I WENT TO ICELAND!

Hello my readers!

It’s a lot harder then I thought to keep this going. I can understand how someone who blogs for a living, has free internet, and ample time might be a little bit better at keeping their blog regular. So, sorry about that. Anyway here I am, having just left Iceland and on my way back to the British Isles! Let me get you up to speed! I left you last in Oban. Wow so much time has passed, not only that but 10 different ports, since then! Wowza, we do get a lot done here.

First of all the on-board life is getting into a regular swing. We are performing our shows and doing our assorted duties, leaving us with more free time, which is lovely. (However we just got a new band, so we’ll have to rehearse them sometime this cruise before our show with them!) Time really seems to fly by while performing. It really is lovely. I get some amazing complements, one of which was “I should be paying $250 a night to see you perform on Broadway and all over the world.” I like to think of it as though our shows are included in the fare of the cruise and thus, they are paying $250 a night to see us! Hah. One gentleman suggested I perform my own show at the Ritz, he said it had a lovely theatre for me to sing in and that it would be a great venue for me specifically. I jokingly asked him to get me the booking and I would be glad to, and he (without missing a beat) handed me his card. And then of course, we also get some very interesting comments, with guests who believe they know everything, and tell us exactly how it “should” be executed or what not. But I take those critiques with a grain of salt, if you know what I mean. If you shoot me an email, I’d be glad to share a few of my favorites with you more privately.

For those of you who know me, I am a Disney fan, so I put in a Disney medley into one of our shows, and it is such a thrill to sing it. People love it, and have said they see me turn into an elated 12 year old boy while singing and they really enjoy it.

So, Invergordan came, and I did the tour of Foulis castle. The head of the Munro clan who’s family has lived in the castle since 1000AD gave us a private tour and told us all about the history of not only his clan, but about clan life in general. It was really fascinating and for my first shore excursion (as they’re called) I had a great one!

Next came Edinburgh! What an incredible city. My second time in Edinburgh, I was last there while touring the country with Into The Woods playing the baker, and this time I got to explore on my own. I went to the amazing Elephant House for lunch. Has anyone heard of a little book series called Harry Potter? Anyone? Well The Elephant House is where J.K. Rowling wrote the first and second books and thus is dubbed “the birthplace of Harry Potter” I sat at a table overlooking The Edinburgh Castle while eating a brie apple and red currant Panini on ciabatta and sipping a ginger beer.

It was delightful. I then went on to explore the royal mile (the mile long street from the Edinburgh castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse [the queens residence in Scotland]). I found my heritage bar called The Royal McGregor. Then of course, I visited the Disney Store! Haha.

We then went on to Newcastle. It was a beautiful day in New Castle, but I stayed on the ship, because I was on In-port manning.

We then came into London.

And I mean right into London. In possibly the most amazing thing we’ve done to date, we sailed down the Thames and right under Tower bridge to dock opposite The Tower of London. Let me tell you, Overnighting in London and walking around the city at 1am with Olivia was incredible. We had a blast walking past the london eye, big ben, trafalgar square, and all the others. I love London and can’t wait to go back there in a few weeks!

We then went back down the Thames and on to Scotland’s Aberdeen. The city of granite! It was a lovely town and Nina and I explored it in the morning finding a Starbucks and checking my email (the necessities, duh). Nina then went on to shop and spend a lot of money, I returned and then went on a tour of the Glen Garioch distillery! What an amazing place that was. To see where the whiskey is made is something incredible, even for non drinkers like me….but hey, I had a dram while I was there!

Our next stop was Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. A small town, with a main street with little tiny shops, we nicknamed it little Oxford street. (or little 5th ave.) Nina and I explored together again and found a hotel bar that served the most amazing local mussels in garlic and cream.

They were unreal! Seriously if you ever find yourself in Lerwick…lol…go find this place!

On the first semi rainy day we encountered we entered the town of Thorshavn, which is the capital of the Faroe Islands, and is a very small capital at that. Of course its part of Denmark so the conversion to the Danish Krone made everything incredibly expensive, try $60 for a t-shirt (which I didn’t buy mum). Or how about $4.00 for a coke! Yeah. That’s right. I left to explore the city on my own and ran into Vicki, so we shared a pizza (and by shared I mean we each got our own) and continued to explore together. We became almost part of two different weddings, and went to a bar where I had a taste of Vivki’s Cider, which was lovely and fruity.

We had a day at sea to get us up to Akureyri, Iceland, which was unbelievably beautiful. The weather was unreal as well; I was the whole day in a short-sleeved polo and almost sweating! I went on an eight-hour tour, which included geo-thermal hot spots of boiling mud, scenic mountains and valleys, famous trout rivers, lava fields – where I stood one leg on the European plate and one leg on the American plate, the gorgeous Goddafoss waterfalls, and a stunning lake, which has 45 different species of ducks that nest there. Oh, and less I forget, I had a delicious Icelandic trout for lunch, and although it was amazing, its not quite as great as the trout Granny fishes out of her river in the New Forest. (Alright I might be a bit biased).

Our next stop was Isafjordur, which was a stunning harbor town located on a fjord, between two snowcapped flat mountaintops. The amazing mountains of Iceland are mostly flat-topped as they were glacially formed, millions of years ago. I went out in search of wireless and found a lovely café with incredible views and sat there catching up and looking out at my incredible surrounding. The funny thing about Iceland however is that there are barely any trees, I suppose this is because its mostly north of the Arctic circle, but the native Birch tree grows more as a shrub. I suppose that’s where the old saying comes in: What do you do if you’re lost in an Icelandic forest? … Stand up.

Our final stop in Iceland was its capital Reykjavik (I didn’t even look up the spelling! I’ve got it down) which means smoky bay (because of the natural steam that rises from the earth all over Iceland). The crew went to the famous Blue lagoon, which is a geothermal hot bath, where you can submerge yourself in warm blue waters and put the white skin healing mud all over your body. It was amazing. The mist that rose from the water was incredible. My skin, even now, feels healthier and brighter. It truly was the swellest activity that we have done ashore so far. I really enjoyed myself. I also felt that I was enjoying it for my sister Lara as well. It was her birthday yesterday while I was there and I wanted her to be with me so desperately, but was glad to sing her happy birthday and speak to her for a little bit.

Now we’re at sea on our way to Glasgow. I can’t wait for the next twists and turns of my adventures here on the silver cloud. I hope you are enjoying the blogs, I feel like I’m boring you to bits, but there ya go.

Hope you are staying safe and happy and loving life as much as I am. If not, book a cruise aboard the Silver Cloud and come enjoy it with me!!!

HERE ARE SOME PICS OF THE CAST ABOARD THE SHIP!

All the best to all the best,
Rhett