Expected weather: Hi 43F, Showers

Seas: Calm

Population: 1185 / 56,421

When I stepped outside onto our balcony this morning, it was 40F with a “feels like” temp of 32F! However, there was some sunshine and slivers of blue peeking through the marine layer. It appeared that the expected showers may not arrive until we depart in the early afternoon.

Today, we did the included “Nanortalik & Its Fascinating Museum” excursion – sometimes the names of excursions just make you laugh! I couldn’t wait to see what’s so fascinating about this open-air museum! Nanortalik means “Place of the Polar Bears”, but the only ones we saw were painted on the mural we took a picture with below. Nanortalik’s population is a third the size of Qaqortoq’s where we were yesterday. The open-air museum consisted of many buildings with exhibits from kayak making and usage to the processing of whale blubber to hospital and dental equipment of the early-mid 1900s. We enjoyed the talk about kayaks given by the young man in one of the buildings and learned a lot about how the kayaks were custom made for the user and how efficient and light they were which enabled the Inuit to travel great distances over sea and land. Although the air was quite brisk, the sun came out and we were again quite comfortable in our layers.  

We stopped by the church on the way back to the tender, to listen to five elderly Inuit sing hymns of gratefulness for their country, for the food provided by the land and sea, for their families, for everything. I knew immediately that was my theme for the day. We had discussed just a day or two ago, how grateful we are for all the blessings that we have in our lives, and especially to have the means to travel and experience cultures and geographies other than our own. It was indeed a blessing to hear these hymns of gratefulness in a tongue I could not comprehend yet I could feel the gratitude being expressed. This is a harsh climate, and it takes a special people to live here. But it is their home, and they are grateful for God’s provisions in this land allowing them to live here for centuries. How often do most of us really stop to think about our own lives and be grateful for what we have?  

In that mode of reflection, we departed Nanortalik as a very interesting cloud shelf was forming.

The afternoon and early evening was spent maneuvering through the sounds of Southern Greenland and into Prince Christian Sound for some of the most spectacular glacial landscapes I’ve ever seen. I will have to do a separate post probably tomorrow with all of those pictures.

We departed the world’s largest island a little after dark and will arrive in Iceland in about 40 hours.

Tonight, we had another Chef’s Table reservation with the Erling’s Scandinavian Bistro menu. The 5-courses were:

• Amuse Bouche – Reindeer Consommé with handmade ravioli
• First Course – Salmon Déclinaison
• Granita – Lappland Delight
• Main Course – Lamb Fårikål (translation “sheep in cabbage) – national dish of Norway
• Dessert – Cloudberry Soup, Vanilla White Chocolate Panna Cotta with sesame ice cream and goro (wafer)

I would absolutely book this menu again. Interestingly, there seemed to be a lot of availability for reservations tonight, although we heard last night was packed (same menu). Our next reservation in three nights for the Chef’s Table will be the California Cuisine menu.

The Classical Duo (piano/violin) was playing in the Atrium when we finished eating, so we sat in the Living Room and listened to them and then to a few minutes of Sasha’s set before giving it up for the evening.