British Columbia and Alaska: Day 16 Anchorage then Reykavik Airport

 

Monday 23rd July, leaving Anchorage

We had left the windows cracked open in our room to get as much fresh air we could have. I had taken a picture of the street below at 10.30 pm the evening before and the light was still bright then. The room’s blackout curtains had taken care of the midnight sun and we had had a good night’s sleep.

I awoke at 5 am as a train passed by looked out to see this view of the Anchorage skyline.

The room’s selection of tea and coffee did not stretch to Black Tea (aka English Breakfast) and instead we had a brew of the full strength coffee before we double checked our packing and waited to go out for breakfast.

Breakfast

We went out of Tower One onto 4th and then back down to the restaurant that we had seen the day before. We passed one restaurant that did not look busy at all on the way the way to the Snow City Cafe at the end of 4th. This was very busy with people sitting outside in the sunshine waiting and drinking coffee.

We joined the queue of people inside the restaurant, signed up on the waiting ,picked up a buzzer and sat down to wait. This clearly was a popular place to eat.

We sat and chatted to the people next to us. They were on their way later to take a coach up to McKinley Wilderness Lodge, then Dinali and then the train back to Whittier and onto the cruise ship back to Canada. In other words our trip in reverse.

Once our buzzer went we were seated at a table that allowed us to watch the counter as well as looking back at the entrance and the growing queue there. Our server was a tall older lady who spoke very slowly with a strong accent. She didn’t rushing round like all the other servers or bus-boys.

The menu for breakfast was extensive and we settled for the Polar Bear breakfast that had two eggs, bacon and pancakes and a drink. I added a couple of dollars to the bill and went large, not really knowing what this would mean.

When it came my breakfast had two plate size pancakes rather than one and an extra slice of bacon. I managed my eggs and bacon but left nearly half the pancakes. I definitely should not of gone large!

At the end of the street I had one last look.

Leaving the hotel

Back in the hotel room we closed up the suitcases ready for the 11 am pick up from the room. We went downstairs to the lobby to wait for our coach to the airport. I walked around the lobby and came across this painting of a blue whale.

This is the inscription.