Friday 18th May. Our first stop is Juneau and we are now 9 hours behind you. We woke this morning 5ish to snow clad mountains, a cloudy sky, a calm sea and wind gentle force 3. Outside air temperature 5.9.
Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is located in the panhandle of southeast Alaska. It is the only state capital in the U.S. with no road access. It has a population of 31,000 humans and a lot of furry friends! Black bears are very common - hope they’re common enough for a photo! Our excursion today is to the Rainforest Garden and the Mendenhall Glacier.
We kept ourselves busy yesterday as there was little but sea to be seen. We were in the Bordeaux Restaurant for breakfast at 7.30. What a palaver - it takes far too long! Today we will go to the buffet for speed and less fussing. There were lots of activities all day. We attended the fruit and veg sculpturing and flower arrangement. It was a performance rather than a demonstration so no improvement on my skills in that line! Then we walked a mile on the Promenade Deck - it was really windy and freezing but good for us! We had a sushi lunch and then attended an art auction which was providing free champagne - the first free beverages we have had on the cruise. On embarkation day we had a mucho mango cocktail thinking it was a welcome on board drink - welcome for them at 10 dollars plus tax each! We have learnt to enquire if drinks offered are complimentary. The art auction was interesting but we hadn’t enough champagne to be tempted to put in an offer! The most interesting event was a talk by a naturalist (Shelly Gill) about Alaska and its environment and wildlife. We have now discovered that you can have white bears that are brown bears due to adaptation. Lots of what she said I have forgotten but it was interesting!
Following a short rest, I finally persuaded Jim to dress himself up for the formal evening. He looked well but I forgot to take a photo. After dinner there was an almost disaster as my tights took a slow downward roll and were in danger of pinning me to the spot unable to walk. A quick trip to the thankfully nearby washrooms averted the disaster and I stepped confidently out to join the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party. This involved introductions to all the important crew and then photo opportunities as a champagne cascade was created - a pyramid of champagne glasses filled by myriads of bottles of champagne from the top glass. It was amazing the number of people who availed of the opportunity. We sat and watched sipping another glass of complimentary champagne - 2 in one day! We followed that with another stand up comedian - Derrick Cameron - who has toured with Johnny Mathis for 7 years - funny a bit!
Sorry about the photos - see edited version of yesterday's post.
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