Trip to Iceland
Mike and Judy Henderson
July 3 to July 14, 2016
I'm going to leave this map of the cruise at the beginning of each web page so you can relate what we describe to the location in Iceland.
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7/5/2016 Before leaving home I had purchased a tour of Reykjavik for Tuesday (today). We were instructed to be in front of the hotel 20 minutes before the 9am pickup. So there we were, waiting, but no bus. We eventually called to find out what was going on and were told that the bus would be there shortly. At 9am, still no bus, so Judy called. Seems that the bus had arrived at 8:20 and we were marked as "no shows".
So we went back to see what other tours of the area were available. Judy found an "Icelandic ponies" tour and convinced me to do that. The pickup was 1pm so we decided to go back to the Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran church and go to the top of the steeple for a view of the city.
Luckily, they provide an elevator to the top - it'd be a long walk up the stairs. I was able to get a panoramic view in each of the four directions. The airport is basically south of the church so you can figure the directions from there.
This view is about south-west.
This next view is approximately south east.
North east.
And north west.
Reykjavik is not a big city - about 130,000 people - just a bit bigger than Berkeley, CA. The old town area of Reykjavik is just a subset of the larger city and can be easily walked.
The weather has been great. Temperature in the high 50's and clear skies. Makes for comfortable walking.
In the afternoon, Judy cajoled me into going on a ride on Iceland ponies. We were picked up at the hotel and taken to the riding stable.
Here's some of our fellow riders.
I got this picture of Judy as she galloped past me.
And here's another of her on the horse.
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7/6/2016 We meet the cruise ship today. After breakfast at the hotel, we took a cab to the Grand Hotel where we met the Tauck tour director and many of the other passengers.
Here's Michael Furillo, our tour director.
The first thing on the agenda was lunch at a place called "The Pearl", a restaurant on the top level of this building. The glass roof works well in the winter but got a bit warm on this summer day. The cylinders are water storage containers that are part of the geothermal heating system in the city.
Here's the dining area of The Pearl.
After lunch, we went to the National Museum of Iceland which had exhibits of relics from the early days of settlement.
We then went to the Hallgrimskirkja Church. Of course, Judy and I had already explored the church fairly well but for many of the people, it was their first exposure. This is a view from the back of the church.
Then it was to the boat.
Here's a better picture of the ship, taken from the Internet.
One of the first things they do on every cruise is the emergency drill. Here's Judy in the very latest in fashion floatwear.
Everyone was in the theatre and in floatation gear.
After that, it was dinner with some new friends.
And at 9pm, we cast off and headed out to sea.
