Today we are blessed with a sunny and clear day in Qaqortoq (cchhah-ka-tocchh). The “Q” is a sound that is supposed to be produced at the back of your throat, not dissimilar to the clicking sound some cultures use in their speech; but, which is foreign to most Americans. I could see the sun filtering in our stateroom window as I worked on the blog. I was enjoying one of my two dark chocolate candies left by our cabin steward. Our steward has been most generous on this leg of our journey, and has left milk chocolate only once. You see, Sharon gets the milk chocolate candies; while, I get the dark chocolate ones. I’m fully expecting Sharon to leave the cabin steward a note, something to the extent, “Please, no more Dark Chocolate.” But she ... read more

Some people don’t like sea days. It’s a good thing that we do. For one thing, it gives us a chance to catch our breath instead of going on a tour day after day to the point that it becomes a grind. And also, like yesterday, we found ourselves with an unscheduled sea day. We’ve been on cruises where fellow passengers would insist that if they missed a port it was due to some sinister plot by HAL to keep them on board to buy more things in their onboard stores; or, just to ruin their vacations! That doesn’t seem to be the case on Voyage of the Vikings where the norm is to be a 4-star or 5-star mariner and there seems to be an appreciation that the captain’s primary focus is our safety. And ... read more

Our arrival in Newfoundland saw sunny days again shining on us. “Newfoundland” has always been an awkward word for me, not sure how it should be pronounced; yet, having heard it pronounced so many ways. As it turns out, almost any way will do. A few days back the guest lecturer talked about just this subject in his presentation of the fossil record in which he’d done much research in Newfoundland. You can sound out each letter New-Found-Land. You can put the emphasis pretty much where you want. The more common pronunciation is more in the line of NEW-fn-lin; but new-FN-lin and new-fn-LIN work just as well. However, locals may take some umbrage with New-Fn-Lun. The speaker noted that with his distinctive Scottish brogue he is prone to the faux pas and after his speaking apologized ... read more

Sharon went off to mass and I finished up the blog. This had all the markings of one of those lazy days at sea that would let us catch up on everything; but, looks can be deceiving. Nonetheless, it started out that way. We took our breakfast in the dining room. I thought the menu had changed; but, it was just the color and presentation. I got a frittata and muesli, and maybe I went off diet a little with two of the hash brown cakes and two sausages. I really have been good though by forgoing the bread and rolls at meals. This frittata seemed to be more of a fried egg white than I remember them as being, and the bowl of muesli was much bigger than I remember; although, it only had one ... read more

We awoke early again with the realization that this was the day that we’d been anticipating. Today we begin our cruise. Ruth had wished us a most enjoyable journey yesterday when we had the opportunity to visit with her in her home in Rhode Island. Sharon had mentioned to her how we’d met our previous Trivia Team at the Life Boat Drill; but, for this cruise I had made her sign-up for the roll call so that we could join a trivia team with some Canadians. If you can’t have school teachers on your team, then the next best thing are team members from Canada, Great Britain or Australia. Ruth has also played trivia; but, said that she sometimes takes umbrage with some of the questions and answers. One that particularly irked her was spawned by ... read more