The motivation for my trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands was an international over-60 5v5 soccer tournament billed as the World Cup by its organizers being held in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, of the 26 countries that had planned to come, only a fraction could attend the twice rescheduled tournament due to Covid restrictions in their respective countries. My team represented the USA and we won 2, tied 2, and lost 2 which was good enough for a third-place finish. Considering this is the first time any of us have ever competed in this format it was not a bad result. In one match, we were up 2-0 and earned a “blue card” for not gaining the referee’s attention before an on-the-fly substitution (one of the different rules that apply to 5v5). This cost us a 2-minute penalty which left us a player down during which time our opponents easily scored 3 goals which kept us from being in the finals. Losing 1 of 4 field players is a death sentence and all on account of a technicality. I scored once in each of two games and was the second-leading scorer for our team. The first was a loose ball in front of the net and a quick reaction finish. The second was a very nice shot from distance while the goalie was visually shielded. Tomorrow, the format changes to 4v4 (no goalies) and a new tournament will be run. Another set of rules to learn but also another chance to make it to the finals.

I arrived in Copenhagen shortly after noon and immediately set out on foot to experience the city. Nyhavn is a photographer’s dream, a tiny canal lined by brightly colored 17th and early 18th century townhouses, bars, cafes, and restaurants. Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606, one of  Christian IV’s many architectural projects. In total, I covered 10 miles taking in the sights including many of the iconic squares and the newly constructed opera house. Later in the day, I connected with my soccer team for dinner at the Gorilla, a beast of a restaurant in the old industrial premises of the Meatpacking District of Vesterbro.

The lovely village of Saksun lies in the bottom of what used to be an inlet of the sea, surrounded by high mountains on the north end of Stremoy Island. The inlet formed a deep natural harbor until a storm left it filled with sand creating an idyllic lagoon that leads out to a black sand beach. The church was originally built in nearby Tjørnuvík, but in 1858 it was disassembled, carried over the mountains, and reassembled in Saksun. It took a second visit to this area to get photographs. The first time I arrived you could hardly see 10 feet in front of you.

If you click on the photo below you will be able to see the inlet to Saksun and the beach.

Earlier in the day, I briefly visited Kunoy where I was able to observe sustainable salmon farming. Farmed salmon is a vital part of the Faroese economy, representing half of the country’s export value.

I only had time to visit 7 of the 18 Faroe islands during my five days here. I had to give up on Mykines because of time lost due to tire replacement and will view that as reason enough to warrant a return trip in the future. I have only posted a tiny fraction of the photos I took and will try to sprinkle out a few more over the coming months.

With new confidence in the tires on my campervan, I returned to my planned itinerary, albeit delayed by half a day. Pictured above is the north end of Kalsoy Island (population ~80) which can be reached by a 15-minute ferry ride and a 10 Km drive passing through four very dark, one-lane tunnels (pictured below). I read somewhere that this location is featured in the latest Bond movie and I can’t wait to see it. I arrived at the campground in Mikladalur at about 7:30 pm quite exhausted from earlier hiking. My first impulse was to have dinner and go right to bed. The presence of clear skies over the mountain peaks prompted me to make my planned hike to the Kallur lighthouse (see if you can locate it in the photo) right away instead of the following morning, Not only did I get photos unobscured by clouds, I had the trail to myself, save for a couple of dozen sheep. Between hiking and photography, it took me about two hours to go up and come down, leaving another 30 minutes before sundown at 10:30 pm.

A large percentage of the roads and tunnels in the Faroe Islands are one lane only with strategically placed turnouts where one car can pull aside to let oncoming traffic pass. The system generally works but I can tell you that the first time you encounter head-on traffic in a narrow tunnel, it will get your heart racing. Things get really dicey when two or three cars are traveling in a group or with large trucks. Driving here is not for the faint of heart. In addition to the already mentioned challenges, the roads are frequently on the sides of mountains or edges of cliffs, often shrouded in dense fog/clouds, and must be shared with sheep that are said to outnumber humans here by two to one.

The hike to the location where I launched my drone for these photographs is just over a four-mile roundtrip. I did it once last night (it stays light here until after 10 pm) only to find pea soup thick fog and again this morning when I was lucky enough to catch a few moments of good visibility. I think eight miles was well worth the effort for these photographs and the opportunity to take the ultimate selfie. Click on the image above and see if you can find Waldo. The full resolution of this panorama (21 images stitched together) is 18,000 x 5,200 pixels. My posting host limits the resolution to a fraction of that. While moving on to my next planned destination, the tire pressure indicator on the VW California campervan that I am driving/living in went off for a third time. Having filled the tires twice already, I checked more carefully to see if I could find the problem. I concluded that all the tires were so badly worn that they were actually unsafe to drive on. Normally, I would gamble on them holding up rather than abort my adventure but there are just too many ways this could end badly so I will be returning the van in the hope that the owners will put new tires on so I can continue. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The campervan owners were able to replace the worn tires with a marginally better set of winter tires they had on hand. Equally important, they also placed a spare tire in the van so that I can address any issues that might arise. So it is back on the road again.

I arrived in the Faroe Islands this morning after a short flight from Iceland. I had to pass through a mandatory Covid testing area before picking up the campervan I will be living in for the next couple of days. The first order of business was to stock up on food supplies and then to take care of a low tire pressure warning. I then made a beeline for Gasadalur and the Múlafossur waterfalls. This is a signature vista for the islands and for good reason.
When I arrived, the sky was completely gray. The weather here changes quickly so I decided to wait. Two hours later, my patience was rewarded as blue skies emerged. Just as they did, a dense fog started to envelop my shooting location. I was lucky to get a few shots off that were near ideal. Another photographer arrived just as I was packing up and I advised her to set up quickly so as to beat the fog. In my haste to make way for her, I managed to drop my variable neutral density filter which fell several hundred feet into the ocean below the cliff from which I was shooting. I use this filter to reduce the amount of light entering my lens so that I can use a slow shutter speed to make the falling water look silky smooth. The $200 loss was less painful than not being able to shoot at the shutter speeds I want for the rest of the trip. Next, I traveled to the other end of Vagar, the island where the airport is located, to the Sørvágsvatn Lake and Bøsdalafossur waterfall. I will be returning tomorrow in hopes of better light and in search of another angle that I think will be even better. Click on the image for a better understanding of how crazy this lake is.

The first time I photographed Brúárfoss, it was a well-kept secret. Getting there was only possible from private property shared by a small community and you needed a trail of GPS breadcrumbs to find it. Once it became a screensaver, the crowds started to come necessitating an alternative public parking area and access trail. The bridge that crosses the river has also been upgraded. It remains one of my all-time favorite waterfalls. Captured below is an aerial view of Dyrhólaey. Taken with my drone, this perspective offers a much better sense of this mammoth arch than can be had from anywhere on the shore or water. Haifoss requires a tooth jarring drive over gravel roads but is entirely worth the effort. It is simply magnificent. I wish something in the photo could give a sense of scale to this 400-foot tall waterfall.

I arrived in Iceland at 5:40 am after a 5.5-hour flight during which I managed 3 hours of sleep. As soon as I cleared customs, I rented a SUV and set out for the Fagradalsfjall volcano which has been active since March. Access to the best point from which to view the crater was a 6-mile round trip VERY strenuous hike. It did not help that I parked at the lot furthest from the trailhead or that I neglected to remove my laptop from an otherwise heavy backpack ladened with camera lenses and my drone. The volcano has recently become inactive and it was a little disappointing to have put in so much effort without seeing some lava. What is not apparent from the photo is that I am at the top of a mountain peak more than a mile away from the crater and 1000 feet above the lava bed (in other words, in a very safe position). People coming down as I was going up reported earlier activity so I decided to wait for a while. During the next three hours, I witnessed very brief appearances of molten lava lasting perhaps 15 seconds in total. Not quite as satisfying as a full-blown eruption but I was happy for the glimpse.

Naturally, I sent my drone out for a better look but did not want to fly directly over the crater opening for fear that the radiant heat would toast it.

The lava from this eruption stopped before reaching the ring highway that surrounds Iceland. Had it gone just a little further, the economic impact to the island would have been enormous.

After grabbing lunch, I travelled east to the Seljalandsfoss falls. There is a nice trail that goes behind the falls. Look at the people there to get a sense scale.

My mother turns 93 today and is as young as ever. She is an avid and highly talented ballroom dancer who still goes out every week to dance parties. She also enjoys bonsai and gardening and simply can’t resist pulling weeds if she spots one regardless of who the garden belongs to. I am hoping we can arrange for her to visit our new home next year. We could really use her help designing a Japanese garden for us and we have plenty of weeds to keep her busy. Although her passion is the Tango and Milonga, she is pictured above dancing a G-rated version of “the bump” with me at a family gathering during my college years.

I will be flying to Iceland this evening and on to the Faroe Islands next week. My trip will end in Copenhagen where I will be playing soccer in a Master’s World Cup tournament with my team. I will try and update the blog while on the road but posts may be spotty as I will be off the grid for much of the time.

We celebrated Kyle’s 29th birthday with him at a Peruvian restaurant in Somerville this evening. Maya is still working in Normal, IL, and was not able to join us, unfortunately. Kyle has retained his playful inner child even though he is a mature adult in all other regards. He has a great job and lives in his own home. The lack, for the moment, of an apparent path to a grandchild, is the only thing lacking from his parent’s perspective.

My morning appointment at the passport office was successful and barring any unforeseen issues, I will be able to pick up my renewed passport at 3 PM tomorrow in time for my 8 PM flight to Iceland. Even though my current passport is still valid, it must be so for an additional 6 months beyond my return date which it was not.

Maya shared this photo of her trip to Saint Louis last weekend. She is really enjoying her internship with Rivian and is being recruited for a full-time position after she graduates. Although she is working at their factory in Illinois, the company is headquartered in California. I plan to ensure that Maya has several equally exciting offers from Boston-based companies when it comes time to chose.

If all goes well at the passport office on Thursday, I will be leaving for Iceland on Friday for a 2-day visit before continuing on to the Faroe Islands for 5 days and ultimately to Copenhagen where I will be playing in a soccer tournament. I spent a good part of the day confirming the latest Covid testing requirements for each destination. I will need a negative test result less than 72 hours before leaving for Iceland, again upon arrival to the Faroe Islands, and again 72 hours before returning to the US. Rapid testing is available at the respective airports but I am not keen on the potential for long lines and highly inflated costs. Instead, I purchased a couple of the home test kits pictured above. When combined with a $15 Video Observation service, the final reports can be used for travel. Basically, the tester has a Bluetooth chip that communicates test results to your phone while an observer confirms your identity and watches you administer the test. Should I fail any of the tests or get a false positive, I will be spending a lot more time in one of my destinations or stuck at home before getting started.

I decided to check on the blueberry bushes I planted earlier this year and was not pleased to find someone chomping away on the leaves. See if you can find the well-camouflaged katydid in the photo above. Normally, I prefer not to disrupt the ecological web in which we live. I must admit, however, a special affinity for these blueberry bushes and the anticipation of delicious quarter-sized berries at some point. Fueled by a great sense of outrage, I flicked the katydid into a new time zone. Later, while out for a walk in the neighborhood, I encountered another unwelcomed diner. She was so acclimated to humans that when I walked over to punch her in the nose, she simply stood there and watched until I opted for a photo instead of a confrontation.

I spent several hours culling and processing photos and video from yesterday’s soccer match between the amputee soccer teams representing the NE Revolution and the NY Red Bulls. Follow the links below.

Photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ULmpYJP1YD4s6vr2A

Videos

https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC8n9sWvhM9i_CuUASmQVNkA/playlists