Quebec City - one of the World's most beautiful Cities

Today we spent about six hours exploring Quebec City and I think it has to be in the top ten in the world. The architecture of the buildings, the spotless streets, the beautifully manicured gardens and lawns, great restaurants, it's just a fabulous place. Our first stop was the market which had everything available, full of people and heaps of varieties. We walked on to the railway station which was built in the early 1900s, it was just mind boggling ornate frescos, stained glass windows so beautifully designed. We then caught the HoHo bus and spent over three hours driving around the City, the weather was kind and quite warm around 22 degrees.
The outstanding building towering over the City is the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac Hotel as you can see from the photos.
We had lunch at a lovely restaurant spoiled only by the waiter demanding a tip, he was given one but not as much if he hadn't been so rude.
We also passed about fifty fully dressed brides and failed to find out if they were actually being married, what a day, if you want to visit a great place make sure you include Quebec City.

Gloria alongside huge urns in front of station with silver beet growing in them

The Town Hall

Inside station note beautiful stained glass

The railway clock amazing

Parliament House and beautiful fountain

Fairmont Chateux Frontinec

Guess who with two pints

Can you believe so many brides

View from ship note Fairmont hotel on left

Saguenay Quebec Canada What a delight

Saguenay is a City of about 130000 people located on the Saguenay river approx. 200 km north of Quebec City. The Saguenay river is actually about 700 km long and we sailed about 150 km up through fjords to La Baie where the port is located. It is spectacularly beautiful with a new cruise terminal and wonderful surroundings. We were greeted by About 50 locals dressed in period costume and several red Indians in garb. They danced, had a full tepee, handing out blueberry pies and other local delicacies. They  have about 35 cruise ships a year. It was most entertaining and quite mind boggling. We walked around this area in the morning and found they import bauxite from Australia to make aluminium at several factories. Later  we took a bus into Saguenay City about 12 km away where they have a fabulous cathedral and many other beautiful buildings including an old paper mill that is now used as a museum. In 1996 they had a huge flood that destroyed a lot of the town. One. Building known as the little White House survived the flood as it's foundations were fastened to the surrounding rock ( see photo). We passed through some very nice farmland and lovely little towns. A highly recommended place to visit.

From the ship on arrival

Blueberry pies woo hoo

Big chief and the Mayor

Full tepee fire and all

A local river

Beautiful parkland

Stunning Cathedral

Little White house overlooking City

Mother Duck and a local brew

Bonne Bay Newfoundland Canada

We arrived at Bonne Bay Newfoundland after almost three days at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean in quite rough conditions over 15 feet at times. One experience was had when we were having breakfast in the dining room and the waves were smashing up against the ship and making a lot of noise. Mother duck was quite perturbed and when one huge wave came right over the side and I almost had to scrape her off the ceiling.
Woody Point was the name of the town of 7000 people on Bonne Bay which lies on the west side of Newfoundland. It was a nice little place lots of wooden houses but above all we noticed some gardens and trees that we hadn't seen in Iceland and Greenland. A very pleasant change. We have now entered the St Lawrence River and conditions have improved considerably.

Nuuk smallest and most northern capital City in the world

Nuuk is the capital of Greenland with a population of 16500 making it one of the smallest capital cities in the world by population.It is also the most northern capital city in the world.
We arrived to another rainy foggy morning four degrees but it cleared by mid morning and we were able to tender ashore and walk around for a few hours.
Being Sunday didn't make many people very happy as many shops were closed and pubs shut. The city is not in good shape most of the buildings were badly maintained and there seem to be lots of sub standard housing flats.
Not the best port we have seen but we've enjoyed Greenland.
Now we are on our way to Newfoundland Canada almost 1000 nautical miles over two and half days.

Sisimiut - Greenland

After three days at sea everyone on board was looking to go ashore in Sisimiut a town of 5500 people and even more huskies.

When we looked out of our suite window it was pouring rain, foggy and blowing a gale so bad the captain had trouble tieing up at the pier. The rain didn't let up so we decided to bypass going ashore and watched a movie called The Railway Man and almost as soon as it finished the rain stopped and we were able to spend a couple of hours exploring this quaint but hilly town. Unfortunately the locals aren't very friendly look like Eskimos with ruddy cheeks and seem to rarely smile. We were pleased to get the opportunity to look around a different town to what we had seen previously.

Bugger we've missed a couple of ports in Greenland

Unfortunately we have had little luck visiting two ports Paamuit and Illulisaat. the first because the landing for the tenders was unsafe and today because the ice flow was too thick. Captain was afraid we might get iced in so we have been dodging around several bays looking at icebergs and hoping there may be some wild life.
Surprisingly there has been very little a few birds and that's about it. The scenery has been very spectacular it is cold about four degrees today.

Qaqortoq - Greenland

Qaqortoq is a town in Southern Greenland with About 3500 inhabitants and the fourth largest in the Country. We arrived in heavy fog, but luckily it lifted to a beautiful sunny day where we tendered to town. As you can see from the photos it is a hilly town with colourful buildings in the Danish style. There have been masses of icebergs and the one you see has been the biggest so far. One thing you are warned about in Greenland are the Mosquitos so insect repellant  is crucial.
We managed to get through with very limited internet to phone our grand daughter Annabelle who is nine today and were fortunate to be on the phone when they sang her happy birthday song immediately after the line dropped out. Inter net is very limited so difficult to blog at present.

Gloria in familiar red coat note the line of homes towards top right hand side

Our fist view of the town from the ship

Mid town colour

The hotel doesn't open until 12 noon and then reopens at midnight for the nights fun.

Our biggest iceberg sighting

Cruising Prince Christian Sound

Well after two days at sea since we left Iceland we arrived at the entrance to the Sound about 2 pm and there was much excitement as the Captain advised they had spotted the first iceberg.

Prince Christian Sound separates the mainland of Greenland the other Islands of the Cape Farewell archipelago near the southern most tip of Greenland. It connects the Labrador Sea with the Irminger sea. The decks were full of viewing passengers as we cruised the sound in perfect conditions. In many ways it reminded me of the Beagle Channel in South America or commonly known as Glacier Alley. There were more glaciers there where we only saw 3 today and much smaller, but the icebergs made it something different. All the different shades of white and blue plus the towering snow covered peaks around were mind boggling. It was about 8 pm when we sailed out on our way to Qoqortoq.

Our first iceberg sighting

Isafjordur Northern Iceland

Isafjordur means ices fjord a town in the north west of Iceland with 2600 inhabitants.

We discovered a beautiful town with old timber and tin clad  houses hemmed in on all sides by towering peaks and the dark waters of the fjord.

Today was sunny (woo hoo), cold but very nice. Loved the town a few shops open with nothing to buy. Had an Iceland beer and used the free wifi to check footy results. Poor Eddy Collingwood thrashed by the Lions Yea. We are now sailing on our way to Greenland with following seas and peaceful conditions hopefully. 

A beautiful building in Town centre the bakery van below is a 1924 T Model Ford.