Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The sea was turbulent after we left Ketchikan. After a disturbing night, we arrived Victoria safely the next day. It was a beautiful day, a nice cold afternoon infact. We were so lucky. It was just so timely that we arrived Victoria, British Columbia on July 1st, when Canadians were celebrating their Canada Day. How fortunate to have participated in their celebration.

Welcome to Victoria, Canada!

We're in Canada.

While a lot of tourists took the trolley or go on a bus for sightseeing excursion, we opted to walk on foot to the town center guided by a map.

I was glad to have taken a photo of this beautiful vine covered walk way. By the way, that was Lucas back walking under the vines. Hehehe.

Took pictures of beautiful houses and gardens.....

My dream house and garden. Hehe.

 

We finally reached the Parliament Building.

Canada Day was very festive and merry in Victoria.

We mingled in with the celebration.

The marina, the huge pine tree, the totem pole and the parliament building behind us. Such nice view.

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Ate supper at a nice cozy restaurant. I ordered pizza and classic coke. Hehehe.

In front of the restaurant, festive atmosphere all over.

Got to walk back, the boat will be leaving at 11:30pm. Fireworks started at 10pm. Walking down the street, we enjoyed being part of the street party. Unfortunately my camera could not capture the night scenes. I loved the festivities in Victoria.

The parliament building at night.


Arriving port on foot.

What a wonderful day. Happy Canada Day!

Ketchikan, Alaska

Our ship, the Crown Princess docked at Ketchikan Port, Alaska in the morning. Roy and his painting group left for Ketchikan town early to paint. We tried catching up by rising earlier than usual too. It was raining that morning. We knew the artists would be painting at this picturesque place called Creek Street, so we followed suit. It was a good thing for us the place was not yet teeming with crowded tourists, that Lucas, Martha and I got to enjoy the serenity and unique beauty of the area, much to our delight.

Ketchikan, Alaska - it was a wet morning. We went first to the visitor center, Martha took hold of a map, and we proceeded to explore the beautiful place.

An overcast day.

Following the map, we passed through some commercial area, went through a short tunnel, walked a few, and wallah, we reached Creek Street.

At Creek Street.......so uniquely beautiful....

Very picturesque. Fortunately it was still empty of crowds.

The shops were just opening. So pretty!

We decided to visit a quaint museum. The Dolly House Museum - the house of the last legal madam of the district.

 

An interesting story and place to see.

We enjoyed Creek Street so much., visited lots of shops and bought a lot of things. Here Lucas was interested to have pictures taken with wooden bear carvings.

Chainsaw carvings....My husband works in a hardware, he sells a lot of chain saw by the way.

Artists at work.

Can we have another shot of the beautiful place?

On our way down from Creek Street. It was really worthwhile to have a head start. Look at the streamline of visitors teeming in...

Being a mason, my husband took delight in taking Masonic temple pictures during his travel.

A close up picture of a Masonic temple in Ketchikan.

I like taking picture with quaint beautiful houses though.

And memorable and historical places too. Hehehe.

 Lucas and the anchor at the pier.

Goodbye Alaska, it was so nice to be here. We'd come to love you during this short voyage.

Thank you my God for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you so much.

Glacier Bay

I woke up one morning to a beautiful Alaskan bay scenery from my stateroom window. Today the ship was cruising through Glacier Bay for passengers to view. Roy took off early with his painting group before we even woke up. They were out there somewhere painting on the deck of the ship. Lucas, Martha and I woke up all excitedly. We hurriedly went to the 15th floor for our morning buffet breakfast first. Alas, all the dining view windows were already taken by the earlier risers. We however found a nice table for strategic overlook. After breakfast, we went searching for a deck with a more vantage view point. Martha brought us to the upper front deck for better viewing. Everybody was oh so excited:

Woke up to a beautiful Alaskan bay view.

Wonderful sights from the buffet breakfast window.

Approaching Margerie Glacier!

Wow, we found and settled at a nice vantage point for viewing. Actually every side of the boat was a vantage point for the ship turned around thrice for everybody to have a good look of the glacier.

Martha and the Margerie Glacier. We were so excited. We even saw some glaciers calving in, followed by loud crushing sounds. It was really a novel experience for all of us.

Really beautiful!!! After the calved-ins, more icebergs appeared on the bay.

More carved ins and more icebergs.

 A chunk of iceberg with birds standing on it.

The Lamplugh Glacier was huge, more bluish but dirty. According to the commentator, "The glaciers eat the mountain for breakfast", as it moved forward to the bay. They were formed millions and millions of years ago.

Extend of the Lamplugh Glacier

We finally found Roy and Peter Seiler painting at the port side of the deck.

Mr. Peter Seiler, the reknown artist.

More bay view

Another glacier yonder, and the Crown Princess steered away from the bay for another day.

And here are Roy's postcard sized paintings of the Glacier Bay. Well done, Roy!!!