Peter Vicki & Julie's European Adventure

 Had an early start to the day, it was warmer than yesterday at 11 degrees. The ship was docking at 8.00am and as it’s a tender port, need to be organized to get on one of the first tenders which we did. It is a very small town with population under 700 we decided to go on a tour today after checking out what was to be seen and this tour visited 4 different sites, of which 3 were quite a distance from the town. Was a lovely tour as we got to see so much of the countryside and had a really good tour guide who was funny and also very informative. First stop was to see an old lighthouse, and 2 large columns of basalt rocks that are all that is left from a volcano many thousand of years ago, to the Icelandic people they are trolls and have a very special history relating to there Viking heritage.  Next stop was to the Leiff Erickson memorial who was the first Viking and he also lived in this region it was made of rocks and you could crawl through the middle of it. At the same stop...

 Cruised through the Isafjardurdjur fjord and docked in Isafjordur. Was a chilly 9 degrees when we disembarked the ship for our walk into town. Not a very big place so we went and had a look through the oldest building in town a brown building with a little tower, was interesting its set up as a museum with displays of how they used to live.  It was a long walk from the ship so we came back for a little bit then Julie and Pete went for a walk in to the main part of the town to have a quick look around they went to the museum but said it wasn’t really worth the walk. Back on board for a late lunch then happy hour and we will be sailing back down the fjord on our way to Grundarfjordur.

 Cruised up the very pretty Eyjafjordur fjord in the morning whilst having breaksfast, as the ship was not docking in Akureyri until 11.00am. Akureyri is only 100 klms from the arctic circle and was originally settled in the 9 th century by the Vikings.  After we docked we went ashore to hire a car for the day so we could have a good look around the country side. We hired a cute little Hyundai from avis which was perfect first stop was Godafoss waterfall which is about 45 minutes out of town its not a huge waterfall its 12 metres high and 30 metres wide but very impressive with the amount of water that crashes down. A bonus was it was very flat ground so easy to walk around. From there we drove to the thermal pools which was a lovely drive with great scenery along the way. The thermal pools were quite busy and the smell was atrocious not sure how people could enjoy bathing in them. From there it was back to town and we went to have a look at the church it was meant to have 12...

 Had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room then went to the world stage to hear about HAL bucket list of cruises most of which we have already done, but still very good as well as a talk about Marconi and his inventions which was very interesting. Had a look around some more of the ship before it was time for lunch then back to the world stage for a talk about our next 2 ports and what’s to see there. From there it was time for happy hour and then dinner and the show which was called Americana which showcased the musical styles of jazz, swing, bluegrass and blues and how they helped shape the American culture.

  A bit later start today as we didn’t arrive in Lerwick until 10.00am so we had a leisurely breakfast whilst waiting for the ship to lower the tenders to go ashore. Was a lovely day weather wise no rain and not to cold so good for sightseeing. After getting off the tender we had a look around and found a pub with free WIFI then walked up to see the lovely old shops in the town from there we walked past the wall of the old fort and on to the beautiful police station and town hall which was built in 188. The hall is credited with having some gorgeous, stained windows some of which are supposed to be the best in Britain, we would have liked to had a look inside the hall but they had a wedding on so we couldn’t go in they had a piper out the front. From there we walked back to the dock and after a while managed to get a taxi driven by Michael who took us on a tour first up was the Broch of Clickimin which is a very well preserved stone round house and over 1000 years old, these stone ...

Early start today, every passenger had to have a face-to-face session with the British Immigration people so with 2600 passengers they needed to start early, was a very smooth operation and didn’t take long once your deck was called, they looked at your passport and then said all is good and that was it, not even a stamp in the passport.   After that we went for breakfast then got our tender pass for the short boat trip across to Dalmeny where the weather decided it was time to show who was boss so stood in the showers for a while while waiting to get a taxi into Edinburgh. The taxi driver, Tom was great, we asked if he could take us on a tour of all the main sites which he was happy to do. Made seeing the town easier as we had a few showers, but the main problem was that the Edinburgh fringe festival is on so a lot streets have detours,  and the town population has just about doubled. He took us to all the main sites, Edinburgh Castle, Hollyrood Palace, Golden Mile, Greyfriar...

Had a lovely day on the ship, went to a very interesting talk about the 150-year history of Holland America Line (HAL) and also a talk about what to see in Edinburgh the next day. The ship is lovely, and we enjoyed looking around and getting our bearings. After dinner we went to the world stage for the show featuring the step one dance company, the show called humanity which combined technology and dance was different but also really good. After that it was time for bed.