If this is Sunday it must be Qaqortoq

On the first half of the trip going east we missed our stop in Greenland, or Kalaallit Nunaat (land of the people) as its known to locals. We finally were able to land and visit here. The day was sunny and no wind with temperatures approaching 17C. All in all a very nice day.

Greenland is the world's largest island (in the Islands That Are Not Continents category) and is 85% ice covered. There are about 57,000 inhabitants and close to 90% are Inuit. The Vikings first came in the 980's AD and stayed for a few hundred years. In 1720 Europeans arrived again this time for good. World War 2 saw the emergence of Greenland with the presence of US forces to block potential German occupation. It is now part of the Kingdom of Denmark with limited autonomous powers. The town of Qaqortoq has about 3,500 inhabitants and is Greenland's second largest "city". While shrimp fishing is a mainstay of the economy, tourism and education are important. No shore tours were available and we really only had a few hours to explore.

However the day got off to a momentous start with the sighting of whales from the ship. I was lucky to catch this shot. Deen was thrilled to watch them.


The town is located in the south on the side of hills. The houses and buildings are very colorful. In my wandering I also included a picture here of a young man with his rifle going hunting somewhere.







The fountain shown here is apparently Greenland's only fountain. There were also interesting rock carvings and the car attached to the side of a wall was from a local sports bar.

We left shortly after noon and proceeded south and slightly west. I went to a talk about Newfoundland and its outports and Deen went to a lecture on astronomy. Later I went to a movie. Happy Hour in the Crows Nest followed. It is soon enough going to be difficult preparing my own HH drinks and not having the always delightful Melanie (a new Facebook friend BTW) serving them.

We went to dinner in the Pinnacle Grill tonight with Shel and Abra to help celebrate Abra's birthday. They are both such interesting people. In the summer they live just outside Seattle and in the winter they live in the south of France.


After a very nice dinner we went to a Four Seasons Tribute Show then the Indonesian Crew Show. The crew show was very well done and the cast members, all of whom work in either the housekeeping dept. or the dining rooms, really seemed to enjoy themselves.


Our clocks went back 30 minutes Sunday night so we will be on Newfoundland time ( 1.5 hours ahead of Eastern Time) Monday through Wednesday . Monday we are crossing the Labrador Sea on our way to St Anthony's for Tuesday morning arrival.

Location:Qaqortoq ,Greenland