LEATHER ARMCHAIR,
EXPLORERS' LOUNGE,
DECK 5, VIKING OCTANTIS
This is the spiritual core of Viking
Octantis. Designer Richard Riveire
says his team at Rottet Studio took
inspiration from The Explorer's Club in
New York and artefacts from the Scott
Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
The result is an immersive library of
exploration and travel, with a superb
and eclectic collection of books. After
a lot of experimentation, we ultimately
settled on a corner of the lounge close
to our stateroom. Two simple, mid-
century-style armchairs, one leather,
one felt, on a rug that evokes both the
tilework of Scandinavia and the first
explorer maps. You'll find it next to
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Lene Charlotte Tangen's mesmerising
glass sculpture – like a mini iceberg
frozen in space. In the spaces between
the lounges, there are perhaps
the most evocative and poignant
expedition images ever recorded:
Frank Hurley's glass-plate photographs
from Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic
adventure. Outside: slow waters,
the still canopy of pines and birches
drifted eternally on.
LAKE SHORE,
MACKINAC ISLAND
There are historic places on Mackinac (the
fort) and picture-perfect hot spots (the
arch). But my moment of joy was a bike
ride along the shoreline, the pale
limestone rocks of the beach bordered by
wildflowers and grasses on one side and
the Caribbean blue of the lake on the
other. The 183 metre nature trail through
the wetlands and shade of the tamarack
trees is an escape back to a world before
forts and cafés and shops. The -ac in
Mackinac rhymes with 'awe'; and here,
you can see why.
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