It is now Day 5 of the cruise – Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, and I had to wake up early because my shore excursion meeting time  – for the tour titled Juneau City and Mendenhall Glacier Tour – is scheduled for 9:30 am.  This will be shore excursion no. 2 for me, even though it is the third port (I didn’t do an excursion when in Icy Strait Point).

I walked past the train which was right outside where the cruise ship docked, and was half hoping that my excursion would involve a train up to Mendenhall Glacier, but I knew from the tour instructions on my ticket that I would be going on a bus again.  It was only a two or three minute walk, but I was almost late, so I ran the last half minute to the bus.  I was supposed to have been there 15 minutes before the bus set off.  Here are some pictures taken during one of the stops prior to getting to Mendenhall Glacier.  We stopped so that we could take some pictures of the Radiance Of The Seas, and of course, I just loved to take pictures of that beautiful ship.  Here are some of the ship with Juneau in the background:

Radiance Of The Seas in Juneau, Alaska

Radiance Of The Seas in Juneau, Alaska

Here are some pictures taken from the bus, please excuse the reflection of the windows, I just couldn’t stop taking pictures:

    

I think these pictures were taken on one of the stops when we got out of the bus:

I could keep going on, and inserting more pictures, but I think I should stop at that.  I’m sure you can see how beautiful Juneau is, and why Alaska is worth the visit?  Then we went to a place called Chapel By The Lake (it was like a Log Church),  and took a quick look inside, but I was mainly keen to get outside to take pictures:

  

We then drove to another stop to take some pictures of Mendenhall Glacier from a distance:

And now we have arrived at the final destination – first some preliminary pictures of the arrival area:

      

Then, beautiful Mendenhall Glacier, awesome, breathtaking, what can I say?

      

Here are some more pictures of the area surrounding Mendenhall Glacier, isn’t the blue color that’s in the glacier incredible?

      

    

      

  

Well, after all those breathtaking pictures (even though I do say so myself), it seems like a let-down to add pictures of a different kind, but I must finish up, here are some pictures of downtown Juneau, near the cruise ship where our bus took us after the amazing visit to Mendenhall Glacier.

A little background on Juneau: It was discovered in 1880 due to the discovery of gold, Juneau began its history as a prosperous and unique mining town, you can see some of the recommended sightseeing spots by viewing the picture of the sign post below:

You are probably wondering about the food in Juneau, here’s a picture of a menu:

Here’s some pictures I took near to where the cruise ship was docked

          

PS:  If you are going to be in Juneau on June 7-9, 2012, you should not miss Celebration 2012.  This is a major dance and cultural festival held every two years.  Read more about the festival right here: http://www.sealaskaheritage.org/celebration/celebration_2012.htm  and to view beautiful Alaskan Native art showing fabulous Tsimshian culture, please take a look here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/terrance-h-booth-jr.html?page=2

I really hope that you like my pictures of Juneau, and the Mendenhall Glacier.  You just have to visit this amazing place, it was well worth the visit.  Gold was discovered here, but there is so much more to discover too.