July 23, 2010

• Ahoy from off the waters of Greenland!

  That’s where we were today, anchoring about 12:30 p.m.   It was fascinating to watch the coast of Greenland approach through the fog, with intermittent chunks of ice, including small bergs.  The weather had certainly chilled down, in addition to being foggy.  Fortunately the fog cleared as we approached land, though it remained cloudy and nippy, requiring jackets.    We had to take tenders into the pier, discovering it was raining in the town.  Naturally Mom had her umbrella, while I’d left mine in the cabin, seeing as it wasn’t raining on the ship.  Typical!  That makes twice this trip that that’s happened, i.e. my leaving my umbrella behind while Mom takes hers, then it rains.

  

  

  In the above photo, that’s the Maasdam to the right, and a big ol’ iceberg on the left.

  

   

  We were greeted by some boys when we came down the ramp from the tender, being given wide, charming smiles, told ‘welcome’, and had our hands shaken.  They were also present when we left, being much taken with the hand sanitizer thingummy, and one little boy intent on mingling with the crowd so as to get on the tender.  The HAL people kindly but firmly stopped him each time.

  

   

  The town of Qaqortoq is comprised of brightly painted buildings that made a cheery note in the dreary day.  To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot there to see.  There’s a small museum that has a traditional Innuit house, with whale ribs supporting the walls, which were made of sod.  Incredible number of weeds growing from the walls.

  

  Mom went inside, while I chose to settle for peering in the window.  Very tight quarters in there!

  

   

  Across the street was the “oldest fountain in Greenland”, which also happens to have the distinction of being the only fountain in Greenland, meaning it could have been built last week and would still fit both criteria. 

  

  Walking back in the opposite direction we came across carvings of and in stone…a seal statue, a ram’s head in relief in the stone wall, a whale etched into the stone, and a wall with multiple whales or fish carved on it.  I’ve no idea how long ago they were created, though.

  

  The rain had lessened to a great extent, so when Mom decided to head back to the ship, I elected to remain and poke around a bit longer.  The rain picked back up, all I could find was a grocery store where I purchased a couple of Danish chocolate bars, and I discovered that the drivers in Qaqortoq drive like crazy people, whether it’s raining or not, or a bunch of tourists are walking along the street.

  Even though four tenders were running, it took half and hour to get from point A to point B, yet I felt I’d could have swum to the ship.  The length of time caused quite a bit of comment from several of the riders. 

  All I wanted was a hot bath in the whirlpool tub, and that’s what I enjoyed.  Then I determined to fill out the postcards I’d purchased so I could get them down to the front office in time for the port agent to take them to the Qaqortoq post office, missing the Crow’s Nest music and happy hour.  Turns out there is no port agent, so the cards won’t go out until Iceland, and with Icelandic stamps.  Boo.  I’d wanted them to get mailed with Greenlandic stamps, which would have happened had I purchased stamps in the tourist office, only it was very crowded with a long line.

  Tonight’s dinner was delicious as usual (I had turkey (lots) with a miniscule amount of stuffing), and a cherry pavlova for dessert.  A grilled vegetable tower by way of starters, then cream of chicken and artichoke soup.  Yummers!

  The entertainment was provided by a young man from Poland named Kuba, who reminded me eerily of Zhenya.  He played the digital vibraphone, and a couple of other odd instruments, one an African instrument he picked up in Argentina called the carimba (sp?), and one designed by a Russian scientist years ago which uses radio waves to create sound.  He put on a wonderful show!  I’ll bet if y’all went to YouTube you could find both Kuba and last night’s performers, Livewire, plus the pianist Elliot Kinkle. 

  After his show I went to the Piano bar, drank a strawberry lemonade, and enjoyed singing with some other people some songs from the 30′s and 40′s with Darryl the pianist.  Very pleasant evening indeed!

  Tonight we have to set our watches ahead an hour, and tomorrow is a sea day.  The plan is for us to cruise Prince Christian Sound, but if the fog is too heavy we won’t be able to (the forecast isn’t optimistic and I just heard the fog horn sounded).  I’m praying for the fog to clear so the ship can make it through the Sound, as it should be spectacular.  It’d also be nice for the weather to clear so there’s a possibility of our seeing the Northern Lights.

  • 1:30 pm
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