Iceland and Scandinavia 2024
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Off the boat
We opted for a few of Viking’s optional (read: “expensive”) shore activities. Marida did the Viking Longship museum in Roskilde, Denmark and later the famous burial site of Lindholm Hoje. Both included too many stops to cast more than a superficial glance at any one site, i.e., “Folks, here’s the museum. There are the bathrooms.… View full post
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Those fjantastic fjords
Our 13-day cruise on Viking Neptune took us to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Åland Islands (Finland), Poland and Germany, alternating picturesque little ports with big modern cities like Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen. In most ports we joined the cohorts of fellow passengers opting for Viking’s “included” walking tours. These were led by local professional guides brandishing… View full post
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Going A-Viking
On this longship your biggest challenge is tidying your stateroom so your steward can clean Brutal as they were, the Vikings were clean, according to historians. Their habit of bathing once a week apparently made them highly attractive to the ladies. But other than that, there is no comparison between this Viking Longship and the… View full post
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Five lessons on traveling in Iceland
Going to Iceland? Here’s what we wish we had known. A tribute to Scandinavian design Hotels in Iceland don’t have the cheery-but-grubby floral carpeting and wallpaper of a US hotel. This is an improvement, but you better LOVE maximum-security gray and beige. Ifff you lose your rroom key, Olga villlll do a body cavity search… View full post
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Where are all the cats?
Reykjavik tourist shops are filled with T-shirts sporting variations on the I Visited Iceland theme, including one touting “Cats Of Reykjavik.” Where have they put them? During every trip we have taken, ever, there has always been a cat. Or many cats, as in our Algarve AirBnB. In our entire time in Iceland, we seen… View full post
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A cow-patterned country
The road from the eastern fjords to Lake Mvatyn in northern Iceland is like a high cold desert, devoid of vegetation, settlements or even sheep. On all sides are volcanic mountains, high enough for snow, but low enough for the rich black ash to soak up the sun’s heat and melt the snow into stunning… View full post
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A theology of geology and biology
That title is a stretch, but Marida IS obsessed with geology and Terri WAS going to die if she Didn’t See Puffins. In the end, we both got our wish, and both outings had a touch of the metaphysical about them. On our glacier outing, we had gotten a great tip from one of the… View full post
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Rules for driving in Iceland
There is actually only one key rule for driving in Iceland: Don’t. Look Over. The Edge. If you do happen to glance down as you are hurtling at 60 miles per hour along a winding clifftop, something will flash before your eyes. If you see a sheer drop into a river far below, your life… View full post
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Water falling everywhere
The sunny days we spent in Reykjavik turned out to be an anomaly for early May, and the weather reverted to rainy, windy type for the next few days. This seemed a good time to either seek dry shelter or just embrace the wet. We did both, getting drenched under some waterfalls then heading up… View full post
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Bucket List winners & losers
As people at home in the US comfortably strolled outside to see the northern lights, extraordinarily bright and visible as far south as Texas, we in Iceland continued to travel under a thick blanket of gray cloud. But we still checked off a bucket list item by finally hiking a glacier. Vatnajokull Glacier looked huge… View full post