REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - DAY 4

Before we begin from last night we wanted to provide some comments about our approach during this adventure.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic not to mention the Delta Variant coupled with Anne Marie's immune deficiency in order to travel we have decided to take a decidedly different approach.  It is similar to our adventure on Crystal Serenity in Nassau but we are being even more careful because of the Delta Variant which spreads like wildfire.  

As such, whereas we normally would have booked two days of private tours we have no formal tours planned.  The only exception is on embarkation day after the check in at the hotel for Endeavor and our testing is completed at Noon we will take a few hours tour with a driver/tour guide arranged through Crystal Cruises.  This way we avoid a group transfer shuttle to Endeavor and also tour around the city.

We are minimizing going indoors as much as possible knowing it poses greater risks.  Keith has done some of the grocery shopping himself and Anne Marie has done some with Keith but staying as far away from people as possible.  Fortunately, everyone is wearing masks indoors at grocery stores and inside other stores.  

Outdoors we are wearing masks something we don't need to do at home and when we are walking up sidewalks and streets if people are coming our way, we move as far away as we can safely do.  In Nassau, we had two lunches outdoors and all breakfasts and dinners in our room.  This time we might have all our meals in our room.  

We know there are no guarantees when it comes to COVID-19 and there was some risk on the flights and at JFK airport in particular but we are trying to be as safe as we can.  We can't describe what a zoo JFK airport was but the airline lounge tops it all.  

The new variant has truly thrown a curveball as we get ready to board Endeavor.  It is not something we expected when we booked the cruise.

Are we happy?  Absolutely.  Just being here and walking the city and taking in beautiful views and people watching and holding hands as we walk and talking and laughing and thinking of history and the culture of Iceland is much more fun than being at home. We are having a wonderful time and look forward to our time on Endeavor.

The same goes when we board Endeavor.  We will be as careful as we can be and there are some tours we would have jumped on which we didn't book.  In fact, there are some tours we booked a couple of months ago we will likely cancel.  

We are happy to be here and we are making life as good as it can be. 

We are equally happy with the accommodations we have.

Each afternoon sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 PM the apartment is cleaned and the breakfast basket is filled with items for the next morning.  Coffee is replenished as are new cartons of milk and fruit juice if required.  In addition to the breakfast basket, there is a container of cereal.  Bread comes later and we had some for at lunch.

​Another day and another breakfast to start the day.
 
 

Some observations about the city.
 
It is a very nice city to walk.  This is what we love about cities which is the fun of walking outside and smelling the roses which allows for many more observations than riding around in a vehicle.
 
Overall, the city looks relatively clean.  When Keith walked early Monday morning various streets and sidewalks were being cleaned.  We've seen sidewalks being cleaned routinely in some cities around the world early in the day, but yesterday also included streets and it was on a national holiday.
 
We walk where our feet takes us.  Sometimes you get to an intersection where the street names are not marked so we don’t worry about that and just remember the route we’ve taken so we don’t get lost.  
 
Now let’s change to food.  Why not? LOL.
 
Like any city the food stores are smaller than a suburb.  

We have been to two different grocery stores.  Both made excellent use of their space but rather than have 50 variations of a product they had one to three choices.  I find it easier to shop.  Sometimes less is good although I often say choice is good.  LOL.  
 
The quality of the vegetables has been great.  The mixed greens and spinach were fresh and those raw mushrooms were not filthy and as white as you can find a mushroom.  
 

Keith took a walk by himself for over an hour and covered lots of ground.  

When he began the walk the weather seemed warmer than when he returned.  It must have been the breeze causing a little chill.

We both went out shortly after Keith returned from his first walk and we walked over to a nearby grocery store, brought items we purchased over to the hotel and then went out for a couple of your walk.

We visited Harpa Concert Hall.  We saw three busloads of people arrive and on each bus was a Viking Sign and the people getting off had carry on luggage with them.  We are thinking they were on a pre-cruise tour.  From a distance we could see what looks like the Viking Ocean Vessel in the distance.

We walked along the water.  There was a chill but we were layered and a few times the sun actually showed  through the clouds.  This was a miracle.  LOL.  

After lunch we were back out for a couple of hours.  We had our first rain and were prepared with rain jackets on and we pulled our hoods up and after five minutes the rain stopped.  The weather forecast was right.  It did rain but thankfully not very long.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith