Adventures with Julia

July 14, 2017

After 2 hours on Alaskan Air from Sacramento to Seattle, a 2 hour layover there, and 7 hours on Iceland Air, we passed through the old, extremely crowded, Reykjavik International Airport at 0630 on July 13th and met our driver, who had our documents, but knew nothing about our itinerary. She did talk about points of interest we passed and told us that the population of Iceland is 340,000, that the country is 75% Lutheran and that part of people’s taxes go to support the church. If you don’t want your tax money to go to the church, you can direct it to education. No other choices. Iceland gained its independence from Denmark in 1944. Just a few things you can learn during a 40 minute transport drive. Soon she deposited us at the Domestic Terminal, which was totally empty.

Our onward flight was still 2 hours away. And to think we would have been luxuriating in the thermal waters of the Blue Lagoon by then, if it had not been for the date snafu. “Stay cool” I reminded myself. In our documents was a cell phone for us to use while on this trip. So I made a local call to the woman Lance’s family nicknamed “Icy”, when she stayed with them 30 years ago as a 19 year old Rotary exchange student. Her real name is Gudgborg, but no one could pronounce it properly. She was expecting my call as we had been in contact planning a visit. She helped me make a new plan to visit the Blue Lagoon when we return from Greenland and we confirmed a date to get together for dinner.

East Coast of Greenland

The sky in Reykjavik was solid overcast with very low visibility, and grey dreariness. Once in the air and away from Iceland, the sky cleared and we had a lovely flight across Greenland to Ilulissat on the west coast. Greenland is 81% Ice-capped.

Glacier paths visible near east coast of Greenland

Once we passed over the volcanic peaks with glaciers coursing down them to the ocean, the inland area was totally white with snow cover that appeared flat to gently rolling. As much as I wanted to close my eyes to nap, I could not keep from staring out the window and snapping photos. The flight took 3+ hours in a slow 37 pax plane. Greenland is only 5 hours ahead of home, while Iceland is 7 hours ahead, so we arrived only one hour after leaving Reykjavik. Wish that made me less tired.

Icebergs on Greenland’s west coast

So how did this inhospitable ice and snow covered island get its name? Turns out a ninth century Viking Chieftain, called Eric the Red, wanted to populate the island and increase his authority, so to promote the place he called it “Green” Land. People from Scandinavia believed what he told them, came and got marooned there. His marketing scheme worked…sort of. The population, after many centuries, is only 57,000 and shrinking. Danish colonization began in the18th century and Greenland was made an integral part of Denmark in 1953. In 1979 the island was granted limited self governance. The Greenlanders voted for increased self-rule in 2008. Denmark continues to exercise control over foreign affairs, security and financial policy.

Mark an Julia at enter Ilulissat air terminal

Shortly after landing we met a young man who told us he was from Chester, California, only 30 minutes by air from Grass Valley. After telling him we visited Chester only a few days ago, we were launched into conversation. He is a Producer for National Geographic and enroute to a NASA base in far north Greenland. We hopped a ride with him and his partner to The Arctic Hotel about 2 kilometers from the airport. Although the hotel, which overlooks the town and harbor, looked very pleasant as we checked in, we were denied the pleasure of a room. It was not ready. Bummer. What to do? So we walked into town to check it out and find a place to get some lunch.

Ilulissat Harbor – Iceberg in background

The town is really a village of about 5,000 souls. The buildings are all colorfully painted and perched on treeless volcanic hills that overlook the perfectly protected natural harbor, which is full of fishing boats, that catch, mostly we are told, shrimp and halibut. Paved roads meander around connecting the buildings to each other. Outside the village, there is no where to drive as there are no roads to anywhere. All the towns are on the coast and accessible only by boat or plane. Each place is a self contained island, complete, in Ilulissat’s case, with grocery and clothing stores, school, sport and cultural center, post office, hotels, hospital, churches, museums, cemetery, restaurants and cafes. I can say that our first meal in Greenland was excellent. The street side menu mentioned curry soup, so we gave it a try with prawns for me and chicken for Mark. The meat was tender and the soup spicy and flavorful. Our waitress is a Danish citizen, who was born in Sri Lanka. She lives here with her Sri Lankan mother, who owns the cafe, and her step-father, who is German and operates a tour boat from the harbor. She was charming and cute. The good food coupled with a beer put us in the mood to sleep. When we got back to the hotel, the room was almost ready. Another short wait and we were in bed …. in the middle of the day.

But wait. There is no night here. We woke up at 6pm to full on daylight. Wide awake, I started typing, while Mark read. It is now 10pm and the light is mellowing mellowing. We hope to go back to sleep soon.