Well. Our two weeks cruising around Alaska has come to an end. In fact, it came to an end at the end of July, yet I’ve just managed to finish posting at the beginning of October. I’m woefully behind!
And I still have problems with blogspot. Damn it!
I’ve jumped ship (pardon the nautically-referenced pun) and at some point in the near future my posts will come from a different platform. Fear not, when that happens you’ll be sure to know.
Next up for the remainder of the year is a 2 week cruise from Amsterdam to Rome, a week in Rome on my own (which is where I am now), 34 days traipsing around the Mediterranean on another ship, and then an inaugural 14 day cruise on Holland America’s new Nieuw Statendam. I’ve always wanted to be on a first sailing of a new ship.
I’ll try to be more timely.
Ciao for now.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Victoria Finale
Our last port before returning to Seattle was Victoria, British Columbia. The obligatory “foreign port” to satisfy the antiquated Jones Act, Victoria is an absolutely lovely little city. Very walkable from the pier where ships dock, you can count yourself lucky to have enough time to take a stroll or even a longer walkabout through the downtown area.
There’s a bunch of things you can do in Victoria and the two main points of interest for tourists are the Butchart Gardens and the Empress Hotel. The Gardens are located outside of town so a car or bus excursion is a must. And may I tell you that the Gardens are a thing to behold. They’ve been around for 100 years with 55 acres of gardens of flowers - over 900 varieties! - and 26 greenhouses. Over a million people visit this place every year. I’ve been twice and loved it both times.
Closer in, in downtown, sits the most elegant Empress Hotel, one of the Fairmont properties. It was built in the early 1900’s and opened in 1908. Its very pretty - a Chateauesque design. A popular event at the hotel is the wonderful and super expensive high tea most afternoons. It faces the inner harbor and recently completed an extensive renovation. In fact, this year was the first time in quite awhile that scaffolding was missing from the outside of the hotel, as noticed on my previous visits.
Adrienne and I chose to meander into town and enjoy the cool weather, sunny skies and people watch. We browsed a few stores and street craft vendors, and eventually made our way back to the ship in time to make it to our last dinner in the dining room so we could say goodbye to our wonderful dining stewards. We would be disembarking early the next morning in Seattle.
After dinner, with the sun still out, Adrienne busied herself with some final packing, and I went for a walk off the ship, along a jetty of sorts, out to a small lighthouse.
There’s a bunch of things you can do in Victoria and the two main points of interest for tourists are the Butchart Gardens and the Empress Hotel. The Gardens are located outside of town so a car or bus excursion is a must. And may I tell you that the Gardens are a thing to behold. They’ve been around for 100 years with 55 acres of gardens of flowers - over 900 varieties! - and 26 greenhouses. Over a million people visit this place every year. I’ve been twice and loved it both times.
Closer in, in downtown, sits the most elegant Empress Hotel, one of the Fairmont properties. It was built in the early 1900’s and opened in 1908. Its very pretty - a Chateauesque design. A popular event at the hotel is the wonderful and super expensive high tea most afternoons. It faces the inner harbor and recently completed an extensive renovation. In fact, this year was the first time in quite awhile that scaffolding was missing from the outside of the hotel, as noticed on my previous visits.
Adrienne and I chose to meander into town and enjoy the cool weather, sunny skies and people watch. We browsed a few stores and street craft vendors, and eventually made our way back to the ship in time to make it to our last dinner in the dining room so we could say goodbye to our wonderful dining stewards. We would be disembarking early the next morning in Seattle.
After dinner, with the sun still out, Adrienne busied herself with some final packing, and I went for a walk off the ship, along a jetty of sorts, out to a small lighthouse.
Kayaking in Sitka
Despite our temporary struggles, we enjoyed the excursion because the scenery was gorgeous. What rain we left behind in Kodiak, the sun blessed us in Sitka. Even Snort enjoyed the day.
Please don’t rain on us Kodiak
Visiting Kodiak for the second time, and Adrienne’s first, I really wanted some sunshine. Alas, that was not to be. It poured. And poured some more. There were a few minutes of rain stoppage here and there , but that was it. Not even a hint of sun nor blue sky. Poop. When I was here a couple of years ago, it was pretty much the same, although there was a short period of sunshine. When the rain clears and the fog/mist lifts it’s quite a beautiful place. I wanted Adrienne to see some of this sunny beauty.
We had no specific plans for the day other than to take a nice leisurely walk along the marina into town and then do a little window shopping, perhaps stop in the bookstore and maybe have lunch. The rain pretty much nixed that plan. Rain is one thing. Pouring rain with lots of wind is quite another. We finally opted to brave the elements and take the shuttle into town. We knew there was a bookstore nearby and figured we could at least get ourselves there without too much trouble.
Well, the bookstore turned out to be a big bust. It was a tiny coffeehouse with a smattering of religious books for sale. Sigh. So we left and figured we’d walk back towards the shuttle drop off and go back to the ship. On the way, we cut through a small strip mall kind of place and happened upon a very cool yarn shop. That was open! Well. Things were looking up. We stashed our umbrellas by the door and spent a good half hour inside. The shop had some wonderful yarns! It also had these paper bags of three different but complementary skeins of yarn that you could buy at a good deal. Probably enough yarn for a shawl. We each bought a bag. It was great fun figuring out which color scheme we identified with.
Purchases complete, we geared up again and made our way towards the shuttle bus. There were a couple of souvenir shops open and that was where most of our compatriots were gathered. Too bad other shops weren’t open in that strip mall because those two stores were pulling in some serious cash. Nothing like some rain and boredom for people to open their wallets. Of course, that included us, so I can’t be too judgy can I?
We had no specific plans for the day other than to take a nice leisurely walk along the marina into town and then do a little window shopping, perhaps stop in the bookstore and maybe have lunch. The rain pretty much nixed that plan. Rain is one thing. Pouring rain with lots of wind is quite another. We finally opted to brave the elements and take the shuttle into town. We knew there was a bookstore nearby and figured we could at least get ourselves there without too much trouble.
Well, the bookstore turned out to be a big bust. It was a tiny coffeehouse with a smattering of religious books for sale. Sigh. So we left and figured we’d walk back towards the shuttle drop off and go back to the ship. On the way, we cut through a small strip mall kind of place and happened upon a very cool yarn shop. That was open! Well. Things were looking up. We stashed our umbrellas by the door and spent a good half hour inside. The shop had some wonderful yarns! It also had these paper bags of three different but complementary skeins of yarn that you could buy at a good deal. Probably enough yarn for a shawl. We each bought a bag. It was great fun figuring out which color scheme we identified with.
Purchases complete, we geared up again and made our way towards the shuttle bus. There were a couple of souvenir shops open and that was where most of our compatriots were gathered. Too bad other shops weren’t open in that strip mall because those two stores were pulling in some serious cash. Nothing like some rain and boredom for people to open their wallets. Of course, that included us, so I can’t be too judgy can I?
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