Before dinner, we had a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon. Afterwards, we had dinner at Tastes with friends Joe and Maria Kita. We first met Joe and Maria on the 2007 World Cruise. Joe was the memoir writer. Since that time we have sailed with them on several voyages and a few years ago in addition to teaching memoir writing, Joe and Maria each became certified to teach Yoga. Maria teaches two classes each day (one of which is more advanced) with assistance from Joe. While the four of us share a passion for Silk Road and have had many memorable meals there we all enjoy Tastes as well. We had mentioned when we dined at Tastes the first time in August that the menu had been updated with several new items since our sailing this past May. A number of the additional items were for the Alaska season. With the Alaska season now behind us, the menu was updated just the other day. The menu featured one item that seems new which was the ricotta gnocchi which was very tasty. A couple of items had slight changes. For example, the sapphire's steamed kobe sliders no longer had the butter on top of the slider but had additional cheese. The over-roasts cauliflower seemed to have less parmesan cheese but came with more oil in the bowl. Other items that returned were the same as in the past and this time around there was an additional salad. We certainly enjoyed the meal and shared several courses. In fact, we enjoyed the tapas so much we skipped on the dessert. Instead we had a fruit plate. We've also added the menu for Tastes as a photo and also as a PDF. When we posted for photos Joe Kita pulled out a sign he had made. Joe and Maria were following our blog before they boarded this voyage as they have in past years. The hills are alive with the "sound of music". Two performances featuring a tribute to The Sound Of Music were performed last evening. They starred Christine Andreas and Martin Silverstri who were accompanied by the Northwest Passage Team and the Galaxy Orchestra. We love the music from this play as so many of you do too and thought it was a terrific performance. As we entered the showroom there were two types of pretzels available and two types of beer on tap. We slept well as we sailed to our first of three port of calls in Greenland; Ilulissat. The good news is that we didn't forward the clocks for a third night as we are now on the Greenland time zone. Keith was able to get in one long workout in the Fitness Center before breakfast. We had a very early breakfast to get ready for an 8:30 AM visit. Originally we had booked a scenic boat tour to see the glacier. However, we have enjoyed the community visits and decided we would change to a community visit tour. Unfortunately as we learned at 7:30 AM because of the ice all of the community, kayaking, helicopter, scenic walk and hiking tours were cancelled, as it would be unsafe to use tenders to get guests to and from shore. The only tour that could go was the Scenic Cruise tours, as the boat will come up directly to the ship to take guests to and from the glacier. Today was to mark our second visit to Greenland but our first visit to Ilulissat. This is a small town with a population of only 4,500 residents. It is the third largest city in Greenland behind Nuuk and Sisimiut both of which are on our itinerary. The official language is Greenlandic. However Danish and English are widely spoken. Ilulissat is the Kalaallisut word for icebergs. Near to this area is the Ilulissat Icefjord. It is a UNESCO site and has made Ilulissat the number one tourist destination in Greenland. It produces the most icebergs of any area within North America. The town was established in 1741 as a trading post. Major attractions include: Hulissat Icefjord. It is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq which is one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the most active glaciers in the world. Ilulissa Museum. This museum provides information about the local history and also provides information about polar explorer Knud Rasmussen. Ilulissat Art Museum. It is the former residence of the colony manager and was erected in 1923. Knud Rasmussen Memorial. As mentioned he was a polar explorer. He was the first European to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. Zion Church. This church was built in the late 18th century. At the time it was the largest man-made structure in all of Greenland. We've included some early morning photos showing the ice and the RRS Ernest Shackleton Ice Breaker. We saw some rather large icebergs. Even one that looks like a large crocodile. Captain Birger spoke from the bridge to everyone. He indicated that the ice pattern had changed early this morning from last night based on reports from the RRS Ernest Shackleton. They had arrived last evening. He said that with the amount of ice it was not possible to find any kind of path necessary to get the ship where it needed to be anchored to run tender service. With the tours cancelled, Anne Marie was able to get in her one hour walk and Keith went back to the Fitness Center for a second long workout. Captain Birger spoke from the bridge to everyone. He indicated that the ice pattern had changed early this morning from last night based on reports from the RRS Ernest Shackleton. They had arrived last evening. He said that with the amount of ice it was not possible to find any kind of path necessary to get the ship where it needed to be anchored to run tender service. A short while later Cruise Director Rick spoke to say that the schedule had been updated given the cancellation of most tours. He noted that the schedule would be hand delivered to all rooms. He highlighted some of the revisions including the addition of three lectures to the program, team trivia and an art class. The good news is that they were able to run the tours for the scenic cruising. They ended up running zodiacs. There was a few hour delay from the original schedule for each of the scenic cruising tours. Some additional photos later in the day showing the ice. Three lectures that were added to the schedule were interesting.
Expedition Lecturer Laalie Berthersen who is from Greenland spoke bout what it was like growing up in Greenland. General Nick Halley spoke about his views on the current situation in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and North Africa. He did remind people that his views are shaped from his military background including keeping the size of the military large in both war and peace time. Finally, Expedition Lecturer Hector Williams spoke about the importance of Greenland to the allies during the Second World War and to the west during the Cold War. Two airports in Greenland were built by the United States military during World War II. From around 10:30 till early afternoon scenic tours were run using the zodiacs. They couldn't use the scenic tour vessel as they could not get it up to Serenity. At around 1:15 PM, Captain Birger spoke from the bridge and said that the weather was different than what the forecast called fro and that they were cancelling the remaining tours used by the zodiacs. He noted that the zodiacs were returning with the guests and that right afterwards they would be taken over to the RRS Ernest Shackleton ice breaker. We also worked out for the final time this afternoon. We wanted to close by saying that we are thankful that safety is the number one priority when it comes to cruising with Crystal Cruises. As such, while it would have bee nice to have visited Ilulissat, we fully understand why this was not possible. Keith & Anne Marie Comments are closed.
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