I'm gone

[Bmyers]

I had no idea Domino's was such a large pizza chain. I knew it was big in the US, didn't really think about it outside of the US.

[Mac66]

Domino's started in Detroit, headquarters is now in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was surprised to see it in iceland.

[Mac66]

Day 2...Iceland, took a 10 hour, 600 km mini bus tour of the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Long ride. Iceland is pretty mountainous and volcanic. Not as green as Ireland, duh. There is snow capped mountain/glacier called Snaefellssjokull. It was the entrance to the earth's core in the Jules Verne's book, Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Still trying to figure out photos.

[Mac66]

Day 3...Iceland. another long mini bus tour. More pretty scenery. Here are som interesting facts about Iceland.

--founded by nordic vikings
-named iceland because a viking saw an iceberg in the bay
-very high standard of living compared to Europe.
-very high taxes and cost of living. Prices are high. A 1500 sq ft house costs $1 million here. A 6 pack of beer is $60.
-Population 370k people, mostly nordic/Celtic heritage. The Vikings brought a lot a slaves back from England, Scotland and Ireland.
-they do have their own language but everybody speaks English.

[bdcochran]

thanks for the update

[Bmyers]

I didn't realize their cost of living was so high.

[Mac66]

I didn't realize their cost of living was so high.

Biggest industry is tourism now. And that's just in the last 10 years or so. Fishing, Sheep farming and horses are next. They do export a material used to make aluminum. But they have to import just about everything.

The horses in Iceland are hearty and short legged. They have a unique gate which wins a lot of competitions. Once taken out of Iceland they can never be brought back so they are basically bred to be exported.

[Bmyers]

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize I would be learning so much on your vacation.

[Mac66]

Yesterday was a transition day from Reykjavik to the cruise ship. Our first stop today was canceled due to high seas. They couldn't load or unload the tender boats at the port. We are basically circumnavigating Iceland.

Two more stops over the next couple days before heading to Greenland .

[Mac66]

BTW, on Thursday we went on an 11 hour mini bus tour. walked on a glacier, went to three waterfalls, a black sand beach and saw some puffins. Ended up back in Reykjavik and had the world's best hotdogs from a little stand downtown.