we must be in Juneau, Alaska!  (In case you’re stopping by for the first time, I’m taking you, day by day, through the first week of our Alaskan cruise from which we just returned.) To recap:

Sunday — we departed Vancouver on Holland’s Veendam
Monday — a relaxing day at sea
Tuesday — a little shopping and exploring in Ketchikan
Wednesday — Juneau, Alaska

As you probably remember from your grade-school years, Juneau is Alaska’s state capital.  An interesting fact about Juneau that you may not know that it is the second largest US city in area (Sitka, Alaska, is #1).  Juneau has an area of 3,255 square miles and a population of about 31,000.  Government is a main employer here, along with the tourism industry.  The cruise ships bring an estimated 1 million passengers into the port city from May to September.  We visited the steps of the capitol building, a short walk from the pier:

Across the street from the capitol building is a bronze statue of a bear by R.T. Wallen, entitled “Windfall Fisherman”.  There’s something about statues — I just can’t resist posing with them.

I didn’t manage to capture with my camera how steep the hills and mountains are and how dense the trees are, but here is my best shot, along with a photo of a staircase squeezed in between two buildings, leading up to another street:

You can also see a little bit of the flowers in the photo above.  Juneau had lots of colorful flowers growing in containers throughout the town, I think to give a cheery look to mostly gray days.  And a photography note:  flowers seem to photograph better on cloudy days.

As we headed back to the ship, the color of the water was noticeably different from what we’re used to.  Glacial water has a milky green color from the powdered rock that is released into the water from the glaciers.  I think it is especially beautiful.

And speaking of glaciers, the Mendenhall Glacier (which we visited a few years ago) is a short distance from Juneau and is definitely worth a visit if you are going to be in Juneau.

For a map showing where Juneau is in Alaska, as well as lots more information, you can click here to visit Wikipedia.  Be sure to stop back tomorrow for a visit to Skagway.  Wear warm clothes and bring your cup of java!

Sue