Week 38 - Fun in Iceland

We woke up docked in Reykjavik. Yay! Iceland at last. I was hopeful that the 3 days of rough seas would be worth it. I'm happy to say, I was not disappointed.

We had knitting excursions booked for both days, which had been hastily redone while we were at sea because weather had forced the ship to reroute and we were circumnavigating Iceland in the opposite directions so were in ports on different days. They both went swimmingly.

We started with a tour of the Istex yarn factory - nice. Unfortunately they didn't sell any yarn there but it's always fun to see yarn in production. Our tour leader posed by some wool. From there we went to the Parliament Waterfall, which is where tribes used to meet to "govern" Iceland. In days of yore, of course. Then we stopped at geysers, which the Brits pronounce geezer. Ha! After another waterfall and several rainbows (I think we saw 6 that day), we stopped at a yarn co-op, where I did buy a couple of hat kits because there was no sock yarn in sight. The scenery was beautiful everywhere we went and I took many pictures of rocks and lichen, loving the colors. After a full day, it was back to the ship for dinner. But Anne and I had other plans.

When we got off the bus, we asked the tour guide if there was a supermarket nearby. She said there was one about a 15 minute walk and pointed the way so off we went. Well, the walk was closer to 40 minutes and it was pretty darn chilly but the market was cool. It was a warehouse type market, as in boxes ont he shelves but not Costco size, more like Valueland for my Rhode Island readers. Anyway, you walked into a cooler room that had the produce before getting to groceries. There were separate cooler rooms for dairy and meat. We found the candy aisle and bought a bunch - some to eat and some to take home. I didn't find my Kellogg's Country Store. Oh well. The walk back to the ship was even colder and we'd missed dinner in the dining room so headed to the buffet, where we found Trish so ate with her. Needless to say, we hit 20,000 steps that day and it was great to sleep in port with no waves.

Our second day in Reykjavik was another excursion with a designer visit and some shopping time. For the life of me, I cannot remember the designer's name (found her card - Bergros Kjartansdottir. See? Not easy to remember, right?) but we went to her house, which doubles as her studio. It was beautiful and there was inspiration everywhere you looked. Her designs were gorgeous too, sort of modern Icelandic. Then we drove to the main cathedral and had a couple of hours to shop. Anne and I went up and down the street but other than a couple of skeins of scratchy Icelandic yarn, I didn't buy much. We headed back to the ship mid-afternoon and enjoyed afternoon tea before settling in our favorite spot outside to watch the ship leave port and knit until dinner. We sat outside with a few friends after dinner too, using blankets from our cabins to stay warm. It had been a lovely day and we'd make up in the northern fjords the next day.

I LOVED Isafjordur! It was a small town that was easily walkable and we had fun shopping. The first stop was a little craft shop, where Anne found me the only skein of indy dyed sock yarn in the shop. Then we hit a lovely bakery for a sweet, coffee and wifi. It was delish and it felt good to catch up on emails and Ravelry. There was a little grocery store there too (we bought more chocolate) and then we walked along the fjord. We even found a friendly cat who let us love on him and pick him up. Nice. We had a lovely day and were back on the ship for afternoon tea and dinner then more knitting on the deck. We got the heaters turned on so were able to stay out there longer. I was loving this cruise!

Wednesday was Akureyri, which is the 2nd largest metro area in Iceland. We had an excursion to mineral baths booked for the afternoon but were up early and headed out for the most northern botanic garden in the world. Of course it was an uphill climb but so worth it. They had it lit up with fairy light and it was fun to see how the plants grow in Iceland. Things that bloom in the spring in Nebraska were blooming in fall there and were all smaller. Gotta love a botanic garden! We found another bakery with wifi (not as good as the one in Isafjordur) and were back on the ship in time to grab our swim stuff for the baths a sandwich from the buffet to eat on the bus. I was super excited for this excursion.

We stopped at the Waterfall of the Gods on the way to the baths and this one was perfect. It was like a miniature Niagara Falls and we could walk right up to it. The colors were amazing and I took a bunch of pictures. After 45 minutes there, we got back on the bus to head to the baths. Yay! The baths stank of sulfur but you only smelled it for a few minutes. It was cloudy and chilly but the water was so warm that it was fine. When we got out and showered, my skin was SO soft and that lasted for days. The baths ended up being the highlight of the trip. 

Our last Icelandic port of call was the teeny, tiny town of Seydisfyordur - population ~600 so we tripled the population when we docked. All the excursions were booked so we were on our own. We saw a cool waterfall from the ship so headed there after breakfast. It was straight up the side of a mountain so got us going first thing. We were climbing in t-shirts and mystified by the Brits in winter coats. We climbed a path of switchbacks then a flight of stairs to get to a landing ~20 feet below the falls. Anne wanted to climb up the loose rocks to get to the actual falls but I declined and watched. She only made it halfway up and then came down on her butt. She spent the rest of the day with muddy jeans. The rest of the day consisted of coffee and wifi, hitting the small market and walking around town. We had exhausted the town's potential and it was only early afternoon. We knitted on a bench but went back to the ship when it started misting. 

The visitors' center had wifi so I setteled in to download season 2 of Stranger Things, having watched season 1 over the course of the crise. I didn't have my charger and ran out of juice before I was done so I went back on the ship to plug in and have afternoon tea before getting back off to download the rest. I made it back just in time to sail. It was sad to be leaving Iceland and doubly sad when I saw all the yarn the people who went on one of the excursions got in a real yarn shop that was in one of the towns they stopped in. It was hard to believe how little yarn I'd bought on this trip but there was hope for Ireland.

Saturday and Sunday were sea days. We had classes morning and afternoon plus I went to a couple of horticulture classes that explained why all the plants in Iceland were so short (to be below the snow line come winter, in case you were wondering). We had our second dress up dinner and plenty of time to enjoy afternoon tea and knitting. The weather had turned again and it was cold and windy but the waves were nowhere near what they were at the start of the trip. But during dinner on Sunday, they announced that it had held us up enough that we'd be late into Cobh in Ireland and all excursions were cancelled. That didn't impact Anne and me but other were disappointed. Oh well. I was looking forward to roaming around an Irish port for a few hours and went to bed happy.