Alaska Cruise: Ketchikan

We’ve arrived at Ketchikan and booked a private tour. We didn’t love the excursion choices and wanted to dictate our own agenda for the day.

We disembark early and have some time before we meet our guide so we walk up and down the port while we wait.

We meet up with our tour guide – a younger active guy who has some suggestions for us. It is during our tour that I start compiling a list of all the things that are trying to kill you in Alaska:

Lack of vitamin D
Landslides 
Devils club
False azalea 
Cows parsnip
Skunk cabbage

Our first stop is at a beautiful beach park with lots of interesting looking formations at the shore. It is at this park I see my first bald eagle of the day.

We head to wildlife observation spot where another tour guide is using food to attract birds to the area. We are collectively not fans of this so we decided to try again later.

Our guide then takes us to an off-the-beaten path waterfall with and more off-the-beaten path trail. The trail is not well marked or heavily used. I am sure typical cruise passengers would not be up for taking this rustic trail to get a better waterfall view but we are wearing the right kind of shoes so we are game.

We then stop at a small totem park where we learn more about totems and the stories behind them. We also meet a local artisan who makes knives and other metal items. Unfortunately the totem carver was gone the whole time we were there but we did see a bear wandering around by the nearby river.

After our tour we wander around the town of Ketchikan. I stop at some stores and try some salmon samples. I only wish we were here during spawning season. I think it would be cool to watch the fish, or even bears catching fish.

It’s time now to return to the ship. We head up to the bar at the back of the boat to get a nice view of the boat leaving the port.

Dinner and then rest up for another port day tomorrow.

Alaska Cruise: Bon Voyage

Today we board our cruise ship. My aunt drops us off with the luggage and we wait while she returns the rental car (she rented a car to do some nature excursions while we toured Vancouver). Once aboard we have some time before our room is ready so we head to the main dining for lunch. If you are not familiar with cruising, there is typically many ways on the ship to get fed. One of the more formal ways is in the main dining room where a waiter takes your order off a menu of set choices for the day. We decided it would be a good start to our cruise.

Our first day of the cruise is at sea. We are heading to Alaska and I guess it takes a while to get there. We enjoy some of what the ship has to offer. No pool time though because it is mostly too cold. I do sign up for a fitness class that kicks the crap out of me that first day.

Sunsets

Bingo – I did not win

Dinner

First of many cheese plates in leu of dessert

Tomorrow we dock at Ketchikan.

Vancouver Canada

This summer I went on my first Alaska cruise. More on that cruise later but first I want talk about the day or so I had exploring Vancouver, Canada (British Columbia) – the starting point of the cruise. I have only been to Canada once before and that visit was to Montreal, so I am excited to see another part of this incredibly large country that I have put off visiting for way too long. Although Vancouver has much to offer in the form of natural resources I decided to keep this visit a city exploration since I plan of spending a week observing wildlife in Alaska.

The hotel we chose is further away from the action than I want in Metrotown but I soon see that it is very convenient to get to downtown Vancouver by the elevated train. I take it a few times during my stay. I am in Vancouver with some family members but they arrive later in the evening so my first evening is exploring on my own.

For my first evening I spend most of my time in Chinatown. It is a little rougher in this part of town but I generally feel safe. This is also the location of some good eateries and cute cafes. My first stop is the recommended Phnom Penh Restaurant, a Cambodian and Vietnamese restaurant. I knew arriving that there would probably be a wait since they don’t take reservations. I am told the wait is thirty to forty minutes and they take my phone number for when my table is ready. I wander around the neighborhood while I wait – it actually ends up being closer to sixty minutes and I would have stopped somewhere for a cocktail if I knew the wait would be that long.

I order too much food for one person because there are many things I want to try. Everything I ordered (butter beef, water spinach, chicken wings, moo moo shake) was good and I vow to come back to try more. What I really like is that even though it is awkward to dine alone, especially at a family style Asian restaurant, they seemed to be accommodating by letting me order smaller portions of some of the dishes. A little politeness goes a long way – I am used to being treated as second class in some countries as a solo diner but they did not (although I am certain I would have gotten a table faster if I had a bigger party since there weren’t many smaller tables).

Next stop is at Laowai for a cocktail. They have an interesting food menu that I would be taking advantage of if I hadn’t just eaten a large meal.

I have a reservation at a speakeasy nearby. I walk the neighborhood while I wait for my reservation time.

My last stop is at Bagheera, a speakeasy with an entrance themed like a horse betting window. This is once again another place with an interesting food menu, many of them Indian themed. I want to come back when I am hungry and try some of the menu items.

The next morning my cousin and I take the train into downtown Vancouver and then walk down to the ferries.

We take a ferry out to Granville Island for some snacks and to walk around. There are so many food choices here that I wish I scheduled more time in Vancouver to hang out here. In the summer there is live music and other events happening on Granville Island. Definitely visit their market if you are ever in town.

We also linger a bit to watch some geese and ducks.

We have a food tour scheduled this afternoon so we head to the Waterfront Station to meet up with our group.

We automatically have a connection to the tour guide who has the same name as my cousin’s sister who passed away many years go (I also was very close to this cousin who was six months younger than I). The guide is an actress but also holds many different roles, one of which is as a tour guide. We try a number of dishes around the downtown area and she tells us a little history of each location. While I didn’t love all the food choices (this tour might have been better in Chinatown) she did a good job overall. The tour at least was a good introduction to the city.

After our tour we take a break to have a drink and a view.

Our next adventure is to walk the sea wall down to Stanley Park. We enjoy nice views along the way as well as a seal but our legs and feet are tired. We pledge that we will at least continue on until the Totem poles but then allow ourselves to uber back to the hotel.

Stanley Park

There is so much more to see but we are exhausted and we have a cruise to catch tomorrow so early to bed!

More Copenhagen

It’s supposed to storm today so I am heading out early to the gloriously historic theme park of Copenhagen, Tivoli Gardens.

First I stop at the nearby food hall to try smorrebord and some fresh strawberries. We grow many strawberries where I live and I am embarrassed at what we call a strawberry; I believed I didn’t care for them much because ours are usually tasteless and a large size. This market’s strawberries are the opposite – bite size and full of sweet flavor. I am a fan. I buy a box of them to carry with me today.

Tivoli Gardens, the 19th century amusement park, feels like a walk in a Time Machine with all the splendor of times past. Although most rides and exhibits are actually high tech now, it gives you the feel like you are experiencing something from 150 years ago.

I buy a ticket to just enter the garden, which you can do, but there are also options for passes for rides. There is even an app to buy passes for individual rides if you wish to do so. It is probably more cost effective to buy a ride package but I didn’t really come to do all the rides so I just buy one ticket for one ride I want to try. I spend the rest of my time admiring the decor and eating all the things. I even do a little shopping. I stop at a restaurant on site for a beer and some white asparagus, one of my favorites lately. Not long after my lunch the clouds get thicker and I decide to start heading back to my hotel to wait out the storm.

Before I go back to my room I buy some snacks and gin cocktails to hunker down with. I am being warned about this upcoming storm by locals. I am from Florida and we know how to prepare for a storm (aka Land of Hurricanes) but turns out the storm is actually just a large amount of rain. My local friend tells me a storm like this is a big deal here because they aren’t a car centric city. Everyone has to try to get to their buses or trains or ride their bikes to places in this terrible weather. It is very disruptive. I use it as an excuse to call it a night early and try to see if I now like gin.

The next morning I finally get laundry done. The place close by doesn’t take credit cards but the one ten minutes away does. I start my load and then go out to enjoy a coffee and croissant. The lady who served me asked why I am out so early when it is obvious I am not a local. Yes I get up early no matter what time zone I am in; its my curse: sun is up and so am I. This will explain why I try really hard to go to bed early when I can. My wake time will not change no matter what time I go to bed.

After laundry I go back to Nyhavn to catch one of those canal boat tours, sitting in the back in the open even though it might rain again.. and it does. Luckily I remembered my jacket and it is only a light sprinkle. I get to see other parts of town I have yet to see and probably won’t due to time like Freetown Christiana (an independent hippie squatter part of the city). Today will be another short sightseeing day because I have bought tickets for a concert tonight.

After the boat tour I decide to eat all the foods I’ve had on my list. This leads inevitably to a tummy ache. I go back to my room to briefly recover when I get a message from friends of friends to meet them at a bar before the concert.

I am going to see one of my all time favorite bands tonight – Depeche Mode. When I am traveling I do check to see if any good bands will be in town while I am there and I always just miss bands. This time I am lucky and there are tickets available. After I purchase my seat though I notice I have a warning of it being a possible partially obstructed vision. Darn it! My local friend is going with some other friends. They have tickets in general admission. I avoid floor seats and general admission these days because I’m short and my views are usually very obstructed. It might have been fun to be down below with the crowd and dancing; no one but me is really dancing my section.

I never find the people I am supposed to meet at the Depeche Mode pre-party. I have never met them in person and it is hard to locate them based on the photos I see in the group chat. I decide to go ahead and head down toward the stadium because I have no idea how long it will take me to get there.

I eventually find my seat and the obstruction isn’t the best but I should still be able to enjoy the concert with it. Only unfortunate thing is I am in the center of the row so I need to monitor my fluid consumption. It will be a pain getting past all those people to go to the bathroom.

The show is everything I wanted it to be, the perfect mix of cool new stuff and fan favorites (the last time I saw DM they played majority new music). I am very happy I bought tickets to the show.

Depeche Mode

As expected it takes a while to get back with the crowds thick. However they have non-stop trains arriving to move the crowds out. Copenhagen knows how to plan! I end up sitting in the front and there is a cool view of the tunnels I never noticed before.

Time for bed since I am heading to Berlin tomorrow morning.

Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord

Fjord Cruise

Our fjord cruise doesn’t start too early so we have time to have a relaxing breakfast at our hotel. It is always nice to not have to rush in the morning.

We board the cruise from Flam to Gudvangen and find comfortable seats as our base downstairs where we have a panoramic view. There are a few floors of decks outside that are standing room only so we alternate going inside and out to admire different things during our cruise. Some of us already saw some of this journey the evening before during our RIB boat tour but it is nice to have more of a panoramic view from the large ferry – which is electrical thus reducing the emissions.

We arrive at the even smaller town of Gudvangen. I cannot believe it is even smaller than the town Flam but it is. The major attraction here besides boating is the working Viking village you can visit. We drop off our bags at the Viking village to go get lunch at one of maybe two restaurants in the town. I end up ordering a very large dish of meatballs.

We walk back to the Viking village and wait for the 2:00 PM tour. My friend tries ax throwing as we wait.

The tour guide takes us around the village which acts as a living village. People come from all the world to live and work here, in fact the girl from the entrance is from Minnesota. We learn about metal working, textiles, weapons, and boat making among other things. It is a very educational day in a charming Viking town. I even try archery. I am not great at it but perhaps in time I could be better.

We try one of the local beers and go to catch the bus that is the next leg of our journey. The bus will take us to the train that will take us to Bergen. We have one stop along the way to admire the views.

Finally we are on our train to Bergen. We are getting in later than I’d like. We find a restaurant still serving meals later. It is our splurge meal. I decide to take a chance and order the reindeer steak. I am pleased with my choice. It is similar to beef and not gamey at all. I also order a rhubarb trifle for desert. This is probably one of the best meals I’ve had in Norway so far, and I am paying a good amount for it.

My friend talks me into staying out for one drink even though it is close to midnight (way past my bedtime). It is difficult here because even at midnight, the darkest it will be, it isn’t even fully dark. I would be tricked into thinking it was earlier than it is if my body wasn’t so tired.