The Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon yesterday was wonderful, it's about an hour out of town just beyond the airport. If your departure or arrival schedule permits you can take a Fly Away Bus there either before or after, they will stow your luggage for you and I guarantee you you will have a most relaxing experience, before or after your flight. The waters of the hot spring are a milky turquoise color due to a white silica in the water, and the whole lagoon is surrounded by the black volcanic rock of Iceland.  Quite dramatic.  They have tubs of the concentrated silica around the edge of the pool, you scoop out a big blob and slather your face with it, let it fester for a few, then rinse; voila a new you! I'm serious!!! Today my skin feels so smooth. I wanted to buy jars of the silica for everyone, at the airport today, but they charge $40 a jar. Sorry.

In an uncomfortable experience last night at a bar having a beer, (early evening) in Reykjavik, I bumped into three guys (Icelandic) who invited me to sit with them, I did, and they turned out to be American hating, Jew hating mo fos- they were already on their way to gone, and one was absolutely huge!  I did fine, however, I said I was Irish!  The owner, a woman, came over and gave them a bunch of grief. She came over to me and said she had those boys in the palm of her hand. I said Oh la la, they are charmers. What was funny though, and why I tell this story, is that one of them for some reason guessed my age, the bozo guessed me a full ten years younger than I am!  That silica from the lagoon worked wonders! It really did, go to bluelagoon.is and get yourself a jar!

On board Icelandair 613 now, JFK bound. I can't tell you how much I like this airline. Again two + two seating in the front of the plane. I found out why, if you are in what they call economy comfort, and they haven't sold all of their business class (Saga class) seats, they put you up front and sell the economy seats in back to fill the plane. Sort of what the cruise lines do to fill the cabins. They give you a card on boarding telling you that you have been upgraded. They give those who have actually paid for Saga Class the full deal (china, glass glasses, cloth napkins etc) and those in economy comfort free meals, and wine and beer, and these great big seats. I'm so happy!  Sitting next to me is a lady from Romania on her way to Harrisburg Pa,, and across the aisle is a handsome young man from Guadalajara Mx., returning home from his first great European adventure. He says he visits Colorado from time to time. I gave him my email! The flight has just gotten quite bumpy, we are about two hours out now from New York. I got great photos as we passed over Greenland. Looking forward now to three days in New York City, am staying at the Chelsea Hostel, $70 a night for a single room, WC down the hall. I hope to go up the Hudson River to Kykuit, the estate of John Rockefeller, I've seen the palace of the Tsars of Russia now, might as well see the American equivalent. 

Drying Out On Board Icelandair 1364

We are over Norway at the moment, and it looks like we will fly right over a fjord (from the on screen route display), and indeed we are now.  Icelandair's comfort economy is a great deal, access to lounges with food, drink and wifi, great big 2 + 2 leather seats with lots of leg room, two 60 lb checked bags, food and wine or beer on board, (I had Icelandic made sushi). All for very little more that regular coach, depending I think on the the day you travel, and the load factor that day.Today, there's all of eight passenger out of 22 seats.  Not bad. All that and you can stop over in Iceland for no extra charge.

So the trip has played out really well. As I write we are approaching the coast of Iceland, the flight from Helsinki is only three hours. After seven days on the Atlantic  on board the ms Rotterdam we had a day ashore in Cohb and Cork Ireland. Then another day at sea on our way up to Rotterdam, where they kicked me off the ship, much to my dismay. I made the best of it though, spending most of the day exploring the old ss Rotterdam, Holland America Lines former flagship ,which has been beautifully preserved as a hotel and attraction in its old home port. It is a mid century tour de force, design wise, so there will be lots of pix. Then on to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg. Helsinki, and now, Reykjavik.  Sort of a "If it's what day, where am I?" kind of schedule. but for some reason I do enjoy running around like that! Seven cities in eleven days!

I've just now finished breakfast at the Aurora Guesthouse in rainy, cool, Reykjavik. After the heat of St Pete I'm enjoying the weather here. It was raining a deluge in Helsinki yesterday, hence the title of this piece. This is a great little place to stay. I highly recommend breakfast included wherever one might stay here as food is very expensive. Reyjavik is really a cute little city, with a lot of independent travelers from all over the world, and very friendly Viking descendants hosting.

Norwegian Fjord

Icelandic Landscape

Getting Ready to Party!

So the Blue Lagoon (hot springs) is on the agenda this am and this evening (the sun goes down late here at 66 degrees latitude north), whale watching. There"ll be pix!  Cheers!

Greetings From Helsinki Vantaa Airport

Well it has been a most wonderful trip to date.  I'm waiting at the Helsinki airport for Icelandair to Reykjavek, in the Finnair business class lounge.  This is the first chance since disembarking the Rotterdam last Thursday that I've been able to charge my laptop. I must have forgotten to pack my plug converters, or something, because I don't have them, so no computer to blog from. Sorry about that, I figure everyone thought either I was either in Oslo or Siberia! But no, no disasters, thank heavens. Only a crashing dollar!  Time to board, so I'll be in touch from Iceland!

A Few Pix From Around The Ship

Today, It's All Fog, All Day

As if to underscore yesterday's post about the variable color of the Atlantic, today we have entered a dense fog, and everything is white, as white can be. The captain was present at a champagne brunch to which I was invited late this morning, in recognition of past passengers of Holland America Line. It was delicious and fun, as every meal has been. He said the fog bank formed because the wind had stopped, and that the sea and air temperature are similar, about 65 degrees F.   He also said the reason we stopped yesterday was because a light went on, on the bridge, indicating a problem with one of the propellers, which proved to be a false alarm.  He said that they did not reverse the propellers, but that the act of stopping them created the great shuddering that everyone felt. I'm glad I got to the bottom of that! We have sailed 1700 nautical miles from New York, with 1200 left to run to Cohb (pronounced cove, and indeed it means cove), Ireland.  A nautical mile equals 1.15 land miles. Tonight is another formal night, with the big band, the Pasadena Roof Orchestra playing after dinner.  More fun that a barrel of monkeys!

Day Three, Mid-Atlantic Already

It always amazes me how the ocean looks different every day. Wednesday, our first day out, it was all a hazy shade of grey, both the sea, quite calm, and the sky. Yesterday, Thursday, was a bit stormy, the sea was the deepest shade of steel blue, slamming against the hull, creating waves with an undertone of the most beautiful shade of  sapphire, as seen in the photo. Today it's whitecaps cresting out of a more turquoise Atlantic, the sun is out and the breeze is stiff but not stormy like yesterday. This ship handles the sea very well.

We have a cute little sparrow on board,  hopping around the lido deck at the stern of the ship.  I wonder if he's a New Yorker, or if he's been on since Rotterdam, making a back to back transatlantic. There are quite a number of Dutch on board doing just that, who were treated to a special Indonesian Reistaffl lunch today in the main dining room. It's fun to mingle with the Dutch, I'm constantly asking how to say this or that in their language.  The food on board has been quite good, and the crew is friendly and helpful. Funny thing though, yesterday was Bastille Day and German food was featured on the dinner menu. Vive le sauerbraten!

Curiously today during lunch we ground to a very quick stop. The dining room is at the very stern of the ship, there was a great shuddering as the propellers must have gone into reverse (full astern matey!). I have no idea why yet, but I will get to the bottom of this. For a moment I was sure we had struck an iceberg, but then I remembered we are taking a southerly route, and besides, it's the wrong season!

The entertainment and lectures onboard have been outstanding. Bill Miller is a passenger liner historian with a great gift of gab, and has presented two lectures so far, Transatlantic Floating Palaces, and a history of Holland America Line. A fantastic Big Band called the Pasadena Roof Orchestra did music from the 20's and 30's last night after dinner, curiously they are not from Pasadena, but England. I must get to the bottom of that as well.  Cheers for now!

And Now To Explain The Ferry To St Petersburg

About six weeks ago Holland America Line reduced the price of a special Transatlantic crossing to quite a low price, in fact to a price that I found I was unable to resist.   So my good friend in the travel business, Sue of Luxury Cruise and Travel hooked me up! The crossing is on board the MS Rotterdam from Manhattan's West side piers, across the Atlantic to Rotterdam, in nine nights, with a call at Cohb Ireland, the last port call of the Titanic   The occasion is to commemorate the 40th year since HAL ceased regular Transatlantic service.  I tend to look at a crossing the Atlantic by ship as simply the best way to get to Europe, so there's no way that I was going to just fly home! The ship continues on, after she will kick me off in Rotterdam, through the Baltic all the way to St Petersburg, Russia. I said to myself, you know Paul, I'll bet you can cook up your own Baltic Adventure, and indeed I have. This has turned into a 25 day extravaganza! I didn't mean for it to, it just happened.  Honestly, I do wonder about myself!

I'm already on day five, am onboard the beautiful Rotterdam, steaming due East  at 20 Knots (about 24 mph), out in the Atlantic maybe 400 miles from NYC. I flew from Denver to Washington's Reagan National Airport on Saturday July 9, having cashed in Frontier Airlines miles, with plans to spend the weekend in Philadelphia at the home of my housemate Dave's parents, who had invited me to visit. The great American ocean liner, the SS United States, the fastest passenger liner ever built, and indeed our Ship of State, is docked in South Philly in the Delaware River. I have always wanted to see her, peeling paint and all, and indeed I did. She's been docked there now for sixteen years, stripped of her interior fittings, fate up in the air, but as of February this year is owned by the SS United States Conservancy, whose goal is to restore her as a permanent hotel, retail and convention attraction in Philly, New York or Miami. It was absolutely thrilling to see her. While we were there, peering through the chain link, a woman came running up excitedly exclaiming that she had, at the age of nine, crossed the Atlantic on board and how wonderful the ship had been.  I wish the Conservancy great luck in it's restoration efforts.

Dave's parent, Ed and Janice, are the most enthusiastic and gracious hosts ever! Besides the SSUS, we toured the great battleship, USS New Jersey, docked also in the Delaware across from Philly in Camden, NJ, ate Philly Cheesesteaks, saw the Liberty Bell, a new exhibit next to it that exposes George Washington's attitudes and practices concerning slavery (not particularily pc) a magnificent Tiffany favril glass mural in a downtown office building, the Italian Market in South Philly, the mansions of the Main Line, and the wonderful home in the woods of an early 20th century furniture maker, artist and architect, Wharton Esherick, (google that, it was amazing!). My hosts said I could rest on the ship! We had a great time, it was a wonderful weekend. They even drove me up to NYC yesterday morning to catch the ship at Pier 88 on Manhattan's West side.  It was a great thrill sailing down the Hudson yesterday afternoon, the grand skyline glittering in the sun on our left, the Statue of Liberty on the right, then under the Verazano Narrows Bridge and out to sea!

Five days and there have been two rescues already: Saturday on Amtrak from DC to Philly the train in front of us lost all power and had to wait on the track for an hour till we came along to the rescue (conductor's words) Three hundred passengers plus crew crammed on board our train. Then last night on the Rotterdam there was a medical emergency, the ship made a u turn and the US Coast Guard sent out a copter to airlift the poor guy and his wife to shore. Hope he made it. The Captain this morning told us about the event at a meet and greet organized by Cruise Critic dot Com that I attended.

Tonight is the first of three formal nights, my tux shirt just came back from the on board laundry, I've been assigned to a table of eight at the 8:15 seating, so I'm set!  Here's the upcoming itinerary: Cohb, Ireland; Rotterdam, Holland; Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, Estonia; St Petersburg, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Iceland; NYC, then home to Denver on August 2.  Stay tuned!

Happy Fourth Of July, From Denver