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Franz Josef 2016 |
What's covered?
The main attraction at Franz Josef is the glacier.
28 October
It rained all the way to Franz Josef , at times so heavily that we had to slow down. The journey was short so our lodge was not ready, instead we went to Snake Bite Brewery (really a cafe) to kill time. We also had a look around the shops until our lodge was available.
After that we followed the short walking route (20 minutes return) to a lookout but there was no glacier to be seen. By the time we started to return, it was raining again so not a good start to our visit. Later we spoke to a girl on reception who showed us some pictures on her phone. She had been to the main viewing point (90 minutes return) and there was little to be seen because the glacier had receded so much.
Dinner was in the Monsoon Bar that is on site but separately run. It was busy because they had a "pizza fest" that brought in all the young people around but the meal was good value. Nonetheless we decided we would try somewhere else tomorrow.
29 October
We had decided not to bother with the walk to the glacier given that there was little to be seen and we had seen bigger glaciers in Iceland in the past. Instead Gill got some washing done and I finished a further download of our photos and getting them in order. The weather was better today and by lunchtime it was brilliant sunshine. We wandered into town for a light lunch and then returned to read and catch up on these notes and suchlike.
We had dinner at Alice May's Restaurant. Alice May had a baby in 1915 but because it was stillborn, her boyfriend refused to marry her and in those days that was a disgrace, so she shot him! She was jailed for manslaughter but after a petition she was released into her mother's care. She died in 1949. The restaurant is owned by her granddaughter, Jennie O'Loughlin and worth a visit.
Note: 29 August 2018.The website seems to have closed.
Photos
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Our lodge
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Alice May's Restaurant
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