Accommodation: Four Points Halifax Hotel

We boarded our bus after breakfast and off we went with our local guide, to visit Peggy’s Cove, which is nestled along the shores of St. Margaret’s Bay. The cove is a small fishing community and is one of Canada’s most popular tourist spots. 

Only 35 residents live in the cove during the summer with 30 residing there during the winter months. The cove has everything needed to support their lives…a church, a school, a general store, and of course, fish and lobsters!!

The lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove is one of the most photographed of lighthouses, (I know…they said that about the last lighthouse we visited on this tour), and it truly makes for a beautiful photo with the rocks that have been smoothed by the winds and the sea crashing below. Many people have perished on the black rocks below the lighthouse because a rogue wave can arise suddenly and sweep anyone who is foolish enough to try to navigate the rocks, to their death. Our guide made the point… Don’t go on the black rocks!!!

One thought as to how the name Peggy’s Cove came about, was when a young child, the only survivor of a ship wreck, was rescued. She was subsequently adopted by a family living at the cove and they named her Peggy, and thus, the area became known as Peggy’s Cove. Others think the cove got its name because it is right off St Margaret’s Bay, and Peggy is a nickname for Margaret. Who knows what the true story is. 

(Sadly, right near Peggy’s Cove in the entrance to St. Margaret’s Bay, was where on September 2, 1998, Swiss Air flight 111 crash landed killing all 229 souls onboard. The flight took off from JFK – its final destination being Geneva, Switzerland, when an onboard fire caused the plane to plunge into the sea. Ships, warships, aircraft, and submarines came from all over the world to aid in the retrieval of bodies and plane parts. The largest plane part that was discovered was the size of a dinner plate. That’s how enormous the devastation was. Additionally, two paintings by Picasso were on the plane and were never found. There is a monument marking the tragedy on the shore nearby.)

The Cove houses many artists and a famous one, William deGarth, not only painted beautiful watercolors of the sea, but he decided at the age of 70 to become a sculptor, and he created a mural carved in the huge granite stone that was in front of his home. 

The work depicts thirty-two fishermen and their wives and children with the wings of St. Elmo, the patron saint of fisherman, protecting them. It also features the image of little Peggy, who deGarthe believed gave her name to the village. 

Since Allan and I have been to Peggy’s Cove before, and have already seen the sites, we stopped into the Sou’Wester, a restaurant in Peggy’s cove that overlooks the water, and had a chocolate danish and a cup of coffee.

We did walk around the cove a bit, and it was wonderful, with the sun shining on our faces, the balmy winds at our backs, and the beauty of the sea right in front of us. It was a lovely place to visit. 

After visiting Peggy’s Cove, we boarded the bus and drove to the town of Lunenburg. The town became an UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. It is apparently an excellent example of a British settlement, with original layout and appearance of the 1800’s. The town’s homes and stores are painted in vibrant colors and it was nice to walk around and admire them all.

Some of the houses have a unique feature… a bump! Lunenburg builders extended the central dormer out and down from the roof, thereby creating an overhang or ‘bump’ above the main entrance. It has been fondly named “the Lunenburg Bump” and it can be found in many homes in the area.

We had lunch with friends and walked around some more, finishing with a delicious ice cream cone. Then it was back in the bus and our local guide regaled us with stories about the area.

As we neared Halifax, our guide told us that on December 6, 1917, one of the greatest disasters in Canadian history occurred. The ship, the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship carrying explosives, collided with the SS Imo, a Belgian Relief vessel outside the Halifax harbor. The resulting explosion, devastated the north end of Halifax, killing approximately 2,000 people and injuring about 9,000. It was the largest artificial explosion before the use of nuclear weapons.

Interestingly,  significant aid came from Boston, Massachusetts in an effort to help revive the devastation of the homes and businesses as well as to help the families who lost loved ones. To this day, every Christmas, the government of Halifax sends a Christmas tree to Boston to be erected in the town square, as a thank you for all the aid they sent. The Bostonians who were builders, plumbers, architects, iron workers, etc. apparently remained in Halifax for around 5 years, helping to rebuild the area and giving aid to those who needed it. (Our guide said 35 years, but I looked it up and it was about 5 years, which is still very generous and was much appreciated.)

We also passed by Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel on our way to our hotel and our bus driver Mark told us it is famous for being built in one day on August 31, 1843. On that day, 1,800 to 2,000 parishioners, many of them Irish immigrants, gathered to raise the frame, roof, and complete the exterior and interior painting of the chapel in just one day, on a pre-prepared foundation.  Unbelievable how that many people could work together and accomplish such a task.

We all went to the Farewell Dinner and had a very nice time and we bid goodbye and safe travels to our new friends. I gave my blog site to everyone and someone thought that I made money on my blog. If only! Trust me…I only write for the sheer enjoyment. No money involved. And please excuse any misspellings or punctuation mistakes. I write each post every night on my Iphone…which isn’t the easiest to do.

Till our next trip. Hope you’ll tune in.

DeGrath’s sculpture

Peggy’s Cove lighthouse

Good example of the Lunenburg Bump

Colorful buildings in Lunenburg.

Our Lady of Sorrows

Accommodation: Four Points Halifax Hotel

This morning we went on our bus through the countryside to the seaside town of Shediac, where we boarded a chartered boat for just our group, to learn more about lobsters and to enjoy a lobster lunch.

Yesterday we had learned of the carapace or hard shell that covers the lobster and what the fisherman measures to see if the lobster is big enough to be a keeper, or be returned to the water.

Our guide told us all about the parts of the lobster before we dined on one. The legs on the lobster are small and it takes some work when eating a lobster, to get the meat out. Lobsters use these legs to walk.

Lobsters use their front claws to catch food and battle predators and other lobsters. The larger claw is known as the crusher. It is used when fighting to crush its prey. The smaller one, sharp and pointed, is used to break apart food. Females have smaller claws than their male counterparts.

The lobster tail helps a lobster to move around in the water. When the lobster needs to escape, it forcefully contracts its tail and rushes backwards. They have been clocked going backwards at 24 kilometers our guide said. Females have larger tails than males. You can tell the female by the larger fan at the end of the tail.

The lobster feeds on herring and mackerel and the hair in their small legs serve as taste buds.

The best way to cook a lobster is to boil water and put about a 1/2 cup of salt in for each gallon of water. Place the lobster in the water and boil for the number of minutes per pound that is recommended. (See the photo below). Once the lobster is boiled, plunge it into cold water with the same salt content. This loosens the meat from the shell to make it easier to eat.

Before we were served our lobster, the guide gave us a crash course on how to attack a lobster to eat it.

The first thing you do is articulate the claw leg by pulling it back and down. Then you take a cracker sideways on the claws to crack them open. Then you twist the tail off. The body…you squeeze between your hands and crush it. I never eat that part of the lobster, nor do I eat the green or red stuff inside. He said both are delicious and the green can be spread on crackers like a pate. The green is called tomalley, a combined organ that functions as liver and pancreas. The red substance is called roe and are the eggs of the female lobster.

We were served a whole chilled lobster for lunch with potato salad and cold slaw. I usually like my lobster served hot with lots of melted butter, but I must say, this was perhaps the tastiest lobster I’ve ever eaten. It was juicy, with just the right amount of salt, and so tender.

After our boat ride and wonderful lunch, we rode the bus to Halifax, where our trip began 10 days ago, and enjoyed dinner with our new friends once again.

It was a great day and the weather has been beautiful!

Lobster trap

The gauge to measure the lobster

A good time was had by all…(except for the poor lobster).

How to cook a lobster

Accommodation: Delta by Marriott Saint John

We were up bright and early to board our bus and after an hour, arrived at the ferry port at St Andrew’s Harbor to board our boat to Campobello Island. Grand Circle chartered this boat just for our group, so we had the boat all to ourselves. The Island is home to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s summer cottage. It is also the home of Campobello International Park which is jointly administered, staffed, and funded by the people of Canada and the United States.

As we ferried along, our local guide told us all about lobster fishing in these beautiful waters. The government enforces many rules to keep lobster fishing legal and given St Andrew’s close proximity to Maine, the US government also regulates the industry and both countries work together to make the lobster fishing profitable and environmentally sound for all. We were so close to Maine on our voyage that our phones changed the time to Maine time which is an hour before Canadian time.

Our guide told us that to obtain a lobster fishing license, the cost can be close to a million dollars, and that doesn’t count what you actually need to catch the lobsters – a boat, cages, ropes, buoys, etc. She said that there is a limit with the license as to how many traps you can set and she said it’s usually about 300+ in this area. I forget the exact number.

The lobsters that the government allows the fisherman to keep, are measured basically from where the eyes are to where the tail begins and for New Brunswick lobsters, that area must be over 3 inches in length. They are measured with a special gauge and anything below that size must be tossed back.

In Canada, federal law prohibits the buying, selling, or possession of female lobsters with eggs attached, so those females must be put back into the sea. Before the lobster goes back, however, the fisherman will put a large V in the tail of the lobster signifying that lobster is a “breeder” and if that lobster is caught again, it should be returned to the sea, even if she is not bearing eggs at that time. The V notch is a conservation measure widely adopted by fishermen.

Our guide said all lobster fisherman hold their favorite fishing spots close to their hearts… It’s a big secret that they do not share with anyone. The license that they purchase stipulates a certain areas where they can place their traps, which is actually quite large. She was asked if parents pass their fishing license down to their children and she said for the most part, no. The license is the fisherman’s retirement plan. They might sell it to their children on a monthly payment basis or to another fisherman, but they wouldn’t give it away.

How much a lobster fisherman makes depends on the price of lobster meat, how many lobsters are caught, and the popularity of lobster at any given time. They sell to restaurants, fish mongers, and even to China.

The lobster traps are placed into the water on long ropes that are tied to a few traps at the same time. One big problem with the ropes is that marine life can get tangled in them… especially whales. When a whale gets entangled, a crew especially trained to deal with the situation is called out. They never get up close to the creature to release it from the rope, but rather have blades on long poles that can cut the rope from a distance. However, before that is even undertaken, cameras from above and below are used to determine exactly where the rope is wrapped around the whale so they don’t cut an area which could tighten around the creature rather than release it.

Sadly, a friend of the guide was killed as he released a whale from its shackle. When the whale realized it was free, it sent its tail downward and it hit the boat where the man was standing and killed him instantly.

It was a very interesting lecture and I learned a lot about lobster trapping that I never knew.

We were treated to a private tour of the Roosevelt cottage, viewing original furniture and artifacts throughout. The wallpaper on the walls was manufactured to be exact duplicates of the wallpaper that was there originally. The house was built in the late 1800’s and the 34 rooms have been remarkably preserved.

Sadly, it was at this home that Roosevelt became aware of the first symptoms of his polio. He had been in upstate New York on a jamboree, and a few days after returning to Canada, he became ill and they soon realized it was polio.

The house is beautiful and it was very interesting touring the rooms and imagining how the Roosevelts spent their summers boating, playing tennis, and enjoying this beautiful home on the sea.

We took the boat back to the harbor, and on the way we were given the opportunity to see and hold live starfish and sea urchins, and we also stroked a live sea cucumber…(who wasn’t happy about being out of his environ, and he let us know by spouting out streams of water). BTW… For those who enjoy eating uni (sashimi), did you know that the buttery delicacy you enjoy is actually the gonads of the sea urchin? I didn’t think so! I certainly didn’t.

Along the way, the captain of the boat told us that there was a whale nearby and we were treated to watching him come in and out of the water around our boat.

We enjoyed lunch at the harbor after the boat docked, and we walked around the town, and then rode our bus back to the hotel. We met friends for dinner and had a great at time!

It was a gloriously sunny day which started out very chilly, but ended up spring-like as we arrived back to our hotel. It was a wonderful day!

Walking along the boardwalk to board our boat to the island

On the boat

The Roosevelt summer cottage

The living room where they spent time playing games and watching the boats on the water.

Franklin and Eleanor’s bedroom.

The dining room

The Head Harbor lighthouse (also known as the East Quoddy Head Lighthouse). It is claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world. Who knows.

A glimpse of the whale

The starfish.

The sea urchin’s under side.

Sea cucumber

Crabs

The baleen of the whale acts like a screen to filter out krill and small fish for the whale to eat. It hangs from the whale’s upper jaw.

Accommodation: Delta by Marriott Saint John

Yesterday, I forgot to mention – the guide at the Hopewell Rocks told us about the brown seaweed that we saw all around the sand. It has a substance called alginate which is in the brown bulbous segments of the seaweed, that is used as a thickening agent in foods. It is also used in pharmaceuticals to aid in acid reflux as well as for wound dressings, and it’s also used by dentists to make dental molds. But a new use has been discovered and is being tried.

Scientists are exploring alginate for help to contain oil spills in the oceans. It is natural and won’t harm the environment, and it seems to be able to repel oil, absorb it without water and solidify it for easy cleanup. It would be wonderful if it could be used to save the world’s waterways from disastrous oil spills that take such a toll on the wildlife and the marine life.

So now starting our day today…We embarked on a bus tour around St. John and took in the highlights of the historic district, the city area, and the piers where the container ships dock. It was into this port that explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed in 1604 –claiming it for France.

We passed where the Redrose tea company was started by Theodore Harding Estabrooks in the 1800’s. Mr. Estabrooks was the first to realize that making a cup of tea with loose tea leaves did not produce consistent cups of tea in both flavor and strength, so he invented the tea bag so that each cup of tea produced the same results because of the exact amount of tea leaves in each bag.

We stopped at Wolastoq park which means “the beautiful river” in the language of the Maliseet people who once lived here. The park features a collection of wooden statues of historical St John people. It was built in 2004 and overlooks Reversing Falls Rapids that we also visited.

The Reversing Falls is a series of rapids where the Bay of Fundy and the St. John river meet in a narrow gorge. 160 million tons of seawater at high tide, overpowers the river, pushing it backwards. 6 hours later, the phenomenon would be reversed.  It is a sight to behold and is only one of two in the world (the other one is in Norway). We took photos of what it looked like in the morning, because we would be returning to the site in the afternoon to observe the difference.

Allan and I had lunch at one of the nearby restaurants, and then we met our group and we all boarded the bus. A local guide joined us and we went to the beach at Stonehammer, a UNESCO Global Geopark that incorporates more than 60 geological and fossil locales.

Our guide told us to walk the beach and find “wishing rocks” – a stone that features a single white unbroken line wrapping completely around the stone. Sometimes you can find stones with two or more circular lines. These stones are believed to grant wishes and once you find one, you go to the water’s edge, close your eyes, make a wish, and throw the stone into the water. I’m happy to say, all of us found wishing rocks. Let’s hope all of our wishes come true.

Then we went back to the Reverse Falls and we were amazed to see the current going opposite from what we saw this morning. An amazing phenomenon!!

We all went for dinner and Allan and I had salmon which was delicious.

Tomorrow will be a very early day!

The Reversing Falls in the morning

The beaver

Another carved statue

Allan and I found our wishing rocks.

Wow!!! Allan found a huge wishing rock!!!

It’s hard to see from the picture, but trust me, the water is surging in the opposite direction from this morning’s photo above!

Accommodations: Delta Hotels by Marriott

We left the hotel this morning at 9, which was really nice, since we were able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before boarding the bus.

Our journey today was to Hopewell Rocks, and to get there, we had to travel over the Confederation Bridge, which links the provence of PEI with the mainland provence of New Brunswick. The bridge opened in 1997 and is the longest bridge in Canada – 8 miles long. I read that it is also the longest bridge over ice-covered waters in the world.

We arrived later than expected at Hopewell Rocks, so we had lunch upon arriving and then our local guide took us to get a closer look at the rocks.

The Rocks as they are called, are rock formations known as sea stacks, caused by tidal erosion. They are located on the shores of the upper part of the Bay of Fundy.  There is an extreme tidal range there and twice a day, at low tide, the rocks can be viewed from ground level by walking along the beach. We were fortunate to be there at the right time, with low tide, to be able to see these rocks in all their splendor.

The rocks have unusual shapes and some tower up to 70′ tall. The rise and fall of the tides has eroded the bottom parts of these enormous rocks, giving them their whimsical shapes. Although the tides vary from day to day, the high tide can be as high as 52′, one of the highest tides in the world.

Our guide Paul, first gave an interesting lecture on tides, and then we walked down the 99 steps to what was essentially the ocean floor, since it was low tide, to see these rocks up close. Pretty cool walking on the actual ocean floor!!

If you stay for 6 hours or so, you can watch how the water comes back in after low tide and rises the 52′ to make the rock formations look like islands. And depending on the time of year, you can watch what is called a tidal bore, which is a phenomenon in the Bay of Fundy, where the strong incoming tide forms a crest of water which goes on for quite a long distance. Surfers try to catch this wave and ride it the entire length.

While we walked along the ocean floor, our guide said that if a couple stands under one of the rock formations that is in the shape of an archway, and kiss, the couple will be wedded together for life. Of course, Allan and I did just that, hoping to add to our already wedded 53 years.

There is a rescue station on the beach that people can swim to if they get caught in the rising tide and can’t get back in time. When you call in for help from there, as long as you are not in distress medically, the fire department will rescue you once the tides recede.

It is amazing to comprehend the tons and tons of water that surges in twice a day and it was really a learning experience, as I had not known anything about this place prior to today.

We thanked our guide for his wonderful presentation, and then it was back on the bus to get to our hotel in St John, New Brunswick. We were late arriving because of road construction, but we did meet with friends for a late dinner and then it was off to bed.

Walking on the ocean floor

Under the arched Rick formation

Seeing someone standing there, you can appreciate the amount of water that comes in during high tide as it goes up to the tree line.

The mud flats when the tide recedes.

This rock formation is called ‘the flower pot’.

Accommodation: Rodd Charlottetown

The leaves are just beginning to change here on PEI, and as we boarded the bus for the day’s activities, we were able to see some of the reds and golds beginning to peek through.

Winters can be harsh on PEI with temps going down to 11 degrees and snow. Fortunately, hurricane season produces few hurricanes on PEI, but in 2022, hurricane Fiona swept through the PEI coast and left a lot of damage in her wake, not only eroding the coastline, but also toppling down trees in her path. We saw the damage as we drove by. The government arranged for large rocks to be brought in and placed along some of the coastline, to bolster the coast in the hopes they will stop more erosion from occurring.

A local guide joined us on the bus when we left the hotel and remained with us for the day. We first drove through Charlottetown, and saw the colleges, the historic buildings, and the shops. The town is quaint and the houses are colorful and interesting to see.

After touring the town, our first stop was to the Red Shores raceway where harness racing takes place. They were exercising the horses while we were there and we enjoyed watching them go by.

Our local guide talked about cultivating mussels and she showed us a sock that is made with a cotton poly material that fisherman use to place in the water to cultivate the mussels. A seeding practice first takes place to start the mussels growing on the sock. The socks are hung from floating rafts and then after a few weeks, the socks are brought up periodically to be cleaned of overgrowth and to remove some of the poorer looking mussels to allow the good ones room to grow.

We then visited The Anne of Green Gables Museum which is housed on the homestead property of a family called the Campbells, and is dedicated to the life and works of the author of the book Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery.

The museum has amassed many period pieces that Lucy writes about in her book, and it has recreated on the grounds, Anne’s Lake of Shining Waters, her Lover’s Lane, and her Haunted Path. There is a collection of the author’s belongings at the museum as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum and if you haven’t seen the series Anne with an E, or read the book, I highly recommend them both.

After touring the museum, we headed to the Raspberry Point Oysters company to watch oysters being graded and sorted. An employee of the company gave a very interesting talk about oyster farming, and how this PEI company sends oysters far and wide for folks to enjoy.

I love oysters, but given the warming of waters thanks to global warming, and the increase of the bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, which can make humans sick or even be fatal, I opted not to sample any. The bacteria has not been confirmed in the general population of the Maritime provinces, although it has been isolated from shellfish in PEI. The bacteria is spreading north, so why take a chance.

We then walked along the boardwalk of Cavendish Beach. It was a sunny day and the salt air smelled so good.

We had lunch at a local restaurant. I had potato pie which was outstanding, and Allan had potato crab cakes which he said were also very good.

PEI is known for its delicious potatoes. The climate and the rich red soil, which is full of nutrients, combine to make PEI a leading potato producer in Canada.

Allan and I had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and then treated ourselves to ice cream cones at Cows. According to the internet, “Cows was named “Canada’s best ice cream” in a survey of readers of Reader’s Digest and named one of the world’s top 10 places to get ice cream by Tauck World Discovery. We have to agree! Delicious!!!

Raceway

Sock used for mussels to grow on until harvest

At the pier

Another lovely day

Visited the Anne of Green Gables museum

This is not where the author actually lived, but is rather a recreation of the period and the home from when she was a little girl.

You can just picture this bedroom as the room where the character Anne would have lived with her aunt and uncle in the book.

Beautiful garden

Raspberry Point oyster farm

Oysters being graded

At the beach

Potato pie

Allan had crab cakes

St Dunstan’s Cathedral Basilica, a Roman Catholic landmark with Gothic Revival architecture. The cathedral is filled with hundreds of angels, proclaiming the Catholic belief that angels exist and serve as protectors from God and that every believer in the Catholic faith has a guardian angel protecting them.

Accommodation: Rodd Charlottetown

I forgot to mention yesterday – our guide told us that Adam Sandler once played golf on the Cabot Cliffs greens where we were yesterday on Cabots Trail. After his round, he greeted golfers and when he went back to the clubhouse, he arranged for everyone playing golf that day, to have their rounds compliments of him. Cabot Cliffs green fees during peak season run about $390 per player. And, another interesting bit of Hollywood gossip, Ben Affleck apparently comes to Cabots Trail and goes to a retreat there periodically. It is a beautiful area.

After breakfast (we wish we could have stayed longer in our chalet), we embarked on a journey – first to the town of Pictou, and then to Prince Edward Island (PEI). PEI, amazingly, is part of the Appalachian region, which is one of seven physio-graphic regions in Canada. Who knew??

On our bus ride to Pictou, our first stop before the ferry over to PEI, our guide Greg told us that the medical system in Canada is much to be desired. If you need elective surgery, the wait could be over a year. And if you want to sign up with a primary care doctor, you’d better get on a waiting list sooner than later as the wait is seven years!!! Our guide has been waiting for five!

Some facts about PEI: PEI is the smallest of all Canadian provinces, both in population and land size. The main island is spread across 2,170 square miles and has a little over 146,000 residents. Tourism is its biggest industry and lobster season is, fortunately for us, May to June and August to October. 15% of the electricity used on the island is generated by wind power. Fishing is important to the PEI economy, and agriculturally, the little province produces most of Canada’s potatoes, hence its nicknane “Spud Island.

We had lunch at Pictou and then walked around the town. In 1773 a ship named Hector landed in Pictou with 189 settlers mostly from Loch Bloom, Scotland. A man named Pagan along with another man named Witherspoon, offered settlers willing to immigrate to Pictou, free passage, a year of provisions, and a farm. The journey was an arduous one and the boat was not very sea worthy to begin with. It took 11 weeks to make the journey, with dysentery and small pox claiming some of the 189 lives. Unfortunately, the promised “year of free provisions” never materialized and upon arriving in Pictou, the settlers had to hurry and build housing as well as begin to find a way to get food so they didn’t starve.

During the late 1980s into the 1990s, folks in the area decided to commemorate the Hector‘s contribution to Nova Scotia’s Scottish history, and raised money to begin building a replica of the ship. The ship building took place along the pier so the locals could watch its progress as it was being built. The builders found blueprints of the original ship as well as pictures to aid in building the replica. We were able to see the replica of the ship on our walk around the town.

Unfortunately, since it was the end of the summer season, most of the stores and shops in Pictou were closed, which was very disappointing.

After our visit in Pictou, we boarded the ferry that took us over to PEI, arriving late afternoon in Charlottetown, the provincial capital of PEI.

We checked into the Rodd Hotel, entering into a beautiful lobby with marble floors. The hotel was built in 1931 and has been refurbished over the years, but has maintained its old world charm.

Allan and I had dinner at a local restaurant and then it was back to the hotel for a nightcap, sitting on the rooftop terrace watching the afterglow of the setting sun.

Replica of the Hester

Up on the rooftop

Setting sun

Accommodation: The Silver Dart Lodge

This morning after breakfast we boarded our bus and departed for the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.

The fortress is named for Louis XIV of France, and it was one of the most extensive European fortifications in North America. The fort is now operated by Parks Canada as a living museum.

Our guide, dressed in costume, told us a bit about the fort and its history. During the reconstruction of the fortress, more than one million artifacts were uncovered by archaeologists. Some of the homes that were left in ruins by different sieges over the years remain, and there is no plan to restore them at this point.

After his talk, we were invited to walk around the fortress and learn about the battles as well as meet the characters from that bygone era.

We walked from building to building, and in many of the buildings, we listened to stories narrated by folks dressed in authentic costume. We strolled through the gardens, the buildings and houses, and admired the beautiful Governor’s apartments.

We enjoyed a lunch – a customary meal cooked according to century old recipes. Allan and I had the turkey pie, which wasn’t that great, but the soup they served as an appetizer was delicious.

We entered De la Perelle Property – an exhibit of the Sisters of Louisbourg. The nuns there were members of a religious order who operated the town’s school. Girls went there for their education. They did not reside there, however. The girls from wealthy family’s paid a fee for the schooling while poorer families paid what they could afford. Boys from less wealthy families learned how to help their fathers by learning how to manage the family’s livelihood, while boys from wealthy families went to boarding school in France for seven years, and most opted not to return home.

It was a very enjoyable experience and we arrived back to our chalet in the late afternoon. We had dinner with our new friends… Lots of laughs and good natured ribbing as we got to know each other better. It was a wonderful day and the weather was perfect!

Tomorrow is an early day as we leave for Prince Edward Island.

Once again – a beautiful sunrise to start the day.

Remnants of a home at the fortress

The military musicians serenaded us during lunch

The military chapel – Fortress of Louisbourg

Typical kitchen where the cooks prepared meals for those wealthy enough to have cooks and maids

Bedroom

Governor’s bedroom at the fortress

Fortress of Louisbourg

After a nice buffet breakfast, we boarded the bus and explored the Cabot Trail. This is a scenic highway with breathtaking coastal and mountain views. It meanders through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and is considered one of the most beautiful scenic highway in Nova Scotia. Along the way, we stopped at a few of the overlooks to take in the seaside splendor.

We passed through seaside villages and enjoyed seeing the quaint homes tucked into either the mountain or dotted along the shore. The trail is named for John Cabot, the Italian-born seafarer (who sailed for Great Britain), and who arrived at Cape Breton Island in 1497.

Our first stop along the trail was a visit to St. Peter’s Church. This majestic Catholic church is a major landmark along the trail and was erected under the guidance of Father Pierre Fiset in the early 1890s. It features beautiful frescoes and a very large, ornate altar. The stained glass windows to me, however, seemed out of place with the rest of the elaborate frescoes, as they were more modern looking than I thought should have been featured in the church.

The church was built in 1893, and a silver spire shoots into the sky, that is visible from miles away. Interestingly, the sandstone was quarried in nearby Chéticamp Island and was hauled across the frozen harbor.

After visiting the church, we drove to Les Trois Pignons, which houses the Museum of the Hooked Rug and Home Life, an Acadian, cultural, genealogical and visitor information center. The gallery features original antiques, of which 90% were amassed by Marguerite Gallant, who is remembered as a woman “brave enough to go her own way, to dress as she wished, and to live life to the fullest”.

The museum also features the works of Elizabeth LeFort. Elizabeth was a Canadian tapestry artist, known for replicating photographs, including portraits, in hooked rugs. Other artists’ works are also displayed in the museum. The works are beautiful and it was amazing to see this technique and appreciate the work that goes into each work of art.

We had a box lunch in the park and then continued on our drive back to our chalet, seeing more of the seaside. Our guide during the tour, Trish, was entertaining and told us a lot of history about the area as well as about her own life.

Rain threatened and then broke through while we were on the bus, but stopped each time we disembarked so we were lucky.

Allan and I decided to stay at the lodge for dinner, enjoying a salmon dinner, and then it was back to our chalet for the night.

Sunrise this morning

View from our room

St. Peter’s Church.

St Peter’s Church

Father Pierre Fiset tomb in the church

Neil Harbor lighthouse

Some of the artifacts amassed by Marguerite Gallant

Below are some of the hooked rugs on display.

US presidents through John F. Kennedy

Beautiful seaside scenery

Sunset just beginning over the water as we enjoyed dinner.

Accommodation: The Silver Dart Lodge

We started our day traveling to Baddeck. Baddeck is a village in Cape Breton Island in northeastern Nova Scotia. According to Wikipedia, “The area was first occupied by Mi’kmaq people and later settled by United Empire Loyalists and Scottish Gaels in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The area prospered in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a service and shipping center for surrounding mining, trapping, fishing, forestry, and farming activities. Today the economy depends on services, cultural activities, and tourism.”

Along the way to Baddeck, we stopped to visit the Millbrook Cultural & Heritage Center, a museum dedicated to the region’s indigenous Mi’kmaq people.

The Mi’kmaq are an indigenous group of people native primarily to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. They also have settled in Quebec and in the northeastern region of Maine.

In southwestern Nova Scotia, there is archaeological evidence that traces land and resources attributed to the Mi’kmaq to at least 4,000 years ago. Our Mi’kmaq guide was very interesting as she told us all about her life and it was an enjoyable presentation

We had a lovely lunch at a local restaurant, and the folks on a Tauck tour were also there enjoying the scenery and cuisine with us. Then it was on to visit the Alexander Graham Bell museum. What an amazing man he was. As children, we were taught that Bell invented the telephone… But we were never told of his other numerous inventions or that his real passion and love was teaching deaf children.

Bell was born in Scotland. His grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on speech pathology, (at the time called elocution). Bell’s mother was deaf, which profoundly influenced his life’s work…amazingly, not his invention of the telephone…but rather, teaching the deaf.

Bell courted and eventually married a deaf young girl named Mabel Hubbard, who became deaf at the age of five, after having scarlet fever. Her father had hired Alexander to assist with her articulation, as he was known as the best tutor for the deaf in Boston, where he lived at the time. She was 15 and he was 25. It wasn’t love at first sight. It was said she quipped about Bell…“He was tall and dark with jet-black hair and eyes, but dressed badly and carelessly. I could never marry such a man!” She even wrote in her journal, “I both did and did not like him.”

But Mabel eventually did fall in love with Alexander and they married and she was at his side as he pursued his life’s work as inventor, scientist, and engineer, and who of course, is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. The range of Bell’s inventive genius is represented only in part by the patents granted in his name alone and the 12 he shared with his collaborators. 

These include 14 for the telephone and telegraph, four for the photo phone, 1 for the phonograph, five for aerial vehicles, four for hydroplanes, and two for selenium cells. His inventions even included a jacket to assist breathing…really the first iron lung.

Bell is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector. After the shooting of President James Garfield, when the medical staff could not locate the bullet lodged in Garfield’s body, Alexander developed a kind of metal detector to find the bullet. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find  the bullet, partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disrupted the instrument. The bullet was never found and Garfield ultimately died.

Our guide told us that Mabel and Alexander had a beautiful life together and were very much in love. Mabel was at his side as he pursued his experiments in different fields in Baddeck, Canada, where they lived and worked for 35 years in a large home called Beinn Bhreagh, which was perched on a peninsula jutting into Bras d’Or Lake. Everyday the couple would walk hand and hand down the mountain and back up again to their home…a nighttime journey at 5 pm, that became a ritual. When Alexander died, he was buried on top of the mountain where their home was. Mabel kept her hand on the coffin as it climbed the mountain at exactly 5 pm, in memory of all the times they walked hand and hand together. He died on August 2, 1923, a few days after his 75th birthday. When his funeral finished around 6:30 pm, as a mark of respect, every telephone exchange in the United States and Canada closed for a minute of silence. His wife Mabel died five months later of a broken heart.

I highly recommend reading more about this amazing man. When he was asked what he most wanted to be remembered for, he didn’t say inventing the telephone, but rather… being a teacher of deaf children, which was his true passion.

And in the pictures below, read about IRENE…Image Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc. another amazing thing that took place many years after Bell’s death.

After touring the museum, we went to our accommodations for the next three nights…The Silver Dart Lodge. Allan and I are in a lovely little chalet overlooking a lake. So romantic. We went to dinner at the lodge and had a great time laughing and talking with new friends. It was a fabulous day!

At the Millbrook Cultural Center

Millbrook cultural center

Beautiful scenery and the Kidston lighthouse, on Bras d’Or lake. The original lighthouse was built in 1875 and the present one was built in 1912. The two lighthouses stood side by side for some time. The lighthouse can only be accessed by boat; a ferry going there operates during the summer months.

Enlargement of Alexander’s experiment drawings

Artifacts and furniture of Alexander Graham Bell

More about IRENE technology

Our view from our chalet

Our chalet