Do you know Juneau?

Having spent a few rainy days exploring Alaska's capital I grew very fond of the place.

The main street alongside the cruise ship berths is a Disneyland of souvenir shops, designed to ensnare well funded passengers onshore for the day. The place is buzzing when ships are in town, but when they all head back onboard at their teatime, it's deathly quiet. And the season is short. By mid-September, most of the tourist traps shut up ahead of winter, and many move south, following the big ships to the Carribbean.

Above town the suburbs are full of quaint wooden houses on the sides of mountains.

Driving from town to the airport can be an adventure. Bald eagles sit on the lampposts, and on one occasion, our taxi driver said that he saw two bears wrestling in a field beside the road, just minutes before he picked us up. We returned a bit late but they'd moved on by then.