The islands in this archipelago have to be seen to be believed. If you have seen photos on the Internet of their green slopes, abruptly ending at sheer cliffs dropping some 300-400 m below, then you have an idea of what I am referring to. Every day I look out at one such island, Nólsoy, a 20-minute ferry ride from Tórshavn. There are no trees here, just thick grass which those sheep just love to munch on.
The post office kindly gave me a pen, which I will use on my next vacation for postcard writing. Currently I am using my beloved Åland Islands postal pen to write this batch of cards.
One stamp series features various Faroe islands on stamps. I will enquire at the post office today about acquiring a collectors set of these stamps. I would also like to know if I can make up combinations of these stamps totalling 8.00 Faroese kronur so that I can use them on correspondence home.
Some answers to your questions:
1) The plane from Copenhagen to Vágar was only 2/3 full. It had two seats on one side and three seats on the other side of the aisle. I had the window seat, the only one in my row of three seats. Although the flights from HEL-CPH and CPH-FAE were each two hours long, full meals and alcohol were served on board (regardless of the HEL-CPH 07.00 departure). Would you like a beer with your breakfast, sir?
2) No Finnish was spoken by the HEL-CPH flight crew. It was all in Danish and English. Flying CPH-FAE, flight announcements were first in Danish, then Faroese, then English.
3) You can tell Faroese speakers from Danish speakers as easily as discerning English from French. Too bad I speak neither Danish nor Faroese, but my knowledge of German has helped me cope very well with the Danes who are here.
4) There is a sizable Greenlandic community on the Faroe Islands.
5) The books I have bought are polyglot texts, with beautiful photos and captions in four languages (Danish, Faroese, English and German).
6) It is expensive here. Books and meals are way more expensive than the prices I encountered in northern Norway last January. So what–pay it and live a little. Otherwise, go home.
7) Everyone does speak English here.
More to come, maybe not until Thursday when I return to Tórshavn.
Still so much to do today: visit the National Library; see the travel office about making accommodation plans for the rest of the week; find out about bus and ferry schedules; buy a Faroese handknit sweater; go back to the post office and buy more stamps cuz I have run out of them already; and buy more postcards!
See you all with my photo album in late March/early April!