, a pale, grey-green moss gradually takes hold and eventually grasses. The topography looks, oddly enough, like Easter Island but newer, geologically speaking. So other-worldly that before the moon landings, the astronauts trained here because it resembled the surface of the moon.

All of the energy needs of the country, save gas and diesel fuel for cars (and they'll all be electric by 2025) is geothermic. We stopped by one of the two major power stations in the steaming, thermal fields where giant turbines somehow turn the hot water into electricity (hey, Liberal Arts here. I'll never understand why I flip a switch and the lights go on) and endless miles of surface pipelines carry the hot water into Reykjavik where it is used to heat the buildings. The cold water is provided by rain and melting glacier water that is filtered down, down, down through thousands of years of lava (a forty year journey) until it is pure and clear and perfect for drinking.

We ate at a small restaurant where everything is cooked in the bubbling hot water rising up from the earth. The outdoor "stove" was a series of vats containing the naturally occurring boiling water. You'd really have to know what you were doing. At a small thermal "garden" we walked on roped off paths through a field of hot springs (Ubiquitous warning signs all over Iceland: "Don't touch the water. The temperature is 80-100 C") bubbling mud and -surprise!- a small geyser! You could buy a raw egg at the entrance, put it in a net tied to a rope and then carefully lower it into a hot spring and eight minutes later, out it came hard boiled! A geothermal Insta Pot!

Because of the ocean currents, Iceland is relatively temperate in the winter. There are apple and cherry orchards but all the produce is grown in green houses. Evidently the rule is nothing can be imported that is already being grown in country. (A Trumpian dream) Wages are high, but so is the cost of living and the income taxes to support the frees: education, medical care, etc. I wish we had gotten to visit a local grocery store. That is always the best way to analyze prices. I've since learned that there is a Costco in Iceland and it is packed with shoppers thrilled at the lower prices. Jim wants to know if they have the $1.50 hot dog.

We also stopped at a UNESCO World Heritage Site (there are a lot of those around the world) where the first Parliament in the world was established by the Vikings a thousand years or so ago. It's also the site of the country's largest national park. Rifts and lakes and vistas. Quite beautiful. We were supposed to be back at the ship around 6 pm (it's light until at least 10 pm) but our driver kept missing the turns. Icelandic roads are very nice and smooth, usually two lane, but the road signs are small and written in that wacky alphabet. Gregor, the driver, is Polish. A quick note: the number of visitors to Iceland has risen so high so quickly that there is a mad scramble to provide the infrastructure to support tourism. There aren't enough natives to build it all, so labor is imported from other countries. It's Gregor's first day and I'm quite certain he doesn't read Icelandic so relies on our rather snippy guide for turns. She does this by yelling at him in Icelandic that he's just missed the turn. Stop. Back up bus. Make turn. And repeat. Finally we are out in the middle of nowhere at quite literally the fork in the road. Suddenly one of the massive 4-wheel drive vehicles that takes tourists out to the middle of this nowhere appears. Since we are blocking the fork in the road, at her command Gregor rolls down the window and the She Wolf asks the other guy which way to Reykjavik. Since I don't understand Icelandic either, I'm just assuming that was the question cuz the guy in the 4-Wheel drive was stunned at the question and wordlessly pointed to the road not taken. By then our group was evenly divided between those who realized this day was going to yield a lot of great travel stories and those whose schedule was disrupted and not only had they missed the first seating for dinner they had also missed the showing of an Icelandic movie called Ram about a shepherd. With subtitles. And also by then the tour company had called Mc McNasty to ask her where the hell we were and when were we getting back. Turned out we were only about 20 minutes from Reykjavik and the port but we were still an hour late. Fortunately this is an overnight stop so no "all aboard" time on Day One. Otherwise we would have arrived to find the ship's engines running, the local dock workers ready to cast off the lines, an anxious security officer pacing at the foot of the gangway and a whole lotta fellow passengers watching from various decks and verandahs.