We had a day at sea before arriving at our next port of Reykjavik, Iceland. Unfortunately after leaving the Greenland Ice Field, the sea conditions deteriorated. The captain gave his standard announcement on safety: be careful walking around the ship, wear sensible shoes, don't use the verandas and don't hold onto the frames of open doors because they can suddenly close. The doorframe warning was new to us. Apparently there must have been an incident where someone got hurt. The rocking ship also means that Karl will be spending nearly all of his time in our room. He has found that he can avoid motion sickness almost entirely by staying low and center in the ship where the motion is at its least -- and is where we always book our cabin. I am seldom affected by motion sickness, so I took part in some of the ship's activities. I went to an arts & crafts activity where we decorated a mask for the upcoming masquerade ball. I made a fairly simple design so I could make it to the tour of the ship's provisions and laundry area. The tour was really interesting. There are huge cold storage areas for fruits and vegetables, for flowers and for coffins. We had always heard there was a morgue onboard and although we were not allowed to look inside, I saw the door labeled "Coffin Store". One of the crew told us there is space for 3 coffins inside. Next we were taken to the laundry area. They had the normal large washers and dryers, regular irons and mangle irons, but they also had some unique equipment. The most amazing was a machine that dried, ironed and folded all of the bed sheets. Two men loaded the sheets into the machine and one man unloaded the sheets on the other end. Clearly it saved a lot of time and manpower. They also had a unique way of removing wrinkles from some of the clothes that they do not iron. They blow them up with warm air and steam. The few resistant wrinkles they smooth by tugging on the ballooned material. I saw them do a jacket and a pair of leggings. Our next stop was the upholstery shop where the upholsterer repairs or replaces the material on furniture. In the tailor's shop they were making uniforms for the female bar attendants. I was surprised to learn that they make all of the crew's uniforms. They also repair clothing for both passengers and crew. The last area we visited was the shop. They do carpentry, plumbing, some machining, etc.

Karl decided that he didn't want to take the chance by leaving our cabin for dinner, so we ordered sandwiches and apple pie . They warned me when I placed the order that they were very busy -- and it might be an hour. It was at least that long, but I went up to the buffet and got some cheese for an appetizer, so we weren't starving when it finally came. We decided to just stay in the cabin for the evening.

The seas were pretty rough all day and into the night. The captain, along with his safety warnings, told us that we should expect a late arrival in Reykjavik. We were supposed to arrive at 8:00 AM and he said it could be as late as noon. The weather improved as the evening went on and he was clearly "putting the pedal to the metal", so to speak. It ended up that he made up much of the time lost (both in the ice field and in the bad weather) and we arrived in Reykjavik only about an hour late. The weather was just beautiful when we arrived -- clear and highs predicted to be in the low 60's. I had booked an independent Golden Circle tour with Iceland Guided Tours. We got off the ship and found where they were loading their mini-buses (there were about 75 people from Cruise Critic taking the same tour) . Karl and I decided to sit on the side of the bus that just had one seat so we both got a window. Our tour guide was Atis, a nice young man from Latvia, and our driver was Stephan.

As we drove out of Reykjavik, Atis talked about the history of Iceland and some current information. Iceland was discovered in the 9th century by Vikings who lost their way on the way to the Faroe Islands. They called it "Snowland" because it was snowing, but it was later called by other names, until they finally settled on Iceland because of the glaciers. The population is about 320,000 which about two-thirds of them living in Reykjavik. There is 100% literacy and everyone knows how to swim (everyone is required to finish high school and must be able to swim to graduate). There are very few private schools and higher education, while not free, is subsidized by government grants. The health care system is excellent and is supported through taxes. Iceland is considered to be "the safest country in the world" (if you don't count volcanos and earthquakes) with its extremely low crime rate . The police do not carry guns and there is no military. More than 85% of homes are heated geothermally and they also generate electricity via geothermal plants (the geothermally produced steam turns the turbines). Electricity is cheap and abundant -- so much so that a major industry is the processing of aluminum ore brought in from other countries. There are few trees in Iceland -- they were all cut down by the Vikings for fuel and to build houses and boats. However, there are efforts underway to plant and grow more trees. I suspect this will be a challenge as most of the open land we saw were lava fields, with only moss and small wildflowers growing there. We saw the famous Icelandic horses, a small, friendly, sturdy and sure-footed horse that is descended from horses brought here over a thousand years ago by the Vikings. The breed is protected -- no horses are allowed to be brought into Iceland. Even an Icelandic horse that is taken out of the country (for a show, for example) is not allowed back in.

Our first stop was in Hverageroi, a village in a region that is well-known for its greenhouse-grown vegetables (greenhouses are heated geothermally, of course) and for being the center of a significant earthquake (6 .3 on the Richter scale) in 2008. There was a small visitor's center with a display about the earthquake, as well as shops. On the way to our next stop we learned about elves and "hidden people". Elves are little people who live in the natural areas. Hidden people also live in natural areas, especially in the lava fields, in and around the biggest rocks. They are said to be the same size as us, but most people cannot see them. It is bad luck to disturb them and there are people who claim to be able to communicate with them to enable construction projects where they live. The story is that they originated at the time Adam and Eve. Apparently God was coming for a visit and Eve hadn't time to get all of her children cleaned up for her important visitor. So she told her dirty children to hide when God got there. God, being all-knowing, knew that she had hidden some of the children and told her, "You have hidden your children from me, so now they will be hidden from you." And so they are hidden people to this day.

Our next stop was the Faxi Waterfall, so named because it reminded Icelandic poet Stephan G . Stephansson of a horse's mane ("fax" in Icelandic). It was a beautiful waterfall, but we were told that this was just a small one compared to Gullfoss (Golden Falls) which would be our next stop. Gullfoss was a huge double waterfall and it was gorgeous. Its waters originate in the Long Glacier which can be seen in the distance when you reach the ridge above the waterfall. There are a several stories about the origin of its name. The most interesting one tells of a rich famer who didn't want anyone to have his gold after he died, so he threw it into the waterfall. Atis also told us the story of Sigridour Tomasdottir and her heroic (and successful) efforts to prevent the building of a hydroelectric plant at the falls in the early 1900's. Her work is recognized by a plaque near the falls telling her story and a monument in her honor.

Next on our itinerary was a stop at the Geysir geothermal area. The area is named Geysir for one famous geyser that has been "sleeping" since the year 2000 . The English word geyser comes from it. The big attraction is Strokkur, a geyser that dramatically erupts every 3 to 5 minutes. Karl and I walked to the area that we thought it was and waited for almost 15 minutes before we realized we were in the wrong place!! Strokkur was about a 5 minute walk from where we were. We watched the eruption 3 times. The most amazing part was just before the water shot into the air. The pool from which the eruption occurs looks like it is breathing and a giant bubble forms just before the eruption. I caught it on video and hope I can get a good picture of the bubble from the video. We had lunch at the Geysir visitor's center -- we split a bowl of lamb & vegetable soup (with free refills!) and a sandwich.

The last scheduled stop of our tour was the Pingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The national park is UNESCO listed both for its unique geology and for its history. Iceland is located on the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, the junction of the American and the Eurasian tectonic plates . The plates are diverging at a rate of about 2 cm per year and have separated approximately 70 meters over the past 10,000 years. It was pretty amazing to stand in the rift between the plates. In addition, the nearby valley floor has dropped about 40 meters forming Lake Pingvellir, the largest lake in Iceland. The lake is fed by water coming up through fissures in the rocks and springs. Atis says the water is so pure you can drink it -- and he proved it by doing so!

The history at Pingvellir began at the time of the Vikings around 930 AD. It was the place where all of the Viking chieftains and their aides came together for the Albingi (general assembly) to discuss issues and settle disputes. Before there were written laws, the "Law Speaker" stood on the "Law Rock" and recited the Viking laws from memory. While the Albingi was most important through the Old Commonwealth times (until 1264 AD), self-government continued at Pingveillir until Icelanders swore allegiance to the King of Denmark in 1662 and court proceedings were held there until 1798 . It is considered to be such an important place for Icelanders that they marked the historic moment of the founding of the modern Iceland Republic at the ancient Law Rock on June 17, 1944.

We expected to be taken directly back to the port after the visit to Pingvellir National Park, but to our delight, we got a short tour of the city of Reykjavik on the way. We were taken first to Perlan (The Pearl), a landmark building built around and on top of the city's water tanks. From the observation deck, we got a great view of the city and inside we saw the artificial geyser erupt. Next we visited the Lutheran church, Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in Iceland. About 80% of Icelanders are Lutheran. Hallgrimskirkja is designed to look like it is made of basalt columns and is surprisingly simply designed inside as well. As we continued on our way back to the ship, we passed the main shopping areas, the city hall, parliament buildings and the concert hall.

We got back to the ship after our dinner time in the dining room, so we just went to the Lido buffet. I discovered that I could pick up the wireless internet from the cruise terminal in our cabin, so I used the 20 free minutes they gave you and then bought another hour of time so I could upload my blog and photos. By the time I finished, it was getting late so we called it a night.