While we were asleep we were ever so quietly sailed into Glacier Bay. My first visit to the open deck greeted me with an overcast morning, surrounded by snowy mountains, icebergs and glacial temperatures. This place is most exquisite, no matter what the weather is like. It is hard to describe, how the white of the snow, the reflections on the still water, the wisps of clouds rising from the sides of the mountains, and the iridescent blue of the glaciers, all made this unearthly atmosphere. You can imagine I was busy with my camera. We spent quite a bit of time here floating from glacier to glacier but I could not name them, as it was not important to me. All I knew was, that it was a most exceptional experience, and I just wanted to soak it all up.

Life aboard the ship was lavish but not what I would yearn for. First finding your way around on this behemoth is a challenge, then getting to know all the activities and deciding what to do next, then where to eat, what to eat, where to drink and so on and so on….. Decisions, decisions! So, taking the easy way out we decided on a nap after our morning on the deck. There was formal dress up for dinner this evening, which made me a bit nervous, as I got way too comfortable with my jeans and sneakers. But we both got ourselves all dolled up, and managed to enjoy the festivities. After the escargot and the ever-present salmon we had a nice surprise for us. The waiters about twenty of them all marched around the dining room to the tune of Strauss’ Radeczky March carrying high the sparkling Baked Alaskas. Quite a sight! But, I am still not sold on Baked Alaska…. Later on we attended a mediocre cabaret followed by the Philippine crew’s show, which I found rather sweet.

I had an early morning walk and photo session on the deck and took quite a few photos as we arrived at our first and only port of call, Ketchikan. The locals call it “ Catch what you Can”. (very “catchy” and please excuse the pun). It looked like a cozy little town nestled against snow capped mountains with a busy little harbor, float planes arriving and taking off, and cruise ships docked by the waterfront. We disembarked our ship and took off on a morning walking tour of the town. Our guide was pleasant enough but not very informative. Maybe I was expecting a bit more in-depth narrative than: ‘this is the church, those are steps going up high, that is an eagle” - and so on. But our afternoon guide Derek was more on the ball and he gave us the usual juicy anecdotes and a bit of history of the town. The Ketchikan has a population of about eight thousand and an average annual rainfall of nearly 160 inches. It is considered one of the wettest places in North America. The town is built on stilts, and Creek Street, a boardwalk row of houses on pilings, used to be the red light district during the golden days a century ago. Today the famous or rather infamous “Dolly’s House” is a museum, but to get in you still have to pay the old tariff of $2.00. Our guide took us on a trolley a bit south to a town named Saxman Village, whose claim to fame is its collection of totem poles, mainly carved by the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian native tribes. I must confess I have a fetish for totem poles ever since I saw that first one many years ago in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Naturaly, once again I got a bit carried away with my camera. By the time we got back to our boat around 4pm, to our surprise the hustling and bustling town looked quite deserted. According to our guide the town is alive from 8am to about 4pm while the cruise ships are in town and spill their cargo. Afterwards they roll up the sidewalks, lock the garbage cans, and the town returns to just another sleepy place by the Inside Passage, until the next morning’s installment of tourist arrive. And so, life goes on in this manner in Ketchikan four months out of the year. When winter arrives no more tourist and most of the town’s businesses close up. Only a few hardy souls stay over the winter months and hibernate.

As our ship pulled away from the dock, Suzie and I waved goodbye to Ketchikan and retired to the Crows Nest lounge for a bit of libation and a relaxing chat. I had me self a white Russian which gave me quite a buzz. I guess I am just out of training, after all, can’t even remember when I had one of those last.

After our sumptuous dinner once again, we were ambling along the shops and lounges when all the sudden I heard some faint echoes of familiar music. How strange and how out of place I must be hallucinating. But sure enough I heard it again and quite close this time. This was real, and it definitely sounded like Franz Lehar’s “Land of Smile”. Then there it was, what unmistakably looked like a Hungarian Gypsy band. Yep, they were straight from Budapest with a six-month engagement with Holland America. Needless to say, I was thoroughly astounded! Hungarians have a strange way of showing up in the most unexpected places. So, what else could I do, I sat down for a while and enjoyed the familiar melodies. Oh, nostalgia!!!