Voyage of the Vikings - Wrap Up

By the numbers:

     Number of nautical miles sailed:  8,891

     Number of miles by rail:  8,072

     Number of countries visited:  7

     Number of ports visited:  16

     Number of time zone changes:  18

     Number of life birds: 24

And we crossed the Arctic Circle.

Some interesting signs we encountered:

In Sydney:

In Alesund:

In Dublin:

In Douglas:

In Belfast:

And this was in Qaqortoq near the exit of a supermarket.  I pressed 'Happy."

Boston, Massachusetts - August 24, 2016

We disembarked in Boston at 9:30 in the morning.  We took a taxi to our hotel, stored our bags, and went for a walk.  We had no particular destination, it just felt good to be walking again.  We found the old Massachusetts state house. 

Across from it was Boston Commons. 

When we left the park we walked along Commonwealth Avenue, a beautiful street with a center parkway and historic homes on both sides.

Back at the hotel, we went to bed early because we had to catch a train, the Acela, at 7:00 the next morning.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - August 22, 2016

We arrived in Halifax at 8:00.  The forecast was for temperatures near 70, but also rain.  So we figured we'd better get out early.  We had nothing in particular we wanted to see, mostly because we have been to Halifax before.  We did have one thing on our agenda, to visit the Immigration Museum, which is right next to where the ship was docked.  But it wasn't open yet, so we went through downtown and then headed up the hill.  

  

Even though we had visited the Citadel before, I wanted to go up just to take some photos.  But there was a $6 per person entry fee, which seemed pretty steep for a few photos.  So we gave it a miss.  

Next we went to the public gardens, which were very nice.   

We made a loop down past a couple of churches and yet another Government House.  

It still hadn't rained, and it was very muggy, so it was time to head back to the museum.  It was very interesting, especially the temporary exhibit on the sinking of the 'Empress of Ireland,' Canada's version of the 'Titanic,' in 1912.  We were back on board the ship for lunch.We sailed at 4:00 for Boston, our end port.

St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada - August 20, 2016

At 10:00 we had part two of our tour of the ship.  We got to see the laundry facilities.

Next we learned about the waste management system.  The ship recycles 85% of its waste.  We were surprised to learn that food waste is chopped up and sent down a chute into the ocean.  Fish food!

Lastly we saw how the ship's provisions are handled.  

We arrived in St. John's at noon, so we had lunch first and then went ashore.  We walked to Signal Hill, almost reaching the tower on top.  We had a spectacular view of the entire city.  

On the way down we walked through the Battery, a neighborhood of colorful old wooden houses.

Our favorite neighborhood was Quiddi Vidi (pronounced kiddy-viddy).

Walking back toward downtown, we found another Government House and the beautiful Basilica of St. John the Baptist.  

We sailed at 8:00 with many people out watching our ship leave.  The day had started out rather overcast but turned into a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60s.

At Sea - August 19, 2016

We vacated our cabin and they again put a heater in.  By the end of the day we were back to normal.  We were compensated for the inconvenience with a bottle of wine and a $150 shipboard credit, which of course we spent on more wine.

We had signed up for a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship, and today was the first part.  We met with the head of hospitality, along with three other passengers, and had a tour of the galley with the head chef. We were impressed with the attention to sanitation and the general attitude of the crew.  Even the poor guy hand washing all the pots looked happy.

Our next stop was the engine control room, where the Chief Engineer gave us a tour. 

And lastly, we went up to the bridge, where we met the captain.  A third officer explained operations.  It was all very interesting.

Nanortalik, Greenland - August 18, 2016

The weather in Nanortalik was overcast and very cold (35). And the fact that it was a tender port made us consider not going ashore.  Added to that, I had not been able to find any information about the town online, and our port guide listed only one church and a small museum as things to see.  But we went ashore anyway, and we were really glad we did.  Unlike Qaqortoq, which was quite civilized and half the population was blond Scandinavians, this was truly a native fishing village.  The people, who looked like Inuits, were very friendly, although their English was very limited.  One older woman came up to us smiling broadly saying, "Have a nice day." Their homes were simple but colorful.  We spend several hours there and pretty much walked the whole area.  We were so glad we went ashore. 

 After spending the afternoon in the Explorers lounge reading, we returned to our cabin to find things in disarray.  The toilet in the cabin next door had overflowed, flooding that cabin and seeping part way into ours.  One bed was pushed to the other side and there was a large heater blowing warm air to dry the carpet.  We stayed away until about 8:30.  When we returned the carpet was still wet, but they removed the heater for the night.