We have arrived in Iceland

We should have taken the weather delay at launch out of Orlando as an omen.  While we made it to Newark just fine. Little did we know that Newark was where we were going to stay...for a while.

Once we were in Newark, the rains came.  No big deal, except...the rains came with lightning - a lot of lightning.  Whenever there is lightning, the ground crew evacuates the tarmac, effectively shutting the airport down.  Without ground crew, aircraft can't get pushed back, pulled in, fueled, loaded - well, you get the idea.

The weather was relentless.  Our 8:55pm departure eventually went wheels-up at 12:15am.  Still, no big deal as we couldn't get to the ship before 11am anyway.  Our arrival shifted from about 6:30am to about 9:15am.

En route, the sun was coming up at about 2am EDT. It was quite striking at 37,000 feet.

 

The flight was uneventful - the best kind of flight to have.  Arlona was able to catch a few winks, Garry, not so much.  So, the Newark weather just put is behind a bit, but no real impact.  Or so we thought...

We expected to have to take a PCR test upon arrival in Iceland.  I'm happy to report that  the PCR test upon arrival is no longer required.  In fact, Iceland has no more COVID restrictions like masks.  Of course, this is all based on the fact that you do need to provide a valid vaccination certificate, recent PCR test, or proof of COVID recovery.  All-in-all, the immigration process was smooth and seemless.

We boarded the bus for the 45-minute ride form Kevlavik to Reykjavik.  Shortly after we departed the airport, our guide pointed out the current gas plume from their seriously active volcano.

Iceland's landscape is quite desolate.  Rocks.  Wait - more rocks.  Trees?  Not so much.  Did I mention rocks?  The lupin was in full bloom so patches of purple were all over.  That was nice.

Rather than go to the ship, the took us to the Harpa concert hall.

Viking was set up on the second floor for check-in and a quick breakfast.

The hall was quite striking inside.  

We got checked in and grabbed a bite and then headed back to the bus for the short ride to the Viking Sky.

Our room, 8014, is on deck 8, port (left side) and gives us a ncie view of the bay.

Didn't I hint that Newark had some other impact? Our luggage arrived to our room fairly quickly and we unpacked.  Arlona has a soft-sided case, mine is hard-sided.  As Arlona unpacked, she noticed some of her clothes were damp.  Well, damp is an understatement.  Essentially soaked was more like it.  Playing it all back in her mind, she came to the most probable conclusion - the ground crew at Newark left her bag out in the torrential rain for an extended time.  Yea!  As I write this, her clothes are spread out and drying.

While we din't have a required COVID test for Iceland, we did, and do, for Viking.  Upon arrival on the ship, we submitted a saliva test, and will do so every single morning of the cruise.  In addition, we are required to wear a mask in all public areas of the ship unless in a restaraunt or bar and wear a contact tracing medallion.  The spa and pool are also excluded.  Speaking of those, there are severe occupancy limits, like two from the stateroom in the sauna. We made an appointment to used the thermal area later in the week.  That includes the sauna, snow grotto, thermal pool and hot tub.

We decided to avail ourselves of that maskless benefit and enjoy lemonsrop martinis at the Explorers Bar.

This afternoon also featureed a nap, given that we've had very little sleep.  We enoyed our first Viking dinner in The Restaraunt.  We also booked a dinner at Manfretti's Steakhouse and the Chef's Table for later in the week.

Tomorrow morning will start out way too early with whale watching at 8:30am and a walking tour of Reykjavik in the afternoon.  Sounds like it might be a room-service morning!