El Ferrol - Reykjavik

Well, where should I start? Germany.

Germany
We all had a great time in Germany. Some of the guys did some traveling around the country side, while the rest of the crew enjoyed the entertainment provided by the Kiel Week celebrations, and by the Search and Rescue Squadron's annual SAR meet. The boys had the opportunity to speak with Search and Rescue crews from about a dozen other countries: Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Great Britain, USA... They had a great time.
Every year the city of Kiel has a huge celebration that lasts for the last 10 days of June. The population of this northern town of 250 000 suddenly jumps to about a million for the celebrations. There were many shows, and lots of music. Most of the Aircrew, including our Commanding Officer LCol Al Blair and the Sqn Chief Warrant Officer Gotell (they flew over to visit the Air Det in Kiel), partook in the weeks festivities. And boy, what a time they had. The Colonel said he hasn't had that much fun -'fun' being a four letter word rhyming with 'deer'- since he was twenty! Unfortunately, due to writers block.... (umm, yea that's it...), I can't think of any good stories to tell! You'll have to squeeze it out of the boys when we get home.

Bergen
I met up with the ship again in Bergen. I took a train from Hamburg, a city just south of Kiel, through northern Germany, into Copenhagen Denmark, across the straight through Sweden to Oslo, and into Bergen. The countryside was spectacular. It's funny the whole trip reminded me of driving through different parts of Canada. Every time I looked out the window the land reminded me of a part of home. Whether it be the flat farming lands of Manitoba or Ontario, the foothills of Alberta, mountain passes of the Rockies, the highlands of Cape Breton or the rugged natural beauty of Newfoundland and Labrador. The central part of Norway was quite beautiful. The train drove through several ice fields, past numerous waterfalls, across lush forested valleys paralleling many a winding river. I think what makes Scandinavia so different from the rest of Europe is that the land has yet be conquered and tamed by civilization. Mother Nature still holds the reigns. Naturally so, given the population is only about 4.5 million and is mostly spread along the coastline in small pockets. Some of us are planning a days camping trip when we get to Stavanger, so I'll talk about the fiords then.
We celebrated Canada day in style, and invited many people from town to celebrate with us. The ship's cooks outdid themselves by putting on a feast of suckling pig, roast beef, and other assorted goodies. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and it sure seemed the Norwegians will be more than happy to see another Canadian Frigate enter their waters again. That's a good thing, since we'll be in Stavanger in a week!

Iceland
Iceland is truly a backpackers paradise. The land was built to hike, bike, and explore, and besides... it's a tad expensive to visit otherwise!
The population of the entire country is only 270 000, and about 150 000 live in or near Reykjavik, the country's capital. Most of the country is completely untouched. The land is very rugged, scarred by thousands of years of volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. The island itself is quite young relative to most land masses, only about four thousand years old. It was created from volcanic activity along the American and European continental fault. This visible crack in the earth's crust actually splits the island in two and is moving apart by about two centimeters per year. The island is still very active, and most of the lava rock you see covering the island has yet to be broken down into mineral rich soil, so vegetation (at least on this side of the island) is not extremely abundant. There was an earthquake just south of Reykjavik only two weeks ago. The locals are expecting another more severe earthquake in this area sometime in August. The last volcanic eruption the island has experienced was in March, and several other volcanoes not too far from here (but far enough away to not be dangerous, don't worry) are long overdue, and are expected to erupt any time.
All this geothermal activity on the island makes for an excellent source of cheap energy. The people of the island take advantage of this natural energy source, and use it to heat their water and homes. Home heating here is practically free, and the fresh water is heated from underground hot springs, where the water can easily reach boiling. As a matter of fact, in some places on the island, the soil is so warm that people bake bread by burying it in their backyard! Iceland boasts some of the cleanest water in the world, and because of the abundant sources of natural energy (high pressure steam underground, and natural gas) found on the island, is also the least polluted country on earth. It's really a place worth visiting.