Summing it up – 35 days aboard the Rotterdam

Well, it wasn’t the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, that’s for sure.  I think you’d agree , though, that I am a look-on-the-bright-side kind of person and the cruising life has more than its share of bright sides.

Here are my top ten…

10. The carpet in the elevators changes daily and tells you what day of the week it is. (Not that it matters, because there is NO WORK)

9. The amazing, caring, friendly crew

8. Swimming when the pool has ocean waves surging from one end to the other in rough seas

7. Rediscovering reading as a means of gleaning information

6. For example, learning about fulmars, which accompanied us for days at sea. I had identified them from my birds of Europe book, but found a great book on the Arctic in the ship’s library. Breeding season finds fulmars in isolated cliff colonies, where the female lays a single egg on the bare cliff, then incubates it for a long 2 months. Potential predators are attacked by vomiting a noxious stomach oil on them, which impedes flying and ruins the insulating properties of the feathers.

5. The art on the ship

4. Crossing the Arctic Circle

3. Passing the final resting place of the HMS Hood, sunk May 24, 1941 in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. The captain sounded a somber, respectful signal as we gazed out over the ocean, empty except for the memories.

2. The large, colorful atlas takes on new meaning when you are on its pages.

1. Walking the promenade deck to work off all those Belgian waffles

So, farewell Vikings, at least until we can return to Newfoundland to visit the settlement that was located there, not so far after all from Maine!