Greenland – Day One: Paamiut

I was up early this morning. By 8:15 a.m., we were dressed, bundled in a warm jackets, and standing on the ship's forward deck. The captain had opened it at 8:00, and we weren't about to miss our first arrival into Greenland.

Oh my gosh, it was cold.

Not Georgia cold. Not New England cold. Arctic cold. The kind of cold that goes right through your gloves and reminds you who's in charge.

And it was absolutely worth every second.

Icebergs drifted silently through thick fog. Every few minutes another one would appear, then disappear back into the mist. In the distance, Greenland emerged like a shadow. Mountains, coastline, and rock slowly revealing themselves through the gray.

We just stood there smiling.

We spent the next several minutes together at the rail, saying very little. Some moments don't need conversation. They just need to be experienced.

Grudgingly we headed inside to pick up our tender tickets while Lorraine found us a table for breakfast. Our tender was called at 10:20 a.m., and about fifteen minutes later we stepped ashore in Paamiut.

This isn't the kind of port filled with jewelry stores, chain restaurants, or crowds of tourists. It's a real community, and from the moment we arrived, it felt very different from anywhere we'd visited before.

We simply started walking.

No tour. No schedule.

Just curiosity.

The church was closed for a funeral and wasn't reopening until 2:00 p.m., so we continued exploring. We wandered through town, passed the cemetery, and followed whatever streets looked interesting.

Eventually we found a blue building that housed public facilities and a small gathering area where local residents were selling handmade items.

While there, I watched a presentation discussing some of the challenges facing the community. It was sobering. Life here is not easy. The isolation, climate, and limited opportunities create difficulties that many of us can hardly imagine.

What struck me most was that behind Greenland's stunning beauty are real people living real lives.

The locals weren't unfriendly. If anything, they seemed reserved. Maybe a little cautious. But every interaction was polite, and there was a sense that both sides were trying to understand one another.

At some point we decided climbing the hill overlooking town sounded like a great idea.

The stairs seemed endless. Still, step by step, we made it.

And wow. The view from the top was spectacular.

Colorful homes below. Mountains beyond. The harbor stretching into the distance. One of those views where you stop talking and simply take it in.

Travel gives you moments like that. Moments that photographs never quite capture.

Later, we returned to the church after it reopened. It was small, beautiful, and incredibly peaceful.

Lorraine and I sat quietly for a few moments and said a prayer. Soon a ship excursion group arrived and filled most of the church, so we left a donation and slipped out.

It turned out to be one of my favorite moments of the day.

Simple. Quiet. Meaningful.

Before heading back to the tender, we stopped in a local clothing store.The clothes were nice, but I was surprised there wasn't much that reflected Paamiut itself. No shirts. No hats. Nothing that really connected visitors to the community. A missed opportunity, I thought.

Because if there was one thing I wanted to take home from Paamiut, it wasn't a souvenir.

It was the memory.

The fog.

The icebergs.

The silence.

The climb.

The church.

The people.

The feeling of standing on the edge of the Arctic with Lorraine beside me.

By late afternoon we were back aboard ship, dropping off our jackets and getting ready for dinner.

Our first day in Greenland was complete.