Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts

May 17, 2017

Juneau

"Juneau what?"

"No. What?"

Couldn't resist writing that--ever since I saw the t-shirt. 

We really didn't see much of Juneau if you think of going from here to there on streets. 
But if you think of going almost straight up, we saw a lot. 


The tram ride to the top of Mt. Roberts gave a unique perspective of the area and a top down view of the Amsterdam. 


At the very top we could see all four of the cruise ships in port. 


And we could see a much wider mountain range across the harbor. 


A surreal forest of huge trees surrounded us. 


Signage explained the looping shapes of these mountain hemlocks. The curvature is called "snowcrook" and is caused by heavy snow creeping and sliding down the mountain. The snow, along with strong winds, bends the trunks while they are still young saplings.   


I did some meditating while sitting in an eagle nest. 


And I visited the resident, captive eagle in his concrete enclosure. Everyone was  excited to be so close to a live eagle, but I was more sad than impressed. 


Every so often he would fly up and try to escape. Ouch!


Back in town we walked the main street where I think jewelry stores outnumbered the souvenir shops. 


We watched crabs being boiled at the most ostentatious building in town. 



But we gave our business to the new "shack" in town-- so new they only had a xeroxed sign on the wall. 


Time to return to the ship and have a wee sit-down on the pier. 


During dinner in the dining room we had--Juneau what? 


Something rare. And not usually on the menu:  A nice slice of town. 

May 12, 2017

San Francisco - Part 2


We hopped off the bus at the entrance to Union Square:


Macy's was right across the street.   


We went there in search of some long-sleeved shirts for Tom. (The weather is getting steadily cooler.)

From inside the store we had some great top-down views.  In fact we had a bird's-eye view of the Big Bus itself!  Whole top down, not top half up. Revenge!!


From inside Macy's we could see all of Union Square:


My iPhone camera couldn't resist zooming in on the statue in the plaza. 


All in all, we had the most "foto fun" of the day at Macy's.


I had the chance to stand right behind the "m" in Macy's storefront signage:


And also behind the "y star-apostrophe s."  Still top-half views, but definitely more fun. 


Also snapped this top-half view from the patio of the Cheesecake Factory on the roof.  (Zoom in to see that red iPhone 7 billboard! )


We hopped back on the bus and drove across the Bridge to  North Vista Point.




There we had a chance to see the Lone Sailor statue--a tribute to all who sailed, in the service of our country, through the Golden Gate Bridge, and especially in remembrance of those who never returned. 


Back on the ship, we said  goodbye to the city spread out before us:



The Amsterdam sailed away at 11 p.m. 




The full moon and the lights strung the length of the Oakland Bay Bridge made for a beautiful sail-away scene: