Juneau, Sitka, Alaska Glaciers

Monday was our day in Juneau and we arrived about 11:30am…..and disembarked about noon to find our excursion which is to the Tracy Arn Fjord and on to the South Sawyer Glacier and then back to the Sawyer Glacier. These are historic Glaciers that have become popular as they are not so massive that you cannot get up close to them but can actually get up to within a mile as we did. Tracy Arn Fjord runs south from Juneau and is about a 3 hour jet boat trip to the Glacier itself. Enroute we saw a couple of whales but nothing like our return where a couple of them decided to out on a show. At one pint in the return we just stopped, turned off the engines and watched. The boats are about 40 passenger tri hull style that sits about 2 feet in the water so as to go over the small ice patches easily. There is the captain in front in a small cabin then a covered and uncovered upper level and an enclosed seated area with small toilet and crew area for snacks Etc on the main level. These are older boats but quite safe and very functional for this kind of trip, and they have been doing this for years. All 3 crew members talk and explain what we are going through and one of the crew members, Ryan, really put on a show that the end. Very funny…talented guys. Very cute and a story in itself as I woke up laughing about them.

 

The Glaciers are so hard to describe as they are combinations of ancient ice, sediment, new rain that turns to snow and ice, and the natural elements. The result is the most unusual colors and configuration that one could imagine…see to believe kind of thing. At South Sawyer we got fairly close but the at Sawyer we got up real close and that is where Ryan went out on the side rail and scooped up ice that we then got a photo with. It was here that we went up to the captains area and spent about 30 minutes as he held the boat steady and we watched for the ice to calve, or fall, from the main Glacier. Small pieces kept falling off and all of the photographers were up on the top with their big cameras waiting for that big moment when the big piece would fall off. Well, finally it did…quite an event, as the guide told us that this was a rare occasion….and we were there.

The trip back was interrupted 3 or 4 times by stopping to watch the whales. At one point a whale was swimming with us about 1/4 mile from the boat…..doing his dives, etc and putting on quite a show.

 

Got back to the dock at 9 and caught the shuttle bus back the short distance to the ship area and back on the ship and to our room….a great day

 

A Day in Alaska….

We had a relaxing morning with the buffet breakfast as we overslept the earlier breakfast….or rather took too long in the room…..and as we ate we started to see the glaciers in Glacier Bay….eventually ending up in the front observation areas, going between the inside comfy seats and outside along the outside viewing area. We spent the next 4 hours looking at either the John Hopkins Glacier or the Margorie Glacier. Both are magnificent to see…and again a very major part of the Cruise…and a must to see if you have never seen them. A great day of Glacier viewing.

At 5 pm we went to see the movie in the Big theater style Vista Lounge “Bears. A Disney production…it is outstanding….photos and scenes are absolutely magnificent…and really told the story of the Alaskan Brown Bear….just great.

We then went to seated dining, which we really preferred versus the Buffet…and sat with 5 couples which turned out to be another story that can be to,d when we are home. Suffice it to say the retired IBM guy, the younger Mormon couple where the woman was a teacher and LDS missionary to Russia…the big talking and funny Alabama coupe, and the software guy and his indescribable wife from Maryland. It was a dinner that was characterized by delicious food, loud talking about football and other talking, and absolute bizarre by the Maryland couple. I asked the question of the Alabama guy who was a USAF vet as well as had been in a mission trip to Georgia in Eastern Europe…and had home schooled their kids ” what was the mood of the folks in Alabama about Trump.”…the rest must be told in person so remind us of the couple from Maryland when we get home.

Well, a very full and fun day….as we left the dining room as the last couples to finish as they cleaned the tables at 9 pm….what else is new?

Europe in the Winter…a trip dairy

We took this trip a few years ago, and will re-visit some of these sites, locations, and events this coming December. Here is the daily log:

 

We started thinking about a winter trip to Europe after we had taken a 4-week trip to China in September 2002. Coupled with this, our four children decided to do something for us to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and this started us thinking. At the same time, Audy read about the Christmas Markets in Europe, especially in Germany, and we agreed this would be something we would enjoy doing and seeing…thus the idea was born.

 

Initially we wanted to see these Christmas Markets, but in looking into them and when and where they were held, we found that for the most part they were early to mid December, which just would not fit with our schedule. Then we looked into Tours that would see these various places, and found that they were, for the most part, bus tours where you traveled to a different city each day, etc. This did not appeal to us…so we decided to “do our own trip”. Utilizing United Frequent Flyer miles and Marriott Points for the hotels….all was left with getting around in Europe and we happened on Eurail Passes….and our planning started. Our goal included seeing Berlin, where Audy and I met some 41 years ago while on an exchange type program, and which has been through a lot of change since the days when we rode our bikes under the Brandenburg Gate, including the Wall between East and West Germany. Another goal was to see Leipzig, which had been in East Germany, and which Audy saw in 1988 when she was in Germany with Curt…we wanted to see how the city had changed in the 12 years since the wall came down. Our third goal was to see Warsaw, Poland, where neither of us had been. All three goals were met, as you will see.

 

Day 1 (of 14) started on December 24th, 2002, as we left Redding on the United Express commuter to San Francisco (SFO). At SFO we boarded a United flight to London…where we changed to Lufthansa and on to Dusseldorf and then to Zurich, Switzerland, arriving at 6 PM on Christmas night. London Heathrow Airport is one of the older ones in Europe, and still serves millions annually as it has for 50 years, and it looked just as we remembered it, with tunnels and roads under buildings and very cluttered with offices and buildings almost on top of each other. On the other hand, Dusseldorf is a very, very modern airport serving the industrialized western part of Germany, and this airport is as open, bright, and light…as Heathrow is dark. An interesting contrast, but just right for our timing, for Dusseldorf Airport was very quiet on this Christmas Day so Audy had a good 1 hour nap while we waited for our flight. Arriving in Zurich, we used the shuttle to get to the Renaissance Hotel, which was about 10 minutes from the airport…and obviously it was bedtime, as we had been fling for 24 hours.

 

Day 2—Zurich, Dec 26: After a fair nights sleep (I was awake for 2 hrs. due to jet lag), we got up and took the airport shuttle to the Airport Train Station to catch the train into Zurich. They have arrangements in all of the cities where you can buy a 1 or 2 day pass that allows for unlimited riding on the public transport system. We rode the train into the main train station, which is quite large and quite buys, and after looking around for a place to eat, of which many were closed due to the day after Christmas closing, we walked out on the street to the adjacent McDonalds. Suffice it to say that traditionally we have refused to eat at McDonalds, etc…but, as we found in China, they have excellent “local foods”, as was the case with the Egg McMuffin we had. Quite good and with coffee came to about $4.00. We then walked down their Haufbonstrasse, which is the main shopping pedestrian street in Zurich. Every possible shop…many very upscale..and a beautiful area, in spite of the rain that was starting to fall. We walked about 2 hours and got up to the Lindenhof overlooking the Limmat River and the beginning of Lake Zurich…the Picture-postcard Lake that you often see when you see Zurich photos. From there we headed back to the station area, where we were going to catch the “Trolley tour” of the city, which we did. For 2 hours we got to see the big churches, including the famous one where artist Marc Chagall has the stained glass windows. Quite a beautiful city. Following the tour, we caught the train back to the hotel…a 2 hour rest…and at 5 got up to come back downtown to see “the lights”. We walked back down to the lake and then back to the station for a lasagna dinner…and back to the hotel…a good first day in Europe.

 

Day 3…Zurich to the Alps, 12/27/02: Although Zurich is impressive as a staid and wealthy old city that was not harmed by the war…what we were to encounter on this scenic day trip is almost indescribable. We caught the 9 am shuttle to the train..got on the Lucerne IR, which stands for Inter Regional, train…also known as the express trains…and headed for Lucerne, which is south of Zurich along Lake Lucerne…another picture postcard city. This was the first leg of the scenic trip up into the Alps, so we stopped at the station long enough to get a close-up look at the Lake and the new museum…and try to recall when we were there previously. It was starting to clear, so was very pretty, and in 30 minutes we were on to train #2, bound for Interlaken, which is the entry point into the Alps from this direction. It was here that we met the family from Florida that was on the 1 week ski trip…in Gstaad…and unfortunately for them and thousands of others…no snow, due to the southern Europe warm weather…(40 degrees was the high that day). At Interlaken we boarded train #3..and as we started up the weather cleared beautifully…and off we went to Zweissimen, which is the town for the start of the Golden Pass Scenic tour, and we got on train #4 for the steep climb, etc…into the middle of the Alps. This was absolutely spectacular, and the lack of snow allowed us to clearly see the Alpine villages, the beautiful mountains, and the enchanting valleys and waterways, from creeks to rivers. Nothing like it. And, the train goes where the cars can’t go, in that much of the track is literally along the side of the mountain, making for exciting views. This trip took us 2 hours as we traveled up and over and down into the french speaking part of Switzerland, and into the city of Montreux. Unbelievable beauty describes this part of the trip, as we passed by world famous resorts such as Gstaad…with many people but no snow. From Montreux we boarded train #5 for the short ride into Lausanne…then on to #6 for the return fast train to Zurich via Geneva and Bern. We were back in Zurich by 7 PM, and enjoyed our evening meal of the train…delicious soup and bread, which was about all we wanted for we had been sitting and viewing all day…and what a day it had been. Highly recommended for anyone that goes to Zurich, for this is the real Switzerland that can only be seen on this kind of a train trip. On the train ride back into Zurich, we were on the European bullet trains, and they run at speeds up to 120 mph. We had a number of these…some called IR and some called ICE (InterCityExpress)….and although the ICE is the new and famous looking bullet trains…all of them can really move. Inside the trains you do not hear much, for they are all electric and very quite, but stationary objects that are passed by the trains are blurs…and cars on the highways look as it they are creeping along, although they are probably going 60 or 70 mph. All of the trains are very clean, with very comfortable seats…and they have plenty of non-smoking areas…, which we always had. Some of the trains are double decker, but on all of the trains, the windows are big, so you can see all that you want to see with no problem whatsoever. On the return trip we went along Lake Neuchatel, another picture lake, but often fog covered due to the elevation of the lake when it is warn like it was, relatively speaking.

 

Some observations: Zurich is very expensive and not too tourist oriented. It is the money city with the famous banks and the large insurance companies. Zurich Insurance is the largest re-insurer in the world, attesting to the amount of money in Swiss banks. The area is very clean, and especially so as you travel out into the country as we did. The farms look almost unlived in…so neat and clean. As mentioned, the scenic trip was definitely a highlight.

 

Our Day in Juneau

We had a relaxing morning with the buffet breakfast as we overslept the earlier breakfast….or rather took too long in the room…..and as we ate we started to see the glaciers in Glacier Bay….eventually ending up in the front observation areas, going between the inside comfy seats and outside along the outside viewing area. We spent the next 4 hours looking at either the John Hopkins Glacier or the Margorie Glacier. Both are magnificent to see…and again a very major part of the Cruise…and a must to see if you have never seen them. A great day of Glacier viewing.

At 5 pm we went to see the movie in the Big theater style Vista Lounge “Bears. A Disney production…it is outstanding….photos and scenes are absolutely magnificent…and really told the story of the Alaskan Brown Bear….just great.

We then went to seated dining, which we really preferred versus the Buffet…and sat with 5 couples which turned out to be another story that can be to,d when we are home. Suffice it to say the retired IBM guy, the younger Mormon couple where the woman was a teacher and LDS missionary to Russia…the big talking and funny Alabama coupe, and the software guy and his indescribable wife from Maryland. It was a dinner that was characterized by delicious food, loud talking about football and other talking, and absolute bizarre by the Maryland couple. I asked the question of the Alabama guy who was a USAF vet as well as had been in a mission trip to Georgia in Eastern Europe…and had home schooled their kids ” what was the mood of the folks in Alabama about Trump.”…the rest must be told in person so remind us of the couple from Maryland when we get home.

Well, a very full and fun day….as we left the dining room as the last couples to finish as they cleaned the tables at 9 pm….what else is new?

 

Juneau, Alaska, and the Glaciers

We had a relaxing morning with the buffet breakfast as we overslept the earlier breakfast….or rather took too long in the room…..and as we ate we started to see the glaciers in Glacier Bay….eventually ending up in the front observation areas, going between the inside comfy seats and outside along the outside viewing area. We spent the next 4 hours looking at either the John Hopkins Glacier or the Margorie Glacier. Both are magnificent to see…and again a very major part of the Cruise…and a must to see if you have never seen them. A great day of Glacier viewing.

At 5 pm we went to see the movie in the Big theater style Vista Lounge “Bears. A Disney production…it is outstanding….photos and scenes are absolutely magnificent…and really told the story of the Alaskan Brown Bear….just great.

We then went to seated dining, which we really preferred versus the Buffet…and sat with 5 couples which turned out to be another story that can be to,d when we are home. Suffice it to say the retired IBM guy, the younger Mormon couple where the woman was a teacher and LDS missionary to Russia…the big talking and funny Alabama coupe, and the software guy and his indescribable wife from Maryland. It was a dinner that was characterized by delicious food, loud talking about football and other talking, and absolute bizarre by the Maryland couple. I asked the question of the Alabama guy who was a USAF vet as well as had been in a mission trip to Georgia in Eastern Europe…and had home schooled their kids ” what was the mood of the folks in Alabama about Trump.”…the rest must be told in person so remind us of the couple from Maryland when we get home.

Well, a very full and fun day….as we left the dining room as the last couples to finish as they cleaned the tables at 9 pm….what else is new?

 

Zurich to Salzburg

A few years ago we were traveling in Europe….and, as usual, I try to keep a daily log…so here it is…talks a bit about the events of the day…

Zurich to Salzburg,  We set our alarm for 6 AM..got up and packed and left the hotel on the 7:40 am shuttle to the train station….carrying our luggage for the first time. A lot of thought, and some input from Carrie, had gone into our planning as to what we would take, and we ended up with one large pull-on suitcase, Audy’s green pull-on, and my black shoulder bag, which is used in China and it holds quite a lot. This worked well, for the only real weight was in the large pull on…and with its handles where they are, it is easy to move around. This morning was our first test…and it went well, as we got into the station to look for the Salzburg train. We got there a little early, so went into the mall area of the train station to their “Safeway”, which is called Micros, and got some bread, sandwiches, and drinks to be prepared for the long trip to Salzburg. These shopping areas are very clean and open, as my photos illustrate…and very easy to shop in, although Switzerland does not participate in the Eurodollar system, yet. We then went on up to the gate area, and encountered our first crowds, for this was the Saturday of the Christmas week, and a lot of travelers. We were hoping to get onto the Panorama car…but so were many others…and we decided on the regular first class car…which worked out best. The only difference in the cars is that the panorama cars have the higher windows…but it was crowded and loud…so we were happy 4 cars way in our “private area”. I say private, for the way the seats are configured, we usually had 4 seats for the 2 of us..and sometimes we had the additional 2 seats across the aisle…which gave us plenty of room to move about and go from side to side to see the sights…and make pictures…(I totaled out about 400 digital photos…so I was constantly moving from window to window), so the open areas served us well. At 9:50 AM, we left…and the train was late leaving, which is very unusual for these trains. Off we went heading for Innsbruck and Salzburg…and it was raining, which continued for the entire day. Still the trip east into the Austrian Alps was spectacular, and we did have periodic clearing along with rain and an occasional light snow. We were on an IR train, so once again, fast on most of the flat and straight areas…and slowing down as we went up into and along the mountainside. Again, spectacular. Along the way we passed through farmlands, rich and green valleys surrounded by the jagged peaks of the Alps. Something to see! We went through the small country of Liechtenstein, which is kind of 2 big mountains with 2 cities in the valley…and took us about 15 minutes to go the length of the country with 1 stop. From there we went into Innsbruck….known for the Olympics, of which some of the areas are still used. Reminded me of Aspen, CO, for the mountains surround the valley where the city is…ideal for the Olympics, but not terribly scenic at this time of the year with no snow. From Innsbruck, went up and over the Alps through the Ardhem Tunnel, and it was in this area as we went along the side of the mountain that we saw this bad accident on the road below..and as it turned out about a 15-mile back up in each direction….for there was a lot of traffic on this holiday weekend. Again, thankful that we were on the train. The track usually will go along the valley and follow the rivers, etc….but from time to time has to go along the sides of the mountains, and on a couple of occasions we were looking down about 1500 feet to the valley directly below. Quite exciting. As we came out of the Alps, the train would pick up speed, for we were still about 30 minutes behind…and a couple of times, it seemed like we were exceeding 120…we were “crankin”….but we made it to Salzburg at 4 PM…on schedule. We got directions to the Renaissance Hotel…and being 2 blocks from the train station, we walked over in the rain…and checked into this 5 star hotel. We walked around the area for awhile as we had been sitting all day…then had our first schnitzel at the hotel restaurant…and got to see our first Turkish wedding. About 1000 Turks in the hotel ballroom…all smoking, etc., but interesting. Got to bed at 10 PM after another full and interesting day.