Saturday
My sister made the 2,000.th comment! Thank you all for your comments and your interest in the blog. We anchored early this morning at Cape Breton Island in northern Nova Scotia. Once again, we are the first cruise ship of the season and the locals are happy to see us as we are a a sign that summer is coming. But it certainly isn’t summer today. It’s cold. 32º predicted high. And there is a scattering of snow on the ground. At least it’s dry. Mostly cloudy was the odd trace of sun.
Most of the excursions from the ship are to the Fortress of Louisbourg. That’s as it should be since it is a major attraction. But Elaine and I have done that. Yes, it was back in like 1985 when we took our first ever vacation together to Nova Scotia via the overnight ferry from Portland to Halifax. We spent 10 days driving around and visited Cape Breton Island and the Fortress of Louisbourg. It was impressive, but I suspect it hasn’t changed much. So instead we did the excursion to Historic Sydney. The guide, a local and former school teacher, was wonderful with a great sense of humor.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.
Our bus journeyed around the Sydney area and made two stops. First stop was at a delightful little museum, the Whitney Pier Historical Museum. It’s off season, so the museum isn’t open yet, but they opened just for us! Basically, it’s just two floors of artifacts donated by residents from their lives on Cape Breton Island. There are a bunch of volunteer docents who were incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. And there were (free) delicious home-baked Scottish oak biscuits. As you can see from the photos, they are proud of their multi-culturalism.
Another short drive and we were at the very small Historic Fort Petrie Military Museum. It too opened just for us, and the curator was welcoming and wonderful. We had a nice time chatting with him.
Then it was back to the ship. It cleared up a bit and I got a few pictures of the lighthouse and the area near where we were anchored. The lighthouse is the second oldest in North America. The oldest is on Brewster Island in Boston.
Dinner was in the Restaurant. We both had Indian Tomato Soup (very good!). I had Dover Sole. I forget what Elaine’s main was. She had cheeses for dessert while I had Chocolate Decadence. The sun came out brightly before dinner and I got some nice pictures as we set sail for Cap-Aux-Meules, Quebec.
Those were very interesting museums with lots of good stuff. I loved the two old stoves, the list of alarm box locations around town, Tony Conigliaro, and the tribute flag to 9/11. I never knew that Boston’s Brewster Island lighthouse was the oldest in North America.
Your desserts looked scrumptious. Chocolate decadence indeed! So glad you ended the day with blue skies and sunshine.
Incredible views and love lighthouses .
Have already looked up same trip for next year. What would be best time – love that tourists are not around but would you recommend a little later like early May?
A little later would be better. We couldn’t do later because 1) we leave for Dingle May 1st and 2) we are on the cruise because friends from the previous cruise are on it and we wanted to join them.
Test 2. Wow snow! Now you are real Vikings!
Patience is a virtue.
Yikes! Snow! Now you are real Vikings! Congrats!
Much to see in the museum. Happy you got the snow and not CO finally. The day certainly was clear, and I enjoy seeing lighthouses. Keep walking so you can keep eating those desserts.