Halifax and the Bay of Fundy

Halifax is quite a nice city.  It is relatively small, with a population ­­­­around 300,000, and young, 51% of the residents are under 40 with almost half of those under 20.  The architecture is an interesting mixture of old and new.  It has a very cosmopolitan feel, not surprising as it has the second largest harbor in the world (number 1 being Sydney, Australia) with worldwide shipping occurring daily, and over 130 Cruise Ships transiting every year.

The south end of the city is rich in houses from the 1800’s, with wide streets, lots of Victorian style “painted ladies”, and old trees.  The northern end is much more modern in style, with a lot of cement-block houses and industrial areas.  We both wondered why, and then we heard about the Halifax Explosion.  Seems like this is a well known event in Canadian history, but neither of us had ever heard of it.

On Dec. 6, 1917 at 9:05 AM, Halifax experienced the largest man-made explosion in history (until atomic bomb testing) when two ships collided in the channel leading into the Halifax harbor.  One, the Mont Blanc, was a French ship loaded with munitions destined for the war front in Europe.  The other, the Imo, was a merchant ship.  Fire broke out in barrels of benzol stored on the deck of the Mont Blanc, quickly spreading to the picric acid, gunpowder, and TNT stored below.  According to records, the barrel of one of the Mont Blanc’s guns landed 3½ miles away, while part of her anchor shank, weighing 1,140 pounds, flew more than 2 miles.  Windows were broken more than 50 miles away and the shock was felt in Sydney, Nova Scotia, around 270 miles northeast of Halifax.  The north end of town was completely demolished.  The blast killed more than 1,600 immediately and wounded more than 9,000 additional people.  Ships in the harbor were tossed up on shore by a tidal wave that immediately followed the explosion.  Fires then began on shore as coal-fired ovens and heaters were tossed around - all together, over 6,000 were left homeless. 

The city rebuilt over the next few years, using “hydrostone”, a type of cement block molded under pressure, for much of the construction.  This choice in building material was for its fireproof nature.  A 10 square block of housing made of these blocks is known as the “Hydrostone District” for the building material.  Though intended as temporary structures, the buildings still exist today, just as built in 1918. 

The southern end of the city was spared much of the destruction.  In the middle of the city is a high hill, site of the fortress Citadel,  that protected that end of town from the blast.  On this end of town are most of the Heritage Houses (read old town) of the city.

We spent quite a bit of time exploring the rebuilt waterfront boardwalk, checking out the shops and sights.  There is a crystal shop with artisans making hand blown vases and other items, a pewter shop with demonstrations of pewter casting, several galleries selling art by students and alumni of the local College of Arts, and of course, the obligatory t-shirts and souvenir shops. 

We also stopped in at two museums on the waterfront: the MaritimeMuseum of the Atlantic and the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

The Maritime Museum covers the maritime history of Atlantic Canada, with exhibits on shipwreck treasures, pirates, the Navy, the Titanic (150 of the bodies recovered are buried in Halifax), the Halifax Explosion, and boats from the eras of sail and steam.  Included in your admission price is a tour of Canada’s longest serving hydrographic vessel, CSS Acadia.  (A hydrographic vessel is one that is used to plot coastline depths.)

Sounding rope used to chart coastal waters from the CSS Acadia.

Sounding were taken and recorded every six feet around the coast of Canada in order to chart the coastal waters.

Plating model.
The construction of steel-hulled vessels involved the riveting and welding together of plates to form the hull.  The exact shapes of all plates were obtained by projecting to full scale the lines taken from plating models such as this.  Each plate was marked and numbered to correspond with its numbered position on the model.

The Immigration Museum, located at Pier 21, exhibits the history of immigrants that arrived through Halifax.  Pier 21 is Canada’s equivalent to the U.S.’s Ellis Island.  Approximately 1.5 million immigrants, mostly European, were processed through here between 1928 and 1971.  If you are interested in genealogy, there is also a documents center where you can research your family roots.

We spent an afternoon exploring the Citadel in the middle of the city.  The current version of the Citadel was completed in 1856 and has an excellent view of the harbor.  It is representative of 19th century bastion fortification design with ramparts, ditches, and signal masts.  Its main purpose was as a defensive fortress against American aggression which might occur.  It was turned over to the Canadian military in 1906 and was used by them during World Wars I and II to house troops on their way overseas.  The fortress was turned over to Parks Canada in the '50's.  The 78th Highland Regiment is still associated with the Citadel and demonstrates what life was like in the fortification a century ago.  

Moving the cannon after a demonstration.

Tour guide in 78th Regimental uniform of 1860.

Citadel walls

Interestingly, Canada and the Citadel are celebrating the bicentennial of the War of 1812.  I remember studying this war years ago.  As I recalled, it was fought over British privateers attacking US shipping and the impressment of US sailors into the British Navy.  I also remember studying the burning of the White House, the saving of George Washington's portrait by Dolley Madison, and being from Louisiana, Andrew Jackson bringing troops to defend New Orleans at the Battle of Chalmette (anybody remember Johnny Horton singing The Battle of New Orleans?).  I had always had the impression that we won that war.  It was kind of interesting seeing the Canadian version of the war and then checking out what historians had to say about it.  

In Canada the war is seen as an act of aggression by the US in an attempt to expel Britain from the North American continent and expand US territory northward, by invading and occupying Canadian territories.  In fact, I found a quote from Thomas Jefferson that seemed to sum up the US thinking of the time:

"The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighbourhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next and the final expulsion of England from the American continent."

Wow, quite a bit different from the history I was taught years ago.  According to historians, the U.S. is considered to have actually lost the war as there was no change in the status quo of relations with Britain and Canada by the terms of the Treaty of Ghent that ended the war.

Re-enactor in British infantry uniform of 1812.

The Old Town Clock.  

Constructed as a garrison clock in 1803 on the orders of Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America from 1799-1802, to help improve the tardiness of the soldiers.  Still one of the most recognizable landmarks of historic Halifax.

Our last event in Halifax itself was attending a performance by Shakespeare by the Sea.  This is a theater company that delivers nightly open-air performances of plays by Shakespeare and others in Pleasant Point Park.  There are no formal ticket sales, but they do ask for donations.  The audience can bring their own chairs, rent one for $2 or sit on blankets (our choice).  This summer they were performing The Merry Wives of Windsor, Titus Andronicus, and Alice in Wonderland.  We decided on Titus Andronicus.  Neither one of was familiar with the play, but what the heck, it's Shakespeare, right?

Well, I read a tongue-in-cheek summary of the play and thought again, what the heck, it's Shakespeare, right?  The plot summary is: Titus Andronicus returns to Rome after 20 years fighting the Gauls and gets caught up in Roman politics.  Over the ensuing acts there are 14 murders, three hands cut off, one tongue cut out, an assortment of rapes, gougings, stabbings, slicings, bloodlettings, and cannibalism.  Whew!  Apparently this is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and between the convoluted plot and a huge cast of characters, it is rarely performed.  But the weather was perfect, the actors excellent, and a great time was had by all.

We took a day also to see some of the surrounding area.  We started with the town of Lunenburg, a short drive down the coast.  The town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 due to its unique architecture and design.  Originally founded in 1745, it has been cited as being the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America.  The town has a long history of building wooden ships, the most famous being the schooner Bluenose.  The Bluenose was a fishing and racing schooner launched in 1921.  The boat won the Fisherman's Race for 17 straight years.  The Bluenose II is a replica of the original and is based in Lunenburg.  This schooner is currently in dry dock having the keel rebuilt by local shipbuilders.  

Bluenose II in dry dock

Lunenburg from across the harbor.

From Lunenburg we drove north along the coastline to Peggy's Cove, a fishing community of less than 50 residents that is one of the most visited sites in Canada.  The community's lighthouse sits on top of huge granite outcroppings and marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay.  The current building was erected in 1916 and is still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.  The town has existed since 1811, but at its peak had only 300 residents, mostly fishermen and their families.  There is not much there, but the surroundings are stunning.

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

Peggy's Cove

After four days in the Halifax area we hitched up the toad and headed off for Fundy Bay National Park in New Brunswick.  This park is in southern New Brunswick and rises up from the bay to the Caledonia Highlands.  It has been a national park of Canada since 1948.  The oldest known red spruce in the world lives in the park - a 450 year old tree.

We spent most of our time here wandering around the bay, exploring the area during both high and low tides.  At Alma, the town just outside the entrance to the park, the Salmon River empties into the Bay of Fundy.  At low tide you can watch the water flowing out of the river.  A few hours later you begin to see driftwood floating upstream as the tide comes back in.  At low tide, fishing boats rest in wooden cradles on the muddy ocean floor.  Once the tide begins to rise, fisherman have to rush back to their boats to be sure that the lines don't foul as the boats begin to rise with the tide.  Tides levels range from 11 feet at the entrance to the bay to 53 feet at Minas Basin at the head of the bay.  

Low tide

High tide

We headed over to the Hopewell Rocks to explore the ocean floor.  The rocks are formations caused by tidal erosion.  Due to the extreme tidal range, the base of the formations are covered in water twice a day.  However, at low tide it is possible to walk out on the ocean floor.  We made sure we got there both during low tide and high tide.

Low tide at the rocks.  You can walk out on the ocean floor.

Or if you're as graceful as me, you can slide across the ocean floor.

Two hours after "high tide" (we overslept)

Top of the dark line was high tide.

We've crossed back into the United States now and have spent a couple of nights outside of Boston, getting caught up on chores.  Tomorrow we head west and will be stopping off in Seneca Falls and Buffalo, New York.  

Stay tuned:)

Our friends of the day are a bit more unusual:

Porcupine on the side of the road.

Black and white swans in a small town park.

Monarch butterfly feeding on knapweed.

Northern Cape Breton

The morning after our event-packed day had us once again up and moving.  We headed north up the Cabot Trail to the Broad Cove Campground on the eastern shore of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  We spent 4 nights here communing with nature.

You kind of have to commune with nature here - there is very little else to do in this part of Cape Breton.  Towns are far apart, tiny, 10-20 homes with a co-op grocery, a lighthouse, a gas station, and maybe one or two folk art galleries.  So, commune we did.  We took a couple of hikes, waited out some rain with naps and good books, and generally relaxed.

Our first hike was up the Broad Cove Mountain Trail.  The park map describes this trail as "a steep climb to panoramic ocean views."  Boy, they weren't kidding about the steep climb - 475 feet up over less than a mile.  But the view from the top was worth it.

Climbing up, and up, and up.

View of the Atlantic Ocean from the top of Broad Cove Mountain.

The next day we decided on a ranger-guided tour of the Middle Head Trail.  This one is across an ocean headland/peninsula and is around 2 1/2 miles long.  Our ranger was young, enthusiastic, and a summer employee.  She is a university student studying archeology - not your everyday subject matter.  She led a great hike and was very knowledgeable about the area, the early Indian tribes, and the forest we were hiking through.

This part of the Atlantic coast reminded us quite a bit of the Pacific coast, much rougher and rockier than the southern sandy beaches.

Middle Head Trail.  The red berries are bunchberries and grow everywhere here.

After four days on the eastern side, we decided to move over to the west coast of the island.  So off we went, roughly 60 miles and two hours later we were over the mountains.  The road map is marked as this road having several steep sections.  What it didn't mention was that those areas have grades of 6% to 12%!  We ran across one camper that had his 5th wheel jump the hitch going up one of the steep grades.  We took our time heading up at around 10 mph on the steeper ones, and mostly felt lucky to be able to maintain that speed.  Our other option would have been a 6 hour drive back down to Baddeck and then up the west coast of the island.  But we made it and settled into Cheticamp Campground.

Western coast overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

This side of the island has more to offer in the way of non-nature entertainment, but not a whole lot more - Cape Breton is all about the outdoors.  So once again, we headed out to commune with Mother Nature.  We took the 15 minute stroll around the Bog Walkway and got to see some pretty interesting plants including carnivorous pitcher plants.  They live in nitrogen-poor soil, and have developed a system to augment the inadequate nitrogen by capturing and consuming insects.  The inside of the tubular shaped leaf is lined with downward pointing hairs.  These hairs block an insect from climbing up the tube and escaping.  The fluid in the bottom of the tube contains digestive juices that then consume the insect prey.

Purple pitcher plants

After that "exhausting hike" we headed off to the Benjie's Lake Trail.  This trail is level and goes through a boreal forest to Benjie's Lake - about 2 miles round trip.  Along the way we snagged a few wild raspberries and blueberries to munch on.  Supposedly this is a great trail to see moose on, but no luck for us.

After all that hard hiking someone needed a break.

Another carnivorous plant, the Round-leafed Sundew

(blow it up and check out the "dew" on the ends of the stems, actually a sap excreted by the plant to capture insects.)

Day 2 on the western coast found us in the car, out exploring the area.  We headed down Route 19, also known as the Ceilidh Trail.  Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) is Gaelic for "party".  The road tracks the coastline past saltwater bluffs and beaches.  We followed it as far as Glenville and the Glenora Distillery.  The distillery is the only maker of single malt whisky in North America.  It is produced by the traditional copper pot stills method using only three ingredients: barley, yeast, and water.  By law it cannot be called "scotch" unless it is produced in Scotland, therefore it is sold as Canadian Single Malt Whisky.  The distillery started production in 1990 and did not market its first bottle until 10 years later in 2000.  According to our tour guide, the distillery recently bottled its first run of aged 20 year whisky which sells for a scant $500 a bottle!

Copper distilling pot.

Samples at the end of the tour.

We also poked around the towns of Cheticamp and Inverness, checking out the local shops, and took in the Les Trois Pignons Museum in Cheticamp.  This is a small museum opened after a local resident died and left her antiques collection to the town.  She was a lifelong collector who was the recipient of many gifts from the local residents who gave her items rather than throw them out.  Therefore, there are quite a few everyday use items from the Cheticamp area during the Acadian time period on display.  In addition, the museum has an extensive collection of hooked rugs including several by Elizabeth LeFort, an internationally celebrated rughooker who was from Cheticamp.

We decided that we couldn't leave the area without being sure to hike the Skyline Trail.  If you've ever seen pictures from Cape Breton or Nova Scotia with views of the ocean and mountains and wondered, Wow, where was that picture taken, well, this is the place.  The trail is a little over 5 1/2 miles round-trip and travels through a spruce forest ending with a boardwalk over alpine grasses to the cliff edge overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  This is also supposed to be a great place to see moose, bald eagles, bears, and whales out in the gulf.  We hiked out at around 6:30 in the evening, planning to watch the sunset from the trail's end.  Unfortunately clouds moved in, no sunset; the wind picked up, as in gale force winds, no hiking to the end of the trail (we were being blown over once we made it to the open cliff area), no animals; and the skies started to drizzle - we headed for home.

Getting blown to bits by the wind, note all the grasses lying down in the background.

I've mentioned a few times about how Canada is expensive.  I thought you might want to have something a little more substantial to base your own opinion on so here's a few random figures.  The current exchange rate is $.99 Canadian to $1.00 U.S.

• Gasoline-regular grade - $1.34.1/liter (5.08/gallon) as of yesterday
• Skim milk - $6.94/gallon
• Eggs - $2.99/dozen
• Celery - $2.27/bunch
• Bell pepper -$1.99/lb.
• Sweet potatoes - $2.42/lb.
• Chicken breasts - $8.99/pound (on sale)
• Hamburger - $4.50/pound (on sale)
• Burger King - 2 Whoppers, 1 small fries, 1 small Coke - $14.75
• Camping fees - national and provinicial parks (average)
• dry camping - $25/night
• electric and water hook-ups - $33/night
• electric/water/sewer hook-ups - $35/night
• Property taxes - depends on the province, but averages 1.9% of the assessed value
• Income taxes - Federal - 15% on the first $42,707 of income up to 20% over $132, 406
• Income taxes - Provincial (equivalent to U.S. state tax) - dependent on the province
• Nova Scotia ranges from 8.7% on the first $29,000 up to 21% over $150,000
• Quebec ranges from 16% on the first $39,000 up to 24% over 78,000
• So that's a whopping 23.7 to 31% for the low end to 41-44% for the upper end!
• Sales taxes - 5% Federal, 5 to 15.5% Provincial, no local, all items get taxed, here in Nova Scotia we've been paying 17%.

On the other hand, it only costs $75 to register a car and a driver's license is $15, both done annually.

In addition, there are parks galore, roadsides are clean, and systems seems to work well.

Our "friends of the day" come with a bit of a story, so hang in there...

We looked all over Canada for moose, but none were there.  After a while we thought that it might just be an advertising gimmick to bring old and impresionable Americans up for a visit.

Moose-crossing sign

We found moose tracks everywhere, but no moose.  Was someone on stilts pretending to be a moose?

Moose tracks on side of path

We found moose trails, and places where moose supposedly had slept - but no moose.  Maybe just someone with a big paddle?

Moose path

We even found moose poop, but no moose, either that or rabbits grow REALLY big here.

Moose poop

On a side note:  You CAN have your moose poop made into earrings, or a tie tack, should you be so inclined, or want to advertise to everyone your... ah... greenness...

Moose Poop Earrings 

No two exactly are alike - AND they are 100% organic!

(Click the above link and order your very own.)

So anyway, on our last morning on Cape Breton Island, after a full month in the Atlantic Provinces; after getting up at the crack of dawn to hike into the hinterlands; after going out at sunset to hike out to cliffs and overlooks; after checking out lakes, bogs, and forests, finally we spotted two moose...by the side of the road... munching on grass... at mid-morning - go figure!

Moose - posing!

We've now moved on to Halifax, so that will be my next saga.

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Latest Recipe:

Being surrounded by fresh seafood I decided to stretch my culinary reach a bit and try steaming fresh mussels for the first time.  I found the following recipe in The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le.  It is a Vietnamese recipe for mussels.  Heinz enjoyed it so much he saved the leftover broth to thicken and use over pasta later this week.  I doubled the recipe and fixed 5 pounds of mussels as our main dish.

Mussels Sauteed with Chiles and Basil

2 lbs. fresh mussels (clams may be substituted)

¼ cup olive or vegetable oil

3 tbsp finely chopped onions

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ cup oyster sauce

¼ cup fish sauce

2 fresh Thai bird chiles, finely chopped (or substitute another spicy pepper)

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 ½ cups chicken broth

1 cup roughly chopped fresh Thai basil leaves

½ tbsp cornstarch

2 scallions, chopped into rings

1    Rinse mussels in cool water.  Tap open mussels firmly, and discard any mussels that remain open after tap or that have chipped or broken shells.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot.  Sauté the onions and garlic for several minutes until the onions are translucent.  In a small bowl, combine the sugar, black pepper, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chopped chiles, and lime juice.  Whisk until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the mussels to the skillet.  Let them cook for 2 minutes, and then drizzle the fish sauce marinade all over them.  Stir the mussels and cook with the marinade for 3 minutes and then add the chicken broth.  Add the chopped basil and toss.  Cover the skillet and cook for another 8-10 minutes.  When the mussel shells have opened, remove them to a serving bowl.  Discard any shells that did not open.  Mix cornstarch in a bowl with some water, and add it to the pot to thicken the liquid - being sure to evenly blend it in.  Toss in the scallions.  Serve sauce in bowl beside hot steamed rice.

PEI to Cape Breton

After a week on Prince Edward Island we decided to spend our last day hanging out on the beach.  Well, that plan sort of worked…it rained in the morning, so we hung out at home, took a nap, read, etc.  That afternoon the weather cleared and we took off for Cavendish Beach.  There was to be a sand castle building demonstration by a professional sand castle sculptor (who knew there were professional sand castle builders!).  Turns out that he wasn’t doing the building, but was helping others build their castles.  We were late, so didn’t participate in the labor, just stood back, admired, then found a place in the sun to lie down and continue reading our books.  We did venture into the water, but it was a little nippy for us although there were quite a few Canadians swimming. 

Sandcastle dreams

The next morning found us up early, packing and heading out.  We had a ferry to catch!  We drove down to Wood Islands and caught the Northumberland Ferry over to Pictou, Nova Scotia.  This is certainly no tiny little 3-car ferry.  They loaded up motorcycles, cars, and semi’s like it was child’s play.  After an hour of very smooth sailing, they spit us out on the other side.

Ferry arriving at Wood Islands.

Bay door beginning to open.

Vehicles leaving the ferry.

Heading into our assigned space.

Ferry ride over with, we started driving up to Cape Breton Island, the northern-most county of Nova Scotia.  This is an interesting part of the province.  In the 1800’s Scottish immigrants settled in the eastern side of the island, while French immigrants were dominant on the western side.  Subsequently there are lots of legacies of that time.  Many of the current residents speak either Gaelic or French; signs on the eastern shore are in English and Gaelic, while on the western shore they are in English and French; traditional music is either Scottish or Acadian in flavor, but both styles rely heavily on the fiddle.

Sign in English/Gaelic

We drove up to Whycocomagh Provincial Park just outside of the small community of Whycocomagh (pronounced Why-co-ga-mah).  This is a pretty little park at the base of Salt Mountain.  There was quite a bit of coming and going of RVs and people with tents.  We had a great spot on top of a hill looking out over the Skye River Valley and Bras d’Or Lake.   While the name implies that this huge body of water is a freshwater lake, it’s not.  It is actually an inland saltwater sea surrounded by forested hills.  There are several outlets to the Atlantic Ocean, so the lake has tides just as the outer coastline has.

Sunset over the valley.

Bras d'Or Lake from our campsite.

For our first full day on Cape Breton we decided to explore the small town of Baddeck.  The town was founded in 1839 as a fishing village.  In 1885, Alexander Graham Bell and his wife visited and fell in love with the area.  They built a summer home across a channel of the lake from Baddeck and came every summer for the next 27 years until his death.  The home is still owned and lived in by his descendants. 

During his time in Baddeck, Bell began experiments in the development and use of tetrahedral kites and later formed a coalition with several other aviation pioneers to develop some of the earliest airplanes.  Their “Silver Dart” made the first controlled, powered flight in Canada off the ice of Bras d’Or Lake in 1909.  I don’t know about any of you, but I never knew this about Bell - I only knew about him teaching the deaf and inventing the telephone.  In addition to these, he also experimented with sheep breeding, perfected Edison’s phonograph by developing the system of wax cylinders, invented the audiometer to detect hearing loss, designed a “photophone” that transmits sound over sunlight - the first portable telephone (in 1880!), and developed the hydrofoil boat, a design still in use today.  He was also a founding member of the National Geographic Society and often wrote articles for the magazine Popular Science.  During a speech he said:

            “We are all too inclined to walk through life with our eyes closed.  There are things around us at our very feet that we have never seen, because we have never looked.  We should not keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone.  We should leave the beaten track occasionally and enter the woods.”  What a great philosophy.

There is a museum devoted to his work and life in Baddeck where you can take a “white gloves” tour.  This gets you into a back room of the museum with a chance to actually touch some of the artifacts.

Heinz prepping for the white glove tour, much more fun than his white glove days in the military!

Bible given to Alexander Graham Bell on his 11th birthday.

There was a regatta occuring at the Baddeck pier while we were in town, so we stopped by to check out some of the boats.  The kids were coming in from their own event as we arrived and it was really fun to see pre-teens sailing small boats on their own (and doing it very nicely!) without adult supervision.   It was very peaceful watching all the sailboats on the beautiful clear water. (The Bras d’Or Lake is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve site.)

End of the children's race.

Baddeck harbor and lighthouse.

We also checked out a few of the shops and found some lovely things at a local antique store.  Heinz lusted after some beautiful vintage split cane fly fishing rods and I tried not to drool on a second edition of The Complete Angler, from 1865.  In the end we both decided that the prices were a bit too steep for the current market and moved on.  However, not before picking up a new pair of Steampunk-ish glasses for Heinz.

Optometry "fitting" glasses, circa 1900.

On Friday we headed out with a very ambitious plan: bird watching boat tour, errands in Sydney, Miner’s Museum in Glace Bay, French fortress at Louisbourg, and a candlelight tour at the Highland Village.  Yes, I know, I can hear you now, “You know you never get it all done, so why continue to plan it!”  Hey, someday it may happen, we may actually see everything, just not that day! 

We started our day with a tour from Bird Island Boat Tours located in the community of Big Bras d’Or.  This was a 2¾ hour boat tour that goes out to two rock islands in the Atlantic Ocean known as the bird islands.  They support the largest colony of great cormorants in North America, along with a large colony of Atlantic puffins, black guillemots, razorbills, black gulls, herring gulls and bald eagles. 

Great cormorants (white faces) and double crested cormorants (orange faces).

Bald eagles don't nest on the Bird Islands, but fly over to feed on gull chicks.

Getting back to shore around 1PM, we drove over to Sydney with the intention of running a few errands.  Getting delayed by massive amounts of road construction did not help our timing, so we blew off the errands and drove into a MacDonald’s to grab a cheeseburger for the road.  Oops, no cheeseburgers on the menu, but in their place was, I kid you not, the McLobster!  Well, really, with that as an option, you’ve got to try at least one!  It will not remain at the top of my gourmet goodies list.

The McLobster

Alas, timing also did not allow for the Miner’s Museum.  But, we soldiered on and headed for the French Fortress of Louisbourg.  The fortress is the largest historical reconstruction in North America.  The original fortress was built in the early 1700s to protect France’s interests in the new world and to serve as the center of its massive fishing industry.  It was first captured by the British in 1745 after a six-week siege and then returned to France by treaty in 1749 over the protests of the American colonies.  The fortress was defeated a second time after another six-week siege in 1758.  In 1760, the British blew up the fortress.  The imported cut stone used in the fortifications was re-used around the province, and is still found in buildings from Halifax to Sydney.  Starting in 1961, the Canadian Parks Service began rebuilding the fortress, taking 20 years to transform it from ruins into the impressive historical and interpretive site it is today.

There are costumed interpreters throughout the buildings who bring the town’s residents to life, including gentlemen merchants and their wives, boat builders, innkeepers, soldiers, fishermen, blacksmiths, priests and nuns.  At 4:45 every afternoon, the soldiers fire a cannon to announce the closing of the fortress for the day.

                             

Fortress of Louisbourg

A gentleman of the town.

Firing of the cannon.

After visiting the fortress we were sorry that we did not have more time to spend here.  There was so much to see and so many re-enactors to talk to that we could have easily spent an entire day wandering around. 

However, our next stop, the Highland Village Museum, was 60 miles away down narrow two-lane country roads in the little town of Iona.  So we hopped back in the car and turned it southwest.  Once again, this is an interpretive center where re-enactors dress in period costume.  However, this is the only living history museum in North America for Gaelic language and culture with all staff fluent in Gaelic.  As a nice twist, we decided to take the candlelight tour starting at 7 PM.  Two staff members take you on a tour of the buildings, telling stories of the Scottish immigrants and interacting with re-enactors around the site who act as though the tour-takers are visitors.  The tour begins with a replica Taigh Bubh (Blackhouse) that gives you an impression of life in Scotland before emigration to North America.  From there, you follow the progression of Scottish Nova Scotia life in a 1800s log cabin, to a 1920 frame house, houses from 1830 and 1865, a school, forge, general store, barn, carding mill, and a church. 

This was both an educational and a fun tour.  Our guides were knowledgeable, funny, and interesting.  The re-enactors were natural, friendly, and told hilarious stories about daily life in the Gaelic community. 

Taigh Bubh (Blackhouse)

The Malagawatch United Protestant Church, circa 1874.  Bought from the congregation for $25.  Moved across the bay by barge and installed at the Highland Village for a mere $425,000.  Saving history isn't cheap.

A comforting home scene.

Flax spun and dyed with natural dyes, such as nuts, flowers, and roots.

The storekeeper tallying up the daily receipts before closing.

Heading home from the village gave us one more interesting experience: a ferry ride across the neck of St. Andrews Channel at Little Narrows.  We arrived and the ferry was on the other side of the shore.  We had to call on an intercom to get the ferry to come over for us.  It was a small boat, able to maybe hold 3 cars in a pinch (if they're compacts) and moved by means of a cable and pulley system.  Very interesting to watch it in action and I thought reasonably cheap, $5.25 to cross for a car and all passengers.

We’ve now moved up the Cabot Trail to the east side of Cape Breton Highlands National Park, so more on that to come.

Our friends of the day are a little more whimsical than usual: