I consider myself an experienced traveller, but after more than two years of Covid, I was out of practice. Once in our hotel room in Helsinki, I found that I was missing:

—my belt (at security check, JFK?);

—my cell phone (where?);

—prescription med. (71 Carroll St., Brooklyn).

These problems were addressed as follows:

I bought a belt in the shop next door;

I miraculously got the phone back from the driver of airport taxi, where I had dropped it.

The medication presented more difficulties. My NYC doctor e-mailed a prescription. but Finnish pharmacies don’t accept such. After a few days I spent $100 at a clinic for a local prescription.

Helsinki is a lovely city, at least in summer. (A taxi driver warned us against November—dark, cold, rainy.) Helsinki is expensive. This adjective may be applied to the rest of our trip, so I will not repeat it. This being the mid-summer holiday, many residents were away and some restaurants and shops closed for a few days. Many streets were wide, though often cobblestoned, which made for difficult walking. There are said to be more saunas (we, especially Susan, tried several ) than cars in the country. Temperatures around 60°. uncharacteristically, no rain! (Indeed, we saw none for almost three weeks.) Finns are law-abiding: they wait at red lights even with no traffic in sight. They are also friendly and helpful to tourists staring at maps. Here, as throughout our trip, everybody spoke English. Typical daylight was just under 20 hours.

Finland has a lot of coastline and lakes. We visited a small island, very green and pleasant, lovely for walking. We bought ice cream cones from a stand that proclaimed, “Watch out for the birds.” I had almost finished my cone when a gull swept down and seized it. (Have you seen Hitchcock’s The Birds??)

Our hotel was well located downtown, near the harbor and esplanade, which featured many tall statues of eminent men (didn’t see many of women). A bird was carved on top of each. “That’s a real bird,” Susan claimed.

“It’s not.”

Then it flew away. “Amazing what computers can do,” I said.

Many inland destinations are easily accessible by bus. We visited Parvoo, a bucolic village by a river. We met a couple of young gay Brazilians enoying the freedom of the country;we had lunch—fish, as usual, in a crowded canopied café.

Our biggest venture was to Tallinn (population over 400,000), the capital of Estonia, 2 1/4 hours across the Gulf of Finland. I had expected a sleek ferry, but instead found one of those enormous ships that can carry more than 2000 passengers. The trip was very smooth. On return, we treated ourselves to a lounge that provided a dinner buffet and all the alcohol you wanted. Unfortunately we didn’t want much. The old town of Tallinn is old, of course, charming and relatively free of automobiles. There was a lot of anti-Putin graffiti—much more than in Helsinki.

There weren’t a lot of cars in Helsinki either, partly because it was mid summer. Nor were there many cash machines. We found one in the basement of the city’s biggest department store (Stockmann’s). We withdrew 140 Euros, not all of which we spent. Credit cards are how things are done—though Amex is often not accepted because of its high commission. This was our last ATM the entire trip, even though we passed through currency zones of Estonia, Norway, Denmark and U.K. A hotel receptionist in Norway told us, “I haven’t handled cash in years.”

After six days we flew Icelandic Air to Bergen, Norway. The flight was fine, though it felt odd to be on an aircraft with propellers. Bergen, population close to 300,000, is the country’s second city. At the end of the 13th century it became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League. In the old part of town, by the harbor, houses have been restored in Hanseatic style (our hotel included). The city is very beautiful and has lots of water.

We took the steep telepherique up the Urtiken mountain, with great views of the city. We strolled to a lovely small blue lake with free canoe rentals. Unlike our previous visit, we rode the telepherique back down rather than take the steep path “made by Sherpas that hug the mountainside.”

The city is very much in fjord territory, as is the entire long western coast. With all those islands and inlets, the coastline is said to be 60,000 miles. We had time for only one morning’s fjord. the Osterfjord. The boat took us through placid scenery that became dramatic cliffs.

Susan had booked us for dinner at the Cornelius restaurant. This began about 6:00 with a 25-minute boat trip. It ended at 10:30 (still quite light) when the boat returned us. In between we had a fixed menu 5-course meal, mostly fish and very good. The restaurant is right on the water, which looked a very tempting blue; but the current is too strong for swimming.

The afternoon of July 1st, we embarked—that’s the word—on the centerpiece of our trip. The National Geographic Explorer is somewhat larger than the ships we had boarded for the Poles. It is about 375 feet long, and can make 15.4 knots under power of two 3200 h.p. engines. It can carry 148 passengers and more than 80 crew (it was at about 85% capacity during our trip). It was built in 1982 and has been refurbished several times. Our cabin, home for the next 13 nights, on the main deck, was as comfortable as any of our hotel rooms. It had twin beds, television, and a three-foot square window. As it turned out, we had only a few hours of rough weather.The captain was Lithuanian, the chef Peruvian. Many of the crew were, unsurprisingly, from the Philippines. Among the amenities were a sauna, library and free alcoholic beverages. We had a cocktail every evening and regretted that we never wanted more.

The passengers were friendly. They were mostly Americans over 40. Seating was random, so we met many people. It was sometimes hard to remember who they were because we were all masked, according to ship protocol. Everyone was tested for Covid before boarding. Nevertheless eight came down with it and to be confined to their cabins. Lunch and dinner choice of two or three appetizers, three “mains, and dessert. And wine, to be sure.

Our direction was westward. We stopped at Orkney, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Island archipelago and then Iceland, which we almost circumnavigated. Most of the sailing was done at night. The ship was usually able to dock for excursions, but when it was not (three times), the way to shore was by zodiac. Twice we had to make a “wet landing,” which meant pulling on our rented rubber boots and exiting into shallow water. I did not fall in, as I had in the Antarctic. Wet landings are prohibited in the Faroes, which was all right with me.

An ethno-musicologist was on staff. At many stops we were treated to local music.

While on the Orkney Islands, we drove by the famous Scapa Flow, which played a significant role in both world wars. Here much of the German fleet was scuttled in 1919. There are many tanks there now.

We saw the standing stones at the Ring of Brodgar and the excavated stone-slab village of Skara Brae—5000 years old. Then the red sandstone cathedral of St. Magnus, built by the Vikings in 1137.

We visited many archeological sites on the islands. Some were very ancient indeed. The most impressive structures were composed of dry stones—held together only by their own weight.

We had time to track some whales. More humpbacks than usual. Very big. You can report sightings to Happywhale.com.

Some other (Faroe) excursions:

—Through a new undersea tunnel, more than 6 miles long. Some art work inside. Above ground were many sheep, as in many other places on the trip. We had been advised to carry sticks to ward off any birds that might be nesting and reset our presence. We did see many puffins. Yes, they are cute. And smart.

—Arctic Fox Center. One rescue fox was in residence. Very friendly. Jumped around a lot.

The activities were a choice among hikes, bus trips and walks. Lunch in between usually on board. Many archeological sites were accessible.We did a number of the hikes, which tended to be moderately strenuous, at most. But strenuous enough for me. One of the hardest stretches was the first: steeply up 400 feet of wet, long grass. General characteristics: footing can be muddy; in Iceland lots of crushed volcanic rock. Almost no trees anywhere—they can’t take the wind. Very strong wind some days. Mostly cloudy, but not rainy.

Iceland is very volcanic. Watch your step. We explored the Dimmubogír lava field, described as “a true wonder of nature and nowhere else to be seen in the world.” It is full of pillars and weird shapes formed by “hot lava [that] streamed” over ponds, trapping water underneath. Everything has cooled off, and there are many walking paths.

Plans don’t always work out. Our first stop in Iceland, I signed up for a full-day “glacial lagoon and boat tour.” The bus took us to the lagoon in an hour or so, but as soon as I stepped out, I was blown off my feet. Literally, as one says. Even in Patagonia, I had never braved such wind. Gusts to 70 miles an hour. In the lagoon, waves whipped up among small icebergs. No boat would set sail. The bus behind us surrendered to the wind and didn’t even reach the lagoon. The place was beautiful, when you could stand up long enough to see it. We did drive to a calmer glacier scene.

In 1973 the Eldfell volcano erupted for 155 days, destroying hundreds of buildings though not killing anybody.It forced a month-long evacuation of most of the population to mainland Iceland. A major concern was that the lava flow would cut off the harbor. 6.8 billion liters of water were needed to stop it.

The volcano had been quiet for a while, so some 20 of us set off to climb it. The description warned, “not suitable for people with bad knees.” Our knees said we could undertake the thousand feet of elevation gain. It was quite spectacular: a path over volcanic ash with the caldera steeply below. The climb took 90 minutes. The views were great. On return we visited the museum Eldheimar, which showed terrifying images of the eruption.

The next day we arrived in Reykjavik and disembarked the Explorer for the last time. We were bused to the city’s most famous attraction, the Blue Lagoon (actually some miles out of town). It is big, shallow and light blue. You get a free drink and mud on your face. I remained a full hour, to Susan’s amazement.

The tour ended by taking us to the city center, whence we dragged our luggage to the Center Hotel on Thingholtsstraeti. It was a pleasant place for three of the four days we spent there. On the other day a street band was playing at non-stop enormous volume. We weren’t sure what this was for. After some eight hours, it did stop about 9:30 p.m.

This was my second time in Reykjavik, Susan’s third. She took advantage of swimming and sauna opportunities. We also visited the Maritime Museum (old ships) and the Art Museum, which was almost entirely devoted to the work of one artist, Erró, who was very prolific.

As we had in Berlin, we took a walking food tour. Highly recommended. There were ten of us, including four from Canada, three Germans and one from Bali. Here’s the post-walk summary sent us:

Reykjavík Food Walk

At Messinn we had two incredible dishes with one being the restaurant’s signature dish and the other created from leftovers during the older days which is something every local grows up eating.

We again we had the arctic char but this time it was honey glazed and fried in butter. With it there are some sliced almonds sprinkled on top and then served with some Icelandic tomatoes, potatoes, rugula and spinach.

Plokkfiskur and rye bread

"Plucked fish" or "fish hash" would be the English word I used to describe this dish but the plokkfiskur is a dish created from leftover fish in older times. The women working in fish processing used the salted cod or the older fish to be sure that nothing went to waste. This dish is very commonly served in Icelandic households and the Icelandic rye bread is always served with it.

In today’s society the dish is made with fresh cod, potatoes, cream, salt and pepper and the restaurants special is putting some bearnaise sauce on top with some spinach, limes and tomatoes.

The dish is never served without rye bread with a good amount of butter on top!

The world famous hot dog stand Bæjarins Beztu has been at the same corner since 1937. People can be lined up for over thirty minutes just to enjoy this “four bite only“ hot dog like us Icelanders like to call it. The absolute way to go when it comes to enjoying these hot dogs it is to get the “ein með öllu“ (one with everything).

There are four toppings that make these hot dogs so incredibly delicious and they are:

Raw onion Fried onions

Ketchup

Mustard (Icelandic hot dog mustard)

(remoulade)

We stopped at the restaurant called Fjallkonan (The mountain woman). Fjallkonan served two different dishes with very local ingredients, the Icelandic arctic char and the Icelandic lamb.

The arctic char has been lightly cured and is served on a chickpea blini. With it we have horseradish sauce, salmon roe, crispy lentils and yuzu elderflower dressing. p are served the slow cooked lamb shoulder on an Icelandic flatbread from the westfjords. With it we have carrot purée, some pickled red onions and carrots and finally the horseradish sauce.

Sjávargrillið - Seafood grill The restaurant specializes in seafood and today we had some amazing lobster tacos that melt in the mouth. The Icelandic lobster is rolled in a dough and deep fried. The tacos are served with date puree, pickled red onion, spinach and garlic.

At “Hressó” or the Hressingarskálinn we had the famous Hressó tarte. The Hressó tarte is made out of whipped cream, sponge cake, vanilla cream, jam and caramelized nuts. The recipe is from the 18th century and has stayed the same till this day.
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A few days later, we flew back to our kitchen in Brooklyn.

Important notes: Don’t order pizza in Helsinki or Iceland.

Icelandic jokes:

--If you get lost in a forest in Iceland, just stand up.

--If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It will change.

Knitting of the Scottish Isles and Iceland (from Susan):

As a (former) knitter - weaving is a lot more interesting to me - I had some interest in the knitting we expected to see on our trip. While the ethno- musicologist kept us entertained in the evening with local musicians, some of us regretted that the Lindblad Line had not thought to invite onboard local knitters and craftspeople. There were some limited opportunities to see knitters on shore excursions, especially in the Shetlands. Of great excitement to some of us was once when the ship was docked and it was announced that there was time enough to hurry over to a local grocery store that had local yarn. About 20 of us scurried over and bought out everything for sale. We learned that the wool of the sheep in the Faroe Islands is quite rough and much of it is burnt after shearing as there is not a real commercial market for it. The sharply reduced market for wool is true internationally as demand has decreased sharply (think polypro jackets.). There are differences in the quality of the wool on the three islands we visited (Orkneys, Faroes and Shetlands.). There is a “sheep census” on the islands we visited; drones are used to count the number of sheep. It is not unusual for sheep to be slaughtered (rather than butchered) as there are a lot more sheep than market for their meat. In some instances farmers are paid by the government for raising sheep that they are unable to sell profitably. Of course, some of us (like me!) loved seeing the knitting and wish we had seen more. First time I have ever seen two women knitting on the same sweater at the same time (in the Shetlands.) And we can’t forget the knitting and wool of Iceland. One of the churches we visited has a (very contemporary) painting of Christ wearing an Icelandic sweater!

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