Sunday, August 13- Day Trip to Greenland

This is my favorite picture from the whole trip.  The village of Kulusuk is in the background.

The day did not start off well.  I called the taxi company and they said one would be there soon.  After about 15 minutes of waiting out in cold, cloudy, damp conditions I called them.  Oh- my cab had picked up someone else.  Sorry.  They’d send another driver. Ten minutes later I was wondering if I should just start walking (this was the small domestic airport, only 2.8 km) and my driver called.  The dispatcher had given her the wrong street, due either to my faulty pronunciation of the street (Brekkustigur) or to the dispatcher’s poor hearing.  She arrived a few minutes later and cheerfully drove me to the airport, slamming on her brakes at one point when someone came down the road leading to the airport on the wrong side of the road.  British, maybe?  I told her that if she were a NYC cab driver she would have leaned on her horn and shouted nasty words at the other driver.

The security line.

 

The plane.  Looks like my hand got in the way!

(Fast forward to my arrival back at RKV:  I chose to walk it and arrived at my apartment 35 minutes after landing.  Good decision.)

A picture from the IcelandAir lounge showing debarkation from a commercial flight pre-1946.  There was no airport so seaplanes were used.

In the waiting area I met a group of 5 people heading off to a ship in Kulusuk from which they’d go kayaking every day.  They’d brought dry suits and spray skirts.  The accommodations sounded like something I saw the day before in the mockup of the crew cabin of a fishing trawler at the Maritime Museum.    No, thanks.

Approaching Kulusuk.

I took this shot on the return to Iceland; I noticed the proliferation of algae and wondered if it could be due to fertilizer runoff from local farms.  A local later confirmed that I was right.

Arrival at Kulusuk.  They really ought to give their employees better ear protection.

The Kulusuk Airport was loaded with all kinds of pretty things for sale, including sealskins and reindeer skins.  They ran around $100 each.  Prominent signs in the airport noted that they had been hunted by Inuit with permission under an international treaty with careful focus on sustainability.  The signs also subtly accused Greenpeace of hurting the local economy with its propaganda.

Kulusuk is actually an island with a population of about 240 (and decreasing).  The residents are mostly hunters- in fact, I’d seen some dead seals by the shoreline at one point.  We visited small museum, where the guide pointed out an anorak made of a combination of polar bear and dog fur.  When the dogs are too old to work or die from other causes, he said, they put the fur to good use.

We did a lot of walking, up and down scenic hills, into town and even down a glacier at one point.  I had had a light breakfast, there was nothing but empty calories (candy and chips) available at either airport and no food on the flight.  I was relieved when we stopped at a grocery store, but supplies there were quite limited.  Happily, I found a can of tuna with a pop-top lid (imported from Thailand!) and a loaf of crusty bread, and improvised a sandwich.  It cost me 53 Danish Kroner (Greenland is a Danish territory).  I didn’t care what the exchange rate was- I was hungry.  Turns out my lunch cost about $8.50- well worth it! 

Inside of the Lutheran church.  The ship model was built by sailors who  had been shipwrecked off the coast; they spent the winter there and built the model of their ship.  The prayer books were in the Inuit language.

This pipe contains electrical lines.  They can't be put overhead because they'd be blown down and they can't be buried underground because it's too hard to dig into the rocky surface.

 We were offered the chance to go back to the airport by water- for another $40, most of which went to the hunters who would use their boats.  They didn’t have to twist my arm.  They drove slowly (8 knots/hour) so we could take in the sights and admire the icebergs, and we arrived in plenty of time to make the flight home.

This mountain looked as if the side had been blown off in a volcanic explosion.

Iceberg ahead!

I lead an interesting life.

Monday, August 14- The Settlement House Museum

I’d deliberately left this day unscheduled; when the weather was cloudy with a few drizzles I decided to visit a museum and chose the Settlement House, which was built to surround a long house built around AD 870.  It was discovered when excavation began for a new hotel.  At great expense, the remains of the house were preserved, including a turf wall which had to be dessicated so it wouldn’t crumble into dust, and a spring which came near the house and probably motivated the occupants to abandon it only 70 years after it was built because of chronic dampness.

I’d been there almost an hour, happily wandering in the small space and using my Icelandic- English dictionary to compare the Icelandic and English words in the information posted by the exhibits when a free guided tour began.  The guide, who had the delightful name of Ragnhildur, was an archaeologist who really knew her stuff.  I learned a lot about the culture and the history.  She noted that many of the household items in the exhibit came from other museums because it was so rare to find intact household objects.  They were generally used until they fell apart.  They’re still learning so much about early settlers that she admitted that in 20 years everything she told us might prove to be false!  As an example, she showed us two areas where walrus bones had been built into the walls, possibly for religious purposes.  They’d thought they were cow or sheep bones until a visitor with expertise in animal bones said that might be incorrect.  He did more research after he went home and told them they were walrus bones. 

I asked if it was likely that construction of other (relatively) modern buildings in the area might have resulted in the destruction of other long houses.  She said that they didn’t excavate that deeply in the nineteenth century but that in the 20ths century some had probably been destroyed- specifically in the construction of the nearby Salvation Army headquarters.  

This display includes colored glass beads found from the same era; some were from as far away as India, indicating extensive trade routes.

 On my way back to the apartment, I dropped the last of Ron’s ashes that I’d brought with me into the lake in the center of Reykjavik, which we’d passed many times.  The rest were put into the bay a few days before.  Unfortunately, Icelandic law requires that all human remains be interred (although it’s permissible to cremate and then inter the ashes).  I’d heard this from the guide on the Haunted Reykjavik walk so I was very discreet about it.

The weather had cleared somewhat in the afternoon so I headed for the pool one last time and went swimming before settling in for the evening.  I needed to be up early and there was packing to be done.

Tuesday/Wednesday, August 15-16: Going Home

I’d scheduled a 7 AM shuttle Tuesday morning from a nearby hotel, so set the alarm for 5:50 and woke up at 5:15.  OK- that worked.  I had coffee and some breakfast, finished packing and walked the 5 minutes to the hotel.  At 6:50 I got a call from the shuttle company- the driver was at the hotel and couldn’t find me.  After a bit of wandering on both parts, we met and I boarded.  By the time they finished pickups the van was full, but we were at the airport by 8 AM.  Check-in and security were very fast and I proceeded to the lounge, where I stayed for a little less than an hour since it was outside Passport Control and I wanted to get to the gate in time. 

A few enhancements for your morning coffee.

Boarding was a very opaque process; before there was any official boarding call people began to move through the lines to get their boarding passes scanned.  I brandished my “Priority Boarding” pass and found myself in the same small, crowded, Standing Room Only area as everyone else.  After a couple of trips to the desk I determined that (a) we were supposed to go upstairs to board and (b)  the reason the stairs had a rope blocking them off was that the crew had not yet indicated they were ready to board.  Nice of them to let us know.  Miraculously, they got all of us loaded by the posted flight time.  I just wish they’d been more honest about the boarding time.  The lounge was far nicer than the waiting area!

 

The cattle pen.  Moooooo.

I spent a quick overnight in Boston, managing to get in a workout the evening I arrived as well as the next morning.  Over breakfast I overheard some JetBlue flight crew members speculating about a possible merger with another airline and saying they needed to unionize before that happened or they’d all get furloughed.  It would be unfortunate if JetBlue merged- from what I’ve heard they’re a cut above the other airlines as far as seat pitch and customer service and I’d hate to see them join the lowest common denominator.

It was my lucky day in a few ways:  while my flight to Washington National was on time, the flights to DCA before and after were both posted an hour late, and my upgrade from DCA to MCI cleared.  Unfortunately, because I was in Peon Class from BOS to DCA, I was dinged an extra $35 for my second checked bag.  Ka-ching.  

After a couple of hours in DCA, our flight to MCI took off more or less on time.  Ah- the pointy end of the plane again- a nice, big seat and a glass of wine to enjoy as we floated through the clouds.  Too bad flying isn't like this more often.

Oops- my wine glass needs refilling.

I arrived home just before the thunderstorms started- great timing.