Juneau

Got up a little early to catch Australia's second match of the World Cup against the Netherlands as we ate breakfast. The Netherlands had a huge win over the defending Spanish in their first game, so it was expected to be one sided. However, thanks to a bit of vintage Tim Cahill, we found ourselves in the lead for some of the match. In the end we couldn't manage an upset, and will probably not advance as a result, but it was a respectable performance.

A full day in the port of Juneau, which is the state's capital. Like most Alaskan cities, it clings to the coast at the base of steep hills, which makes establishing it in the first place, getting around the town and expansion as it grows all very tricky.

Juneau was founded in the 1880s as a result of the discovery of gold, and became very prosperous. Whilst nearby Sitka was the capital of the US territory of Alaska from early on, the capital was moved to Juneau long before Alaska became a full state, and has remained so ever since. Whilst tourism is certainly it's number one industry, being the state capital there are a lot of government buildings and services, so it feels far less like it all gets packed up at night when the ships leave.

We tied up right alongside the main street, and found that we were one of five ships at the pier today, and again we were the smallest. There were three Princess ships - the Star Princess which had raced us last night, the Crown Princess, and Grand Princess. There was also the other Holland America Line ship - the Amsterdam - going the other way, so I guess that there would be almost 10,000 tourists walking into each other all over the town during the day.

Found an internet cafe and got all of the connectivity things out of the way first thing, then headed off on a walk around Juneau. Alaska has a very high rainfall, and we are slap bang in the middle of the largest bit of temperate rain forest in North America, so it was no surprise that a bit of liquid sunshine came our way from time to time. Not much in the scheme of things, but enough to require jackets and wet the maps.

To be honest it wasn't the most exciting walking tour we've ever done. Some important buildings for the locals like the Federal Office Building, the State Office Building and the Parliament, but only a few of great interest to us. Most of the town buildings were built in that classical and oh-so attractive style of '60s concrete box'. The town library had some great photos, and displayed the town organ behind glass (guess it improves the acoustics!), but the most impressive exhibit was the Alaskan Brown Bear in the foyer.

The Governor's House was very picturesque from the outside, and St Nicholas Orthodox Church was a monument to the contribution that the Russian Orthodox Church made to the community, and especially to the local Tlingit people. The icons inside had been donated and sent by the patriarch in St Petersburg, and were very impressive.

There was also a cable car from the dock that went up Mt Roberts, but as it was shrouded in cloud we gave it a miss, though it would be great on a fine day. Lot's of tour buses headed off to the Mendenhall Glacier, which seemed to be the place to go, but as we had just come from the very impressive Columbia Icefield, and are headed around Alaska by car soon, we saved glaciers for another day.

The sun had come out by dinner time, so we sat in the dining room watching the float planes come and go on the harbour, and the sun glisten on the snow at the top of the mountains as we ate. The two southbound ships had already left, and the Star Princess slipped out while we were having dinner, so it felt rather deserted by the end.