Holly Doyne

And the weather went to total trash last night. Lovely rough seas, wind, rain, and the same level of fun as we had in the Pacific. The Captain had come on the tannoy and simply stated that it wasn’t going to be safe attempting to enter our last port, so we were going to be heading around the top of Iceland and back to shelter along the souther coast of Iceland. Our docking billet was clear, so if there was a pilot available, we could be even docking early in Reykjavik.  I didn’t see that many people upset.

Frankly, I didn’t see all that many people up and about early this morning. But the ship had certainly tossed about all night and it continued well into this morning. So color me having a nice quiet day stitching, lazing around except for doing an add on workshop on iPhone photography. Turns out Rosemary & Pat are once again the onboard lectures (they were on the Breeze for a portion of our Oct/Nov 2023 Pacific sailing). It was fun. Like most people with an iPhone, I hadn’t explored all of the menus and settings…

By 1000 we were past the worst of it and within reasonable striking distance of safe harbor. Even better, we had a pilot by 1500 and were alongside the pier by later in the afternoon. Once again, we are right on the edge of old town. A few people headed off this evening. I just headed to supper, George got room service secondary to a board call.

A day at sea, audio books, cross stitching on one of the Steampunk Sheep from Forbidden FiberCo

And, oh yes, the t-shirt.  It says “Valkyrie Knitting Society” and the small print says “Knit fast, die warm”

Docking today, rather than having to deal with tenders, it was an easy walk through the port area toward town. Unlike many areas where there are a lot of fences, stern warnings and hand holding – there were a couple of arrows, a sign or two and some white foot prints painted on the pavement across the parking lot to indicate a general direction. I think the assumption was that buses, trucks, and fort lifts should be easy enough to identify and avoid.  Plus, people should able to be accountable for themselves. Who knew? What a concept, right?

Anyway, we docked at Isafjörður  around 1000. Wiki link included there. And note the proper ASCI ð, with no clue as to whether or not cutting and pasting into an email will maintain it. Heading off the ship into this town of around 2600, we found that the “I Punkt” had been relocated to the local museum. Fine, it is always fun to see what is important locally to a town that was established as a northern most fishing and trading post (9th century and forward).  The museum itself is a several story red building. Entering on the ground floor, the exhibits are all about the local settlement, fishing, and life along the fjord. The next two floors are devoted to home life during various eras. Except for a small section which featured an Accordion Museum. Not going there….

All of the exhibits, from shop tools,  to a kitchen, to spinning wheel, through children’s toys felt real. Not heavily curated like too many museums but very reflective of how the average person there actually lived. It reminded me the most of the local museum in Esperance, Western Australia which I visited 11 Nov 2013 while on the Radiance of the Sea’s circumnavigation cruise. It was where I was lucky enough to meet the indomitable Glenda (actually from Queensland) and here about the area from someone familiar with its history due to family.

I promise I will get pix downloaded from the camera and onto the blog.

From there, we walked into town. Not surprising giving the distance north and lack of trees, a huge amount of the construction is corrugated iron siding. I keep wondering what one has to do for insulation given the cold weather…. Bright colors can make you happy, but I don’t think that they keep you warm….

Oh – book stores… there were two listed on the map but we were unable to find either. Man at the Museum said, oh – they are not in this town. But they are on the map because the company that prints the maps owns the bookstores…. We did find a wonderful combination of souvenirs, kids toys, and shelves and shelves of books on one of the corners on our walk back. I found one on Norse Gods (printed in Stockholm) that was amazing. I have the ISBN. As much as I love supporting local businesses, I am not interesting in hauling a heavy book home.

Back on the ship in early afternoon (after George made a stop at the local brewery which is one of the mainstay industries in the town) we spent the rest of the day quietly with an early dinner and skipping (once again), the evening entertainment. George had gone to the Port talk for tomorrow. An hour after supper we were all told that there was yet another storm with high winds headed in. As a result, we would be headed back to Reykjavik overnight and skipping the next port as it wasn’t safe.

Ok, we have done rock & roll before….

and this is not the start of a carol, but rather a statement of being berthed with two other ships today at the harbor in Akureyri. It is a lovely harbor, with a much longer fjord to cruise up on the way in. According to the information we were given, the result of the long fjord and the cliffs means an open water port all winter.  Those other two ships? Fred Olson Line’s Balmoral (and yes, it was packed full of Midlands school teachers and north English). According to their  blurb, it is the smallest ship of their fleet at “only 1325” passengers. With 710 cabins, obviously a few are meant for solos. A significant number of their cabins are interior. The other ship berthed is the Crystal Symphony with a passger capacity of 606, no inside cabins and a six star rating. I looked it up – the last time I was on this ship was ~ June of 2013 when I sailed from NYC to Iceland on a ship that was well less than 50% full. The ship was amazing in service and food, the passengers and I had absolutely nothing in common since I wasn’t (a California LA executive at some point, a Lady who lunched, traveling with seven trucks of clothes, worth 8 digits or more of $/L/E)in cash… Yes, I know it sounds snobby, but that was my experience with that ship’s passengers..

Anyway – here we were with the wind blowing, the sky clear (no rain? amazing). The population here is about 20k. Mostly Icelandic origin but increasing numbers of other EU/refugees are starting to call this city with its mild for Iceland weather.  There are a couple of pedestrian zones with shops, a museum or two (technology, motorcycles), trips out to Godafoss  as well as clumps of tourists  packed int small, faster boats on their way to whale watching.

Obviously, having been here before, it was more interesting to find that the firm that has been doing Icewear for decades has branched into absolutely wonderful yarn. No, I didn’t buy anything. Opposite the Art Museum there was also a small shop which turned out to be not so small and carried a wind variety of Icelandic, Faroe, and German yarns. And then I found THE t-shirt…

Anyway, we had a lovely hike around town, then returned to the ship for a late lunch. As I type this, I realized that the downsize of using my Canon is the pain of transferring and editing photos. Airdropping from my phone is so much easier. All afternoon was sunny, and actually clear. late nigh George most sensibly went to sleep, I went up to Deck 8. There were stars in the sky in abundance. There were not Northern Lights. Figures, doesn’t it? On the one clear night we had…

According to the original schedule, we would have been somewhere else today. Obviously we are not. Instead, this is a quiet day at sea. There is, from my point of view, minimal amount of swell. Not everyone agrees with me. OTOH, a fair number of the other passengers are first time on a smaller ship or first time really at sea somewhere other than the Caribbean.

I have one friend out on the Jewel of the Seas repositioning from Europe to the Northern Hemisphere via Iceland & Greenland. Unfortunately, her ship was enough days ahead of me that all we can do is trade emails, but I have, once again, missed seeing her. I have other friends who made a similar loop to this one last year and have given me a few great tips on where to go and what to sea on this particular leg of the journey.  The last time I was through here was actually summer 2017 …. time flies.

Otherwise, I have been hanging out in the 8th Deck Lounge during the morning and heading to the cabin in the afternoon when the lounge gets too crowded.  Stitching hasn’t been all that challenging – except for 1) the first pattern I had planned I don’t like so will salvage the fabric and go for something else on it. 2) Confirmed that I can’t manage 32 ct without a magnifier – so changed to a third option on 16/18 ct and am perfectly happy.

The Captain’s Reception tonight was about what would be expected. Free drinks for those who drink, a too loud trio and an intro to all the officers. Been there, we have done that, no need on the next two legs. Tomorrow night is the “Yacht Club Welcome back.” I don’t see the point, but the snacks might be ok and I can sneak out the back????

At this point, my internal clock is only compatible with the walking dead. I can see why they might want to eat brains; I don’t have any. By the time we got to our hotel, I was completely exhausted and could barely find the bed. 

But actually my day started yesterday. I had almost no energy. Going on a multi-kilometer hike with everyone was completely out of the question.  Most of my day was spent on such important things as listening to an audiobook, napping, & a small bit of stitching. Maybe 1-2 hours were actually spent napping but not more. There might also have been computer solitaire involved. 

So color me pale and glassy eyed this morning which might have not been the best start for another long day of travel augmented by a couple of cups of rather strong coffee. We headed back to the airport in the sucky rental car which we hadn’t used since arrival. Getting to this particular location by train is actually more challenging than facing the autobahn (including the hike up a hill which actually compares to ours at home). We had to figure out the balance of not leaving too early and not arriving so late that we would be rushing through the airport.  Which meant arriving within my comfort zone (not George’s). Once again the car’s navigation system refused to play so I had to turn on my phone (AT&T has raised the daily connect fee to $12 from $10/US, Just saying).  My maps took us off the autobahn about 30 km out and we did a bit of cross country driving before picking up HWY 44, then 43 to Terminal 2. Luck was with us – there were actually signs to rental car return (small type face but actually visible) – and it was underground at the parking garage next to the terminal. 

Getting to the D/E check in area was easy. Finding the check in counter was a bit more challenging but they opened more or less on time. Security in T2/Frankfurt doesn’t have the new screening machines. Just saying that taking out ALL my electronics was a total pain. Laptop & tablet, camera, lenses, batteries, all chargers. This sucked. 

Our flight to Iceland on Iceland air was uneventful. We were sitting on the wrong side of the plane to see any possible volcanic activity. Hint – do NOT sit in the exit rows if you want to access anything in your carry-on. No underseat. Nothing at your feet. Good thing I didn’t need my camera. 

Arrival., hike, baggage. Exhausted, I couldn’t even run after the grey haired woman making off with my suitcase at the far end of the baggage carousel. Just dragged self over and reported it. By the time we were at the end of al of that, there were only three bags left going around. And then there were four. And then there were three. My bag was back. Since we leave tomorrow, I decided this was as good as it got and we headed to the bus. Which, as it turns out, unlike Japan and other places, doesn’t go to hotels, just to the central bus terminal where you have to get on yet another bus (by color, ours was yellow). We were dropped off downtown and finally found our hotel.  The bus wasn’t cheap but 1/3 the price of the rare taxi… and less than what my cruise line wanted to charge. 

water, tea, sleep….

Let me discuss the second subject first. We were both up early and I was packed and repacked for the X time by 0900 which was a good thing because Miriam was giving us a ride to BART. She looked at us. Where are you going? SFO was the reply. Oh, why don’t I just drop you off? I am going into San Francisco for the day and have the time.

I felt guilty for all of about 20 seconds, then said yes. As a result of the kindly provided ride, we were at the airport prior to the check-in being open. A coffee and a bit of sitting later and we wandered over to the line. And then the fun began. Apparently the EU is getting a bit more concerned about one way tickets. Like – are we EVER leaving the EU? George had to pull out his permanent residency visa. Even better for our lovely counter person were the outbound flights to Iceland on Thursday and print out of the ship’s itinerary  showing that we were obviously leaving the EU in less than 90 days.

So this is a warning for anyone flying into Europe (US, Canadian, OZ etc) to leave by ship. Having information on your phone is all well and good, but having things printed out makes it sooo much easier on everyone. It isn’t that the counter people want to be a pain, they just need to follow the regulations. And I can’t think of anything worse than getting sent BACK from the gate to check-in to provide the information. Trust me, she said that it has happened more than once.

So there we are, checked in, luggage dropped off and headed to security. I am really unclear as to how he managed it, but George was walking around with his reader’s on his face, caught them in something and broke the whole mess apart, More than a bit disgusted/angry at the whole process, he told the young screener just to toss the pieces out. Well, guess what? Anything given up once you start the TSA screening goes into locked containers and can’t be retrieved. I asked.. We are in the International Terminal known for fancy shops of high end goods and expensive snacks. that is it, Name sunglasses, yes. Reading material? Nope. I went out on a search mission of mercy. There is a lovely actual book store a couple of terminals from G. There were exactly two pairs of readers that might possibly work. Each one of them obviously cost more than 3/for from Amazon. Enough said. He now has readers. I can’t imagine dealing cranky guy for ~11 hours on a flight unable to read….

Just as a general note as well – mask wearing is well under 1%. I am not sure why everyone wants to believe that COVID, RSV, and Flu aren’t a thing – but there you are. I saw the occasional other mask wearer on ship. Seemed to be almost a nod of the head there in recognition. Here? Thousands of people, rare masks…..

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On board and ready to take off!