09-27 Greenland and Iceland 2009

It was called a repositioning cruise at the end of the Baltic season, and we left from Copenhagen in October and travelled to Oslo, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Reykjavik in Iceland, then Qaqortoq in Greenland and finally St John’s Newfoundland and on to Ft. Lauderdale. We travelled with brother Ian and Meg.
The big surprise was our visit to Edinburgh, which has to be the most beautiful city in the world. And of course, you have to visit Edinburgh Castle, the heart of Scotland’s bloodiest battles.
When we arrived in Reykjavik, Meg went off to the Blue Lagoon to do some swimming in 40-degree water with ice and snow in the distance.
A great site is where the North American and European tectonic plates meet, creating another area of hot springs and fabulous geysers. This is the most popular stop in Iceland.
The most amazing thing I saw in Iceland were the homes of the early Viking settlers who had to dig caverns into the hills to make a place to live because there were no trees anywhere.
Arriving in Qaqortoq was an experience. A reasonably comfortable Innuit community, and with a small airport. We had a great visit with a local Danish entrepreneur who owned a Thai restaurant. On his menu was sweet and sour Musk Ox. I passed on that one. He had married an Innuit, and his little girl had the black eyes and hair of the mother and the Danish features of the father. A little beauty.
We did some exploring and loved the exhibit of Innuit art carved in stone. It was like the fantastic art we get from our Innuit communities in Canada.
I asked the guide if they had to worry about polar bears coming into the town. To my surprise, the guide said there were not many polar bears in Greenland. Despite the public perception that the Innuit are careful custodians of the natural world, in fact, they will shoot and eat anything that moves on four legs.