Juneau was our next port of call in Alaska. Since we had made arrangements for a helicopter tour at noon, it meant we had plenty of time to go exploring the town in the morning. After getting off the ship, we followed the path towards the city centre. The first thing we saw was the Mount Roberts Tramway. We didn’t actually take the tram up the mountain, but it did look impressive as we watched it disappear at the top.

Towards the city centre, we passed by the Red Dog Saloon. Right in the middle of the intersection was Manila Square. I was quite surprised there was such a strong Filipino community in Juneau. We continued walking up the path till we reach the Alaska State Capitol Building. Not too far from there is the Governor’s house. From there we backtracked and went inside a few shops. At we neared the docks, we saw some fishermen weighing in the catch of the day.

Afterwards we went back inside the ship to drop off our purchases, then we headed out again to wait with our tour group. This is where my second tragedy struck – we were told that our tour was cancelled. Apparently there was too much fog and the helicopters couldn’t ensure a safe flight to the Mendenhall Glacier. I wasn’t as devastated about the cancelled helicopter ride as I was about the dog sledding. I had REALLLLY looked forward to it. But there was no way they could arrange another dog sledding excursion since the ship was due to sail in a few hours.

So as we continued to walk aimlessly around the docks, we happened to come across a local tour booth. One of the tour guides offered a semi-private bus ride around Juneau. Since they were giving us a discounted(?) price, we decided to take them up on it as we had nothing better to do. We were pretty lucky as it turns out, because there was only one other couple with us on the bus. Our tour guide was really nice and pointed out all sorts of local landmarks as she drove through Juneau.

Our first stop was an outlook point for the Mendenhall Glacier. It was really beautiful seeing it up close and watching all the icebergs floating nearby. Our guide actually picked up a piece of ice to show us. It’s much lighter than you’d expect.

As we headed off in the bus again, our next stop was the Shrine of St. Therese. The shrine itself was a bit of a hidden gem. The fjord from where it overlooks actually travels straight into the ocean. We didn’t see any whales in the water, but the scene was extremely tranquil.

Our trip was drawing to a close as we needed to make our way back to the ship before it set sail. Our tour guide took us to one last lookout point to see the Mendenhall Glacier, then we had a brief stopover so we could capture a view of our ship from the opposite shore.

Even though our plans fell through in Juneau, I’m still glad we managed to salvage what we could. It would have been such a pity if we missed seeing the Mendenhall Glacier entirely. I will have to make a trip back here in the future. =)