As we were looking out from our room we saw a couple of additional icebergs. One looked like a tent and the other one we will leave to your imagination. Maybe a portion is a melted ice cream cone. LOL. We had our usual pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon last evening. We have to say this venue was the quietest it has been since we boarded Serenity. We arrived there later than usual, yet we were the first there. By the time we left there was one other table with two couples having a drink. Maybe people were tired from being up early in the morning. This was followed by Dinner at the Crystal Dining Room. The dining room was fairly full but did seem fairly noisy. Part of this stems from people being together for quite awhile on this long voyage. This just adds to dinner conversations. Highlights from dinner included tuna tartare for Keith as well as butterfly swordfish and seafood paella for Anne Marie. Thanks to Sommelier Ricardo we had a Spanish white and red wine with the paella in mind. Ricardo is from Bogota, Colombia which Keith visited in 1993 on business when they were confronted with the continued issues of the drug lords. A lot has changed since that time and more recently with a truce between the drug lords and the government. Keith returned home from that business trip with a great appreciation for the city, country and its people. With that said, it was the first time that he slept at a hotel with a chair pushed up against the door and where there was so much armed security at that hotel. The featured entertainment was a performance by world renowned organist Hector Olivera. He is so very special that this was his second solo performance. He performed two shows at the Galaxy Lounge Theatre. The seas remained calm as we sailed to our next port of call in Sisimiut, Greenland. We were up rather early since we had an early tour scheduled. Keith led the way and was able to get a full workout in at the Fitness Center before we had breakfast in our room. This is our first visit to Sisimiut. It has a population f around 5,500 people. It sits on the west coast of Greenland just above the Arctic Circle. It has the look of a New England town and has a mix of Inuit and Danish Culture. Its major attractions include: Gamely which is the old town of Sisimiut. Sisimiut Museum. This museum specialize in Greenlandic trade, as well as industry and shipping. Bethel Church. This church dates back to 1775 and has several 18th century buildings. Taseralik Kulturikkut. This is a cultural center which often hosts traveling theatre troupes as well as concerts from classical to folk music. Some views from our verandah as we were arriving to Sisimiut. We booked a hiking tour. We booked a hiking tour. It involved a hike of Tele Island. It got its name because there were telecommunication cables running through the island providing all forms of telecommunication including television and telephone. Even though it was an ancient site they still chose the island for its telecommunications. After taking the tender over on a five-minute ride we were met by our tour guide. There were 23 of us on this tour. Our tour guide is a special education teacher in Denmark. Because he loves the outdoors this is his second year giving these tours during his summer break. We then proceeded on a three hour hike. The vast majority of the hike was over uneven stones and from time to time some muddy areas and involved walking up some steep areas. Everyone was troopers and there were times we helped out one another. We learned about the people who inhabited this area many years ago. The original inhabitants walked over the ice from Canada to Greenland. We saw a cemetery that dates back 4,000 years to the Inuit people of the Saqqaq culture. The area has also been inhabited by the Dorset cutler and then the Thule people. We saw two different villages. There was one that was the older of the two. They actually cooked the meat indoors and because of the soot they didn’t wear clothes indoors. The second village had an area where they cooked outside rather than inside. After hiking up to the one of the highest points of the island we saw an area off the water where they would process the whales. There were two major benefits from the whales; oil and food. The area helped preserve the whale meat as it was cool day and night. We also saw two structures that were used as food storage facilities. The weather turned out very nice. Once in awhile the sun poked through the clouds. There were times during our hike where it even felt warm but as we got to the area where they would store the whales it was quite a bit cooler. We enjoyed the hike and the natural beauty that was all around us. Towards the end we enjoyed some beautiful views the homes/apartments and our guide pointed out ones that they refer as Lego as they looked like colorful Lego pieces that you put together. We also enjoyed some nice views of Crystal Serenity from various vantage points throughout portions of the tour. We had a late lunch back on the ship. All in all a wonderful day and an equally wonderful tour.
Lots to look forward to over the next 24 hours including visiting Nuuk, Greenland tomorrow. Keith & Anne Marie Comments are closed.
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