Friday Bench (22): Nuuk

This week's bench is a follow-up to my earlier ABC Wednesday and Shadow Shot Sunday posts.

Outside the Atuagkat bookshop you can stop and help yourself to a steaming cup of coffee gratis.

My favourite benches discovered last week include Marley's in Cheltenham, VP's in Bath, Dimple's in an office and Sylvan Muse's at Houghall.

Shadow Sunday: Nuuk

This week's shadow shot is a follow-up post to my ABC Wednesday N is for Nuuk.

The sheep in the photograph have been keeping the grass down in the church yard and are being led away for their next job.

You can read an account of my day in Nuuk on my Cruise Journal.

For more shadow shots visit Hey Harriet.

ABC Wednesday - N is for Nuuk

Previously on this blog I have brought you to Qaqortoq. Now we journey further North past the icebergs to Greenland's capital Nuuk, once known as Godthåb.


Like anywhere else, when you visit the bank, you tie your dog up outside by the nearest litter bin.


while tourists stare
a dog shadows its master
on main street


on their way home
dashing past dandelions
schoolgirls chatter


On one of the hillsides is this sculpture by Aka Høegh.


This is looking down at the Colonial Harbour. On the left is a museum. On the right is the statue of Hans Egede. Between the buildings you can see the queues of cruise passengers waiting to return to the ship.

There is a photograph of some of the souvenir sellers on sithenah and a fuller account of my day in Nuuk with other photographs on my Cruise Journal.

For more N posts visit ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday - I is for Icebergs

The first iceberg I ever saw in person was at about 4pm on Sunday 14th July 2005. We were in an area of the North Atlantic known as Irminger Havet. One of the party had a portable satellite navigation gizmo which put our location at 58° N, 42° W. The iceberg was still about 17 miles away.


We passed by it and continued sailing towards Greenland.


As we anchored off Qaqortoq we could see several bergs towards the North.


There was even one floating in the small harbour where a girl was kayaking.


The next day on the way up to Nuuk we passed more icebergs. The vertical marks, incidentally, are streaks on the outside of the glass through which the photograph was taken.


We saw fewer on the return journey. Greenland's icy mountains peered above the coastal fogbank.

We were not able to navigate Prince Christian Sound which cuts a sort of South-East passage across the end of Greenland.

If you want to know more about life among the icebergs, check out North, Chris & Jane's blog from Uummannaq.

You can read our 2005 cruise journal or access all 27 high-res photos from Qaqortoq.

More I posts can be seen on the ABC Wednesday Anthology blog.

Others can be found via the ABC Wednesday with Mister Linky which carries a registry of participants.

Bridge at Qaqortoq

Greenland's icy waters flow under this bridge at Qaqortoq. Buttercups grow in profusion on the riverbank.


This is the view below the bridge.

Read my earlier post Q is for Qaqortoq or an account of my visit on 2005 Cruise Journal.

My entire collection of 27 photos can be viewed at Qaqortoq 2005

A full list of participants to Broer som Binder can be found on Runes TX-blog.

A video of Qaqortoq

I just discovered this brief video flyover of Qaqortoq.

My ABC Wednesday - Q post was about Qaqortoq; our visit is documented on my cruise journal 2005; a series of haiga can be found at Haiga online and the full set of 27 photographs at Qaqortoq 2005.

ABC Wednesday - T is for Travel

I could have gone T for Tallinn but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here and here.

I could have gone T for Trondheim but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here.

I could have gone T for Tenerife but you can see my photos and account of that island here.

People seem to have the impression that I am well-travelled but I have only visited 13% of the world.



This map and the others you can compile on the net are bit misleading but interesting nonetheless. For the first 50-odd years of my life apart from a week in Amsterdam in 1980 [which included a day-trip to Brussels] and one holiday in Denmark, I never left the UK. However we saw an awful lot of the UK from St Agnes in the Scillies to Unst in Shetland. Very few areas of the British Isles are unvisited.

We didn't start world-travelling until 1999 when we ventured across the sea to Ireland. Later that year we flew via Amsterdam to Los Angeles. On the visited countries map that is enough to colour in the whole of the USA from New York westwards including Alaska.

In 2001 we had our tremendous holiday of a lifetime spending a month travelling around New Zealand which puts some colour in the bottom right-hand corner. The dot representing Singapore, our only stopover in Asia barely shows up.

The following year, having had to give up driving, we took a coach holiday through Europe visiting 9 countries in 9 days. There were some highlights but, in some respects it was possibly one of our grimmest holidays. It certainly colours the map though.

It was three years before we ventured abroad again on a fabulous cruise to Ireland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. In 2006 we went quite mad (and why not?). Firstly we had a holiday in February to Tenerife, which adds Spain to the map even though we've never seen its mainland. June saw us on our second cruise, this time to the Baltics. Although we only visit St. Petersburg, the map covers in the whole of Russia all the way to Siberia! Finally at the end of September we went to Crete, which adds Greece to the map even though we've never seen its mainland.

Our only holiday this year was a week in Southport. We have enjoyed a few day-trips to various places. The likelihood is that we won't be doing very much physical travelling in the future except for short journeys. Any regrets? Absolutely none. I travel Around the World everyday without leaving home.

ABC Wednesday - Q is for Qaqortoq

Q is for Qaqortoq


Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!


It was on July 11th 2005 and you can read an account on my 2005 Cruise Journal.


The hillsides of Qaqortoq are covered in buttercups. Around the town are several stone sculptures. These are part of the Stone & Man Project. They date from 1993 when Greenlandic artist Aka Høegh encouraged Nordic artists to create shapes and reliefs from natural stone formations.


The fountain in Qaqortoq is the only one to be found in the whole of Greenland.


We were treated to an impromptu concert by the local choir Erinar Soqatigiivi, led by Mrs. Pitsi Høegh, the manager of Qaqortoq Turistforening. Most of the songs were based on folktales which the leader recounted in detail and with much humour. The choir sounded something like a cross between a barber-shop quartet and a Welsh Male Voice Choir. I bought a copy of their CD Tuppalleri Tarneq. It doesn't seem to be listed anymore on the Atlantic Music website, so I hope I'm OK letting you hear this sample track Ullumi Juullerpoq.



A slide-show of six photos + one-line haiku can be found at Haiga Online

My entire collection of 27 photos can be viewed at Qaqortoq 2005

Another Place To Go

Well as if I don't spend enough time on the computer with my blogs and my websites, I've just created another blog.

Another Place To Go is a window on the world. Whilst Around the World is a guide to daily photo blogs, this new one highlights photographic sites that present their pictures in albums. There are links so far to Newcastle, St Petersburg, Venice. Qaqortoq and other far flung places.

off Greenland

an early morning
passage up this Northern sea
unknowns await

words and photo © gerald england

The theme this week at One Deep Breath is Poetry of the Sea.
This particular bit of sea is off the West coast of Greenland.

An account our adventures there and other pictures are at Cruise 2005.

Qaqortoq 2005 is a full album of photographs.

My Qaqortoq collection of haiga can be found at Haiga Online.