6/12/17, “From Fire to Ice”
Reykjavik Domestic Airport,
Iceland (RKV)
The time has come to leave the
island of fire and fly to the island of ice.
I will not miss Iceland, for one simple reason. I know that Greenland will be far more
wondrous than Iceland is. The island of
ice holds far more sway for me than the island of fire does. What could be so alluring about a giant
island of ice? Everything. Surely Iceland has more sway with its
volcanoes and its history and its culture, yes?
No. Are not the icefjords and
glaciers every bit as beautiful as the volcanoes? Does Greenland not also have its own history
and culture? In fact, it has a mix of
Norse and Inuit culture, as opposed to here, which is solely Norse.
Iceland is The North, to be sure, but
Greenland is as far north as North gets, and I will only be visiting the southern
half of the island. The northern half is
too cold to be inhabited. It’s just a
giant national park in the north.
Iceland is a beautiful place, though, and the Norse culture is alive and
well. They eat much the same food they
have been eating for hundreds of years and drink much the same beer, and when I
say much, I mean much.
Reykjavik is not
a city that does not know how to have a good time. That much is clear, to be sure. The island is small, but it has much to
offer. Thingvellir is a thing of beauty,
the world’s oldest parliament, and it remained active for close to a
millennium, until the Althing was moved to Reykjavik.
When I land in Nuuk, my first stop after
checking in to my hotel will be Greenland’s legislative assembly, known as the
Landsting. I was glad to have seen
Surtsey, but I will be gladder still to see the Ilulissat Icejfords. This island of fire lives true to the name I
have assigned it, though, and you can see volcanoes in almost every directions
you look, the smell of brimstone prevalent.
Greenland will have a different look and smell, and I look forward to
discovering it.
After I closed last
night, I headed back to my hotel, stopping in the park by the Althing to try
and publish my entry as I lit up a La Perla.
I couldn’t get a good connection, so I moved closer to the hotel and was
successfully able to publish there. I
then went upstairs to finish my cigar and post my photos before falling
asleep. I was only able to manage 3 REM
cycles, but I woke up shortly before my alarm and went back to sleep. That was a mistake. Not only did it cost me 15 minutes, I was
more tired when I did wake up. It didn’t
matter in the end, as I drastically overestimated how early I would need to get
to the airport.
I headed to the hotel
next door for breakfast, which was billed as this epic feast. It was no different than what my hotel
offered, so I went back to my hotel. I
got a different assortment of breads, dairy, and protein this morning, followed
by skyr and a hot food plate, paired with coffee, of course, and followed by a
little bit of dessert. I ate way too
much. After breakfast, I got ready and
finished packing. I then headed to the
airport, which was a five-minute drive from my hotel, or it would have been I
hadn’t misunderstood a road sign.
I
returned the car, to the wrong spot apparently.
There was an office a quarter-mile from the terminal, but it turned out
that I could actually drop it right at the terminal. I didn’t want to reload my luggage in the
truck, so I just walked it. It was
around 9:20 AM when I got to the terminal.
My flight was at 11:15 AM, and people were still checking in for the
9:55 AM flight. As I said, I drastically
overestimated how early I needed to be.
I then went outside and found a spot to sit down, where I lit up an
Ardor and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can
check-in.
Nuuk, Greenland, Kingdom of
Denmark
“And this is just the
capital.” Why did I saw those words as I
was walking around Nuuk this afternoon?
It was three hours after we landed in Greenland, and I was already
absolutely convinced of the veracity of my prediction that I would not hesitate
to declare Greenland the most beautiful place I have ever visited. I made that claim based on just walking
around Nuuk for a few hours, and this is just the capital.
Tomorrow I will visit the Kujataa farming
landscape in Qassiarsuk, which is the site I am most looking forward to seeing,
and then on to the icefjords in Ilulissat.
Nuuk was the least of the three attractions in Greenland. It is just the capital, but it is so much
more. This establishing shot, taken out
the window of my hotel’s smoking area, fails to do it justice, but just look it
at. See that snow-covered mountain in
the background and the solid-colored simple houses? Now, imagine a panoramic landscape filled
with that. Well, you won’t have to
imagine, as I will have such pictures to share in this entry.
If Nuuk alone is enough for me to declare
that Greenland is the most beautiful place in the world, I cannot imagined how
wowed I will be by Qassiarsuk and Ilulissat.
This is just the capital, but it puts its overlords in Copenhagen to shame. It puts even Stockholm to shame. Not even Yellowknife can hold a candle to
Nuuk. This embodies everything I love
about The North.
It has the architecture
I so love from Atlantic Canada and Scandinavia.
It has the landscapes I so love from Alaska and the PNW. It has the rugged feel I so love from the
Canadian Arctic. It has all of that
combined, and it does it better than any of them do. And this is just the capital. It is just a city with the population the
same as my hometown, but it is busy and bustling, and beautiful. 30% of Greenland’s population lives in this
capital. It is small town in a small
country, but it is a beautiful town in an even more beautiful country.
After I closed at RKV, I checked in and
headed to the boarding area. I was
having connectivity issues, which was annoying, but I was also on the verge of
passing out. We boarded the small plane
that would take us three hours almost due east to Nuuk, and I fell asleep
midflight. I woke up to an announcement
that I didn’t understand. I looked out
the window and saw nothing but white.
Was this a thick cloud cover?
No,
it was snow and ice as far as the eye could see. As we got closer to Nuuk, it was water and
rock paired with the snow and ice. This
was The North. This was what I came
for. I had seen pictures of Nuuk, but
that could not prepare me for seeing it in person. This was unreal. Surely I was dreaming. After all these years, I was finally
here.
Four years ago, just after I had
started to fall in love with The North, my family went to see “The Secret Life
of Walter Mitty,” and the eponymous character had to go to Greenland. When he mentioned it, I absentmindedly said
to my father sitting next to me, “Nuuk,” naming the capital. When they said it on-screen, my father was
shocked. “How could you possibly have
known that?” he asked, or some variation.
I knew it, because I knew that one day I would go. I knew it because when I went to Denmark and
said, “Mainland Denmark Complete,” it was a promise to come to Greenland. I knew it, because the trip had already been
planned, four years in advance. I was
finally here.
I took a taxi to my hotel (Hotel Hans Egede),
messing with some settings on my phone, and I chastised myself, “You’re finally
in Greenland, and you’re more interested in random settings on your phone than
looking at the car window?” Henceforth,
my phone was only used to take pictures.
This was it. It was everything I
had imagined and more. I got to my
hotel, and I saw that the hotel had a smoking room, indoors and in view of the
mountains. Perfect.
I went to my room, and I had a great view of
downtown. I was starting to get hungry,
but I wanted to figure out where parliament was first. That information, other than an address,
seemed not to be available. There was an
article from 2014 that a new building was being constructed under protest, but
there was no indication if that happened or it was completed. The address when entered in Google pointed to
a bank building. I figured I would have
to ask someone. It’s a small town, it
shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Souvenirs, though, promised to be harder to find.
I went downstairs to get lunch at the
restaurant. They had a sampler platter,
which consisted of smoked muskox, smoked reindeer, smoked scallops, prawn
cocktail, fish salad, and a fish cake.
They were all local specialties, so it would serve well for my first
Official meal in Greenland. The service
was slow, and I was getting hungrier and more annoyed the longer I waited, but
I had beer (local) and Wi-Fi to keep me busy.
Soon enough the food came. The
muskox tasted like jerky, and I hated it.
The smoked reindeer and fish salad were excellent. I couldn’t stand the smoked scallops, but the
fish cake was quite good. The prawns
were fine but too much work for too little reward.
After I was done, almost half of the food
uneaten, I asked the waitress if she knew where parliament was. She asked someone else and then pointed to a
large and tall modern building just up the road from where Google Maps had
directed me. That must have been the
fancy, new building. I was actually
impressed they had managed to build it so quickly. After lunch, I headed downstairs and lit up a
Partagas for my walk to Parliament, which took about five minutes. Printed on the front of the building was
“GOVERNMENT OF GREENLAND”. Okay,
then.
I left my barely-smoked cigar
outside and went in. I asked if this was
the parliament building, and the guard told me I had to go across the street to
the older building, saying that they were both the parliament buildings. I had also asked if they offered tours, but
the reception was in the other building.
I retrieved my cigar and walked across the street. There were actually two connected buildings. One building had the reception entrance, the
other building said on front if it, “INATSISARTUT,” which I knew to be the
local name for parliament, the Danish name being Landsting.
I went inside with my cigar, thinking it was
out. The tell-tale smell of a smoldering
cigar proved me wrong, but I think the smell bothered me more than anyone
else. Tours were offered Monday through
Friday at 1 PM. They could not
accommodate, even though they did try very hard to do so. That was fine. I just wanted to go back outside to take my
ceremonial picture, but they tried so hard to be helpful that it must have been
at least fifteen minutes before they told me that they couldn’t do anything
for, nor did they know where to find souvenirs.
I circled around the building trying to find the ideal spot for the ceremonial
picture, which was made even more difficult by the fact that I wasn’t quite
sure exactly which building was the parliament building. I got a good picture, and that was when I
said my famous line, “And this is just the capital.” It was then that I was fully convinced that
Greenland was the most beautiful place I had ever visited.
I turned around to see a tourist information
building, which doubled as a shop. They
had pins, but not flag pins. I asked
about flag pins, and he said they were sold out, but he knew where I could find
them. I went where he told me, and, as
soon as I opened the door, I was staring straight smack at the flag pins. I also got some other souvenirs. When I checked out, I noticed that my debit
card was cracked, and the chip itself was perilously close to being cracked. I had already withdrawn a bunch of Kroner,
but I needed to make another withdrawal to feel comfortable with my cash
reserves in case the card did break. I
think my reader sees where I am going with this. Remember that bank building that I mentioned
that Google Maps said was the parliament building? Okay, more on that later.
I retrieved my Partagas and walked to a
nearby scenic overlook, where I an elderly Inuit woman was sitting on the
bench. After I took some pictures, she
called me over. She asked for a puff of
my cigar. Not happening. I did, however, offer her one of my other
cigars, a CLE Pieto, which she gladly accepted, though I should have given her
the other cigar I had, since that was the one I really wanted to smoke
next. She didn’t speak English, and I
didn’t speak Kalaallisut, so we were only able to exchange names. It seems neither of us understood each
other’s names, unless her name actually was Rebecca (or Vibecke, maybe). She clearly had never heard the name Steven
before.
I headed back towards my hotel,
and I thought to myself again how beautiful this was, “The mountains are to one
side of me, the water to the other side, and on the other side are more
mountains.” I found an open field with a
great view of the mountains and the houses, basically an amplified view of
establishing shot that opened this entry, ditched my cigar, went up to my
hotel, resituated myself, dropped off my souvenirs, and grabbed my other CLE
Pieto.
I needed coffee badly, so I got
it at the grocery store as I searched for more souvenirs. Along the way, I stopped at a fish market of some type, and they had a gamey red meat next to a white meat with a black skin. It was whale meat, both of them were. I could not find any more souvenirs, so I
headed to the bank building, which was now closed. The only other working ATM around seemed to
be the one in the grocery store, where I made the withdrawal earlier, and I feared
a fraud alert if I used the same ATM twice in one day for a large
withdrawal.
I walked back to the bench
from earlier as I smoked my Pieto, and I just sat down on the bench enjoying
the view. I almost never do that. Phone in my pocket, no writing, no walking,
just enjoying the view, for at least five minutes. It was a wonderful view.
I then walked up the hill to the statue of
Hans Egede, which afforded an even better view.
I stayed there for some time before heading down the hill. I slipped and twisted my ankle. “It’s all part of the adventure,” I told
myself. Fortunately I quickly
recovered. I was soon back at my hotel,
and I was going to catch a REM cycle, but I was stirred by a text as I was
about to fall asleep, and that turned into a conversation. Once the conversation died down, I headed to
the smoking area and asked if I could bring a chair, since they had none. They said I could. Perfect.
I brought the chair there, where I sat down, lit up a Jaime Garcia, and
proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can finish my
cigar and get dinner.
I don’t have much new to
report. I am back in the same spot I was
when I wrote the above entry, and the view has not changed much, other than
that the sun is a little lower in the sky and is casting a longer shadow. I am well-fed, and I am ready to pass out,
which I would like to do as soon as I am finished with this pipe, but I need to
allow my dinner to digest before lying down. The trip was designed the way it was designed for various reasons, and I
will have some more time in Nuuk later in the week, but, while I will be glad
to get to Qassiarsuk, it feels rather abrupt to only be spending less than a
full day in Nuuk before flying on to my next destination, though it is much
more time than I had in Whitehorse or Copenhagen.
When I next write, it will be from
Qassiarsuk, and that is sure to be the biggest highlight of the trip, even
though it is not yet a WHS and very well may not wind up getting inscribed this
summer. It will be beautiful
nonetheless. Then, I will continue on to
Ilulissat, where I will be able to say, “Greenland Complete,” before beginning
The Return Journey.
After I closed, I headed
up to the steakhouse for dinner. They
had two arctic specialties, muskox and reindeer. I figured that muskox seemed the more
interesting choice. The way it worked
was, they give you a menu card, and you fill out the card with the number of
the dish you want. I filled out the
card, opting for it rare with parsley butter on top and fries on the side. That part wasn’t exactly Greenlandic, but the
muskox certainly was.
Before long, they
brought me a sizzling platter. I took a
few bites, and something seemed off. It
tasted too chewy. No, this wasn’t a
steak, unless it was very poorly frozen.
I called over the waitress, and she said it was the chopped muskox. I told her that I had wanted the steak. She went over to confer with the menu and the
chef. I stopped eating the chopped meat,
knowing I would not be able to get the steak if I kept eating it, though I did
pick at the fries. She told me that they
could replace it no problem.
Soon
enough, they brought out the muskox steak, and it was perfect. It was rich, tender, and gamey. After dinner, I looked at the dessert
menu. They had Greenlandic coffee, which
is a bit of a specialty in these parts.
They also had an almond pastry, which was very Scandinavian.
They prepared the Greenlandic coffee
tableside, but the waitress seemed to be struggling with it. Perhaps she was new to it. The almond pastry paired very nicely. The damage for the meal was pretty steep, but
moderate compared to Iceland prices.
After dinner, I headed down to the smoking room, where I sat down, lit
up an Ardor, and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that
I can publish, post some photos, and maybe even risk an early bedtime.
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