Thursday, August 7, 2008

Switzerland and Alaska

I arrived in Switzerland (after a very l-o-n-g day/night of flying) on Tuesday evening. Mike met me at the train station in Kandersteg, and since then -- I have been living the life of leisure. IT'S FABULOUS! At home, I have a hard time relaxing and doing things I want to do. Here, I have nothing else to do...so I blog, organize pictures on the computer, read, do some digital scrapbooking, watch movies, hike, and just plain old relax. LOVIN' IT. Anyway...I thought that tonight I would resume my blogging about our Alaska trip. I believe I promised I would do a ship tour, so let's start with that!

This great picture of our ship was taken in Alaska, although obviously not by us. I can highly recommend Princess Cruise Lines! We were comfortable, entertained, stuffed with delicious food, educated (naturalists on board), massaged, and pampered. Yeah, baby! Our cabin was very nice since it had a balcony that was a little larger than the standard rooms. It made a great place all of us to gather the days we were in Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Mike's dad and his brother both had cabins right near us, so it was really convenient for visiting. In fact, here are some of us enjoying our balcony before sail-away.The main atrium of the ship was filled with shops, lounges, and gathering places. It was really pretty!This ship had the best production shows of any ship we have been on. Of course we don't have a whole lot of experience, but it was the best of the 4 we have tried! My favorite show was one called "Piano Man", featuring music from the greats like Elton John, Billy Joel, and other, well, piano men. Wasn't the theater nice?The pools were great -- I think there were 4 or 5 of them. They didn't get as much use on this COLD trip as I have seen on warmer cruises, but there were still people in them. The hot tubs were much more popular. Mike and I went in one afternoon when it was raining! We didn't do much gambling because we can't stand losing money! In fact, I snapped a few shots of poor, sad Mike as he realized he was not going to make a million from the slots or the tables:

But then...there is hope! Mike finally finds a machine onboard that is GUARANTEED to give his money back! We enjoyed our dinners together, we had a wonderful table that looked on onto the water. In fact, we spotted whales from the window a couple of times. Here is a shot of all of us one night at dinner. The were two formal nights on board, and one night, we all took a family picture together. Mike's dad and his wife are in the front, and Mike and I, Greg and Debbie are in the back. Next stop...Glacier Bay and College Fjord!

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