In search of a walrus.

[jpalbny]

Welcome back, Ron! After all that flying, you look no worse for the wear.:cool:

 

Glad to see you're enjoying Iceland; love the pictures of Þingvellir. Is the waterfall Oxarafoss?

 

Sure is a lovely place - you should make sure to come back in winter, when the waterfalls are frozen and large blocks of ice blow in from the lake... Very much looking forward to the rest of your adventure. Please take care of Explorer for us; we board again in just over 2 months.:D

[patnlcc]

So glad you have arrived safely in Iceland, Ron, after a marathon journey. Think of the airmiles!

[RachelG]

Unfortunately, icelandair is not a partner with any other airline, so no miles there. But the lounge they use in Boston (virgin Atlantic) is quite nice.

Love you pics. Brings back good memories of a place we love.

[Herman The Cat]

Drron, fabulous photos. And I love your commentary! Iceland is not lush but it has a charm all its own. You both look very well-rested considering the journey. Those room-darkening curtains at the Hilton come in handy, don't they??? Do try to check out Icelandic Fish and Chips for lunch and also the spa at the Hilton. When you see the "action"/noise in the evening downtown, you will be happy you are at the Hilton! :)

[RachelG]

A 3rd vote for Icelandic fish and chips. And you can get some of the lobster soup for an appetizer prior at the shack across the street.

[drron29]

JP you are right on the waterfall.

Pat our flight from Narita to Boston was an award flight so no airmiles but travelling in first class for an out of pocket cost for each of us of $US2.50 made those flights fairly painless despite the delays.

Rachel and Herman we will try the Fish and Chips tomorrow hopefully.

 

So back to Iceland.It was now off to Gullfoss passing the odd sheep-

 

and babbling brook-

 

then stopping at the Falls-

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[drron29]

And more pictures of Gullfoss-

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[drron29]

From the road we were able to see the mountains and glaciers of Langjokull-

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[Herman The Cat]

Absolutely fabulous photos. Now some facts for trivia: Gulfoss is the highest volume waterfall in Europe. And Reykjavik is the northernmost capital city in Europe!

[spinnaker2]

when do you get on the explorer? have a wonderful time. we are so envious...

[drron29]

Spinnaker tomorrow,August 7th,is embarkation day.

Thanks Herman but a little more trivia.Yesterday we visited Vik.I stood on their famous black sand beach,pointed my camera due south and took a picture of the next point of land-Antarctica.:D

[patnlcc]

Wow, that's another amazing piece of trivia, Ron, that due south would go straight to Antarctica. Amazing.

[jpalbny]

That's a heck of a zoom lens you must have! Good thing you flew up front, or the baggage fees would have killed you. :rolleyes:

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Forums mobile app

[RachelG]

Useful facts for trivia. I once gave the winning answer of the correct spelling of Reykjavik on regent. The question was give the name of the capital of Iceland and spell correctly.

[drron29]

I guess it all goes to show that Silverseas people are either the most knowledgable or most trivial cruisers there are.

But back to the action.Leaving Gulfoss we passed lots of Icelandic horses and rushing streams-

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Until we arrived at our next destination-

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As we arrived Strokkur performed meaning a wait of 11 minutes until the next performance-

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Old Geysir of course has stopped performing-

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But got back in time for Strokkur's next performance-

[drron29]

There are some other colourful hot pools-

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And then back to Strokkur to watch it wax and wane-

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Before it's last less impressive performance-

 

However I must say Old Faithful and New Zealand's Rotorua are more impressive geothermal areas.

Then it was back to the Hilton via Selfoss where we ran into very heavy long weekend traffic.At the Hilton we freshened up and went to the Executive lounge.Comfortable,good views,nice food but little variety-

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Then it was off to dinner at the Lobster House.Now we had done our research and knew that Iceland was expensive and their lobsters were not Maine lobsters but little baby ones.So we enjoyed our meal.I started with the lobster soup which was good and then we both had the lobster in garlic butter-

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Then it was back to the Hilton where we both slept soundly.

Next-Snaefellsjokul.

[drron29]

Sunday and we start with breakfast in the main restaurant.A bigger selection but really only an average spread.It was also very busy.

Off to an early start as it is a much greater distance today.The first thing that commanded our interest was a 5KM tunnel on the main highway to the west which goes through a mountain and under a fjord.This is looking back to where the tunnel is.A large expanse of water to traverse.It bamboozled the GPS which had us drowning-

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The scenery was impressive-

 

We saw a waterfall direct into the sea-

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Many lagoons-

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And lots more horses-

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With waterfalls at every turn-

[drron29]

But then our first sight of the volcano-

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then an unusual sighting of large trees-

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And picturesque farms by the sea-

 

And a hotel in the middle of...well nowhere-

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But it was still the mountain that took our attention-

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[drron29]

Now this next series of photos is just to show off.First a waterfall as we saw it-

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then with progressive zoom on my new nearly idiot proof camera-

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The road wound round the hillsides-

 

Which took us to the place where Iceland's worst serial killer took 18 lives in the 1500s-

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The country was quite stark-

 

Actually this I put in in case Stefan the Geologist on our last Explorer cruise gets to read this report!

[drron29]

We saw evidence of older forms of dwelling-

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and the lava flow from an earlier eruption-

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The wind was nearly at gale force at times which whipped up the snow on Snaefellsjokul-

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You could see where the lava flowed into the sea-

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There was a road over the slopes of the volcano but I was too chicken to take it-

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We began to go round the volcano so getting new views-

[drron29]

Rachel you will need boots on the next leg but they have sizes 7 and 13 available.

 

And the September announcement from Silverseas is almost certainly going to be the announcement of another Expedition ship.Itineraries will include Australia,New Guinea and Indonesia.

[Herman The Cat]

 

And lots more horses-

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Fabulous shot of the horses...and a blonde horse!

[drron29]

At the point of the peninsula there were interesting lava formations by the sea-

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The volcano took on a different look-

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And on the western shore of the peninsula the scenery changed-

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[patnlcc]

Ron, I am missing your posts and your photos. You must be having too good a time to post!

[drron29]

Pat I think it is more to do with the speed and cost of the internet on board!

But back to the pictures.On Monday night we had our best meal in Reykjavik at the Fish House.Reading the menu we were unsure of our choice but after tasting the food we were converts.I started with the Fish soup.It had a piece of fish,a lobster tail,a couple of small scallops and a coconut jelly.The broth had just a hint of chilli.That and the coconut jelly turned this from a good dish into a perfect blend of favours-

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Rojaan had the veal carpaccio with thinly sliced beetroot and a foie gras puff,she enjoyed it-

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She then had the lobster and monkfish dish which had good flavour and cooked just right-

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Whilst I had the fish of the day-salted cod,plaice and blue ling.Again each cooked perfectly.The only let down was the blue ling which had little taste.The plaice was great-

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We then went for a drive around some of Reykjaviks sights.First the Viking ship statue-

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Then the Concert Hall by the old harbour-

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