Alex's Summer at Sea

Hi, I’m in Iceland, and it smells like fish. Seriously, the moment I stepped off the ship, I caught a strong waft of Iceland’s economy. As we moved further away from the dock, though, the smell relented.

I figure before I start talking in too much detail about what I’m seeing, I should tell you all a bit about Iceland (allow me to bring my Geographer side out for a second). Iceland is about the size of the State of Kentucky, with the entire population being around that of Cincinnati (~250,000). Of that population, more than half live in the Capital, Reykjavik, which is where I will be spending four days. The rest of the island nation is untouched nature, with smaller towns located along the outer coast. Their entire economy revolves around fishing, as it has the least arable land of any country. The country is geographically isolated from Western Europe and because of this, it:
Is very genetically homogeneous,
Has kept its language – Icelandic – virtually the same for a millennium plus,
Is ridiculously expensive. It is the most costly place in the world to live
Also, because it is so far north, it experiences long periods of sun in the summer and hardly any in the winter.

Quick flashback: last night I experienced something I will likely never encounter again: a midnight sun. Since yesterday was the longest day of the year, and we are right outside of the Arctic Circle, we didn’t have “night” at “night,” last “night”; rather, we had a 2 hour “twilight” period where the sun briefly dipped below the horizon at about 12:30 AM, and then reappeared just a couple of hours later. It never got dark; it just stopped being sunny for about 100 minutes.

There will be lots more to come from Iceland, but for now I will share with you some photos from my morning Reykjavik city orientation where we drove around in a big bus – like we did in Ecuador! – seeing the sights. We got out of the bus twice to feel the cool Icelandic summer breeze and experience the two “gotta-see-Reykjavik” sights: the Hallgrimskirkja Church and the building that houses Icelands hydroelectric power, the latter of which offers beautiful 360 degree panoramic views of the city.


The church and my main man Leif Erickson


The church from the side


Airband statues outside of the hydroelectric tanks


This is Reykjavik


Panoramic