Saturday 9/3/16

What a disappointment!  I had no luck getting any of my photos to download to the iPad - I think it's time for a new camera.  I got Dave's downloaded, but I couldn't get them up on the blog - bummer!  The pictures of this beautiful country will have to come after we get home.

On a positive note, I went outside last night and saw the Northern Lights again.  This time it was a clear and starry night, but honestly, I thought the show was better with the cloud layer.  Last night was mostly a green glow on the horizon with a few weak flares.  The night before, there was a lot more "dancing" of the green lights.

This morning we left the hotel and worked our way east and north.  We are now in the town of Akureyri.  On the way here, we stopped at a replica sod house of Eric the Red.  The local owner of the "museum" was wonderful - very funny and informative.  John was chosen to be the Viking mannequin.  He donned a very heavy metal helmet and a Russian wolf collar (it was the pelt of the whole wolf) and sported a sword and large round shield.  We sat inside the sod house while he regaled us with stories about Eric and his son Leif.  On the way to our next stop, we saw a man on a quad cycle herding sheep in a field - the sheep were running and it was quite amusing.  We got to the sheep round-up and had a wonderful time talking to the locals.  Two days ago, the sheep up in the mountains were herded down (on horseback) to this central area where they were divided by farm ownership.  People who live on farms farther way came with trucks and loaded their sheep for the trip home.  Those who live nearby get the older sheep started for home and the rest will follow as they know the way.  All of the lambs born on the high meadows were tagged - they are identified by which mothers they go to.  One man estimated that there were 3000 to 4000 sheep that had been rounded up this time.  They will go out one or two more times to make sure that they gather them all before real winter sets in.  In the worse weather, the sheep will be in barns and fed grass.  One bale of grass will feed 60 sheep for 3 or 4 days.  All of the lambs will be sold for meat.  Our next stop was to an Icelandic horse farm.  We had a delicious lunch: pumpkin soup, salad bar and rhubarb cake for dessert.  After lunch, we went outside to watch the horses go through their paces.  These horses are shorter than the ones we see at home:  14 hands is the average height and 900 pounds.  They also have very shaggy manes which are never cut.  They are very cute.  They were brought to Iceland by the Vikings and no other horses are allowed on the island.  They have 5 paces: walk, pace, gallop, tolt (pronounced tuff), and fast tolt.  During the tolt, the rider can carry a full glass of beer and never spill a drop - a very smooth ride!  Our last stop of the day was a folk museum, a collection of peat houses used in the 18th century up until after World War II.  They had dirt floors and very small windows.  Some of the furniture was wonderfully carved.  We got here after a long day of being on the bus and then had dinner downstairs at the hotel.  We will look for the Northern Lights again tonight.  This is the farthest north we will be on this trip so I hope that they will be more brilliant.