We are up early and ready to go well before the 8:30 departure time. We find out this will be a et landing so a quick changed is needed. We hike with our group around the tiny village of about 80 people, up a steep hill to where there is a large statue of Leif Erickson. His father Erik the Red journeyed from Iceland in 982 CE and settled in this area with his family. It would have been welcoming, with large flat area under some hills, plenty of grass for grazing, and a good harbor. Although Erik the Red did not like Christianity, his mother did (Norway and Iceland were converting to Christianity) so he allowed her to build a small church in the settlement, and the remains of the church and multiple other buildings were all over the lower area of town. We also went into a replica longhouse, where 20-30 people would ahve lived; it had a central cooking and heating area, the walls would have been lined with elevated areas for sleeping, a weaving loom was set up at one end, and a small private room was perhaps for the newly married. A small room above was for maidens, who would pull up the ladder after the last one entered, and bring it town in the morning, as girls were married in their teens. Leif inherited the land from his father and was a chieftain for the area. he also famously journeyed to the New World, to an area he called Vinland, returned to Greenland, and died about 1025. Norse settlers remained in the area and left after about 400 years. The reasons why are not fully known, but probably have to do with the cooling of the climate in that period and the inability to feed themselves and their animals. We also went into a small house that had belonged to a man named Fredrickson who married an Inuit woman and had 7 children. The house was filled with family photos, some furniture, two parlor organs, some cooking equipment, and a display about the family. The sun came out during our hike and we stripped off our outer windproof jackets, it was probably at least 45 degrees but felt warmer due to the hiking. When we came in, the culinary team had made some adorable polar bear cookies..
After a nice lunch, we had an interesting lecture about how Viking ships were made of wood, which complemented the lecture we had on Monday about how Inuit kayaks are made of small amounts of wood and sealskin (kayak is an Inuit word). A lovely charcuterie afternoon tea was nice, and we came back to the room for a short rest. The evening included some wonderful scenery as we sailed out of Qassiaresuq Fjord. Before the evening recap, we spent some time in the Lounge with John and Reuben, and Reuben amazed us with his ability to do all sorts of interesting AI images with Olaf bears: a polar bar DJ, an Uber Eats driver, one in a hula skirt, one dressed like Elvis, and one next to a pyramid in Egypt. He is incredibly creative. After dinner, we watched a film made in about 1930 called the Wedding of Palo, about a young Greenlandic woman named Naravana, who is being courted by two men in East Greenland, one of whom is named Palo. She and her family and the others in their settlement live in the traditional way, in sealskin tents, hunting in kayaks, eating seals and whales and fish. The scene of the men bringing back some dead seals and her slicing it open and expertly trimming the blubber and eat from the skin was amazing. The man who made the film was half Inuit, half Danish, so he had insight into the culture. Quite something to realize how people were living here only 100 years ago.
Going to sleep to some gentle rocking, which was nice.
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