Returning Home After a Summer Aboard The World

As I return to North America and I guess my trip is officially over, but it was an amazing summer aboard The World.
In early September we crossed the Davis Strait between Greenland and Newfoundland. We hit a force 10 gale with wind gusts up to 60 knots and with waves averaging six meters and getting as high as nine.

The second day of the crossing was significantly calmer and I spent most of it hanging out with people I knew on the Ship, packing, and getting ready to go ashore.  We arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland and spent the morning walking around, looking at the waterfront and some of the cathedrals, and just wandering.
It was interesting to be in the “big” city.  St. John’s only has a bit over 200,000 people, but that is a hundred times larger than anyplace we’d been in in the past few weeks.
We had a good lunch at a place called “Get Stuffed”.  One of the odd things about the menu was that you could add a hot dog to any meal for $1.

After lunch we checked into our hotel and then ventured out again in the late afternoon and walked several miles through town and along a nice lakeside trail to Quidi Vidi village in search of their brewery.

Unfortunately the brewery was done giving tours when we got there, but they said that the Mallard Cottage restaurant down the street served their beer.  We had an hour to kill before the restaurant opened so we walked around the village and the nearby lake.
Quidi Vidi is one of the oldest fishing villages in North America and has a quaint lakeside harbor surrounded by colorful houses and backed by rocky cliffs rising into forested mountains.

The meal we had at Mallard Cottage was great, and the halibut collar in particular was one of the best fish dishes I’ve had in a long time.

We took a taxi back to town and had a drink with some friends from Estonia, who had also just left the Ship.  It’s going to take a bit of time to get used to being off the ship.  I haven’t driven a car in three months, haven’t had to commute or deal with airports, and haven’t had to go into the office at all.  Vacation life had become real life, and now I have to switch back.