July 25 Hubbard Glacier

 It was a grey, cloudy, drizzly kind of day.  The glacier creates her own weather (the onboard naturalist, speaking over the PA system, always referred to Hubbard as "she". Gardiner Hubbard, the glacier's namesake, was definitely a "he".  I guess it's the glacier that's a she.)

This is one of the side valleys that used to be a glacier and now is a river leading to the ocean as we sail in towards the face of the glacier.

A "growler" -- smaller than an iceberg, but wouldn't want to hit one with your ship.  Gender unknown.  Notice the dark blue coloring of a glacier.

Hubbard glacier herself. 

Just a pretty picture.

July 24 Sitka

 On to Sitka, a charming little Alaskan town.  On the way in to the port, a chain of dormant volcanoes.

and just pretty scenery.

St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  A lot of Russians lived here before we bought Alaska in 1867 for $7.2 million (about $151 million today).

We toured the bishop's house since we arrived at just the right time and they had space.

The worship space, with the Russian Orthodox Icon wall separating the people from the altar.

This is the room where the bishop entertained visiting dignitaries.  Note the samovar with the small teapot on top and the hot water spigot down lower.  I'll explain more later...

The bishop's desk, crafted by him personally.  Being a carpenter seems appropriate.

Dining room

This is the way tea arrived from China.  It was wetted, then compressed into very dense blocks before shipment.  Note that the seller/shipper embossed their brand into the block.

When the bishop wanted to make tea, he would remove a small chunk from the block and steep it in the teapot atop the samovar.  He would then pour a small amount into a teacup, then dilute it with hot water from the spigot below to achieve the desired taste.  This seems much more complicated than a tea bag, but also more ceremonial, suitable for a group of dignitaries.

Outside the Alaska Pioneers Home, an homage to the prospectors.

Just a pretty picture (and another dormant volcano)

We (passenger size ~650) arrived at 9am, promptly disembarked and took the first shuttle bus into town.  The Norwegian Bliss (passenger size 4000) arrived at 11am.  We returned to the ship about 1pm and this is the shuttle bus line...

...and here's the rest of it on the other side of the building.  It pays to be early.

Hmm, which one is ours?

July 23 Ketchikan

 Sorry for the delay in posting, seems like we've been busier than usual.  Or napping more...

On our last night at Inn at the Market, we watched the fire pits in use.  Seemed a little warm for them, but many people thought otherwise.

On July 21 our boarding time was 11am, and we're still on east coast time, so we had time to walk around.

Street art, appropriate for windy Seattle

On board Regatta, after the usual Oceania check-in.  Online pre-cruise checkin sounded like a good idea, but almost everything was repeated when appearing in person.  I guess they'll work it out eventually.

We started with a day at sea, cruising up to the Alaskan ports.

Our arrival in Ketchikan was heralded by a float plane landing close by.  Float planes are ubiquitous in Alaskan ports.

While waiting to go ashore we scanned the forest for "ping pong balls" and when we find them, they are actually eagles.  We saw 3-4 in the trees, although only two were ever visible at the same time.  In the same nest.

Ketchikan has a real airport, although if you look closely, above and to the left of the 737 is a float plane operating from our harbor.

Welcome to...

Although they're very proud of their rainfall totals, it's nothing compared to Hawaii.

Totem poles are everywhere.

And surprisingly, old VWs are almost as omnipresent as totem poles.  We saw lots of them in Alaska. Apparently the old VW commercial "How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work?" must really be applicable.

Eagle Park.

Creek Street, famous as the red light district of Ketchikan, is now a popular tourist destination.

Built on wooden pilings above the creek.  There's lots of wood readily available in the area.

Another portion of the creek, with a salmon ladder.  Although it was a little early, we saw some salmon in the creek starting their way upstream.

Just a pretty face along the creek.

Ketchikan (and most of the cities we visited) is built on the side of a hill.  In Alaska these are streets.

More creek.

Just behind the eagle of Eagle Park is the tunnel.  It is listed in Guinness as the only tunnel you can drive through, around or over.

Finally, exit through the gift shop.  Although not on sale, this was an interesting display of Stihl chain saws.  Given the large forests, Stihl chainsaws are an important part of Alaskan history.

Home (for the next week)

July 20 Seattle

 Thanks to the time difference working in our favor, we're up and out of the room early.  The stalls at Pike Place Market are still unpopulated, but there is a line outside the Original Starbucks.

Cynthia stood in line to get the coffee, but the OG Starbucks sells only coffee (and souvenirs). Fortunately there was a very good pastry shop just a few feet away, so breakfast was accomplished.

A five block walk and we were at the Monorail from Westlake Center to Seattle Center -- home of the 1962 Worlds Fair

The most famous building from that Fair is the Space Needle, so up we went.

Here's a 20 foot replica of the Space Needle, done in Lego  That'd be fun to do in the dining room.

Once on top, view were forever, thanks to the beautiful weather.  On this view towards downtown you can even make out Mt. Rainier, just barely through the haze.

Lots of islands in the greater Seattle area, serviced by ferries.

Lake Union, our next stop.

A subject of great discussion, these spiders are actually painted on the roof.  It took an analysis of the shadows to indicate that insects are actually 2-D paintings.  I was wrong.

Back on earth, looking up.

Other items in the Seattle Center area -- International Fountain

We monorailed back to the Westlake Center, and while walking to the next conveyance, the trolley to Lake Union, we came upon several monuments to Seattle greats.  They had cast their footprints into bronze and placed them in concrete.  Here are two guys I've actually met.

There wasn't much at Lake Union.  Lots of yachts.  A bunch of ducks. A few geese.  But no restaurants. It looked like everything was undergoing restoration/replacement/rebuilding.  Couldn't see that from the top of the Space Needle.

We had to take the trolley back, but fortunately, there were several good trucks in Westlake Center, so we enjoyed a burger and fries.