Today we were exploring in and around the Icelandic capital. We had a 5hr tour which after picking us up from the ship took us through the centre of Reykjavik where we saw the icons of the city such as the new Harpa Building, the large concrete church & as we headed out of town the Pearl building. Our first stop on the Reyjanes peninsula was a museum which housed a replica of a Viking ship which the Icelandic guy who built it sailed from Iceland to New York. The museums focus was that Icelandic explorers had sailed to North America in the year 1000, well before Columbus- you learn something new everyday! Our next stop, through more mountains & lava fields, was the famous blue lagoon. Walking down an alley way of volcanic rock to the entrance the milky blue water contrasted against the black porous rocks surrounding it. These pools were bigger than the ones we had been to outside Akureyri & we were just here for a look rather than to bathe. The best part of the tour was coming up next when we stopped at some bubbling mud pools (which once again smelt of rotten eggs!). The various pools ranged in colour and steamed & hissed from the thermal heat below. There was a big plume of steam coming from the top of the big hill next to the pools so I hiked my way up the steep path to the top to see the masses of steam escaping from holes in the top of the hill. Going up had been hard enough in Birkenstocks but going down needed even more concentration- I had got down the hardest bit but still slipped right at the end- luckily no one was around to see. Back on the bus we had a short photo stop at a lookout over Lake Kleifarvatn. Finally we traveled back to Reykjavik through more lunar landscapes & mountain passes. Back at the ship we quickly jumped on the shuttle bus just leaving for the town centre so we could check out the old town in the hour & a bit we had before the last shuttle back. Using up the last of our Icelandic Krona I bought a magnet & then we found a small microbrewery bar where we shared a stout before our return to the ship. The last shuttle bus was supposed to be at 4pm, we arrived at the stop about quarter to and were getting slightly stressed when the bus hasn't turned up at quarter past-luckily it finally showed & we made it back the ship for another scenic departure. I used departure time to do some laps around the deck as we had been sitting in a bus most of the day. I had planned to do 10 laps & I had got through 9.5 laps when I spotted a whale off the side of the ship, first it was just a bit of a tail & then it seemed to wave to the ship with its big fin lifting out of the water before it was gone. For dinner we went to the buffet which was Indian themed tonight with some tasty onion bhajis. Once again we planned to see the comedian & once again we fell asleep before it was time to see him. It had been a busy day!