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Hello from Iceland again. Today we are in Isafjordur, which is in the northwest corner of the island. We did not have a excursion scheduled today because it is a "tender port", but it is actually more picturesque scenery than Reykjavic was yesterday. However there are a few things to add about yesterday before we go any further with today's activities.
One of the colorful things about Reykjavic is that they built whole series of apartments looking the same, but with different colored roofs or balconies. So although they could look like cold cement buildings, they actually looked nice and bright. Also there were many places where blank walls were painted with lots of colorful figures. That could look like graffiti, but it actually comes across as artwork.
We passed a small group of Islandic Horses at one point. The real interesting point is that after the original horses arrived and started growing herds, they have outlawed any further import of horses to Island, to keep the breed pure. In fact we were told that if a horse is taken off the island for some reason, then it can never return.
Although they generate all their own electricity
from geothermal or water/tides sources, they still import all their gasoline. We passed various gas stations with the cost being about 320 Icelandic Krona per liter. I think we were told krona cost about 140 for a US dollar. If true, that would mean gas was around $9.00 dollars per gallon. Although Iceland is technically part of Europe, it is not part of the European Union and does not use the euro.
Lastly, one of the couples at our table last night was celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary. At dessert time one of the waiters brought them a fancy chocolate cake and then serenaded them with a chorus of a love song. They seemed to be kind of embarrassed, but it was lots of fun for everyone else.
Now for today. The latitude of Isafjordur is about 66 degrees north. Last night it never really got dark. About 12:30 it was still light enough to have probably taken a picture outside if there had been anything but flat ocean to be seen. Then about 7:30 there was a great deal of noise as they started lowering tenders (lifeboats) for the day. We went back to sleep and didn't
get up until 9:30. We went up to the Horizon Court for a kind of brunch, and we were pretty well fed until dinner.
It was colder then yesterday with the high being about 41. There was a cloudy sky with intermittent rain, so not a very good day for pictures. By the end of the day the clouds started to breakup, but we were sailing by then. We spent the rest of the morning on the ship doing knitting in the Crooner's Bar and working on the computer. David did some walking around the ship looking for photo ops, but nothing much occurred.
We went back to the cabin and watched the "port information" show regarding Isafjordur. The total population of town is only about 3,000. Originally this was primarily a fishing port, but in more recent years it has really begun. a tourism location. The harbor itself is comparatively shallow, which is why our ship had to anchor out in the bay and shuttle people back and forth.
An old Icelandic joke that they told: What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? Just stand up. Actually Iceland was heavily forested
when the vikings first arrived, but they chopped down most of the trees to build houses and the island hasn't ever been able to replenish the trees. Now days trres are fairy rare and pretty short in height.
Janet settled down in the cabin to watch the second Black Panther movie. David got on one of the tenders and went to town. This did prove to be a good opportunity for David to wear his new coat, which worked quite well. Anyway, the ride was only about 10 minutes and he got to walk around this small/cute town for a while. David looked in a number of stores but did not buy anything. He offered to buy Janet some Icelandic yarn, but she had enough other yarn already back at home. So, he got back on the tender and was back in the cabin by about 3:15. A quick visit to the Horizon Court and we had a couple of snacks to last us until dinner.
We watched the presentation of tomorrows port, so we are already prepared for that town. It will be far down the length of the longest fjord in Iceland. That is significant because
nobody was able to reach the internet today while the ship was in Isa fjord. The sides of the rock walls are too tall and straight up so they blocked the satelite signal. Now we are back in the ocean so hopefully this will get sent tonight.
Dinner this evening was Surf and Turf. We both had Filet Mignon and Jumbo Shrimps. It was very good! Now we are back in the cabin because the show in the theater is one of the production numbers we have seen before. We will try to attach a few pictures (6) from today - those from Reykjavic will have to get entered later. Good night for now.
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