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…