8-21

 

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the Saga Museum.  There we were treated to a diorama plus narrative of the history of Iceland (and Greenland and Vinland).  They had a kid friendly gift shop where Grandpa almost bought a sword for Anders.  The program was 40 minutes long and well done.  Then we walked back to the hotel (very windy and 47 degrees).  After packing we caught a cab to the Viking Star cruise ship (in a Tesla).

 

                                                                Sword !!

 

We went through Security, stood in line to get our key card and reservations for excursion, then on to our room (via a safety talk).  We lunched at the very crowded World café with a couple from Vancouver BC and another from Washington State – near Mt St Helens.  One of the nice things about cruising is that the cruisers are akin – and generally a happy lot.

 

Bob and Anna got on the ship ahead of us and already had eaten.  We met them in the Atrium and proceeded to our room where we caught up a bit.  Next up is the port talk at 4:30 followed by dinner at the fancy Chef’s Table restaurant.  Now we can relax as are in the hands of our Viking hosts.

 

The Port talk was very interesting as usual. Heimaey (High-May-eye) was recently formed and in 1973 a volcano added to the archipelago.   Shirley and I will hike up to the rim tomorrow.  Also there has been a lot of bloody history associated with the island.  Heimaey is also the home of some 2 million Puffins, among many other species of seabirds.  It is the terminus of the migration where they lay the next generation.

 

The ship left port at Reykjavik as we were eating at the fancy restaurant (the Chef’s Table) where we had the 7-course meal of an Asian Adventure – really tasty.  We will steam through the night arriving on the Southeast coast tomorrow morning.  We ended the evening at the Explorer Lounge and retired to get this on the blog.