We spent this morning strolling about on a blustery morning, so windy that the flags were flapping straight out!
Our first destination was to find the Metro station, just scoping it out for our two days in Copenhagen next week. It almost seems out of place, but it’s tucked into a residential area so well that it’s nearly overlooked.
The next destination wasn’t really a destination, but a walk around the harbor, the sea front, and to check out these cool barrels that are functioning saunas. They are at the edge of a parking lot that seems well-used. Imagine pulling your boat back into the harbor and then hopping into the sauna before heading home. Or ending your morning jog at the sauna, or stopping by after work.
Our big attraction this morning was Den Bla Planet, Denmark’s national aquarium. It is some kind of autumn holiday, so there were a lot of kiddos there! The aquarium is laid out quite nicely. Each display/aquarium had a digital display showing the name of each species, with an option to switch from Danish to either English or Swedish.
The sea otters were having a fantastic time when we stopped by! We didn’t get to observe them from above, but at water level and below they were barrel rolling, chasing each other, and looking so stinking cute! We took a few minutes to sit in front of the massive seawater aquarium, containing hammerhead sharks, several varieties of rays, a lone tortoise, and loads of fish. The display is very serene and mesmerizing, despite having a bunch of kids running around. Unfortunately, we were unable to get any good pictures of the tykes.
We took a stroll through the rain forest and, within five feet of walking in, we were shedding layers as it was humid and warm. Feed had been laid out for several of the birds (mostly trays of fruit) and those birds had no concern about the humans – only concern about getting breakfast.
After the aquarium, we grabbed lunch and then headed to the airport. No issues, except the flight was late leaving as they had issues “getting supplies on board”. The flight was fantastic as it wasn’t full. Or half full. They needed volunteers to move to the back of the plane to even out the weight loading distribution, and those who moved got a full row to themselves. We both grabbed a row, enjoyed napping and reading, for the 5 hour flight.
Heading east we we following the sun which worked beautifully. The pilot alerted us when flying over Iceland, which we could clearly see thanks to either elevation, lack of clouds, or both. Regardless, it was amazing! Iceland’s topography never disappoints.
Flying over Greenland, showed what a barren old ice ball it generally is. While everyone’s window was icing over, such that a good picture was hard to get, here is an attempt to show you the sea of ice a large portion of the island is.
The best part of the flight was when the captain announced we were nearing Greenland’s east side, which he proclaimed “is always such a beautiful sight”. Indeed Mr. Captain, indeed!! There were icebergs floating in the water, snow covered mountains, rugged mountains…. Nearly indescribable.
Landing in Kangerlussuaq (prounounced Kanger-lou-swock… but said quickly) was beyond impressive. The village sits at the delta of a river and is surrounded otherwise by mountains/hills. Our landing took us along the river, in between hills/mountains, giving us beautiful views. Unfortunately there was so much frost on the windows that photos from the plane didn’t turn out or show as much frost as they do landscape. Hopping off the plane and doing a 360 though….. no words can describe this! We are in freaking Greenland!!!!!
The airport is small. Very small, but reminded us of Ushuia, Argentina the sailing start for our Antarctica expedition. Here is a good shot of the airport to give you a feel.
From the airport we then went to our hotel. Here is a quick shot of our hotel.
Yea, we checked into our hotel at the airport. Well, hotel IN the airport! We literally grabbed our bags from baggage claim, went to reception for keys, and then walked through the hall to our room. Our room overlooks the runway and mountains and is a fantastic view! So thankful to have been assigned this room. A quick drop of the bags and then we were off for dinner and Northern Light chasing. Here are some more quick shots of the airport, runway, and surrounding topography.
Quick history lesson on Kangerlussuaq – when WWII was brewing, the US Air Force scoped out Greenland as a strategic location, knowing they might eventually be participants in what would become WWII they started surveys of the island, initially to build a large communications array. After first building the array, they then proceeded to built an air-force base (re-fueling base) here in early 1941. (Yes, before Pearl Harbor and before we actually were in the war.) In it’s heyday, the base had around 3500 people. It was decommissioned and turned over to the Greenland government in 1992. Of course that left a perfectly good runway, along with a supporting “village” worth of infrastructure. The village is now around 450 people and has no US military presence.
The town is mainly a collection of buildings around the airport.
We had dinner about 5 km from the airport, up in the mountains. There is a lake that the U.S. military constructed a rowing club on Lake Ferguson for recreation purposes for the troops. We got into a monster bus (meaning a big high clearance, off-road bus) to head up to dinner.
This was the rowing club:
Dinner was reindeer. Yeah, don’t blame us if Santa doesn’t arrive this year! We don’t mind telling you that it was absolutely delectable! Nice cutlets with a rich, brown reduction. Tender reindeer… sooo good! No complaints about the rest of the meal either – unless you accidentally ate a mushroom thinking it was a piece of reindeer.
After dinner was our drive out to “the forest” to see the Northern Lights. (we’re supposed to get a story about the forest tomorrow) Having followed the forecast and cloud coverage, we were 100% confident there was a 0% chance of seeing the lights. And we were right. Considering we were prepared, it wasn’t a disappointment but kudos to the tour company for giving it a go, just in case Mother Nature complied.
The night didn’t end there! Our driver gave us a short scientific lecture on the Borealis’, how it forms, coronal mass moves from the sun to the Earth, the Earth’s magnetic field reacts, etc. Fascinating stuff!!! Equally fascinating was him preparing the Greenlandic coffee. Grab a stemmed glass, like a water glass. Start with whiskey. Follow that with Kahlua. And then add equal part coffee. Cover with whipped cream.
But wait….there’s more! Our driver says he “guarantee’s seeing the northern lights”, and of course since we had cloud cover, this was how he fulfills this guarantee. He poured a small bowl of non-alcoholic flammable liquid to provide a steady blue flame, then pouring Grand Marnier in a ladle, lit the ladle from the flame pot and poured the blue flaming trail of fire down into each glass creating a little Northern Lights effect. We enjoyed watching his coffee making display. (Yep, we have the video if you need to see it.)
But the coffee was a different story. Tim, who doesn’t like coffee, drank his. Partially because he’s polite and partially because there was little coffee flavor. Jay, who loves coffee, took a sip because she knew the only flavor she would taste would be whiskey. And she was right.
Quick briefing for tomorrow’s activities, and then we turned in for the night.
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