Some photos from yesterday afternoon of the Zodiac, Kayaks and the RRS Ernest Shackleton as guests on one of the kayak excursions were being brought back to Serenity after their tour was over. This was the final day that we were together with the RRS Ernest Shackleton. The good news is they will be back for next year's Northwest Passage. There was something very magical when a rainbow appeared over the Ernest Shackleton. Maybe Crystal Cruises arranged for the rainbow. LOL. We wanted to mention that yesterday several members of the crew were able to finally get off the ship and onto land for the first time in 20 or more days. The appreciated getting to walk around on land and in some cases just to stop off at a grocery store or some other local store to pick up some items for themselves. Others will have the opportunity to get off today as well. Yesterday afternoon following the last update by the Expedition Team, there was a champagne toast between the Captain of Serenity and the Captain of RRS Ernest Shackleton as the icebreaker finishes up this epic voyage with us until 2017. Afterwards, we had dinner at Silk Road with Shore Excursion Manager Daniel. Daniel and his superb team have done a terrific job with all of the scheduled and unexpected excursions and have worked countless hours starting early in the day and into the late hours of the evening to make the excursion program a success. They couldn't have done it all by themselves. Many personnel from throughout the ship supported these efforts such as being on the stairwells to direct passengers to the zodiacs, placing life jackets on each passenger, removing the lifeboat jackets on their return and directing guests back from the zodiacs. Other times they could be found at the places we visited such as those two islands in the NWP spending a few hours at a time to help direct guests and to be there should any guest need assistance. Dinner was very enjoyable from the cuisine, service and ambience of the dining venue to the conversation. We enjoyed lots of good laughs. Direct from the Avenue Saloon renowned Avenue Saloon pianist, Perry Grant, performed two performances at the Galaxy Lounge. Perry is relatively new to Crystal Cruises but not new to performing at sea. He has performed extensively for both Holland America and for Celebrity Cruise Lines and will finish his first contract at Crystal Cruises when this voyage comes to an end in New York City. Perry performs each evening at the Avenue Saloon. He plays piano before late seating and then later in the evening he not only sings and plays the piano but puts on a show for everyone. He also gets his audience very involved by doing a group sing-along as well as getting individuals participation as well. We think he's been a wonderful addition to Crystal Cruises entertainment. The highlight later in the evening was seeing Aurora Borealis; The Northern Lights. If we were on land it would be easier to take the photos but when you are moving about at sea it is more of a challenge. Regardless, it is something that we will never forget. The seas were relatively calm as we sailed to Nuuk, Greenland. Keith was up early and got in another workout at the Fitness Center before we had breakfast in our room. Today was our second visit to Nuuk. We first visited Nuuk on Crystal Symphony for its maiden port of call stop in September of 2004. Nuuk has a population of slightly more than 17,000 residents. It is the capital of Greenland. Nuuk is the oldest town in Greenland and was built by the Danish missionary Hans Egede in 1728. It is Greenland's largest town. Major attractions include: National Greenland Museum. We first visited this museum in 2004. It cover all of Greenland's 4,500 years. Katuaq Cultural Center. The center is used for concerts, exhibitions, conferences and is also a cinema. Nuuk Art Museum. The art museum contains a large number of paintings, watercolors, drawings, graphics, figures in soapstone, ivory and wood. Frelsers Cathedral. This Cathedral was established in 1849. Hans Egedes House. This is the oldest house in the country and it was built in 1728. f First four photos as we were arriving to Nuuk before sunrise. Last two photos from this afternoon. This is an industrial port. When we arrived here in 2004 a freighter was at the port so we tendered to a tender pier. We had an amazing time walking around Nuuk. We took the first shuttle at 8:00 AM with only a few people on board, mainly from Shore Excursions and the Expedition Team. Many from the expedition team leave the ship today, overnight at a hotel and fly home tomorrow. We enjoyed stunning views and we mean stunning of the sea and the surrounding area. We made our way from the shuttle drop-off point towards the Hans Egedes Statue. He launched mission efforts to Greenland and established a successful mission among the Inuit. He founded the Capital Godthab which is now known as Nuuk. Keith climbed up to the top of the statue and enjoyed additional views of the city. We made our way over to the seafood/meat market. On our way over there a man was carrying a Caribou (Reindeer) on his back which he had killed and placed it on a table in the market. He was getting ready to cut it up and that is when we decided to make our exit. We walked over to Nanatta Katersugaaasivia Allagaateqarfialu (Greenland National Museum). We had visited this museum 12 years ago. A major display which we saw back then was the Qilakitsoq mummies. They consisted of three women and a six month-old. They date back to 1475. We also walked around to a Kayak Club where we also saw many Kayaks. From there we visited an art gallery and a couple of arts and crafts shops. When we first arrived it was very cold and as the morning went along the chill was not so bad as the sun came out. Now, we don’t want you to think we are in balmy weather since even when the sun came out it was around 39 degrees. High today is forecasted for low 40’s. The good news though is that our clothing keeps us comfortable and toasty. There is a lot of construction taking place and we could see many changes since 2004. With that said, it has a very small city feel. There was very little traffic even in rush hour. We spoke extensively with a woman who handles land operations for one of two companies that supports cruise ships. She is from Denmark and for the last eighteen months has lived in Australia. She is a scientist. She also has fallen in love with Greenland as our tour guide did yesterday. Every other summer she takes the entire summer off to come to Greenland. We now understand why they feel the way they do. While walking around we spoke with two of the members of the Expedition Team about Nuuk and gained a lot of insight from them. They not only have been so informative throughout this voyage but so very helpful and friendly and today reinforced that. On our way back to the ship the we were the only ones on the shuttle along with one of the members of the Expedition Team were on the bus. We were discussing Greenland and then he asked if we had been to Antarctica. We explained that we had in 2007 on board Serenity and noted that we didn’t get off the ship. He said that he’s done it both ways and certainly thinks you do get an appreciation from the ship. He asked us to compare the Northwest Passage and Antarctica, which we did. He said we had it right and then mentioned that he would be giving a talk in the next couple of days on that very topic. As we returned to the ship, there were several people getting off. After returning back to Serenity we enjoyed lunch, worked out, exercised and relaxed on the ship.
We now have three sea days to look forward to. Comments are closed.
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