Aletsch Glacier (part of the Unesco World Heritage Sites) can be seen from Jungfrau area (train to Jungfraujoch from Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald) or from the high Wallis village of Riederalp.

The glacier is phenomenal !
Enjoy the pictures

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Ooit gaan wandelen op de flanken van de Aletsch gletsjer ?
U zou het best eens doen !

De Aletsch gletsjer maakt deel uit van het Unesco werelderfgoed en kan benaderd worden op 2 verschillende manieren. Via Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen of Grondelwald met de trein naar Jungfraujoch of via het hoge alpendorp Riederalp.

De gletsjer behoort tot één van de mooiste van de wereld !
Geniet van de beelden.

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I have visited Beijing with all the major temples and the Great Wall + Xian with its temples and amazing Terracotta army + Shangai with its museum, the illuminated sky etc.

Beijing - Xian was done by night train

Xian - Shangai with the airplane

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I have visited Beijing with all the major temples and the Great Wall + Xian with its temples and amazing Terracotta army + Shangai with its museum, the illuminated sky etc.

Beijing - Xian was done by night train

Xian - Shangai with the airplane

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I have visited Beijing with all the major temples and the Great Wall + Xian with its temples and amazing Terracotta army + Shangai with its museum, the illuminated sky etc.

Beijing - Xian was done by night train

Xian - Shangai with the airplane

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Beijing - Xian was done by night train
Xian - Shangai with the airplane

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We had made a reservation to go on a boat trip to spot sea others.

They were very shy, but we could see them playing and eating in the Seaweed.

Sitka itself is 10 times smaller than the average population of a cruiseship. I gues after the passengers of the cruiseship did left the village it was almost ad a ghost town again.

This is what wikipedia writes about sitka :

The City and Borough of Sitka is a unified city-borough located on the west side of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean (part of the Alaska Panhandle), in the U.S. state of Alaska. Sitka is the state's fourth-largest city in terms of population and the nation's largest city in terms of area.

The name Sitka (derived from Sheet’ká, a contraction of the Tlingit name Shee At'iká) means "People on the Outside of Shee," Sheet’-ká X'áat'l (often expressed simply as Shee) being the Tlingit name for Baranof Island. The town is sometimes referred to as "Sitka-by-the-Sea."

Especially the history of the village is very interesting :

The area was originally settled by the native Tlingit (Kolosh) Indians. Old Sitka was founded in 1799 by Alexandr Baranov, the governor of Russian America. Baranov arrived under the auspices of the Russian-American Company, a "semi-official" colonial trading company chartered by Tsar Paul I. In 1802 a group of Tlingit destroyed the original establishment known as Redoubt Saint Michael (an area today called the "Old Sitka") and massacred most of the Russian inhabitants. Baranov was forced to levy 10,000 rubles in ransom for the safe return of the surviving settlers.

Gajaa Héen (Old Sitka), circa 1827. The new Russian palisade atop "Castle Hill" (Noow Tlein) that surrounded the Governor's Residence had three watchtowers, armed with 32 cannons, for defense against Tlingit attacks.Baranov returned to Sitka in 1804 with a large contingent of Russians and Aleuts aboard the Russian warship Neva. The ship bombarded the natives' village, forcing the Tlingits to retreat into the surrounding forest. Following their victory at the Battle of Sitka the Russians established a permanent settlement in the form of a fort, named "Novoarkhangelsk" (or "New Archangel", a reference to Arkhangelsk, the largest city in the region where Baranov was born). In 1808, with Baranov still governor, Sitka was designated the capital of Russian America.

Bishop Innokentii of the Russian Orthodox Church lived in Sitka after 1840. The Russian Bishop's House has since been restored by the National Park Service. The steady influx of American settlers eventually caused the predominant religious influence to sway from Russian to Western European. The Sitka Lutheran Church, built in 1840, was the first Protestant church on the Pacific Coast. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Michael was founded in 1848, and St. Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church was consecrated as "The Cathedral of Alaska" in 1900. There are twenty two buildings and sites in Sitka that appear in the National Register of Historic Places.[2]

Saint Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral in SitkaSitka was the site of the ceremony in which the Russian flag was lowered and the United States flag raised after Alaska was purchased by the United States in 1867 after the sea otter pelt trade died out. The flag lowering and raising event is re-enacted in Sitka every October 18 (Alaska Day). After the original ceremony, the entire U.S. government presence in Alaska until the Klondike Gold Rush consisted of a single customs inspector on the island. Sitka would serve as the capital of the Alaska Territory until 1906, when the seat of government was relocated north to Juneau. The state's first newspaper, The Sitka Times, was published by Barney O. Ragan on September 19, 1868.

While gold mining and fish canning paved the way for the town's initial growth, it wasn't until World War II, when the Navy constructed an air base on Japonski Island, (with its 30,000 service personnel) that Sitka finally came into its own. Today Sitka encompasses portions of Baranof Island and the smaller Japonski Island (across the Sitka Channel from the town), which is connected to Baranof Island by the O'Connell Bridge. Japonski Island is home to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (IATA:SIT, ICAO:PASI), the Sitka branch campus of the University of Alaska Southeast, the Mt. Edgecumbe High School — a state-run boarding school for rural Alaskans, the Indian Health Service regional hospital SEARHC (SouthEast Alaska Regional Healthcare Center), a U.S. Coast Guard air station, and the port and facilities for the USCGC Maple.

The Home Rule Charter of the City and Borough of Sitka was adopted on the 2nd of December, 1971[3] for the region of the Greater Sitka Borough, which was incorporated on the 24th of September, 1963.

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Impressive views of the floating ice and the stunning glacier.
I feared for a moment when the ship turned around and all the passenegsres moved from onde side of the ship to the other side !

Our huge ships was so heavy the engines touched the valley fllor and a lot of mud come to the surface.

We were also very disappointed when a Holland-America line ship came next to us and continues to a short distance of the giant glacier !
We could only whatched what happened with tears in our eyes :-)

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Het einddoel van onze Alaska cruise was de Hubbard gletsjer.
Deze gigantische gletsjer raakt het zeewater over zijn volle breedte (enkele kilometer)

Indrukwekkende vergezichten en continue animatie wanneer we door het vlottende ijs varen.

Door het gewicht van het schip woelden de schroeven een heleboel modder los van de zeebodem en moesten we onverrichterzake op onze locatie blijven liggen, enkele km van de gletsjer vandaan.

Jammer natuurlijk omdat iedereen graag zo kort mogelijk bij de gletsjer wilde komen.

Een Holland America cruiseschip passeerde ons en ging doodkalm tot net voor de gletsjer leggen.

Knarsetandend genoten we veredr van de natuur :-)

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Wikipedia writes the following about the hubbard glacier :
Hubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. From its source [1] in the Yukon, the glacier stretches 122 km (76 mi) to the sea at Yakutat Bay and Disenchantment Bay. It is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, with an open calving face over ten kilometers (6 mi) wide.[2] Before it reaches the sea, Hubbard is joined by the Valerie Glacier to the west, which, through forward surges of its own ice, has contributed to the advance of the ice flow that experts believe will eventually dam the Russell Fiord from Disenchantment Bay waters.

The Hubbard Glacier ice margin has continued to advance for about a century. In May 1986, the Hubbard Glacier surged forward, blocking the outlet of Russell Fiord and creating "Russell Lake." All that summer the new lake filled with runoff; its water level rose 25 meters, and the decrease in salinity threatened its sea life.[3]

Around midnight on October 8th the dam began to give way. In the next 24 hours an estimated 5.3 km³ of water gushed through the gap, and the fiord was reconnected to the ocean at its previous level.[3] This was the second largest glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) recorded in historical times.

In spring 2002, the glacier again approached Gilbert Point. It pushed a terminal moraine ahead of its face and closed the opening again in July. On August 14, the terminal moraine was washed away after rains had raised the water level behind the dam it formed to 18 m (61 ft) above sea level.[4] The fiord could become dammed again, and perhaps permanently. If this happens, the fiord could overflow its southern banks and drain through the Situk River instead, threatening trout habitat and a local airport.

The ice at the foot of Hubbard Glacier is about 400 years old: it takes that long for ice to traverse the length of the glacier. The glacier routinely calves off icebergs the size of a ten-story building. Where the glacier meets the shore, most of the ice is below the waterline, and newly calved icebergs can shoot up quite dramatically, so that ships must keep their distance from it as they ply their way up and down the coast.

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The very powerful boats chased the whales, but once iunder water they allways came above water in a totally different area, often at the other end of the bat and miles away.

It is a nice sport, but disappointing if one thinks that touching the while is very easy.
At least in our case it was difficult !

This is what Royal Caribbean writes about this trip :

Experience two of Alaska’s premier attractions: glaciers and wildlife! Combine a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center and a whale-watching cruise in Auke Bay. The whale population is so great that the tour operator will give you a refund of $100 per adult and $50 per child if a whale is not spotted on the trip.

Combine the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching all in one excursion! Your fully guided tour will begin with a motorcoach ride during which your driver will share local history and points of interest as you make your way to your first destination, the Mendenhall Glacier with its stunning views and photo opportunities. While at the Visitors Center, Forest Service interpreters are eager to share facts and answer questions related to the natural forces that form these great rivers of ice. Tour the exhibits and view the glacier from this prime vantage point.

Your tour continues on to scenic Auke Bay, where you will board a sightseeing vessel and be guided through island-studded fjords famous as feeding grounds for the endangered north pacific Humpback Whale. In fact, the whale population is so great that the tour operator will give you a refund of $100 per adult and $50 per child if a whale is not spotted on the trip! Your onboard naturalist and crew will point out sights and explain the behavior and habitat of wildlife that you may encounter - killer whales, Steller sea lions, Dall's porpoise, harbor seals and bald eagles are commonly spotted and there is always a possibility to find a Sitka blacktail deer or bear along the shoreline. Snow covered mountains and green rainforests serves as a backdrop to your many photo opportunities. Use of binoculars and complimentary wildlife guide and map are provided along with complimentary snacks and beverages.

Comfortable walking shoes, a warm waterproof jacket and camera are recommended

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Deze cruises zijn te reserveren bij arakea.com

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A photo shoot of the Legend of the Seas
Lehend of the Seas is a Royal Caribbean ship.
It belongs to the Vision family of ships
The * of the Seas ships are all very comfortable ships. Most staterooms have balconies.
Disadvantage (if one would call this so) is that the ship carries at least 1500 passengers. It can be compared as a small village!

This is what Royal Caribbean writes about this ship :

Thousands of windows showcase the world's most memorable coastlines and ports. Whether you're cruising the Inside Passage or docked in Cozumel, you'll never lose sight of the reason you came aboard. Filled with an endless supply of entertainment and relaxation options, Legend of the Seas boasts 70,000 tons of fun and adventure for up to 2,076 guests. With 9-hole miniature golf, four whirlpools and a Solarium with a sliding roof, there's something for everyone onboard this cruise ship.

Ship Highlights

Rock-climbing wall
Glass-walled dining rooms
Casino Royale
SM
Themed bars and lounges  
Indoor/outdoor pool in a Solarium with a sliding roof
Stunning Centrum, an open atrium featuring shopping and more
9-hole miniature golf course
Outdoor pool
4 whirlpools 
Adventure Ocean® youth facilities
ShipShape® Day Spa and Fitness Center

Ship Facts

Maiden Voyage: May 16, 1995
Passenger Capacity: 2,076
Godmother: Cindy Pritzker
Gross Tonnage: 70,000
Length: 867'
Beam: 105'
Draft: 24.5'
Cruising Speed: 24 knots

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Enjoy the incredible sunset in the inside passage in Alaska

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Tijdens de vlucht zelfs 2 grizzly beren gespot, maar helaas niet kunnen fotograferen.

Indrukwekkend.

Als men ooit in de buurt komt, zeker doen !

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Fly over four glaciers during 35-40 minutes of helicopter flightseeing. Your pilot will choose a remote glacier where you may step out and explore for 15-20 minutes

See four of Alaska's spectacular glaciers as your pilot flies over the ice spires and pinnacles of the "cascading" Hole-in-the-Wall Glacier, the "advancing" Taku Glacier, the "retreating" Norris glacier, and either the floating Dead Branch glacier or the river-like East Twin Glacier. Land on a remote glacier to step out and explore the ancient landscape with your pilot as your guide. Peer down into a crevasse and look for a glacial stream. On the return trip, watch for bears, mountain goats and moose.

Glacier boots are provided to wear over your shoes and flat shoes are recommended. Please wear warm clothing and bring your sunglasses. For security purposes, no bags are allowed on the flight. Due to weight restrictions on board helicopters, all participants must register their body weight at the time of booking. This is a requirement of the helicopter companies to ensure guest safety and comfort. Approximately 35-40 minutes flight time and 15-20 minutes on the glacier

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De 2 uur durende trip was adembenemend mooi. We vlogen eerst boven de Inside Passage om evrvolgens de achterliggende (grotendeels onbewoonde) bergen in te trekken.

Als kers op de taart landde ons watervliegtuig naast een cruiship in een kleine diep ingesneden fjord.

Besneeuwde bergen, watervallen, gletsjers, binnenmeren enz - het ne al mooier dan het andere.

Als u ooit op Alaska cruise zou gaan is dit een dikke aanrader.

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While cruising the Inside Passage in Alaska we made a landing in Ketchikan, Alaska.
We booked the Misty Fjords National Monument Flightseeing Tour, a 2 hour trip with a foatplane.
We enjoyed it a lot.
For everybody going on an Alaska cruise we encourage doing this trip if the weather is nice. You will not regret it.
The water landing on an inner lake (with a cruise ship next to us) was very spectacular !

This is what Royal Caribbean (the company we cruised with) is telling their clients on this tour :
Discover the depths of the remote two million acre Misty Fjords National Monument by seaplane. Land on a mountain lake or saltwater fjord and absorb the silence and scenery. Approximate 65 min. flight and 10 min. water landing.

Experience a landscape slowly crafted by nature over tens of thousands of years and by forces so great that only nature could create such handiwork. Once buried under a solid layer of thick glacial ice, the Misty Fjords National Monument is now home to some of the most dramatic scenery in Alaska. Sheer granite cliffs, plunging 1,000-foot waterfalls, river valleys, and crystalline lakes surrounded by untouched forests are sights waiting to be seen.

The only way to discover the depths of this remote two million acre wilderness is by floatplane. Travel is aboard a fleet of DeHavilland and Cessna aircraft. Specially equipped aircraft offer all the amenities to make your trip a memorable experience, including digital CD audio systems and individual passenger headsets to listen to your pilot's narration and complementing music. During your tour you will land on a remote mountain lake or saltwater fjord where you may absorb the silence, serenity and monumental beauty that surrounds you. A descriptive route guide helps identify landmarks and scenic highlights and serves as a memento of the trip.

Participants are advised to wear shoes with non-skid soles. Please contact the shore excursion desk if you weigh more than 275 pounds. Approximately 65 minutes flight time and 10 minute water landing. This tour operates under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service.

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What a beautiful city ! Hilly like San Fransisco, but without the shap edges of American cities.

Vancouver is also an example how people from different races can cohabitate and live peacefully together.
The Indian community is very huge in Canada and especially in Vancouver.

Immigration to Canada is well steered and gives less frictions than in most other western countries.

Additionally the city is nice to stroll, has good restaurants and has of course : water all around

The cruise terminal in Vancouver is amonst the biggest in Northern America.

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On a beautiful sunny day the view and impressions are really stunning !

You can also see glaciers and at the end, the city of Vancouver from the air.

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Skiing was great, although the last day a winter storm almost isolated us on top of the mountain.
The ski patrols had to rescue us !

The ski area is SUPER for snowboarders. It is good for almpine skiers, although not excellent.

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I visited the villages of Wengen and Mürren.  I had to leave my  car in ‘Lauterbrunnen’ (means only  sources) a village in a steep valley at about 25 km south of Interlaken.

There is only a walkway or the train to reach  Wengen and Mürren.  The view  to the ’Berner Oberland’ Alps is great.  I walked from Wengen to  ‘Kleine Scheidegg'’. My view  was the  Eiger Nordwand and later on the Jungfrau. 

The walks were very pleasant. Cows with big bells were grazing in the sunshine. The flowers took advantage of the summer and the sun to show their nice colours.  It was really  hot summer weather and I had no tree to rest in the shade.

Gizeh is certainly the most impressive site, with many pyramids next to each other.

A camel ride through the desert to view the pyramids from a distance is also very worthwhile.

Saqqara is also a well kept site which is still more and more developed and finally Dashur is really in the Middle of Nowhere, but we liked it especially well.

Take 2 full days to explore these Pyramid sites with their Museums.

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We were fortunate with the weather.

One day, and the content of this post, was a sightseeing of a full day in old Cairo. Mosks, the Old Souk and the Egyptian Museum where the highlights of our visit.

We stayd overnight in Le Meridien Pyramids in Gizeh at walking distance (10 minutes) from the main pyramid site. A lovely hotel. Most rooms have views on the pyramids. Even, when swimming in the pool, the pyramids could be seen !

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The 1 st building on this avenue is the ‘Hotel Adlon’ a very luxury hotel of the Kempinski hotel group. We enjoyed drinking a coffee in the atmosphere like the old days.

‘Unter den Linden’ avenue has still the atmosphere of the old days. The luxury shops are sometimes very extravagant. In the side streets are many elegant shops.

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We visited next the village and the Salmon hatchery.

Our ship towered high above the local houses. We cruised the inseide passage with the Legend of the Seas, a luxury ship of the Royal Caribbean cruise line.

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