Greenland: Days One and Two

For four days we have cruised the southwest coast of Greenland. For those geographically inclined our route takes us from the long inland fjord with Kangerlussuaq at it end, to Qassiarsuk in the south and its nearby Qoroq fjord filled with stranded icebergs.

Our first full day in Greenland, which began just a few hours after our late Saturday night landing at Kangerlussuaq, was a blur to me, other than then safety briefing with those funny suits. After program briefings we landed in Manitsoq, but I decided catching up on sleep more important. So my first foray on terra firma after boarding the MV Fram was at Paamiut Monday afternoon.

Paamiut's most notable features include the Royal Arctic shipping line warehouse, the city's (pop. 1,515) and its stave-inspired church, complete with the model sailing ship suspended from the ceiling, a common adornment in Norwegian churches. The church choir entertained us. Here are a few photos:

Paamiut's stave-style church. The origin of the style
(and this church merely suggests it) is supposedly an
upside down viking ship.

Paamiut's park includes this sculpture. Note the utility infrastructure

under the pedestrian bridge; all lines are buried to protect against the cold.

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Photographer at Sea

Everyone on board has a camera, of course. Including the two professionals aboard: Camille, the in-house photographer who offers tips and provides her photos at the end of the journey (for a price, of course), and Dan, part of a contingent of travel journalists aboard this repositioning cruise, accompanied by Hurtigruten's global PR manager, Øystein Knoph. But the photographer pictured here is no professional. He's a weight-lifter, based on the amount of heavy glass in that lens. He was trying to catch photos of trailing birds this morning on the Labrador Sea. I seriously doubt he could hold the camera steady enough (no tripod) to get a decent snap. I am reminded by this scene of the old saw about the inverse ratio between the size of a photographers lens and his... As for me, I'm relying on my iPhone 7's camera and my lightweight, compact Canon G-9, which has served me well for the past eight years. I considered bringing one of my old 35mm film cameras with lense...

A Canadian Thanksgiving

Once ashore in Halifax Monday I sought in vain to replenish my cigar supply, and pick up a Cuban or two to enjoy at sea. But it was Canadian Thanksgiving, and all stores selling decent stogies shut. Still, I wanted to enjoy a relaxing cigar after walking up and down the Spring Garden Road shopping district. I found as bench in the sun in front of the Halifax Memorial Library and lit up. Then I turned around to find Winston Churchill gazing upon me, undoubtedly as upset as when Yousef Karsh took away the PM's cigar to make his iconic photograph. I did my best to imitate the Churchillian scowl. A traveling companion from Glasgow thinks I nailed it. Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting account of the story behind the photo. The downtown shopping district of this city of about 400,000 was filled with people -- most of them tourists off the four cruise ships tied up a 15-minute walk away in the harbor, though some locals were taking advantage of the warm if overcast weath...

Salem: Great Knockers

Forget the witches or the House of the Seven Gables when visiting Salem, Massachusetts. Instead, see a great set of knockers, and a whole lot of whimsical metalwork, at Herb Mackey's Metal Sculpture Yard, the last house on Blaney Street aside the parking lot for the Salem-Boston Ferry. It's free, and I'm told the whimsical welder who created the metal creatures will come out to chat when he's home. On Saturday, after spending a delightful time over a lingering lunch with my cousins Susan and Rita, who took the train to Salem from their Cambridge homes, I took a slow stroll through downtown Salem, maneuvering among the witches, warlocks and hanger-ons who descend upon this historic maritime hub to commemorate a nasty period in American colonial history, the Salem witch trials. The hordes made the Halloween crowds who descend on my neighborhood for Eastern State Penitentiary's annual scare show seem puny. Salem's most notable cultural attraction is ...

Greenland Passage

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