End of the vacation

We finally had good weather for the last day of our cruise, which couldn't have come at a better time, as today was a day at sea sailing Hubbard Glacier and we had some fantastic views.   Initially the ship was head on facing the Glacier and we went  up to the Observation lounge to get a good view. But after about  an hour the captain turned the ship side on and all the photos  below were taken from the balcony of our suite. As Silver Moon is a relatively  small ship we were able to get much closer in than most cruise ships. 

After spending 2.5 hours at the Glacier we sailed on up the coast to Seward, getting a great view of some really big mountains capped with snow.  We managed to win the last trivia competition of the cruise and traded in our points for a Silversea apron. Wow! 

In the evening we had a special meal at the LaTerazza restaurant,  capped with a glass of amazing dessert  wine, then it was back to the cabin to pack.  Cases were to be outside the suite at 11pm, ready for disembarkation at Seward at 8am in the morning.   

After disembarkation we took the complimentary coach to Anchorage airport where I finally managed to see a moose.  We managed to leave for Vancouver before Putin arrived.  

Back in Ottawa now. Please tune in again in October for my trip to Portugal. 

Sitka

Sitka is the former capital of Alaska. The capital was moved to Juneau in 1906 following the discovery of gold in the Juneau area.  

Sitka is situated on a collection of small islands.  It reminds me a bit  of the 1000 Islands area in the St Lawrence.

Denise and I were booked on the sea otter wildlife quest, which involved sailing around the islands in a catamaran, looking out for wildlife.   We saw one humpback whale,  a large number of stellar sea lions, several sea otters and quite a few bald eagles,  sitting on their nests.  The weather was dry for a change and we were able to stay on deck and watch the wildlife.   Unforunately,  due to the rules that the catamaran  has to stay at least 100 yards away from the animals so as not to disturb them, and the fact that I don't have a fancy camera with a telephoto lens,  my photo are less stellar than the sea lions. See if you can play spot the bald eagle in its nest in the photo below.

If you figured out it was the white blob at the top of the dead tree on the centre left of the photo,  you get a prize.

We managed to win the trivia this afternoon and then went to the Hot Rocks restaurant again for dinner.  After dinner we went for drinks in the Observation lounge and watched the sunset. I think this is the first time we've seen the sun since Vancouver!

Skagway

I've been  fascinated by the idea of visiting Skagway ever since I saw the movie  "The Far Country" starring James Stewart.  It's a western about the goldrush up in Alaska and set in Skagway.  Definitely worth a view if you can find it somewhere.   

Denise was booked on the Yukon Whitepass railway  trip, while I'd chosen to do the streetcar tour.

We drove through town up to the overlook by which time it was cloudy and raining again so there wasn't a lot to see through the fog.  Skagway sounds like a pretty grim place in the winter, with temperatures going as low as  minus 60 fahrenheit.   The resident's main off season activity seems to be collecting driftwood and sticking it to their buildings.  The one below is supposedly the most photographed building in Alaska with over 7000 pieces of driftwood stuck to it. Shame about the truck parked outside.

After that we went out to the Goldrush Cemetery to view the grave of "Soapy" Smith and Frank Reid, the 2 participants in Skagway's most famous shoot out. 

Both men died. Soapy the local crime lord, died immediately;  while Frank, the local lawman,  died nearly 2 weeks later from the infection to his wounds.   Soapy's grave is actually just outside the consecrated land of the graveyard, because you don't want your outlwas buried with your inlaws.  Meanwhile Frank got a nice stone memorial (the only stone marker in the graveyard).  

After waiting for Denise to return from her railway trip we went to dinner with our cruise director,  Zaid.  One other couple, who were Australian were at the table with us. We got on so we'll with them that we stayed at the table chatting for 90 minutes after Zaid left post dessert.

Juneau

Today we reached Juneau,  capital of Alaska,  and winner of the 50th most attractive state capital building.   

We had a trip to Glacier gardens near Mendenhall Glacier,  which was very pretty.  

After that, it was on to the Glacier itself. The weather during our trip has been pretty miserable,  and today was no exception.  When we arrived at the Glacier  visitor centre and walked to the photo point it was completely shrouded in fog and you couldn't see anything at all,  but about 5 minutes before we were due to leave the fog cleared just enough for me to take this one blurred photo. 

After getting back to the ship and drying out we spent the late afternoon drying out and doing puzzles in the Arts cafe on deck 8 before heading to one of the specialty restaurants for dinner.

Ketchikan

This morning we docked at Ketchikan.

Denise was booked on a sea plane excursion,  but it was canceled due to poor weather,  so she ended up joining me on a trip to the water park. Sorry,  sorry,  I mean the rainforest park.  I know it's a rainforest,  but honestly you wouldn't  believe how hard it rained all day.   There was supposed to be a good chance of spotting bears on the trail by the creek,  but I guess it was too wet for them as we didn't see any.

On return to town, we walked around Creek Street, which was the old red light district.  The local joke being that the men could catch fish on one side of the street and crabs on the other.   

The other fascinating fact I learned today was a way of remembering the 5 local kinds of salmon using your fingers.  Thumb = chum salmon. Your pointer finger that you would  use to poke someone in the eye = sockeye salmon.  Your middle (tallest) finger = king salmon. Your ring finger = silver salmon. Your pinkie finger = pink salmon.  Locally, giving someone the middle finger is known as the king salmon salute.

After searching town to find somewhere for Denise to buy stamps we finally returned to the ship,  soaked through, and spent the rest of the day drying off.

Tomorrow we go to Juneau.

Sailing the Inside Passage

Today is a day at sea.  Woke up at about 8am and took this view from our balcony.

Unfortunately, this was as good as the view got because it clouded over after  breakfast and then started to rain and there was thick fog.  The captain  spent most of the afternoon blowing the fog horn so we didn't hit anything.

We still had a good day onboard enjoying a game of bingo and then coming 2nd in the trivia competition.  

In the evening,  Denise and I were booked into the hot rocks restaurant on the pool deck, where you cook your own meat at the table on a heated rock.  

We ended up in the Panorama lounge afterwards for liquid dessert in the form of some very yummy cocktails. 

All Aboard Silver Moon

Found a fantastic coffee shop near our hotel this morning called Nemesis at the Polygon.  Despite the rather pretentious name the pastries were out of this world.  I had a Blueberry cheesecake Danish and Denise had a Marsala Tiramisu cruffin.  We got to watch them making the pastries for later in the  day while we drank our iced lattes.  Altogether, a very lovely  breakfast experience. 

After checking out of our hotel we took a taxi over to the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place and boarding was a very smooth experience.  Silver Moon isn't a big ship (roughly 500 passengers) and the terminal  building was obviously built to cope with the behemoths that cruise ship companies are churning out these days,  so the terminal seemed vast and empty and there was a lot of walking involved. 

By 1pm we were comfortably onboard with a glass of champagne  enjoying the views from the windows in the lounge.  There is a small sea plane "airport " near the cruise ship terminal so we could watch the planes taking off and landing every 10 minutes or so.

Rooms were ready by 1.30pm so we after lunch at the pool grill, we went to the room, met our butler,  watched the mandatory safety video on our TV with another  glass of champagne and unpacked. I won't do a big description of the ship as most Silversea ships (Antarctic expedition ships excepted) are identical and I probably gave a long description of the one I went on for my Adriatic cruise last year. 

We set sail from Vancouver at 6pm and were treated to some lovely views of Vancouver and the Rockies as we made our way out to sea.   

After dinner in the  restaurant we had an early night as I'm still on ottawa time. Tomorrow is a day at sea sailing the Inside Passage to Ketchikan. 

The wrong hotel

We arrived in Vancouver just after lunch and took a taxi to "the Pinnacle hotel" near where the cruise ships go from.   After the taxi had left we made our way to reception and tried to check in, we discovered that there are 2 Pinnacle hotels in Vancouver,  and our hotel named "Pinnacle at the Pier" is actually in north Vancouver, nowhere near where the cruise ships depart from.   Nice naming Pinnacle hotels!

So it was back into another  cab and over to our actual hotel.  It is in a very nice area and close to the waterfront giving us a brilliant view across to the downtown skyline and the cruise port terminal.   The big ship in the photo isn't ours, that won't arrive until  tomorrow. 

The hotel included a free glass of wine in the bar and we followed that up with one of the prettiest cocktails I've had, called an Empress.  

Then we walked around the pretty waterfront area and found a lovely restaurant with great views and had a really lovely meal.   It's amazing how a mistake with the hotel can lead to such a nice surprise.  We'd never have found this lovely area by ourselves.   

Tomorrow we have to take a taxi back to the cruise ship terminal to board our ship: Silver Moon

Off to Alaska

 Heading out to Alaska tomorrow for a cruise.  Normally I post a photo of my case here, but just for a change I'm posting a photo of our new cat who we picked up yesterday.  She's 9 years old and we're  calling her Nonnie.

The rest of the vacation

This will be my last blog entry for this trip.  It's a summary of my last few days in London. 

Becky and I checked out of our hotel in Greenwich the day before  yesterday and headed to Paddington.  I dropped my bags off at the Hilton in Paddington and Becky and I had lunch together before I saw her off on the Heathrow express.    

Then I met up with my friend Kris and we headed out to the open  air theatre at Regents Park to see a musical comedy called "Shucked".  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and the performance was excellent. 

Kris and I had dinner at Franco Manca afterwards and then sat chatting at the Costa in Paddington until it was closing and we got kicked out.   It was a great day together. 

Yesterday, I met up with my old school friend Gurjit and we had an amazing afternoon tea at Taj near Buckingham Palace. 

Then we walked over to Hyde park and toured an art exhibit at the Serpentine Gallery. It was so nice to see Gurjit again after so many years.  

Today is my last day in London.  I was due to meet another friend,  but she had to cancel.  So after I check  out of my hotel here in Paddington I'll probably just wander round the shops before  heading out to Heathrow.  I have one more night at the hotel in Terminal  2 before flying home on Sunday. 

Day 21 - Horniman Museum and Gardens

I was watching an episode of QI on YouTube the other day and one of the Victorian curiosities they were asking questions about  (a merman skeleton) had been loaned to them by the Horniman Museum.  I'd never heard of this place,  but a discussion  ensued between the QI competitors, with all of them saying how they'd been to this museum  and how nice it was.  So I decided I should check it out next time I was in London. 

It's a bit out of the way, and being south of the river it's not on the underground network.  Instead,  we walked from Greenwich to New Cross Gate station and took the London  overground Windrush line to Forest Hill.  The museum itself is free, as are the lovely gardens.  It houses a large selection of curios from all over the world that Horniman collected. 

There's also an aquarium and a butterfly house and there was a special exhibition of robots  made in the shape of animals, called "robot zoo",  but these have an entrance fee,  so we didn't do them.

It's Becky's last day in Greenwich (she's heading for Heathrow tomorrow), so after returning  from the Horniman we went for a nice lunch at a restaurant we'd spotted near the Cutty Sark.   The wait staff didn't speak great English  and after ordering "taramasalata as an appetizer ", what we got was taramasalata and an appletizer!  

After lunch we went back to the Maritime Museum again and went around the 1st floor. We hadn't managed to see that floor before the museum  closed for the day on our previous  visit. 

Then it was off to our favourite ice cream shop again which was all we wanted for dinner after such a large lunch.  Today I had caramel popcorn and black vanilla flavours.

Day 20 - Prospect of Whitby

During previous visits to London we've taken  river cruises and sailed past a pub called The Prospect of Whitby several times.

The pub is noticeable because there is a hangman's noose set over the edge of the river just in front of it.  So the guides on the boat always point it out and explain that this marks the location of the aptly named Execution Dock.  Pirates and other criminals were hanged here until 1830, with the bodies often left to be washed away by the tide.

The Prospect is the oldest riverside pub in London, having managed to avoid being burnt down during the Great Fire of London  in 1666. 

The pub is associated with Judge Jeffreys, the notorious  hanging Judge, who was said to enjoy dining at the pub while he watched the executions.

As the pub is very close to where we are staying in Greenwich (albeit on the other side of the river) we decided to go over there today for lunch.  We took the DLR over to Shadwell and walked through Wapping and along the Thames path on the other side of the river. Had a nice lunch at the Prospect and after that it was back to Greenwich to see another  movie.  We've also found a really amazing ice cream shop in Greenwich with some amazing flavours.  So having had a big lunch at the pub we decided to just have ice cream in the evening.  Yesterday I tried lotus biscuit and banana caramel,  so today I had jaffa cake and peach. Yum!

Day 19 - Disembarkation

This morning we had to be out of our room by 8am. We hung out in the ground floor bar waiting to disembark, where they had set up a small breakfast buffet.  After saying  goodbye to some of the friends we'd met onboard we took the clipper to shore and found our cases in the tent they'd set up in the grounds of the Royal Naval College.   This is the end of our cruise, but I still have  6 more nights in London. 

We headed over to our hotel in Greenwich and dropped off our bags, although it was too early for us to check in.  So we walked back to the Royal Naval College and toured the painted room and the chapel for a while.  

We had lunch at a Costa and decided to go to the movies in the afternoon and see "Thunderbolts ".   We walked back from the cinema along the Thames path on the side of the river. It was a lovely afternoon, so we stopped at the  Cutty Sark pub for a cider on the way.  

After checking in at the hotel  we got an early night as we had been up early for disembarkation.