September 13 - Whiling away the time in JFK

 The cruise is over and I’m sitting in the Sky Club at JFK.  It’s time to play catch-up again.

Since I wrote last we made a stop in Portland, Maine where I had booked a tour which was to take me to Kennebunkport (home of the Bushes) and to a scenic lighthouse.  Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned.  I went ashore (it was a long walk and quite windy but very warm) and was at the meeting place early.  When it was time for the tour a minibus pulled up and the ship’s Destination Services guy said it was time to load up. Now I am no skinny Minnie, but I was on the small side of the people waiting to get on this vehicle which allegedly held 14 people.  A friend and I were among the last to board this thing which had a sliding door on the side like a minivan, three rows for allegedly three people in each, and a back row which was supposed to seat four.  I had to climb across the wheel well to get back there and two more ladies larger than me followed and sat down.  Then two more men climbed in and were prepared to jam themselves in, presumably with us in the back of the bus.  My friend and I made an instant decision and said we were getting out of the bus. Neither of us had any desire to spend three and a half hours jammed in like sardines.  The arrogant jacka** Destination guy said the bus was designed for that many people to which we replied that’s not how Seabourn usually books their shore excursions.  (In fact, usually a shore excursion of 20 or less will have a full-size bus so people can sprawl out. ) After some further discussion we did grudgingly get a refund.  But the upshot was that we didn’t get to see anything and that was disappointing.  Oh, well, c’est la vie.

Don't get too excited at these pictures of pilings and a propeller

On September 11 we docked in Boston.  Katie, Stan and Alfred drove down from New Hampshire to meet me.  By a stroke of great luck, just as I approached the exit gate they drove up and I got in so we were off.  I had told them I would take them anywhere for lunch and Katie picked of all places a Polish restaurant, Café Polonia, in South Boston.  It was clearly a Polish neighborhood because as we drove down the streets I saw a number of Polish flags.  We were a little early for the restaurant so we first went into a Polish grocery and deli.  They had some interesting looking things in there and I told Katie that she should have brought a cooler with ice so she could buy some of the cold cuts and sausages.  Perhaps next time she comes she will.

When we left the store, the restaurant had just opened and we went in. It was a small place with only about 8 or 10 tables.  The menu was almost exclusively Polish food with some unusual things, among them dill soup and rye soup.  Those were Katie’s favorites from previous visits and that’s what she had for lunch. I ordered a cup of dill pickle soup, mainly out of curiosity, and found it to be unexpectedly tasty.  Mind you, I wouldn’t put it in my top ten, but it wouldn’t be in the bottom twenty either. After the soup I had  a main course of potato pancakes with a cup of goulash.  The latter was okay, but the pancakes were to die for!  They were the best I’ve ever tasted and if I ever go to the Café Polonia again, that’s what I’ll order.  On a side note, Al used to like to watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the Guy Fieri show on the Food Network, and there on the wall was a signed big photo of Guy.  I don’t which of those three establishments this place was, but he must have liked it if he left his signed photo here.

Café Polonia

Potato pancakes

Here's Guy on the wall

After lunch we drove through Boston (never easy because it’s half underground in the Big Dig and half above and GPS seems to have trouble figuring that out.  We eventually crossed the Charles River and arrived at the Charlestown Navy Yard to visit the USS Constitution.  The Constitution, better known as “Old Ironsides,” is the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat. She was commissioned in 1797 and earned the nickname during the War of 1812 when British cannonballs bounced off her thick oak hull.  There’s a small museum there which we walked through and then the rest of the family went onboard.  I chose to stay ashore because I had no desire to go up and down steps to see the cramped decks below the main deck.  Instead I took lots of photos and watched the many tourists wandering around.  I don’t know if there were so many visitors around because it was the anniversary of 9/11 or if it was just normal for this time of year.    

After we finished the visit to the Navy Yard we had one final stop to make – Hanover Street in the North End (the Italian section) to buy some luscious cannolis at Modern Bakery, one of the best pastry shops I’ve ever been to.  The place is an absolute gold mine!  There is always a line and they only take cash.  But the selection of pastries, cookies and cakes is unbelievable.  I wish we had such a place at home, but perhaps it’s good that we don’t.  It wouldn’t help my diet for sure.

This is Modern Pastry in Boston.  If you're ever in Boston you must go here.

If you aren't hungry after seeing these, you will be.

After returning to the car with our purchases, Stan headed back to the port to drop me off.  We had a nice visit and I’ll see them relatively soon again when I go to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving.

The 12th we spent our last day at sea as we headed to New York for the end of the cruise on Sunday the 13th.  We had our final trivia game and our team bombed out.  We had never done as badly as we did that game.  Then it was time to pack and say our farewells to both staff and both old and new friends.  Several of both groups will be on my next voyage so it won’t be too long before I see them again.  As for the others, since most of us cruise quite a bit I know our paths will cross again sometime.

So that’s it for now.  I just got a text telling me my flight home has been delayed by 45 minutes.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that that’s all.  It is a miserable weather day here so I’m not surprised at a delay.  It will be good to get home and to sleep in my own little bed.

September 8 - Wine in Nova Scotia?

Today we tied up in Halifax, Nova Scotia along with the Celebrity Silhouette and, later in the day, an NCLship.  The downtown Halifax area was hopping.  I had booked a five-hour wine-tasting tour mainly because I was intrigued by the idea that Nova Scotia had a wine industry.  I learned a lot about geography that I didn’t know before so that made the tour a positive experience.  Along the way our guide Terry showed us on a map that the Annapolis Valley  area of Nova Scotia, which is where the vineyards are located, is at the same latitude as the Champagne region in France and the Willamette Valley area of Oregon.  Because of the Gulf Stream influence on Nova Scotia they have a fairly long growing season. So voilà, you have a wine industry.

Our nearly hour-long bus ride took us along some of the arms of the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tidal range in the world averaging around 50 feet.  Incredibly the tidal flow twice daily consists of about 70 billion cubic feet of water flowing in and out of the Bay.  As we rode along in the morning I could see what looked like large streams full to the tops of the banks along their edges.  In the afternoon as we drove back to Halifax those same streams were vast ditches of reddish mud. 

I didn't get a photo of the full streams because I was on the wrong side of the bus, but in this photo you can see that big ditch full of mud beyond the grass and road.

The countryside was very green unlike some of the places in Ireland and Scotland I visited earlier during this cruise.  Apparently, this area has not experienced the severe heat and drought that much of western Europe has this summer.  We arrived at our first vineyard, Benjamin Bridge in the Gaspereau Valley just outside of Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  The setting of the tasting room was lovely.  It must be truly beautiful when the leaves have begun to turn, but we were way too early for that.   We had an opportunity to try three wines there.  The first was their sparkling wine, Benjamin Bridge.  It is a brut wine and I thought it was way too dry and acidic.  I’m not an oenophile so I don’t know about lots of things to do with notes etc., but I found it almost to be mouth-puckering.  We then tried two white wines, the second sweeter than the first.  I thought they were almost sickening sweet.  Perhaps you can tell that I didn’t care for any of these three.  There was a wine shop of course, but I didn’t feel any compulsion to buy anything.  I should note that the last of the three wines we tasted was called Tidal Bay.  Apparently, this region has an appellation which means it’s  legally defined and geographically protected.  When I stopped in Bordeaux earlier this year I learned about appellations then because they have one too.  My understanding is there are strict regulations about what grape varieties must be used and about the production methods and standards. That may be so but I still didn’t care for the wine because the whites were way too sweet and the sparkling was much too acidic for my taste.

I did find one thing amusing.  There is a solo traveler woman who professes to be a great wine expert (in other words she’s very pretentious).  When I tasted one of the sweet white wines the minute I raised the glass to my nose I got an overwhelming whiff of lavender.  I said something to the lady and she told me in a very snooty way that I must be wrong because there was no lavender around here.  Well, before we left I had an opportunity to walk around and get a little closer look at some of the vines.  Faith and begorrah, as the Irish would say, what did I see but a couple of big bushes of lavender! My nose isn’t completely useless.

I'm pretty sure that big bush next to the pink flowers is lavender and there were others nearby. So much for the snooty lady!

From Benjamin Bridge we drove through the valley to another larger vineyard, Luckett Vineyards.  This one was a bigger operation with a large tasting room and a bistro.  We had a lunch of panini sandwiches, salad and tofu (no, I didn’t eat any of that) while we tasted three Luckett wines.  I have no idea what the names were because there were no bottles on the table and the vineyard lady talked so fast I couldn’t follow what she was saying.  Once again I was unimpressed.  There was some kind of a red which was sort of okay but the two white were again like syrup.  This vineyard did have something unique about it.  The vineyard was started by an Englishman named Pete Luckett who bought close to 100 acres here in 2000 and began growing produce.  When winemaking began to develop in the valley, he sought out a winemaker who could help him to begin growing grapes and producing wine.  He missed his home country and so he bought a red telephone box from England and had it plopped down in the middle of the vineyard.  It’s actually connected to a phone line and people can use the toll-free number to call anywhere in the world without charge.

Isn't this countryside pretty?

Some happy looking vines

This was the room where we had our lunch and tasting at Luckett Vineyards.

I liked this mosaic on the wall there.

Red Phone Booth in the middle of the vineyard.

The wine business in Nova Scotia is relatively new, no more than around 30 years I think, and perhaps it will improve.  But for now I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it in a store.  Despite the disappointment in the wine, it was a lovely day.  On the way back to Halifax our guide Terry played some traditional music from the area which brings me to a couple of history lessons we got. 

In 1763 at the conclusion of the Seven Years War between Britain and France, Canada was ceded to the British.  The British forcibly removed French settlers from much of Canada to the Maritimes including Nova Scotia.  These people were not well received here and eventually they resettled themselves sailing down the coast of the US to Louisiana which was at that time still a French possession.  They became Cajuns with a heritage that includes some of the music and traditions of the original French expelled from British Canada.

The second history lesson we learned was about the great Halifax explosion.  It occurred during WW I.  Halifax was an important port from which provisions and ammunition were shipped from North America to the forces fighting in Europe.  On the morning of December 6, 1917, a French munitions carrier named the Mont Blanc was involved in a minor collision with a Belgian relief ship called the S.S. Imo.  The incident was caused by a combination of mistakes, but the upshot was that the Mont Blanc caught fire and exploded.  It carried nearly 3000 metric tons of explosives along with benzol which is also explosive.  The explosion was the largest man-made one to occur on Earth until the Hiroshima bomb in 1945.  The confirmed deaths were nearly 1800 with an additional 9000 injuries.  Every window in the city of Halifax was blown out and a square mile of the city was flattened. A tsunami resulted creating damage in neighboring communities.  While much aid began to pour in, the first and largest amount came from the city of Boston and to this day Halifax sends Boston a 50 to 80 foot large live Christmas tree every year by the end of November to express the gratitude for the help Boston provided.

And that’s today’s history lesson.

September 7 - At sea again

As I look back on what I’ve written in the last couple of weeks, this has been a pretty unexciting cruise, yet I’ve been having a good time. We sailed from Sydney last evening after two days tied up at the dock.  The first night and day the captain had to keep the thrusters on continuously to keep the ship against the pier.  Had he not done that the lines might have snapped; the wind was that ferocious.  We learned that Cape Breton, which is where Sydney is located, had about eight inches of rain in less than 24 hours which is why all the tours were canceled.  Roads were flooded, trees were downed by gale force winds, and it was apparently their version of a good old-fashioned  nor’easter.  A few intrepid people went ashore briefly and came back absolutely soaked and well buffeted by the wind.  No one I know attempted to go.

Today we’re on our way to Halifax, Nova Scotia and the seas have been relatively calm and we saw a strange sight in the partly cloudy skies – the sun!  We hadn’t seen that for a while and we were all nearly blinded by the light.  We have the usual sea day lectures, games, and opportunities to just laze the day away.   Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow because I am scheduled to go on a tour to a couple of vineyards there.

I can tell that the cruise is coming to the end.  People are talking about packing and post-cruise plans.  People are keeping the Future Cruise Consultant busy purchasing future cruise credits which entitle them to get a discount even if they wait until later to book another voyage.  We still have a couple of my favorite showtime events coming up.  One is a new one to me.  Tomorrow evening there will be a Seabourn Dancing with the Stripes show.  It’s their version of Dancing with the Stars and four brave (maybe foolish?) passengers volunteered to partner with an officer and learn a dance routine.  I had lunch today with one of the volunteers and he showed me a few bruises on his arms that he managed to acquire during rehearsals.  The other event will be the Crew Talent Show which is always very enjoyable.  It never ceases to amaze me of the talent some of the people who work very hard behind the scenes have.  I think all of us passengers look forward to that show.

I’m sitting now in the Observation Bar where it’s afternoon tea time.  I come to sit by a window, have a cup or two of Earl Grey and listen to the quiet music being played.  Today one of the very talented guitarists is playing softly in the background.  There is a funny group that meets up here during teatime.  In the official program it’s called “Ross’ (he’s our very gay – he makes no bones about it – cruise director) Needlepoint Get Together.”  I have heard some of the people who go call it alternatively the “Stitch and Bitch” or “Knit and Natter” group.

Well, I’ve rambled on enough for today.  We have our last formal night tonight and my friends and I decided we didn’t feel like having the froufrou menu always served in the restaurant on those nights.  We were very pleased that in the alternative restaurant we can instead enjoy fried chicken and what the chef calls “comfort food.”

September 5 - Sydney, Nova Scotia

Well, these have been an uneventful few days and there hasn’t been much to write about.  On September 3, Thursday we were in Gaspé, Quebec.  I had no tour planned because all of those involved hikes which are never part of my agenda anymore. I instead planned to go ashore and walk around in the little town. I got on the tender (we’ve had lots of tender ports on this cruise) and rode to the little dock. As I stepped on land, the skies parted and the rain began.  I made a u-turn and got back on the tender and was a round-tripper. My friends all stayed onboard as well, but I heard later from other people I know that while the rain did eventually abate, there was little to see in the town.

These are two photos I grabbed from the internet to show what I should have seen in Gaspé, but it wasn't meant to be.

Late in the afternoon the Captain came on the PA system and announced that because a big weather system was moving across eastern Canada, we would be missing our next port, Iles de la Madeleine, and sailing directly to Sydney, Nova Scotia, arriving the night before our scheduled arrival and spending two days there.  The sea day on the 4th was cloudy, windy and spitting rain some of the time, not conducive to any outdoor activities.  We had trivia; the bridge players played bridge and the rest of us either went to lectures or lazed around.

We arrived at Sydney on the evening of the 4th late in the evening and docked.  This morning I awoke to a full-blown gale.  The flags on the building next to the pier are standing straight out and the rain periodically comes down in sheets.  When I left my cabin there was a notification in the letter box by my door that all tours today (the 5th) and tomorrow have been canceled.  The staff scrambled to get a few activities organized but pretty much the day is just a day to loll around and do nothing at all. Unfortunately, because the weather is so inclement that no one can be in any of the outside venues, the lounges are all pretty full.  Finding a quiet space to sit isn’t easy.  I discovered that the Club where I spend my evenings listening to the bands was essentially empty and I parked myself there to check e-mails and news on line.  All was well until the Cruise Director scheduled a line-dancing class here.  I’m not doing the line dancing but I am being entertained watching the dancers and listening to a bunch of yee-haws periodically.

Sydney on a better day than we're having

This is apparently the world's largest fiddle and it's located somewhere on the harbor front  in Sydney, but I sure can't see it with today's weather conditions.

So, tomorrow we’re scheduled to be docked here still and hopefully there will be more scheduled events to keep all of us occupied.

 

September 1 - Another catch-up day

 Once again I’ve fallen behind which I have to confess is entirely due to laziness on my part.  I can easily identify with a sloth, the critter that moves slowly and spends most of its time hanging upside down from a tree. So once again this is a compendium of things I’ve written along the way but never got around to finishing and posting contemporaneously.

Yesterday evening (August 29) we set sail across the Labrador Sea after spending the last two days in Nanortalik and Qaqortoq, Greenland.  We had a mixed bag weather-wise with a nice day in the former and a pretty cold and raw day in the latter.  I have been to both last year around the same time and I can attest that there isn’t a great deal in either place.

Nanortalik is the southernmost town in Greenland and has a population of around 1100 people. Because of its location it was one of the first places settled by the Norse in their explorations in this part of the world.  Last year I went ashore briefly and found nothing open.  This year I didn’t do that.  Some friends did take a short walking tour, the highlight of which turned out unexpectedly to be a funeral.  As probably happens in many small communities, everyone in the town turned out for the service, the flags were at half-staff and many things (as few as there are) were closed.  A few people went on a tour in a RIB boat to see icebergs and whatever wildlife made appearances.  They saw more of the former than the latter.  

These photos are courtesy of a friend who went ashore and is clearly a much better photographer than I am.

Greenlanders like colorful houses which probably brighten up their long winter days and nights.

On August 29 we anchored off Qaqortoq, the fourth largest town in Greenland with a population of approximately 3300.  When I was here last year I was intending to go ashore but I encountered several friends who had done so and been attacked by swarms of midges and other no-see-ums so I stayed on the ship.  This time I was fully intending to go and see what there was to see.  When I stepped out onto the deck there was a raw wind blowing and it was spitting rain, so once again I chose to stay on the ship.  I guess I’m truly becoming one of the people I always wondered about who never go ashore and just keep on sailing. Anyway, there were lots of things to keep me occupied on board.  I have gotten a few photos from friends who braved the weather so I can remember what the place looks like just in case I never come back here again.

This is Qaqortoq

I did learn a few interesting things about these last two communities from a friend who is originally from Denmark who went ashore in both places.  Everything the people here use has to be shipped in from someplace else.  The exceptions are fish and other seafood and a few potatoes and rhubarb. The latter two are evidently about the only crops that can be grown in the limited growing season.  My Danish friend Susan told me that she went into what was supposed to be a grocery store in both Nanortalik and Qaqortoq and she was amazed at what she found.  She said things in Nanortalik cost twice as much as the same products in Qaqortoq.  In the latter she actually found some items which cost less than what she would pay for them in Denmark.  We both found that strange and speculated that the Danish government must be subsidizing prices in some way.

As I wrote at the beginning of this entry upon leaving we began crossing the Labrador Sea on our way to our first Canadian port on the island of Newfoundland.  We had moderate seas with a little rocking along the way, but nothing bad.  Once again the two days were packed with talks, games and shows.  We have a speaker onboard who has been on some of my previous cruises and who is quite interesting.  He’s a retired Maj. General from the army and talks about current world events.  I enjoyed his talks in the past so I’ve been going to those.  So far he’s talked about the war in Ukraine and the war with Iran.  Although I can’t really say he’s said anything that I haven’t already read or heard on the news, it has been good to hear the facts put together in a cohesive fashion instead of just getting bits and pieces.  My friends and I have invited him to dine with us in a couple of nights and we’re looking forward to that.  One evening when I was sitting up in the Observation Bar before going to a show he came and sat next to me and it was interesting talking with him one on one.  He told me that he has to be very careful to be neutral and apolitical in his presentations to be sure he doesn’t offend any passengers.  He said on one cruise he had given a talk on China and its intentions in the South China Sea.  Apparently there were two Chinese passengers affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party on who took offense at something he said and filed a complaint. I can imagine that for someone speaking about world affairs with an audience from many different countries it must be like walking on a tightrope to be sure no feathers are ruffled.

Anyway, today we made it to Newfoundland and here I was supposed to go on a tour to what is supposed to be the only undisputed site of the Norse presence in North America long before Columbus came.  I was looking forward to it, but as sometimes happens it was not meant to be.  Yesterday the captain announced that due to wind conditions we were having to change our port of call to someplace further away.  That meant that the total of three hours of bus rides to get to the site would now be four.  That meant we would only have one hour to visit the place.  I decided to opt out.  As it turns out when we arrived at our alternate anchorage off the town of St. Anthony we have had gale force winds off and on all day so tendering has been suspended several times, leaving people ashore waiting for an hour or two to get back.  It made the tour problematic.  My friends and I had planned to go ashore and walk around the little town, but the prospect of being ashore with no way to get back for an hour or two was unappealing.  Instead we’ve had yet another sea day.

These two photos are from the Seabourn website of what I should have been seeing today.  Sorry Katie.  I'll have try again another year.

Well, I’ve  written enough for now and I shall upload this for the record.  It’s pretty boring, I know, but that’s life sometimes.

August 27 - Following the route of Leif Eriksson

I’ve been AWOL for a few days.  I can only say that it’s because I’ve been having way too much fun.  I did write a little every day but never finished it so here’s a compilation of disjointed reflections on what’s been happening.

Talk about a miserable day – weatherwise I mean – that’s what we have today (August 24) in Akureyri here on the north coast of Iceland. I’m sitting in Seabourn Square and I can barely see the land and we’re docked.

After our rainy and dreary day in Reykjavik we had a truly gorgeous day yesterday in Ísafjörður (August 23).  The scenery there is spectacular, as that little town is nestled at the end of a fjord around which there are towering mountains.  Unlike the fjords in Norway these hillsides are mostly treeless and instead are covered with what I think tundra must look like – low grasses and moss, none of which is a very lush green.

The Ovation backed by one of the fjord walls.

I went ashore with a friend and we walked to a nearby cluster of wooden buildings which turned out to be a small museum, the ticket office and gift shop for the museum,  and a local takeout café.  The café was doing booming business.  I’ve observed in my travels that when the ship docks, staff who can get a little time off are eager to go ashore and, among other things, eat some non-ship food and bring back things like chips and pringles.  I can understand that because I have found when I’ve been on for a while I crave something different on land too.

The little cluster of buildings at the beginning of the town

I just liked this boat sitting out of the water

We talked to some folks we knew who had gone in the museum and they said it was very small and contained mainly exhibits showing very mundane things one would find in a kitchen and house in the past two centuries.  We decided not to spend the $15 per ticket and instead browsed in the gift shop where we found some local books and knickknacks to buy.  So, we supported the local economy a little.  That brings up something worth mentioning.  Prices are very high in Iceland.  It stands to reason, I guess, because most everything has to be shipped into the country.  Most surprising to me were the prices of some wooden things I saw, but I guess it’s because there’s so little wood here.

After spending a little time in the shop we walked down to the adjacent boat yard which had a few boats that been hauled out of the water for unknown reasons. None looked especially seaworthy. I know I wouldn’t want to go out on them. On the walk both to and from the town we passed a white and tan chubby cat sitting on the walkway.  He had a collar and a tag and certainly looked well-fed and cared for.  I guess he must be the town greeter.

A well-fed Icelandic cat for all the cat lovers out there

Overnight we sailed along the north coast of Iceland to Akureyri where as I began this entry, the weather was pretty miserable. I spent the day hanging out on the ship, talking to friends, playing trivia, going to a couple of lectures, and, if I must confess, napping. If Al is watching me from above he must be snickering.  I used to give him a very hard time when he wanted to take a nap in the afternoon.  I can remember telling him that napping was a stupid thing to do in the middle of the day.  I’ve discovered the joys of napping now.  Does that make me old?

The weather cleared up as we sailed away from Akureyri, our last stop here in Iceland.  Now we’re on our way to Greenland sailing through the area known as the Denmark Strait.  I was always a big fan of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October and this part of the ocean was the location of much of that book.  I can imagine that as we sail along atop the waves, somewhere down below Captain Ramius and the Red October are moving along unseen and unheard, trying to evade detection by the USS Dallas and destruction by the Russian sub Konovalov.

Of course it cleared off as we left Akureyri and the scenery was quite beautiful.

We passed this iceberg along the way.

We also had a couple of spectacular sunsets along the way.

After two quiet days at sea during which I could be as busy, or not, as I liked we have arrived at Prince Christian Sund along the southernmost coast of Greenland. Last night I arranged a dinner party with friends to celebrate Leif Eriksson’s birthday.  Now I have no idea when he was born, but it seemed like a good excuse for having a party.  I asked the Chef for a couple of special menu items including a birthday cake decorated with the words “Happy Birthday Leif.”  That caused something very funny to happen.  The guest services manager told me at the dinner that she had gotten a call from someone on the staff saying they couldn’t find a cabin number for “Mr. Leif” and they needed to know in order to decorate his cabin for his birthday.  We all had a good laugh about that.

Today we’re just cruising through the Sund, which is essentially a fjord.  On either side there are steep rocky mountains with very little vegetation.  There are waterfalls cascading down from glaciers higher up that we often cannot see.  I wish I could figure out how to post videos here so you could hear the rush of the water as it tumbles down as we glide noiselessly past.  Every now and then we pass a cleft in the rocks where a glacier is coming down to the sea.  It’s a very dramatic, but very inhospitable looking, land.

Pretty impressive glacier

These mountains are so old but they haven't been rounded out at the top. Instead they're very spiky and sharp looking which makes them even more dramatic I think.

I want to write a little about the entertainment we’ve been having on the ship.  In Akureyri we picked up several new guest entertainers and they have been spectacular. We have a Brazilian guitarist Diego Figuerido who I have heard on previous cruises.  He plays acoustic guitar and is wonderful.  As a Brazilian he plays bossa novas and sambas of course, but the other night he played Malagueña, one of my absolute favorite guitar pieces,  and  I was in heaven.  Another night we had an entertainer who played the vibraphone, an electronic xylophone which can be made to sound like 30 or 40 different instruments. He also plays an instrument called a Theremin, an invention of a Russian nuclear physicist.  I can’t explain it, but you don’t touch the machine. It has antennas and picks up electro-magnetic pulses from your hands.  Google it if you want to learn more.  It was fascinating; it makes sounds that you hear in sci-fi movies and, in fact, was first used in the very old movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

I’m back after a light lunch, and I’m now sitting in the Observation Bar which has a 270° view of the Sund we’re gliding through.  I can only repeat that the scenery is so spectacular. Only about one-fifth of Greenland is exposed bedrock; the rest is covered in ice.  This area around the southeastern end has some of the oldest rock on the planet.  It’s a type of rock called gneiss and some of what we’re seeing as we sail by is at least 3600 million years old!  Think of that.  The landscape is the result of volcanic eruptions, continental drift, ice ages and glacial erosion. The rock walls of the Sund show layer upon layer of rock which represents some geologic or seismic event.  It’s actually awe-inspiring.

I think I’ve said enough for today.  I shall try to be a better diarist in the days to come but sometimes the best of intentions falls by the wayside, especially when I’m having fun or distracted by conversations with friends. For now I hope all is well at home and not too terribly hot.  At about 47° we don’t have to worry about a heat wave here.