Qaqortoq, Greenland
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2008
1
7
17
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Qaqortoq, Greenland
Friday, July 11, 2008
Another early day. We awoke to icebergs floating outside the ship. This was at 6am. Teresa started dancing around the cabin, singing about icebergs... And then she saw a couple flat topped icebergs float by with what she thought were salmon carcasses, including some bloody trails. I reminded her of how high we are from the water - they were likely seal remains. A few people on deck later thought the same. So what did these seals in? Probably polar bears, or possibly hunters.
The channel leading to Qaqortog is unbelievably beautiful. Rugged rocky coastline, jagged rocky peeks, icebergs all over the place (in July) and pretty darn cold. Eric the Red was delusional, and a better salesman than I can imagine. What is that old saying - able to sell ice to the Eskimos?
While Teresa was still getting oogy from the seal remains, I was in the shower. Twice, the ship lurched with an ugly crunching sound. We were moving fairly slowly, but apparently they just plowed through a couple smaller chunks of ice. If the ship lurched that much from what was effectively an ice cube, I can see how a decent sized 'berg can easily sink a ship.
After breakfast, Teresa took advantage of the spa - she had a warm seaweed wrap, to improve circulation, and a neck and scalp massage. She came back quite relaxed.
We took the tenders into Qaqortoq. The town sits around a well protected harbor and about 100 homes rise away from the water. The homes are painted relatively bright colors, making for another postcard kind of place. I will try to upload at least one picture. As has been the case for much of this trip, it was rainy. We walked around the town, saw the only fountain in Greenland, a couple churches, a number of locals, and bought some souvenirs. The locals come are of two distinct types - Inuits with dark skin, broad faces and sturdy frames and obviously imported Blond Danes. One of the lecturers mentioned that Denmark runs something akin to the Peace Corp to keep workers in Greenland. The heavy rains came while we were walking around, so we headed back to the ship.
We putzed for most of the afternoon. Or I should say, I turned into a slug and took a nap. Teresa did a ring toss and went to high tea. We got reservations for a late dinner in the Rotterdam - dinner for two. We had time before dinner, so we went to the movies - they play movies in the Wajang Theater, the place that doubles as the Culinary Arts Center and the church. They have a decent size screen and you get free popcorn. We saw "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholsen (sp?) and Morgan Freeman. The movie is pretty good. Freeman is excellent in everything. This part fit Jack, even though he has become a caricature of himself. The movie is about the end of life. Teresa wondered about the selection of the movie given the age of most of the cruisers. Ask Teresa about some of her other observations about our fellow passengers.
Dinner was excellent - or I should say, the company was excellent. The food itself wasn't quite up to the company. I did try some pretty daring things, for me... My starter was a salmon gravalax, whatever that means. It was ok. The soup was a Wisconsin cheese soup - good, but a little peppery. And for the main course I chose the Cajun tuna steak. It was a little dry. Teresa had a pork tenderloin something or other and she was also a little disappointed. We did have an excellent wine - an Italian Pinot Grigio.
After dinner we did the show - it was the Maasdam Performers doing an endless medley of hits from the 30s, 40s and 50s. The singers would say, "I remember my grandmother singing this song..." Their grandparents might as well all have been in the audience...
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