Special day in the BANG clan

So today is Blair and Nadine's 30th Wedding anniversary, we were were lucky enough to celebrate a little with them today.

The day started with breakfast at the B&B, then off to the Basilica, St. Dunstean's, a few blocks from where we are staying.  It was constructed from the ruins of past church's and reminded us all of the Notre Dame in Montreal.

 Waking in.

The grand arches as you enter.  The ceilings to tall and the detail so elaborate.

Lola's favorite part the organ! She really liked the ceiling too.

On our way back we walked around the Province House which is closed for renovations but don't worry still got to take a photo of the cool year at the side of the building...the first meeting of the fathers of confederation.

Then back to the hotel to go for a little road trip to see only round light house on PEI.  But first a stop for a celebratory Drink...

Cheers!

Next stop Point Prim, and the oldest light house on the island.  We had a great tour from a young man named James, and a steep climb all the way to the top.  The lighthouse was originally built with brick, and later covered with wood siding to protect from erosion.  It is the only round light house on PEI and received a fresh coat of paint a mere 3 weeks ago.

The lighthouse

Pretending to steer the ship!

The happy travellers at the top.

The light and the our very knowledgeable tour guide.

We have found that most of the tour guides we have had, are so passionate and have some family connection to the peice of history they are displaying. It is so nice to see the pride that they take of their heritage.

Lola really wanted to go to the resturant that was also on the point, so we went for a little drive to waste some time before the restaurant opened at noon.  To the bottle village.  This has inspired me to take on and build something of my own.  It also reminded me of the awesome bottles I used to drink out of as a kid, especially the minute maid juice with the sealed lid that popped when you hit the bottom.

Sign made out of bottles too

The village was still under construction, but included a school, general store, church, Anne's house, tea house and light house.

Inside the general store

Anne's house with a the lighthouse in the background.

Proceeded to the resturant to enjoy some sea food at the ocean front.  We talked about how life is different by the ocean and enjoyed the waves, sun and a little sea food.  They had cool signs (not to be confused with Cool Signs and Graphics).  So had to take a few photos.

The restaurant 

Aa and Lola

The happy anniversary couple

Another cheers

The awesome tomoto based seafood cowder that Lola could eat and potato salad

The lobster roll with a huge claw on top.

After the awesome meal, back to Charlottetown to the Cows Cremery.  Neat how the factory and store was in the shape of a barn.  And of course more ice cream had to be eaten.  All of us chose different flavours than yesterday... My strawberry sorbet was excellent.

The barn.  They have a factory for ice cream, cheese and printing t shirts.  

Nadine found a fitting sign for her cow lovers!

Eating, Adam got a little messy this time.

It's a cool cow.

That's one big cow... Trying to get some milk.  I don't think I am Allergic to this milk? 

Then back to Eden Hall to change for the evening... Oh wait, Gwen drove so dropped herself and Nadine off to hit up some shops at Peakes Wharf before going back to the hotel. Adam and Blair drove back to have a quick shower and of course nap. A perfect sign was outside one of the stores. 

Etched stone 

So fitting for me. But sometime I think shopping costs more.

We bought a few things then headed back. Got ready for our dinner reservation at Fishbones and off we went.  We all had different meals of fish, and it was a great atmosphere, and right close to the concert hall where we booked tickets to see Anne of Green Gables the musical.

Walking to supper!

Our fish meals. Salmon, scallops, tuna and halibut

A little shopping at Cool as A Moose before the show, and wow could I have spent a lot of money in that store, but just some post cards and a hat for Adam.  

We have been to all of them except maybe Whistler, we can't remember.

Being cool as a moose!

We noticed a man doing art this morning when walking back from the province house, so wanted to see his progress.  He is nailing 100,000 nails into a 110 year old elm tree. We talked to the artist about it, he is working on one side then has to get a crane to flip it over to finish the other side.  He estimates about 3-4 weeks to complete.  It was a very neat piece of art. 

The artist nailing.

Our last stop of the day was to the musical. The cast was excellent, the story well put together and the company and drinks were great.  It was a great end to our trip,since tomorrow we are heading home.

BANG waiting for the show to start.

Lola being Anne

Cheers again.

A little Raspberry Cordial, good thing I didn't get drunk off of it.

We all enjoyed the show and now 2 are sleeping and 2 on iPads.  Tomorrow is our last day and will be making our way home in the evening.

Signing off from my friend and I (met him today on the street corner).

Lola

BANG in PEI

Arizona Adam here today. I was supposed to blog yesterday but was too tired to do so. Instead, Lola took over the controls to recap the stories from the day. Now, it's my turn. 

This morning started off on time. We left the hotel at 8:30 and made the short 10 min drive to the ferry terminal. We lined up and waited for the ferry to arrive for our 930 departure. The ferry arrived on time and we boarded the ship. 

Getting ready to enter the ferry

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It was a relatively quiet morning. Blair had been awake for a couple of hours and was going to surprise everyone by making some coffee. However, he had 3/4 of the items needed to accomplish the task - water, coffee maker and filters. He was only missing the coffee. So, Plan B was engaged and coffee was had on the ferry along with breakfast. Might as well do something productive while on the ride over from Pictou / Caribou NS to Wood Islands PEI. 

Enjoying our coffees and tea on the ferry to PEI

The trip over was smooth and relatively uneventful - as you would hope for a ferry ride. 

Unloading the car 

Once on the island, we made our way to Cavendish to visit the Anne of Green Gables home. The drive took us about an hour and a half to drive from south side of the island to the north, and go about 30% across the island. 

Green Gables from Anne of Green Gables

The house and yard site that the book was based on was pretty cool. Nadine seemed to really enjoy seeing the inspiration for the story, I don't think I ever read the book or saw the movie/series so I don't have much to reflect on. However, it was pretty interesting to see the sites nevertheless. 

After visiting Green Gables we went for lunch at Rachael's Riatorante, which was a five min drive. We then made our way to visit Lucy Maud Montgomery's old homestead, which you can only see the foundation of. We also took a walk through the Haunted Hollows and then found LMM's gravesite. 

L.M. Montgomery's gravestone in Cavendish Cemetary

From here, we started our trek back to Charlottetown, but not before a short detour to another harbour and exploring one of the beaches on the north side of PEI. 

North Rustico Harbour Beach

We then got to our hotel, which is actually a bed and breakfast. 

Eden Hall - our bed and breakfast in Charlottetown

The B and B was a home of James Eden, a local merchant and tavern owner, and was built in 1897. The house is pretty amazing, it has a grand entrance area with large spaces to either the left or right. There are three floors all with, what appears to be, original hardwood floors. 

Dinner was had at a restaurant down on the waters edge called "Lobster on the Wharf". Adam lucked out and called at 6:40 to make a reservation for 7:00. Upon arrival, the lineup as out the door and it took us 15 mins to get to the front of the line to get seated, on a balcony out the second floor of the restaurant overlooking the old Charlottetown harbour. 

The Cathedral in Charlottetown, while on our way to dinner 

Nadine with the Founding Fathers of Canada

Cheers!

Pretty neat glass bottom (with a top hat)

Dinner was excellent. Lola had lobster (again) and Blair decided to join in the fun, claiming that he won't feel so dumb having to get instructions on how to open the lobster in his first lobster eating adventure. 

Lola likes the claw meat

Blair receiving de-shelling instructions from the expert lobster de-sheller (Lola)

As the sun started to set, the air started to cool off quickly and we could see that the wait staff were bringing out blankets to some guests who looked cold. Lola, being Lola, was cold and eventually was able to secure a coveted CAA fleece blanket to wrap herself up and continue to enjoy the scenery and dinner outside. Adam too was able to secure a blanket when there were some left at the adjacent table and the guests had left for the evening. 

Adam using his blanket 

The proud lobster eater

Lola with her favourite entree

After dinner, we made the short walk to Peakes wharf to browse the local shops and search out some souvenirs. Lola and Adam were able to find some items but B and N did not. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. 

After the quick shopping excursion, it was time for dessert - ice cream from Cows. It was delicious and Lola was even able to eat the sorbet and join in the fun. 

Cows ice cream for dessert

Tomorrow sounds like a lighter day - visiting a light house, exploring Charlottetown and then back for dinner to celebrate B and N's 30th wedding anniversary. 

Time to brush my teeth and hit the hay - I'm tired - this vacationing stuff is hard work. 

Lola planning tomorrow's agenda. Hopefully she cleans up so I can have soon room on the bed too. 

From the French Fortress to the French River, BANG learns the history and the lingo

Today we visited the French part of Cape Breton.  The morning started out with a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel in Sydney, and off to the car to make it to the Fortress of Louisbourg.  Arriving just before 9:30 when scheduled to open, the driver (Adam) decides he is going to go past gate 1. Lola wasn't too impressed as we got to a place that didn't take us to the gate, although she did get a photo with the red chair looking out into the fog!

Here is us in the car ready for our adventure of the day!

Once arriving at the gate 1 after turning around. We got to the gate, parked and headed to buy tickets, only to get in line... Lola still not impressed about Adams Adventure he decided to take, but got over it once the line started moving a little quicker.

We got onto a bus that took us to the site of the fortress.  It was 100 years older than the citadel in Halifax, and French not English inspired.  It was amazing that the fortress was pretty much destroyed during battle, and reconstructed later in life.  It was very authentic and didn't know what was recreated and what was original.  

This is what the fortress looked like after it was destroyed in battle in the 1760s.

The fortress rebuilt after 20 years of research and construction.

We spent the morning exploring all the residences, storage houses, streets and grounds.

The gate

The goose looking at me in his fenced in area.

The engineers house, ranked 3rd, he had the most expensive and pretty elaborate house as no one would say no to him,  supposedly cost 3x the estimate.

The military pagentry exiting the Kings Bastion.

The men looking over the walls at the ocean.

Chapel in the Kings bastion.  It was interesting how there was a chapel but the French decided there was no money to build a church on the site.

My favorite room the Kings store house.  It was huge and the hundreds of rum barrels lined the floors.

After the fortress we headed into the town of Louisbourg to find some lunch.  On the water... Of course.  

And the crab was Delicous!

Lola's crab sandwich without the bread!

Beautiful harbour in Louisbourg.  Loved all the traps lined on the docks.

Then off to see the first lighthouse in Canada.  It was rebuilt 3 times, but an amazing site to see,  also took a hike to see the red chairs up on the hill.  Can you find Adam is the photo?

Then it was time to head off of Cape Breton along the fleur-de-lis trail.  It was windy with a few residence and no where for Lola to go pee, not before making it to St Peters that she got to go.  The lovely lady at the visitor Center told us we should go see the canal. What a site to see, there was actually a boat going through.  The bridge that we traveled over to get back to mainland had to swing open to let the boat through.  Here are a few photos and I know some readers may not like how close to the edge Adam got.

The locks.

Adam sitting on the edge

Boat coming from the ocean side.

Boat leaving towards the lake side

Bridge closing behind them.

Also we were happy to see a Tim Hortons in St. Peter, as we hadn't had one yet today.  Lola was especially happy as she was thirsty and needed some happy juice (medium steeped tea, one sugar).

Happy!

From there, off to see James, Blairs long time friend that lived in woodlands for some time while growing up, and stayed friends ever since.  We had to find somewhere to eat first.  Why not stop at the place that garuntees instant service!

The food was great

Cool glassware too!

Last stop of the day before laying our heads down in the pillow in Pictou was James place.  He lives in French River.  A tiny town with about 4 homes, an old church, old woman's club, a creek and a babbling brook as well as a neighbour that acts like the town mayor.  Here is a few photos:

The school

The club house

Jame's trailer and garage.

We were told many stories, shared memories, looked at photos, and had many laughs.  It was great to see someone so appreciative of us stopping by to say hi.  

I made sure to take a photo of the 2 boys!

 

And a photo of the man cave in the garage,

We finally made it to Pictou at about 10:30, where we were later than they were hoping and almost giving our room away to an Expedia renter.  We are in a 2 bedroom apartment on the top level, with an awesome view of the harbour, can't wait to see it in the morning.  We spent some time on the balcony where  it was cooler. 

Blair on the balcony.  We were in downtown but it was sure peaceful.

I should really head to bed, as we are leaving Nova Scotia in the morning for PEI and can't wait to spend our last days there.  

Time for bed,  good night, Lola