Down to breakfast, sat inside because it was cloudy so not as nice as yesterday.
The icebergs had changed – one brochure called them ever changing ice sculptures. We noticed that some seemed to resemble things (animals mostly). We saw one that looked like a swan, one a whale and one the head of a snake.
Decided not to go on the walk to the Icefjiord today, instead walked to the bank to change some money, then to a tour operator to book a cruise.
We’d noticed that there were hardly any mosquitoes here compared to Kangerlussuaq, but it seemed like they all woke up today and there were loads.
We’d decided against the midnight cruise because we were consistently going to bed at 21:00 so would struggle to stay awake, plus the cloud cover meant it might not be that good.
Instead we asked about a day cruise up to the Eqi glacier. Unfortunately they only had one seat left, but I said I’d take it and Song could swim behind, but they didn’t go with that idea.
There aren’t that many different excursions – whale watching, midnight cruise to the icebergs, fishing, flights and hikes. Flights are too expensive, the hikes we can do ourselves, the icebergs is only a couple of hours, we’ve seen whales. All the tour operators do the same things. Only a couple do the day trip to the glacier.
Went over the road to another tour operator and they said they didn’t have any scheduled but would ask one of their contacts – if they got 8 people then they’d organise it. So we put our names down.
Popped into the Knud Rasmussen museum, dedicated to, well, Knud Rasmussen funnily enough. He was a famous Danish explorer who was actually born in the house and lived here growing up before moving to Denmark to study, then came back and did a lot of expeditions around Greenland, Canada and Siberia. He was basically the person responsible for claiming Greenland for Denmark and for proving the connection between the indigenous people of the North.
The museum also had information about the area in general – very interesting.
Walked back to the hotel and relaxed for a couple of hours, saw an iceberg outside the window collapse and flip over, which was cool (literally and figuratively), then went out again to check out the menu at another hotel. I forgot to mention that Ilulissat is hilly, so every walk was reasonably strenuous. Song fancied Snow crab which she’d read the hotel had, and luckily it was available. Before we left we got a call from the travel people who said they were sure they’d get the numbers for the cruise, on our last full day, Thursday. Called in on the way, paid the very expensive price (1100 AUD for 2). The lady said if the cruise was cancelled we’d get the money back, it was company policy. Um, yes – a bit rough to charge us for a trip you cancelled.
Walked back to the hotel a different way, lots of people about compared to the last couple of days, not sure why, maybe because it was Monday and they stay inside at the weekend.
Popped into the main supermarket, prices were pretty steep but we didn’t need anything so back to the hotel to chill until time to go to eat.
Got a great table next to the window overlooking the bay, with views of – yes, you guessed – icebergs.
Song ordered the Snow crab, I went for the reindeer steak. I also had a beer.
Song’s was cooked Thai style (lots of Thai food here for some reason) in a curry sauce and she said she would have preferred it just steamed.
Mine was good, although I asked for medium and it was more well done (I can’t win – the steak I ordered medium in Oslo was rare), but the meat was very tender. There was also a small round red glowing thing, but I decided not to eat it.
It was gamey, with a definite hint of liver. I wouldn’t rule out ordering it again one day.
We also ordered dessert – I had a chocolate brownie with chocolate mousse, fruit and ice cream, Song ordered vanilla panacotta, which also came with the same stuff. All the food photos are on Instagram if you’re interested (probably not). Interestingly, the ice in the water is from icebergs. Not surprising really. Cost about 163 AUD. Phew.
Song decided she wanted the crab again tomorrow, and asked if the chef could just steam it, they said yes, so we booked again.
Walked back to the hotel (up and down hills again) and only saw one person, a kid on a bike.
Got back into the room and collapsed on the bed.
Tomorrow we’ll probably do the walk to the Icefjord
