Second part of the BB coverage of the Greenland tour.
Written by our reporter in the far north, Ulrik Ulriksen.
Summary of the second part of M&F's visit to Greenland.
Like last week I'll write the summaries based on where they went.
Nuuk.
Here M&F went to a gala dinner at the grandest hotel in Greenland, Hotel Hans Egede. (*)
The host was the chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, Aleqa Hammond. She said: "It was a pleasure to see Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Princess Ivalao and Prince Minik playing with the children. The thing about royal etiquette vanish everywhere where the children went along. We are very proud to have a CP-couple who is also a Greenlandic CP-couple".
Present was also the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Greenland, Sven Hartenberg, with wife. The permanent secretary had accompanied M&F throughout the journey.
A local dance-troupe, The Tapdance, wearing Greenlandic national attire, down to kamikker (boots) showed a tap-dance... (Would have loved to see that one!)
Here Frederik amongst others gave a warm and personal speech, where his love for Greenland and delight for the welcoming his family had had, shined through.
The cuisine was very local: Smoked whale meat, reindeer and mutton.
M&F were seen having a good chat with the prominent Greenlandic politician, Lars Emil Johansen, whom the article says is a close friend of M&F.
Earlier on that day the whole family in Greenlandic attire was greeted by the public at the harbour. That can be pretty strenous if you are a three year old Princess, but fortunately it helps having a supporting older brother and older sister.
The twins returned to Dannebrog while Christian and Bella accompanied mom and dad to the more official events at the townhall, where someone had placed a red carpet, and combined with fog and drizzle such a carpet can get quite damp, Christian found out that kamikker are quite useful for surfing or sliding along a carpet. (See small pic in Greenland-06).
Well inside the townhall, there were lots of loooong speeches by adults, and even though Bella soldiered on, she did at some point need a hand to support her head. Greenlandic tapestry in the hall
of the townhall, how interesting is that? A mythological seagull hidden among the details of the tapestry? What gull? Where? - And this is where big brother Christian stepped in. He simply grabbed Bella's head and pointed her nose towards the elusive seagull. Oh, there. Big deal. (Greenland-05 & 06).
If there are classes for royal children in kissing babies, holding babies hands and pushing babies gently on the nose, M&F's must be said to have passed that class with flying colors, because they were seen doing that - a lot!
Qeqertarsuatsiaat.
This hamlet of 200 people got their first royal visit and that had to be commemorated with a plaque placed on top of a nearby hill, which incidentally also serves as a helicopter platform. So under a blistering sun and 15 degrees C, everybody and everything struggled up the hill.
It was actually Bella and Christian who were to have unveiled the plaque, but Mary suggested the twins took over and so it was.
Down again, in the hot weather. Now to visit the local kindergarten, where the itchy bitchy-whatever spider song was sung in Danish and Greenlandic with something resembling the correct finger movements.
Like all other kindergartens in Greenland, this one has also implemented the local version of Free From Bullying, Kamaagiita.
Now it was time for presents. Mary got a ruby, that is there hadn't been time to cut the ruby from the stone it was embedded in yet, so Mary got the stone as well as the ruby. She responded: "What a lovely memory".
Christian also got a present, a clock in the shape of a wood carving depicting Greenland. He responded: "Thanks, that's going to hang in my room". (I remember from one of the docus that Frederik referred the twins to "their room", so presumably their share a room, at least at Kancellihuset at Fredensborg).
It was on the way down from the hill that a local girl found a bird, a chick and showed it to Bella and Josephine. Bella said: "Oh, how nice it is, what's it's name"?
The girl replied: "Marie", and let Bella hold the bird. "Look, it's sleeping".
Josephine: "May I see"?
After quite some fascinated study of the bird Mary said: "Now, you'd better hand Marie back". (**)
While on top of the hill, the family posed for BB's photographer, Hanne Juul. And our reporter, the Ulrik Ulriksen told them that it was her birthday. That led Christian to say a few sweet words and Bella to clap. (See Greenland-10).
Paamiut.
It was in this town Ivalo and Minik were presented for a couple of local twins. And Frederik later on noticed that one of the twins: "Hey, you've got the shoes on the wrong way", so he went down on his knee and made sure the shoes were put on the right feet. - I guess with two lively twins, four feet and four identical shoes in the same size, something is bound to go wrong sometimes!
It was also here Christian took part in a children's relay in a sweltering 15-18 degrees C. But before that the whole family had embarked on a nearby lake sharing pedal boats. Dad and Bella in one boat, mom and Josephine in another. Vincent wasn't in the mood for no pedalling so he had returned to Dannebrog and Christian and the captain of Dannebrog (the adjutant from Dannebrog is the captain, Ulrik Ulriksen!) in a third.
Apparently Bella and Christian played explores because they landed on a small islamd/rock in the middle of the lake and had a look around.
While in Paamiut, M&F and children, along with the locals, formed a heart, which symbolized the warm bonds between Greenland and the DRF.
(*) Named after a 1700's Danish missionary IIRC. Greenland's history as a nation and as a people, rather than isolated bands, started with the Greenlanders becoming Christian and in that way establishing a common modern identity.
(**) No reference to our Marie here, nor from the children. Presumably it didn't even occur to Bella and Josephine, because the Greenlandic girl would have pronounced Marie in Danish, which sounds very different than the French pronunciation, which I guess is what the DRF use.
And to keep it simple here is an overall link:
https://app.box.com/s/gsodm4fg6wdt8wt97sm8
And here is a thoroughly mean "caption this", I've been looking forward to sharing with you:
https://app.box.com/s/lezrhbfvwy8yrlznznt8
Frederik says to Josephine: "Can you say..."?
