This morning we awake to what we are told is typical weather for Alaska this time of the year - overcast and with temperatures in the low teens. We arrive in Juneau at 1:00 pm and just before we disembark we buy tickets for the chairlift (here called the Mt Roberts Tramway). It is right beside the dock and operated by the local Tlingit First Nations people. We see a bald eagle up close and a few others while descending back to Juneau from the vertigo inducing height of 1800ft above ground. The ship looks very small! Other than that we take a walk around the town, avoiding the very commercialised jewellery shops as best we can. We are a little bemused that Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Impressions reflect a town of some 30,000 that has roads extending 4 miles to the south, and 40 in the other direction. To get anywhere else is by ferry or plane. Having said that we enjoyed our walk and the free guided tour of the State Capital building - quaint in some ways but with many grand touches despite its relatively small size. One eye opener was a map that overlays Alaska onto the main part of the USA. Alaska is huge!
The other noteworthy feature today was the way Cap'n Russell-Dunford (a Brit of course with a name like that) parallel parked the ship next to the wharf in front of a large US Customs ship without tug assistance. Impressive!