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When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Not Forty Below)

4/25/2010

Alaska Flowers in Juneau

With apologies to the two Johnny's - Horton and Cash - who sung "When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)", it is NOT forty below at this time of year. And the Red Dog Saloon is in Juneau, not Fairbanks, boys!

Average temperatures in Juneau in May range from 40F overnight to 56F during the day. The record high in May is recorded at 80F. So, what does that mean for you if you're sailing to Alaska in spring? Just like summer and fall - dress in layers and be prepared for sunny and warm conditions as well as wet and cold conditions. No matter how warm it is or when you travel in Alaska, there are places where you'll need that extra sweater or jacket. You will never be warm enough as you stand in front of Hubbard or Mendenhall Glaciers - there is just too much ice cooling the surrounding air! On other occasions you will find yourself out on deck on in port in shirtsleeves because the temperature has crept up so much.

The marine climate of South East Alaska means that the climate is quite temperate at this time of year. May is also one of the drier months of the year (August gets twice as much rain) so you are bound to have warming sun for part of your cruise.

What draws people to Alaska in the spring? The same thing that draws them out of their homes in the lower 48 - fresh spring air, wildflowers galore, bright sunshine glinting off of snow covered mountains, and Caribou rubbing the velvet off of the antlers (OK, maybe not in all places in the lower 48, but you get the idea).

This really is the only time of the year when the fields will be awash in colourful wildflowers set against pristine white mountains still capped by gleaming snow. The clear, fresh air seems to enhance the colours of spring. Going to Alaska in May means that you will get a second chance to experience spring as it does arrive a bit later up there.

Finally, for all this beautiful weather and scenery, the cruise lines will charge you only half of what a cabin may cost you in the height of summer! With less people travelling at this time of year, the cruise lines want to entice as many passengers as possible in the early season. If you can travel in the spring, you will be the beneficiary of significant savings!

Danish Castles Shore Excursion

4/20/2010

Fredensborg Palace

On a beautiful July day, Jan and I explored Langelinie Pier in Copenhagen where Celebrity Constellation had been tied up overnight. We had spent the previous day walking the city centre and in the evening we explored Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is a jewel of an amusement park that opened to the public in 1843 and if you are there at dusk, you will think you have stepped back into the mid 19th Century. The rides are wonderful, if not as breathtaking as some might like, the restaurants are top-notch and many, and the live entertainment in the park will have you lingering well into the night. In spite of the temptation to stay late at Tivoli Gardens, we had gone home early. A good night's rest meant we were now ready for a tour outside of Copenhagen and into the picture perfect countryside.

After our morning exploration of the pier we boarded our bus. We headed towards North Zealand along Highway 152 and through an area known as the "Danish Riviera." Denmark is a country of eye-watering beauty. The Danes have decided that aesthetics trump mercantile interests and the countryside is devoid of any billboards or commercial signs - including those of estate agents. We turned off on Gammel Strandvej, never having our eyes assaulted by greedy commercialism, and made a photo stop along the Baltic Sea near what once were small fishing cottages. These thatch-roofed buildings used to be the homes of humble fisherman but are now the expensive residences of the well-heeled.

We continued north to Kronborg Castle, located near the town of Helsingor (Elsinore). The fortress here has guarded the narrow strait where only 4km of water separate Denmark from Sweden. While it was meant to guard the Danish frontier, the Swedes walked over in the winter of 1658 and commandeered the castle. When control returned to the Danes, they thought it would be best to increase the strength of the fortifications so that no one else walking by might decide to stop and occupy the castle. As the castle is also known as Elsinore, it has had a close association with Shakespeare's play Hamlet and a number of performances of the play have taken place in the castle.

Fredensborg Palace, the summer home of the Danish royal family, was our next stop. The building, also known as the "peace castle" is where the Swedes and Danes signed a treaty promising to stop swapping castles with each other. A long, descending gravel avenue call the Slotlet serves as the approach to this magnificent castle and seems to be a wonderful place to park a great many tour buses during the summer.

This stop was relatively short and filled with tension as our tour guide herded us around the grounds so that we could arrive at our lunch stop before any of the other tour buses beat us to the buffet. With the perfect timing that usually comes from any tour the Dougall's are on, our tour bus arrived dead last at the watering hole. Regardless, as impressive as the morning's castles were, this restaurant was able to feed six tour bus loads of guests AND had sufficient cold beer (and washrooms) to accommodate every one in short order.

Our afternoon was taken up with a single stop at Frederiksborg Castle, which is also the Danish Museum of National History and the largest Renaissance castle in all of Scandinavia. This castle looks and feels like the home of royalty. From the huge fountain at the entrance to the massive chapel that survived a devastating fire in 1859, we could have spent the entire day there - and having walked most of the building, it seemed like we were there a long time.

By this point, we had done almost all the walking we needed to do on this particular tour and took a well deserved break on the bus trip back to the ship. For anyone interested in Danish history and the wonderful countryside, I would highly recommend this particular tour of North Zealand.

Up Close and Personal

4/9/2010

Totem Pole Detail, Anchorage

Robert Capa, the famous 20th Century photojournalist and war photographer, once said "if your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." The only combat most of us will see is fighting our way through a buffet line on our favourite cruise ship, but the principle still applies today.

Often our first impulse as photographers is to take that wide, establishing shot to remember where we were or prove to our friends and relatives that we went on vacation. Some photographers, for some inexplicable reason, need a shot of themselves in the image - here is me in front of the Eiffel Tower, here is me at the Louvre, here is me in front of Notre Dame. Just try getting an unobstructed close-up of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen without everyone's aunt and uncle in the photo. I eventually gave up trying for a clear shot and now have a photo of the Little Mermaid with a wonderful, extended Turkish family in the foreground.

By all means, take the establishing shot and the shot with your family in it, but stop and look for the details in the image as well. By moving in close, you'll capture the detail and texture of the subject that you often miss in the wide shot. You'll also reduce or eliminate any distracting background elements that may creep in. The photo to the right is of a totem pole in front of the Alaska Court System Building in Anchorage. The establishing shot includes the entire totem pole as well as the interesting yet distracting court building. Getting in close gives the viewer a chance to focus on the colours and shapes of the totem pole and to sense the texture of the wood.

I am sometimes asked "how close is too close?" The answer I always give is the old adage - move in until you think something is missing from the picture, then move back a step. Give this a try - get in the habit of taking a close-up for every wide shot. At the end of your trip, look at your pictures side by side and ask yourself which are the more compelling images? You may surprise yourself with the answer!

Ketchikan, Alaska

4/2/2010

Creek Street, Ketchikan

Sitka was founded because of the sea otter fur trade. Skagway started because of the Klondike Gold Rush. Ketchikan came into existence because of salmon. In 1883, a man by the name of Snow set up a salmon saltery near present day downtown Ketchikan. Soon after, a cannery was set up on the Ketchikan River and was followed by the stores and homes needed to support the developing town.

Ketchikan is located on the western shore of Revillagigedo Island at the southern extreme of the Alaskan panhandle. The Tongass Narrows is the channel cruise ships take into and out of Ketchikan and separates the town from its international airport on Gravina Island. Why isn't there a bridge joining Ketchikan to its airport? Well, funding was set aside for a bridge until someone called it the "Bridge to Nowhere" and now there won't be any bridge at all.

Ketchikan is rich in totem poles. Visits to Totem Bight State Park, Saxman Village, Potlatch Totem Park, the Totem Heritage Cente r, or even Whale Park in downtown Ketchikan will give you plenty of opportunities to view and photograph totem poles up close.

Given the origins of the town, it is small wonder that fishing charters are quite popular here and that many cruise passengers use this port to try their luck catching a salmon or two.

If you would rather stay on shore, there is shopping galore in the compact downtown core. A short distance beyond downtown - and well worth the walk - is Creek Street, where today small shops ply their business where bars and brothels like Dolly's House used to stand.

Ketchikan has a great hardware/souvenir shop/grocery store right at the pier where savvy cruise passengers pick up water, soda and snacks to haul back on board ship. Try to make the Tongass Trading Company on the pier one of your last stops.

This port is a great introduction to Alaska if it is your first port of call and an even better place to do the things you still haven't done if it is your last stop. Be prepared for the rain that falls very regularly in Ketchikan, but get out and enjoy yourself in this wonderful port of call.

Warnemunde, Germany

4/1/2010

Warnemunde Lighthouse and Teepot Restaurant

Warnemünde is a quiet, little port in the north eastern coastal region of Germany. Its attractions are an incredibly long beach, hand arbeit lace and the train that will take cruise passengers to Berlin. Most cruise guests see about 500 feet of Warnemünde as they walk from the pier to the train waiting at the neighbouring station that whisks them into Berlin for the day. The train ride is 3+ hours each way, making for a long day. Jan and I chose instead to stay in the local area and we took a tour of Rostock, the larger city close to Warnemünde.

Downtown Rostock looks like many other Hanseatic League cities - in other words, quite Dutch. In spite of the fact that the city was bombed to oblivion in 1942 and 1945, buildings have been rebuilt and reproduced with astonishing detail to the original look. Walking through the historic main shopping district and past several open air markets is a great way to spend some time.

There are a number of interesting churches you can visit as well. St. Peter's Church, built in the middle of the 14th Century, has a tall polygonal spire with a viewing platform partway up giving excellent views of Rostock and the Baltic Sea. The residential district surrounding the church is wonderful and quiet to walk through.

In Warnemünde itself the town lends itself to exploratory walks and the discovery of small shops and little restaurants to pass the time in. Running parallel to the train tracks but on the other side from the pier, the Alter Strom (Old Canal) is lined with restaurants and picture perfect houses. Jan and I simply walked the streets, peering into shop windows and admiring several interesting churches. Our explorations eventually brought us to the very long (3 km) beach which stretches along the Baltic Sea. At one end is a working lighthouse built in 1897 and the Teepot Restaurant in a building that looks quite pretty for East German architecture.

We put in a full day exploring in and around Warnemünde and would recommend this pretty town to anyone who wants to get up and personal with the sights, sounds and people in this part of Germany. A wonderful thing happened during sail away just at sunset. As the ship manoeuvred away from the pier, the loudspeakers began playing "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli - a nice touch. The ship slowly made its way down the channel between Warnemünde and the Baltic, and a flotilla of local tour boats lined up on both sides of the ship and moved with us. They were filled with German tourists out for sunset cruises. As we made our way along, the small boats accompanied us, blowing their horns with passengers waving, singing and toasting us as we left a surprisingly wonderful port.