3 cheeses that were ...

Food on the cruise ship is good, really good.  But it's not the same as eating Quebec cheeses in Montreal ...  It's about the ambience, the martinis, the Quebecois  ... the whole package.

Which led us to Reuben's for smoked meat sandwiches and Molson Canadian beer ...

We are soooooo tired .....

St John's NL

St John's was both wonderful and disappointing. Disappointing because it is really not walker-friendly; wonderful because, well, it's St John's. Had a long conversation with a young woman who was visiting her brother on the west coast in couple of weeks ...

In one of those twists of fate, our good friends from Uxbridge were leaving St John's on the same day our cruise ship arrived.

Second to last day on our cruise and well fueled by alcohol ...

Pictures are for my brother, Rick, who has very fond memories of this place ...

Nanortalik

Despite being the most southern of our three Greenland stops, Nanortalik was the coolest and windiest weather-wise, though beautifully sunny. It's also the only place where we've seen icebergs and bergy bits.

 The scenery is SPECTACULAR!

Qaqortoq

Qaqortoq is a picturesque little town in southern Greenland. With a population of only about 3,400, they were overrun today with the ship's passenger complement of almost the same number. Good thing we had to be tendered into port in small groups!

Weather was a little bit cloudy and a little bit cool, but much more comfortable than what we experienced in Nuuk.

Qaqortoq is the only town in Greenland with a fountain in the town square.

And in the early 90's, a Qaqortoq artist and other Nordic artists chiseled designs in the rock faces in town. 

And through the miracle of modern technology, I was able to go into the bank in Qaqortoq and use the ATM there to withdraw 500 Danish Krone from our bank account in Victoria!  Wish we'd got a picture of that!

Nuuk, Greenland

It was a beautiful sunny day in Nuuk, though a little on the coolish side.

For some reason, I expected Greenland to be flat. Not so. It reminded us of Newfoundland and Iceland. Not surprising, I suppose, given that all three places are "north", built on rock, and surrounded by ocean.

Brightly coloured homes offset the gray and brown landscape.

In the centre of Nuuk there was a state-of-the-art cultural centre, a shopping mall, and a market selling fish and seal meat.

Oh, and Greenland has "free" medical and dental care, paid through taxes. Civilised ...

North of 60

We sailed past the 60th parallel north about 6 am today.  We are now in polar waters.

Northeast of Labrador

Only 9C outside, but nothing that pizza, beer, and a Broadway show won't fix ....