Ketchikan

 27 July 2026

Ketchikan has two options for mooring. Larger ships can't get downtown, so they tie up a few miles out of town in Ward Cove and passengers take a complimentary shuttle bus in to town. There are berths for 4 "regular" size ships in Ketchikan proper. Ovation is on the larger size, so we were shuttled. After you exit the pier you weave your way through a massive gift shop, fashioned from a former pulp mill warehouse. I'd suggest delaying any souvenir purchases until your return, otherwise you'll be carrying them around all day. 

The buses we rode were sanitary and in good repair (this is Alaska, so there's lots of dirt and mud, depending upon the weather - so I address sanitation instead of cleanliness.) The drivers do a nice job of providing narration, pointing out various items of interest along the way, such as one of the world's smallest WalMarts and the airport that you have to take a ferry to.

The drop-off area is at the middle of the waterfront, and there are ample shopping opportunities in the immediate vicinity. If you walk to Creek Street or up to the salmon ladder you'll pass many other places, from t-shirt shops to local artisans, as well as several totem poles. Our first destination was the salmon ladder, which had plenty of salmon at the bottom, and several salmon working their way up the waterfall, but surprisingly few salmon in the ladder itself. After watching for a while, and trying to capture video of fish jumping upstream, we went in search of yarn, fabric, and books (a recurring theme throughout the rest of our journey!) We located the yarn shop not far downstream from the salmon ladder, and despite the threat of rain (we are in Alaska, after all) Jeff and I remained outside while the ladies perused the store. Jeff walked back over to the river, where a sea lion was on the prowl for spawning salmon, and witnessed a lady bump into someone, launching their cell phone into the river. A disturbing image, to be sure, and inspiration for me to investigate phone leashes to avoid suffering a similar fate in the future.

After procuring a few items in the yarn store, and a couple of books for grandchildren in the adjacent book shop, we set off in search of lunch. Of all the restaurant names imaginable, we were looking for the NY Bistro - in a small Alaskan town. We passed Creek Street (which was the social hub of the town in the early days, in every respect imaginable) and there it was - on the ground floor of the appropriately (but equally confusing) named New York Hotel. After entering the doors the name of the establishment felt more natural. Aside from the view of the street you could have easily been sitting in a Manhattan restaurant. It would be reasonable to characterize the space as "snug" - room to move, but not by much. Service was efficient, the menu varied, but not as flexible as on the "mainland" - most of Alaska is burdened with supply chain challenges, especially the smaller, more remote, towns. They tend to do an excellent job with what they have, but often work with a narrow focus. The highlight of the meal was the fish & chips. This was a dish sampled throughout our trip, and the dish from the NY Bistro won, hands-down. I can also give strong endorsements to the salmon cakes and the chowder - both were very well done. After lunch we stopped off for a few t-shirts on the way back to the shuttle.

When we arrived at the shuttle drop-off we were directed to the end of the line, approximately 400 yards back in the direction we had just walked. When members of your party have mobility issues this is information that would have been nice to have earlier in the process. How do you know where the line begins if there's no indication that the line even exists? Signage would have been an excellent and affordable solution to prevent mass inconvenience.

When we returned to the ship we were a bit weary from a day filled with walking. We opted for dinner at Giovanni's in order to eat earlier and get to bed for our early wake-up in Sitka for our wildlife/whale watching excursion.

Thank you for visiting Alaska, please exit via the gift shop.

 

Amsterdam to Munich

7 April, 2025

Our driver picked us up as scheduled for our transfer to the airport and delivered us in plenty of time for our flights. We had a bit of a struggle with the KLM self-check  in and automatic bag check system. First, there is a lack of signage to direct you from the kiosks to the luggage check area, and you're likely to elicit an admonishment from the KLM gatekeeper. The bag check system is inflexible and intolerant of any variation from what it expects to encounter (much like a human KLM agent might be when you don't follow the signs that aren't posted.) When checking bags it is imperative that you maintain the correlation between boarding pass and bag, as it segregates passengers and their bags despite being on the same reservation. We were directed to a human luggage check agent who was most pleasant and had things sorted in no time flat.

We then reported to the traveler assistance desk, checked in with them, and waited to be collected and taken to our gate.

View from the van.

A young gentleman came for us after a short wait and introduced himself. As we say in the south, he was "a fine young man" – he was polite, respectful, and a proficient conversationalist. He directed us through security without even a hint of difficulty and delivered us to the gate and made sure we were squared away. I made sure that his management was informed of the level of service he delivered and certainly hope he is recognized accordingly.

As the gate agents began preparing for boarding we were contemplating the process for getting from gate
to airplane in the absence of a jet bridge, not uncommon for European airports. Given the level of service provided to this point we couldn't imagine being left to fend for ourselves, and within moments a gentleman and his co-worker introduced themselves and escorted us down an elevator and to a van to take us to the aircraft for early boarding.

The KLM cabin crew matched the level of service delivered by the Schipol staff. The seat pitch in our Airbus Economy seats exceeded the pitch for British Air Club Europe, and the beverage and snack service (a sandwich with chips) was above any domestic economy experience with a U.S. carrier. If KLM were to expand service to the states they would own the market in a matter of months, if not weeks. Our flight to Munich was entirely uneventful.

We were met on the jetway by a gentleman from passenger assistance who continued the theme of excellent service we experienced throughout the day. After collecting our luggage he delivered us all the way to our room in the airport Hilton. He said he would have someone meet us at 7:00 the next morning for our 9:10 departure.

After dropping our luggage we made our way to the S-Bahn to meet our friend at Marienplatz. When we arrived on the platform a train was about to depart. I purchased tickets from a kiosk, careful to select "2 adults" on the first screen and accepting the defaults to get to the payment screen. Ticket and receipt in-hand we  jumped through the closing doors.

Then, for the first time ever, our tickets were checked. I was informed that I only had a ticket for one person, despite selecting "2 adults" on the initial screen. The gentleman standing next to us  had the same issue. We were advised to get off at the next stop and purchase an additional ticket, so we did – adding a few more minutes to our journey (but avoiding a €100 fine.) The wait for the next train was rather chilly, but we were rewarded with a less crowded train than the one we were originally on.

I was in touch with our friend during the journey, coordinating our exact meeting place.

We emerged from the S-Bahn station on Marienplatz immediately in front of the Neues Rathaus and started scanning for Bjoern. We've known him for almost twenty years, when he was in North Carolina. We've had the good fortune to visit him three times over the past dozen or so years and it's always as if we just saw each other a couple of months ago. 

After circling around each other among the crowd for a few minutes we finally located each other and made our way to Wolle Rödel München Rosental for a bit of yarn shopping. Lourie discovered this shop on our last visit to Munich, when we came with our son during spring break from his graduate studies in London. Bjoern and I stood near the front door chatting while Lourie shopped. She overheard the ladies running the shop wondering what we were doing, and informed them that we were with her. This led to a conversation about her previous visit, which astonished the shopkeepers. They all bonded over their repeat American customer.

Then we headed to Augustiner!

My favorite Bavarian beer, good food, and a lively atmosphere. (We went to Augustiner Stammhaus on Neuhauser Strasse, a frequent destination for us in Munich.) We ate entirely too much, but I did moderate my beer consumption since we had a long day of travel in front of us with an early wake-up.

Apparently the largest agricultural trade show in Europe was in town, so there we weren't the only non-Germans having dinner. We did have the advantage of our very own "Germanator" to make sure things ran smoothly. Dinner was exactly what we wanted and the beer was perfection. We talked as much as we ate and caught up on the details that hadn't been shared previously via text and social media.

There's nothing quite like catching up with good friends, especially when they live on another continent.

After dinner we headed back to the S-Bahn, and this time I paid CLOSE attention to the process and discovered that it didn't matter what you entered on the first screen, because on the third (payment) screen it defaulted back to a single ticket! I corrected the payment screen from "1" to "2" and we were good to go. The train was nearly deserted for the return trip and we made it back to our room for a reasonably early turn-in. 

Amsterdam – ronddwalen

5 April, 2025

A day with nothing specific on the agenda, just ideas. Brent and I started with what we can now call our tradition of coffee at Bagels & Beans. There's something to be said for being able to sit and chat over a nice cup of coffee without any pressure, and it's a pleasure that comes all to rarely in modern society. 

After enjoying our first cup we obtained coffees to go and headed back towards the hotel by way of the bakery to procure more croissants for this morning and next, since they wouldn't be open on Sunday.

Delft

A walk to the tram stop later we were on our way to grab a freshly made Stroopwafel from vanWonderen, who we discovered on our previous trip, but in a different location. Unfortunately we did not have the same experience and were quite disappointed. Options were significantly restricted as compared to our last visit and the product was sloppily made and outrageously over-decorated with toppings. I'm afraid we won't be back and I can no longer endorse them as I previously did, as their focus has obviously changed from producing excellent product to maximizing the flow of customers through the shop. Given the abhorrent layout of the shop even referring to the movement of customers as "flow" is a complete misnomer.

Blume Markt

Our next destination was the Blume Markt, since a trip to the tulip fields had not been factored in to our timeline and we had been informed that it was best to allocate the better part of a day for the round trip. On our way to the Markt we encountered a Delft store, which became a brief shopping detour just yards from our planned destination.

Purchases completed, and laden with shopping bags, we ventured on to the Blume Markt. I had expectations of rows and rows of stalls filled to overflowing with fresh flowers and vibrant colors. While there were rows and rows of stalls filled to overflowing, and there were vibrant colors, and even some fresh flowers, the vast majority of stalls were filled with kitsch and tourist knick-knacks. Most of the flowers were plastic or dried and the colors ranged from striking to pale. 

There were bags upon bags of tulip bulbs and, much to our amusement, a large display of Venus Flytraps for sale. Venus Flytraps occur naturally only within a 62 mile radius of our hometown, so to find propagated varieties for sale 4,100 miles away elicited a chuckle. (Note - If you find yourself in the bogs of southeastern NC be aware that collecting wild plants is a felony.) Having been thoroughly underwhelmed we moved on to the next stop, Stephen & Penelope Fine Yarns. A tram ride and a short walk found is in a vibrant shopping area standing in front of a shop while the ladies surveyed the inventory. After a short wait the "husband bench" inside the store emptied, so we moved out of the wind to wait. 

We had an early reservation for dinner at The Pantry (another TripAdvisor find) and arrived to small dining room absolutely packed to the gills. In most places you had to turn sideways and shimmy past tables.

The Pantry is known for "traditional home-made Dutch dishes" and offer an assortment of options assembled in prix-fixe menus as well as a full range of a la carte selections. Some of us ordered one of the prix-fixe menus and others chose to go a la carte.

None of us were disappointed in our selections.

The food was excellent and the service was quite good, but the atmosphere is what sets this place apart. The staff implements a team methodology, so food is delivered by whomever is available when it's ready to leave the kitchen. This invites interaction with a cross-section of staff instead of just your server, which leads to some inter-table chatter, which builds an atmosphere of gathering and togetherness, as opposed to just sitting in a restaurant full of people who all happen to be eating a meal at the same time.

When we departed there was quite a queue on the sidewalk waiting for a table. As I exited I made offers to the line to sell our recently vacated seats, to the great amusement of the hostess - which speaks even more to the conviviality we experienced. If you're looking for flashy or elegant, this isn't your spot. If you're looking for authentic, lively, and friendly then you'll have a wonderful experience.