Reykjavik, Iceland

After a day of sailing, we finally make it to Reykjavik, Iceland. The sky is overcast and soon turns to rain.

We got in three hours early because of currents and wind at our back that wasn’t expected. However, our excursion did not leave until the afternoon so here are some shots from the ship.

Notice the black parking lot. That is not pavement, but volcanic ash. The majority of Iceland is volcanic with a number of active and non-active volcanoes.

Across from the ship was this scene that could have been a jigsaw puzzle if the sky had been a little brighter.

We finally get on the bus head out to our first stop, the Blue Lagoon. It is now raining big time. What a bummer, but this is actually the first day of real bad weather.

As we drive to the Blue Lagoon, we drive through miles and miles of lava. We get to the Blue Lagoon and have t walk trough the lava field.

We turn the corner and see for the first time the Blue Lagoon. We finally understand why the name Reykjavi was given to the town. “Reykjavk” means “smokey Bay.” It was named so because of the smoke rising from the geo-thermal water bodies and hot springs like the Blue Lagoon.

Here I am standing beside one of the pools of the Blue Lagoon.

As we go inside, I found this postal box and had to take a picture of it. While it is very familiar, it is very different at the same time.

We go through the building and see the main pool of the Blue Lagoon. It is so foggy, it is hard to see the lifeguard in the yellow jacket standing on the foot bridge.

The Blue Lagoon owes its existence to the nearby geothermal power plant. The water of the lagoon is 98-102 degrees. It is known for its warm mineral-rach and healing properties.

Here are three people enjoying themselves in the Blue Lagoon. It was only about 40 degrees, but was very warm around the pool.

We did not swim in the Blue Lagoon, but sort of wish we had.

Next, we go inside and have some refreshment while waiting to leave.

Our friends John and Sally join us. We had sailed with them on the Carnival Magic cruise in 2011 and the Alaska to Hawaii cruise last year. They have been on the ship for 3 cruises and after this cruise will have been on the ship for 50 days. We knew they were going on the last Norway cruise and we thought we would pass them as they got off and we got on. However, they decided to stay for the transatlantic also. What a surprise when we went to our table the first night and found them sitting there. It was not planned, but a pleasant surprise.

As we leave, we found some plant life which was very surprising.

This moss actually takes a 100 years to grow on the lava and we were warned not to walk on it and damage it.

This yellow flower was quite a surprise in the middle of the lava bed.

As we head back to town, we pass a viking designed house. Actually, the Vikings were the first to settle Iceland and many residents can still trace their heritage back to the vikings.

Still raining…

Our guide spole English, but not well. I took this picture showing that everything she said was written out in English and she read it word for word. She was unable to process any questions and had to discuss it with the bus driver first. Notice that he first few words are “May name is”. Even though she spelled my wrong, this was the first things she said to us; “My name is Lena.”

Our last stop in rainy Reykjavik is the Pearl. The Pearl is a sx water tanks which hold geothermal water. On top is a glass dome which serves as a viewing platform offering spectacular views of Reykjavik on any day it is not raining.

There was not plaque on this art work, so I have no idea what it is suppose to be. Of course, our tour guide was unable to put into words what the purpose was.

They had some art including this viking.

Here we have a Viking riding a horse.

This area was a demonstration of geysers, which are plentiful in Iceland, Every ten minutes it would erupt with a geyser of water.

They also had a restaurant and gift shop on the viewing level. I found these glass works interesting.

The only thing we could see from the viewing tower was the traffic that had developed while we were inside. It didn’t matter which direction we were going to go, all I could see was headlights and taillights.

As we leave we go by one of their government houses.

The last thing we see is the Hofdl House, which was the site of the 1986 Reagan/Gorbachev Summit meeting.

Unfortunately, they were doing work on the road and we were unable to go in. However, as we stopped, I took a picture of the buses GPS showing that we were above the 64^th latitude. Neat.

 

Even though it rained most of the day, we were in Iceland and it was an interesting day. Just imagine, Iceland!

I must be off!