Find Ethel & Colin in the Faroe Islands

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Have you ever heard of the Faroe Islands? (Hint: they are not "Pharoah Islands", and not near Egypt) They are a part of Denmark! They are 18 little dots between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The $64 dollar question is how did the Vikings ever manage to find them, land there, and begin farming and fishing and start a community?

Friday we stopped at their main city on the most inhabited island for the day. We awoke to a glorious sunny day so we had breakfast on the deck. Temperature was about 59 degrees but we were out of the wind and it was pleasant. After eating, we went down to catch a tender (boat) to the town of Torshavn, capitol of the Faroes. By now it was a little overcast, but we walked around the seaport where there were plenty of all manner of boats since this is a sailing society. Fishing is the main industry. We also climbed one of the hills to a municipal park with a war memorial and great view.

Most of Scandinavia is Lutheran but we stumbled upon a Roman Catholic Church which was open and inside were beautiful stained glass windows depicting Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a storm. Very appropriate for an area so connected with the sea.

Back on the waterfront were some very old homes painted barn red and covered with sod roofs -- the grass was very long and even had some "exotic" weeds growing in it. The streets in this part of town were narrow, cobble-stoned, and twisting. We tried to find a telephone for Colin to call his office and found this is a "one payphone town". It was out of the way, at the bus station, and after walking over there, we found out we needed a 90 Danish krona coin to access the phone before we could use the calling card! We tried getting change with US dollars but no one would do it. Not wanting to use another ATM and get more money than needed, Colin opted to forgo the call until our next port in Iceland.

The ship's captain had pre-warned us that, in the Faroes, if you don't like the weather, just wait 1/2 hour. He was right because we had left the ship in sunshine, and within a few hours were experiencing overcast, fog, mist, and then mist heavy enough to require umbrellas -- time to go back to the ship for some hot soup and coffee...................

Dinner last night was all Italian and there was a special offer of "lemon jello" (really it is "limoncello") drinks in special glasses with free refills. Our waitress (Margarita from Poland) convinced us to try them -- she is about 30 and says she drinks them in one shot. Well, not our "less young" table. Ethel managed to sip about 1/2 of hers over the course of dinner, Jocelyn really liked them and handled two while Colin thought it much too sweet after his try. But we did get a set of glasses to take home!

There has been a real logistics problem with the ship's entertainment due to missed flights, weather delays, lost luggage, etc. so during dinner last night an announcement was made that one Tom Briscoe, a comedian, would be the headliner in the theatre replacing the scheduled pianist. Colin did a double-take and said "I know him!" They had worked together in New Jersey so we headed for front row seats and, sure enough, it was the same Tom Briscoe!

Tom even used Colin & Ethel as his "subjects" since we were right next to him, and he asked Colin's name, job, and where we were from -- Colin "froze" (wondering how best to answer so Tom could figure out who he was) and Ethel answered "we live in both California and New Jersey." Well, Tom did a great act, and afterwards we spoke to him -- and then he figured out who Colin was!

In fact, Colin can now say with Mark Twain "the report of my demise was greatly exaggerated" because Tom had heard that Colin had cancer and thought he hadn't recovered. We spent an enjoyable time catching up and will see him again both casually and in another show before he leaves the ship in Newfoundland.

Tonight we cross the Arctic Circle and become official "blue-noses", the mariner's term for those who do so on ships. If the weather allows, we may also see the northern lights. Whatever we see, we'll see the sea! And we will soon be in the North Atlantic.