REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

What an exciting sight: our son Bruce Adams walking up the gangway to join us! Bruce had been in Reykjavik for a day getting to know the city plan and the menus and the sights to see – and even a little bit of Iceland’s complex and unfamiliar language, and now he has arrived. So we had tea and then a drink and then went out to The Foodcellar and enjoyed the very best of Icelandic food and drink and service. The city is friendly and interesting; its people are helpful and intelligent and seem to speak perfect English. One unusual feature is the boreholes that dot the landscape and have hot steam escaping from them. No charge for hot water here – everyone is hooked up to the geothermal heat underground.

On Wednesday we started our explorations at Perlan, a mammoth structure, once a water storage facility now an interactive museum. We watched the northern lights emerge in a planetarium, saw puffins do puffin things, learned how glaciers form and decay, walked in an ice cave, and learned about snyrting and what happens if you snyrt. Then to Hallgrímkirkja, a huge Lutheran Church with a soaring tower and a magnificant organ that was being played while we were there. (And its pews flip over to face either way. ) Lunch was at Apotec, the former state pharmacy and a fine restaurant that served us a “table lunch” of plaice, ling, and salmon – all fresh and excellent.

Finally, we celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary at La Dame on the ship, with Bruce and Claire and Will Cupples, friends who gave us gifts including the hair band Hope is wearing and needs desperately since she hasn’t had a haircut since Christmas. (photo won't upload)

So we tucked in after a full day – and had a full night as well as we sailed northward toward the Arctic Circle. We have never encountered such rough seas. The Atlantic Ocean is roiling and snow is flying and the ship is rocking and we know why they call it ICEland.