Day 5 - Lerwick - No Mousa for you!

        I started my day with quick breakfast at Windows cafe. Bacon and eggs at Windows is a staple for me now. When I was through with my meal I walked around the ship. After some wandering I found myself in the Cabaret lounge where the wildlife expert was giving a talk. I am not sure what the talk was about because I only caught the last 5 minutes. He showed a clip of an appearance he made on the Conan O'Brien show in which a king cobra was involved. I found out after presentation that he was the tour guide on the whale watching excursion in Iceland. I went straight to the Land Discoveries desk and booked the last seat available.

        Not to long after I went to Discovery for an early lunch. I wanted to be sure I had enough to eat before leaving the ship. Again the food in Discovery is great. I had an appetizer that was mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in avocado, cream of tomato soup and finally a steak and cheese quesodia. This makes me look forward to tomorrow night at the chefs table even more. Not only is the food here great but I have been feeling great as well. I think I am going to make an effort to eat better when I return home.

        I went to the upper deck to watch as we cruised towards the Shetland Islands. It was noticeably colder and the wind had picked up so I wore a jacket. I think they said it was like 15 degrees. We arrived in Lerwick to a beautiful view of the city. I went to my room to gather my things and made my way to meet up with my tour. After about 20 minutes they called for my group to disembark. As we headed toward the exit we were informed that the tour to Mousa Island had been canceled due to the weather. We were given the option of a refund or to take bus tour of the city. Feeling adventurous I decided to explore the city on my own and asked for a refund. I was disappointed as Mousa Island was one of the highlights for me.

        I exited the boat and was met with a woman handing out maps of the city. This was helpful as I have the worst sense I direction and would have got lost in under an hour. I began to wander the streets with no set course. I noticed on the map there was a road that circled the whole town and decided this was a good enough path. Lerwick is a very industrial town. just of the coast you can see what appears to be an oil rig. There is also shipping yard that is almost equal to the size of the rest of the town. After about an hour I found myself on the other side of town where found some tall hills that overlooked the whole town. One of these hills had a small dirt road leading to the top. It was obvious what I had to do.

        I began hiking up the steep grade of the hill. I couldn't get over how great the weather was despite what the cancellation of the tour would suggest. The sun was peaking out from the clouds and not only did I not need my jacket, I was breaking a sweat in just a tee shirt. About half way up the hill I turned around to find the most spectacular view and decided to continue. I saw a group of sheep near the top of the hill and made my way towards them. They stared right at me as I approached. I tried to get closer by leaving the path but they spooked and walked the other way. I took some time to take in the view I had found. The sheep began to investigate me again and I turned my attention to them. Slowly I got closer as to not scare them off. I managed to get within few meters and got some great pictures.

        I met a German man at the top of the hill who was taking pictures. He said he lived in the town and informed me that the tour to Mousa had been cancelled because the boat's engine is to weak to take on the headwind. After our brief exchange he made his decent and I stayed a little longer to take in the view and hang out with the sheep. After some time had past I decided to head back to the ship to ensure I was not left behind. I managed to make it to the pier two hours early and chose to get back on the ship and beat the crowd.

        My time spent in Lerwick was short but meaningful. I felt like a kid again wandering an unknown place and discovering what was around each corner. As much as I enjoyed my bike tour yesterday I think I prefer this kind of tourism. I won't be canceling any of my other tours on this trip but I think the next trip I take will be less structured. With great risk comes great reward.

        We made our departure and began heading towards Iceland. I can't put into words how excited I am get to Akureyri. I have a 6 hour bus tour booked that will take me all over northern Iceland. In the mean time I am experiencing for the "swells" first time. For those who are not familiar with the term it means the boat is rocking. Fortunately I don't get motion sickness but it is still quite disorientating. I really hope this calms down. Tomorrow is another at sea day. Not something I am looking forward to but I will try to make the best of it. Worst comes to worst I can just sleep all day.

Day 4 - Geiranger - Just like riding a bike

        In my last entry I mentioned that I planned to do nothing yesterday. There is always something to do on the ship but I have yet to find my thing. I am not big on trivia or bingo and I haven't seen a seminar worth going to as most of them are to entice you into buying jewelery and spa packages. I have been keeping to myself for the most part. The bar staff all know me by name and have a Heineken open in front of me before I even have the chance to ask. I can tell our days at sea will be boring but I remain hopeful that I will find something to do other then sitting at the bar. One thing I am finding really enjoyable is writing this blog. I think I might keep writing after this trip is over. Who knows, Maybe this is the start of a career as a Travel writer? I should probably take some classes and find myself an editor when I get home as I am sure spellchecker hasn't caught all my mistakes.

        I went to the Singles and Solo travelers cocktail party hosted by the cruise director Eric De Gray (The guy who I said looked like he was straight out of a Vegas act). The group was retirement age and included Eric's parents from Toronto, Two men I didn't get the chance to speak to, And three women from Melbourne, Texas, and Florida. Ellen (the woman from Florida) mentioned reading a post I had left on the Cruise Critic message board last week. Topics ranged from what brought me to Azamara, My desire to leave my job and start a new path, Ellen's beaded jewelery business and of course, Rob Ford. I had a nice time considering how out of place I felt. They all went to dinner after the meet up but as I already had plans I wished them well and we parted ways.

        Last nights dinner at Aqualina was fantastic. I experienced the same level of service as I did in Discovery restaurant the night before. I began with Escargot and caviare followed by a Seafood bouillabaisse. The escargot was not as heavily seasoned as I am accustom to but still highly enjoyable. I am not a soup guy but the bouillabaisse was the best thing I have ate on my trip so far. It had shrimp, calamari, scallops and mussels in it. For my entree I had the Aqualina Seafood platter. This was rather redundant as everything in the soup was served in the entree with the addition of half a lobster tail. In retrospect I should have ordered lobster - Something to keep in mind for my next dinner there. Between each course of the meal I was served a small pallet cleanser. First was raw sushi grade salmon and cream cheese on a cracker, Second was a shot glass full of raspberry sherbet. The wine pairing was a chardonay from France that complemented the dinner perfectly. I ended the meal with the best creme burlie I have ever had and coffee.

        After dinner I headed directly back to my room. I wanted to get an early start today so I was in bed by ten. Unfortunately I am still finding it hard to sleep and only nodded off for a couple of hours. At 4am the sun was starting to rise and we were finally heading into the fjords. I had only planned on taking a few pictures and heading back to bed. I made a few friends and had a great morning spending time with an 80 year old nalm vet named Marvin. Five hours later we were making the S curve into Geiranger. I had over 1000 pictures on my card, a dead camera battery and we were about to dock. I had just enough time to shower and get to the lounge that was the meet up for all of tours.

        I had tried to cancel my bicycle tour the other day do the bus trip all the way up the mountain. This wasn't possible due to the mountain tour being sold out - and I am glad it was. The bicycle trip was spectacular. Our tour guides took us up the winding road by bus to a lake 4000m higher then were we started. They informed us that the road we will be taking has 60 hairpin turns and we have to share the road with cars and buses coming in both directions. This road was one lane and a half wide at most with a shear drop off only inches from the shoulder in some places. We were warned that it would be cold at the top and the weather can change from sunny to rain to snow within minutes.

        We arrived at the top it was 20 degrees with a slight breeze. We were given a chance to take pictures of the lake. They gave a short safety tutorial and we were on our way. It was about a 2 and a half hour decent into Geiranger. For someone use to sharing the road with cars I was fine but it was harder for others in the group. I saw many people taking extremely wide turns that could have landed them on the hood of an oncoming car. One younger man kept trying to ride beside his female companion and ignoring the fact he was blocking traffic. I saw 2 crashes on my way down and there was talk about a third when we reached the bottom. Minor bumps and scrapes and everyone made it to the bottom. I found out that the oldest member of our tour group was 85.

        After the tour I looked through some of the shops in town. Geiranger is a tiny town with a population of only 300 people. Aside from the breath taking view there isn't all that much to do. I got back on board the ship, grabbed a late lunch and took a nap. When I awoke I made my way down to the show where Eric De Gray would be performing show tunes and songs from musicals. The show was extremely entertaining and Eric is not only a great singer but also really funny. The show concluded at about 11 and I headed up The Looking Glass. This has now become my night time spot. It is just below the observation deck in the front of the ship. All of the staff there know me by name whenever I arrive and there is a bottomless glass of beer waiting for me before I sit down.

        I called it a night midnight and went back to my room. I was hungry so I ordered a tuna wrap from room service and then went to sleep. This would be my first decent night sleep my whole trip. As we head towards Lerwich our clocks go back an hour. We won't arrive until noon so I have a nice slow start to my day before the tour I booked to Mousa island.