Day 20
September 19, 2019
ICELAND (REYKJAVIK) - island pop. 370,000
Now I know how to spell Reykjavik. Tough language this Icelandic.
Iceland is splitting in two, half on the North American Plate moving westward, the other half on the European Plate moving eastward. And all of this movement at 2 centimetres a year.
We passed up opportunities to see the city and also to swim in the Blue Lagoon so that we could take an 8 hour panoramic tour of the south coast of this island. We boarded our bus during a downpour - not looking good. As the trip progressed the rainy bus windows hampered our view which was annoying. Even worse was the fog - visibility was about 200 yards, beyond that it was just a grey haze. We couldn't see the mountains or the anything else in the distance. It felt like riding inside a giant puffball.
The weather didn't change all day. We stopped and saw two waterfalls and a black sand beach all of them in the driving rain. Ugh! However, it wasn't all bad. We visited the Lava Centre where we saw an impressive presentation about Iceland's geology and its recent experiences with volcanoes (one every four years or so) and earthquakes. The Blue Lagoon folks tell me their hot spring swim was a real treat. Bah!
Clearly Karen and I did not get to see the real Iceland today. A return visit covering several days in sunny weather is needed to properly appreciate this unique island.
As we sail away from Europe towards the New World, I see Chris de Burgh on the shore waving to us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGcc5-BQymw
ICELAND (REYKJAVIK) - island pop. 370,000
Now I know how to spell Reykjavik. Tough language this Icelandic.
Iceland is splitting in two, half on the North American Plate moving westward, the other half on the European Plate moving eastward. And all of this movement at 2 centimetres a year.
We passed up opportunities to see the city and also to swim in the Blue Lagoon so that we could take an 8 hour panoramic tour of the south coast of this island. We boarded our bus during a downpour - not looking good. As the trip progressed the rainy bus windows hampered our view which was annoying. Even worse was the fog - visibility was about 200 yards, beyond that it was just a grey haze. We couldn't see the mountains or the anything else in the distance. It felt like riding inside a giant puffball.
The weather didn't change all day. We stopped and saw two waterfalls and a black sand beach all of them in the driving rain. Ugh! However, it wasn't all bad. We visited the Lava Centre where we saw an impressive presentation about Iceland's geology and its recent experiences with volcanoes (one every four years or so) and earthquakes. The Blue Lagoon folks tell me their hot spring swim was a real treat. Bah!
Clearly Karen and I did not get to see the real Iceland today. A return visit covering several days in sunny weather is needed to properly appreciate this unique island.
As we sail away from Europe towards the New World, I see Chris de Burgh on the shore waving to us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGcc5-BQymw
You're not having much luck weather wise. We're a bit better but hit and miss, like the Jays (oops, cheap shot). Don't know if you heard that Glen Spencer died a couple of days ago. Probably a blessing, he wasn't having much fun. No memorial service. We're off to Hawaii on Sun. - Vcr return 21 days on Celebrity. Klaiberts will be joining us on the second leg. Just to encourage you, we really enjoy your daily epistles. Thanks, Cliff.
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