We fly out of Heathrow (yuk) for Vancouver on Sunday 18th June to join the MS Volendam on Tuesday 20th for a week's cruising up the coastline Juneau and Skagway via the Inside (not Back!) Passage.

Cruise details:http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.actio n?destCode=A&voyageCode=V233

We're looking at a few excursions, and we're wondering if they're good value or not.  https://book.hollandamerica.com/shorex/viewFrontEndTourBrochureAction. do?task=getPDF  (Slow loading)

We know from the Cruise Ships coming into Liverpool it's actually better value to get off the ship and walk/go by taxi to the key places, which in general have free admission, except for a few which always have to be booked in advance, e.g. John Lennon's boyhood home in Woolton, Liverpool FC Trophy Room.  A trip on the Mersey ferry boat is walk-on for about £2.50, the Albert Dock and Liverpool One are big free areas, all within 15 minutes walking from the Cruise Liner Terminal, which is almost outside the Liver Building.

After the cruise, we've hired a car from Vancouver to go right up into the Rockies on a one way hire to Jasper whence we board the train for Toronto. While in the Rockies, I'm going to see Kicking Horse Pass (always wanted to since being a boy) and the vineyards in the Okanagan Valley. Then we have a day trip to Niagara, and fly home via Eefro (yuk), arriving 10th July.  (Sadly BA and Air Canada don't seem to have suitable flights to other major UK airports.

Heathrow Queues: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9236517/Heathrows-Termina l-5-a-bleak-welcome-to-Britain.html
At least we have UK passports, so won't be in the non-EU channel, but it's still a major failing and embarrassment in Olympic and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.

Hi Roger!

We've had a great weekend.

We started with the Olympic Torch crossing the Mersey on the Ferry Boat, and then we drove south to London.

On Saturday we went to Epsom to the Derby, and had a great view of The Queen as she arrived in her Bentley.  (Don't ask about the betting…)

On Sunday we went into Blackfriars in Central London to watch the River Pageant, which was excellent.

We watch the Diamond Jubilee Concert on telly, as we didn't fance being in the huge crowds and the 12 miles journey back to where we were staying late at night.lso watched the Service of Thanksgiving from St Pauls on the telly, though a lot of the streets looked empty.

The Queen was clearly genuinely touched by the huge crowds and their warmth trowards her, and in turn we were quite moved by the lovely message of thanks she gave.

In her televised address, one of only a handful she has made outside her traditional Christmas message, she said: “The events that I have attended to mark my Diamond Jubilee have been a humbling experience.

“It has touched me deeply to see so many thousands of families, neighbours and friends celebrating together in such a happy atmosphere.”

She said she and the Duke of Edinburgh wanted to pass on their “special thanks” to the organisers of the events, which had been a “massive challenge”.

  She said: “I hope that memories of all this year’s happy events will brighten our lives for many years to come. I will continue to treasure and draw inspiration from the countless kindnesses shown to me in this country and throughout the Commonwealth. Thank you all.”

We'll be concentrating on our holiday to Alaska and Canada very soon, but for the moment, it's God save the Queen!

The foul weather has ceased.  We've had an immense amount of rain and very high winds.  Fortunately we were protected by the mountains of Wales, where the west coast has been really battered and suffered severe flooding.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18381040

Hi, Roger,

Alaska was just beautiful!

I took over 2,000 photos!  Hope you like these.

gener7 wrote:

 

A  cruise and the Alaskan Railway is just the best way to travel.

Absolutely.

I'm still working on a website - trying to get the size down to something manageable!

I''ll run a couple of hundred photo through Adobe Bridge - have a look: www.bigjohnd.org.uk/Canada2012/

The size of the glaciers is immense! Like here.

Hope they're OK, I wasn't too sure about the picture size or the on-line quality.

The wife's from Yorkshire, so we were pleasantly surprised to see Yorkshire tea so prominently displayed (in Winnipeg).  It's blended by one of the UK's oldest tea importers, Taylors of Harrogate.

They've got an odd promootion on TV at the moment: Click here for newspaper article and click here for YouTube.

You're right about the geography at school.  While you can understand why teachers want you to know about, there's no way you fully appreciate it with experiencing it.  As school we had Henry VIII and the Tudors drummed into us, but it wasn't until I actually spent a week living in Hampton Court, that I got to grips with some of Henry's thinking.  One of his traits was partying, so he built the best dance hall going ("The Great Hall") complete with a gallery for the band, lots of space for dancing and tables for eating and drinking - there was simple lift for the beer and wine which was stored in the cellar below, and the kitchens were right next door.  He had all his mates round, and they had a good time!  Then he got into woman trouble…   (That's not how they sold it to us at school though.)

As for the forests and prairies, they do seem to go on for ever, and I could have taken scores of photos - but they would have all looked the same!   It was odd going to bed at night, then waking up some 7 or 8 hours later, maybe 4 or 5 hundred miles further on, and the view was the same!

Yes, North America is vast!  We were in Winnipeg for under two hours, so we really only had time to walk around the immediate station environs.

The "historical" nature of London is something Brits take for granted.  Personally I find it crowded, filthy, far too expensive and it's hard to find any indigenous Londoners.  As my sister put it, the river (Thames) is very small - because it has bridges over it  (The Mersey here doesn't have bridges in Liverpool - it's ferries and 2½ mile tunnels.)

Chester, down the road from here, still has half the Raoman amphithreatre, the hypocaust, city walls, &c built by the Romans 2,000 years ago, which - well - have always been there.  I took a US citizen to Chester once, who wanted to know why the "Newgate" was 1,000 years old.  He had trouble grasping it was built to replace the original, which had been built a thousand years previously.

And there's Stonehenge and the ancient settlements on the Western Isles and Orkney, which quite amazing.

Welcome to  Theme Park UK…