September 6 Nome and the expedition begins

 

Flying into Nome, Alaska

After too many hours spent hurtling through the sky in what amounts to a glorified sardine can - softened on the last leg with bubbles, cheese, fruit and red - this journey, this exploration to the top of the world, has begun. Of course there were more bubbles when we came aboard - mais oui, it is a French ship!  And the banqueting has begun in a 'sensible' fashion balanced by lapping the ship - 330m around Deck 5 so we will have to do quite a few laps! 

All aboard the local school bus heading for the wharf

Climbing aboard the 'mother ship'

The tenders were brought back on board and we were off

Our home for the next 3 weeks - Cabin 617

Our favourite dining space - Sila on deck 9. 

Our favourite dining space - Sila on deck 9. It extends out to the Blue Lagoon Bar at the stern of the ship. Incidentally, in Inuit, this name means 'the spirit that animates all things, the breath of the world'. Sila is the wind and the weather, the forces of nature. The other restaurant on board is Nuna which in Inuit means 'the land'.
We, the passengers, total about 200 in all, with 10% French and the rest Chinese- or English-speaking from many corners of the globe. Lectures will be interesting! First nights are always messy with unpacking, safety drills, etc, but eventually we fell into bed exhausted and not a little sleep deprived.  So ended our first day.