And so, after sailing through much calmer (but not
completely calm) seas, we arrived in Iceland.
Apart from flying over Greenland a few times at 35,000 feet, we've never
been so far north in our lives......that thought was a bit of an adventure in
itself.
Around 9:30, we rang T's sister to wish her a happy
birthday, went for brekky and then waited in the Princess theatre for our coach
number to be called so we could begin our "Best of Akureyri" (pronounced
like Tipperary) tour.
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| Our first sighting of Iceland - not too shabby, eh? 😃 |
After nearly an hour & a half's drive through pouring
rain and very low clouds (sometimes we could barely see the edge of the road),
we arrived at Namaskard to see - and smell - the hot sulphur springs.
I was amazed at the sound the vents made - like a pressure cooker on steroids. It was great to experience but the stench of the sulphur stayed on our coats for ages afterwards.
I was amazed at the sound the vents made - like a pressure cooker on steroids. It was great to experience but the stench of the sulphur stayed on our coats for ages afterwards.
Another couple of stops to see strange lava rock formations
and craters created by lava flowing over wet ground got us to Lake Myvatn and
lunch at a local hotel.
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| Lava rock formations - despite the greenery, the landscape still looked barren |
Lunch was very nice
but the guy at our table who went to get a second helping of salmon from the
platter on our table *with the fork he'd been using to eat with sort of put me
off getting another portion as well (*just how yukky was that?) and we left soon after 'cos I'd lost my appetite!
(During our time here, one of the passengers either fell
or collapsed just as we got into the hotel foyer - an ambulance was called for
him and he was taken to hospital. I'm
still trying to find out if he made it back to the ship.....I spoke to him about half an hour after his fall - as he was waiting for the ambulance - he seemed more
shaken than injured so, hopefully, he did get back on board.)
Our final stop was Godafoss Waterfall - not big in the
scheme of things......it wouldn't give Niagara Falls a run for its money but it
was lovely and it was probably the prettiest scenery we saw all day - the rest
of the landscape WAS beautiful but it wasn't pretty (if that makes sense).
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| Don't know why we didn't take a double selfie but we didn't so, here's 2 separate shots of us on a bridge!! |
It was good & not so good!!
Our merlot arrived looking like it had been mixed with
washing up liquid, there were huge bubbles all around the inside of the glass.....it
also tasted like it had actually washed some dirty dishes so, needless to say, we
had it replaced. The food was lovely, however,
the service was so-o-o-o slow that both T & I AND the couple on the next
table thought our waiters had gone strike - there's always a silver lining
though.... we got a chance to have a chat with more lovely people 😊
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| Be careful on deck?, we couldn't even get out on deck, ha ha |
The real rock & roll journey started during dinner, carried on when we were in the
Explorers Lounge and then hit its peak during our final stop in Crooners.
Around 11pm, the ship rolled, made a huge banging noise
and then everything started to shake - it was that bad, even one of the bartenders looked totally shocked......his startled face was a picture.
Within a few seconds all the staff were in the bar, the
cling film (plastic food wrap) was out, the glasses were covered, bottles were
moved to a safe place and the bar was closed 😢.
T & I started for home but got waylaid in the casino
- not for too long though. One 25c spin
netted us a $35 win so we cashed out and shimmied & shook our way back to
the cabin.
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| Kelvin putting cling film around all the glasses |
A good day was had by all.
