Time to go

 The view from my window in Peggy’s Cove today.

The news reports say the firies are expecting a bad day. I’m praying for them and all the people affected by these forest fires. It’s cool but unusually calm with not even a slight breeze ruffling the water as we drive out of Lunenburg in the morning. We conjecture that the winds will pick up as the day goes on & this will cause of the difficult fire-fighting day. 

Our breakfast stop is Mahone Bay. We feel like locals now bc we know where the good coffee is and veered off the road as soon as we saw the Tim Hortons sign. The scenery here is very like Lunenburg.

Three churches all in a row look over this scene MGM was excited.

and what about this for a mance!

About an hour further down the road to arrive at our lunch destination (we did the sightseeing first), Peggy’s Cove lived up to the ‘must see’ hype. The scenery around the iconic lighthouse is quite different to Lunenburg. The houses for the 35 strong population still have the brightly coloured shingles but this is very much a fisherman’s village with some tourism add ons. 

Photographer Tony was in his element (follow the red arrow) and he didn’t even have to climb over the safety fence. In a way I found it tantalising risky that there are no guard rails here. Just a disclaimer saying people have died here - you’ve been warned (subtext: don’t be stupid). How liberating!

Wend & I walked the shops (MGM has given up)  

These paddle pop chairs are everywhere, & surprisingly comfy.

This was a lovely way to spend the afternoon 

and my lunch will make Lachie & Norah so jealous. Just look at my lobster Mac & cheese my darlings. I could have climbed into this bowl and swum around in it, yes … it really was that good. 

We saw the signs of the weather change on the way back, lot smokier than the photo shows.

and bumped into the police cordon isolating affected areas. Even if we weren’t scheduled to be out tomorrow the ‘time to go’ writing is on the wall. I feel for the locals. They’re really trying to come back after the devastation of the pandemic, the last thing they need is tourists fleeing at the the start of the season. Although conversely, I suppose they don’t need a whole pack of tourists to account for or evacuate either. No winning for them right now.

Lovely Lunenburg

 The view from my window this morning. 

The view from our bed is pretty awesome too.

I rather suspect access to this view explains this decor choice (with apologies to Wendy for using her as perspective again)

It is super comfy and comes with short-person assistance.

Today I took myself on a churches walk of this delightful town, based solely on the spires I could see. It gave me the chance to see the town’s architecture up close and personal. Many of the buildings have plaques identifying the construction year, which I guess is quite common, but more interestingly who the building was built for and often why. Maybe it’s a benefit of the UNESCO listing, according to Wikipedia UNESCO considers Lunenburg the ‘best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America as it retains its original layout and appearance of the 1800s including wooden vernacular architecture.’

 

Here’s the plaque for our building, it’s so interesting reading them as you walk around town. 

It’s the pale green one: the Saltshaker Deli & Inn

It was such a pretty walk amongst these beautiful buildings. Once you get away from the main tourist strip and streets, there’s one nicknamed ‘UNESCO Fresco’ I’m guessing for the OTT colour palette 😂, things are a little less extreme. It was pleasant to walk the streets where people live.

The first spire I bumped into was the Anglicans, who  were also the first to establish a building for worship  in the year after settlement, so 1754. This was the only church that was open and I spent a lovely 30 mins or so wandering around, enjoying the well maintained interior spaces, admiring the stained glass and enjoying some quiet contemplation time. 

The Lutheran’s are taking a leaf out of top floor Tony’s book and are right at the top of a very steep hill (1753).

The Presbyterians look like they might be a bit ordinary, pretty much s.o.p (1770).

This is the Central United Church, not sure if it’s the same as our Uniting Church (1818).

Surprisingly I didn’t find the Catholics. They must be here. Maybe I’ll find them up on a higher hill than the Lutherans tomorrow. 

We can see a sumptuous looking golf course on the other side of the harbour which has Tony desperately longing for some clubs. In lieu of the necessary golfing accoutrements we opted for photography. After consulting the photographer’s guide to all sunshine we determined the optimal time for photos & a drive to look at the town from a different angle. 

Our digest-the-dinner walk was along the dock, with the accompanying dulcet tones of evacuation alarms ringing intermittently on our phones. Bushfires in nearby Halifax have the locals spooked but they must do fires differently here too bc there’s none of the orange-smoke skies we are so accustomed to at home. We’re going for a drive tomorrow to

a) see some local scenery 

& 

b) see what the highways are like. We all have places to be in the next couple of days, the Allans have a boat to catch! Not this one. This is the pic I took while we were wondering around the wharves.

On the road again

I think you could safely describe our visit to P.E.I. as whirlwind. After our first comp’d breakfast of the trip this morning, they either don’t do that here or maybe quirky hotels don’t do it 🤔 I don’t know but anyway after breakfast, which was delicious by the way, I wagered everything on my recovery and indulged my love of scrambie (eggs on a driving day 🫣) …anyway after brekki we lurched down the 100s of stairs (not for nothin’ we call him top floor Tony - he does the booking work he gets to pick where we sleep and we are grateful for it) and out to the beast. Have I shown you the beast? I don’t think I have … THIS is what we are currently driving (it’s a Tahoe).

Here’s some people you know for perspective.

MGM is enjoying driving it but the rest of us are to intimidated by ‘stay on the right’ AND the girth of the beast to risk getting behind the wheel. 

We spent a little time doing justice to Charlottetown before abandoning it for our next destination 4 hours away. It’s been a busy couple of days & very worthwhile but it is so nice to be staying for a couple of days in the next place. We were very happy to arrive in the beautiful UNESCO listed township of Lunenburg and find our, you guessed it … quirky … digs for the next 3 nights. 

We’re trying not to think about it too much but our time together this trip is winding up and I think Tony may have been in ‘saving the best for last’ mode when he booked this place. Lunenburg is a picture postcard area, with homes conforming to the theme & all overlooking a beautiful harbour.

Our rooms are over a deli which has raves reviews & which we tested out tonight, this is a local delicacy called a lobster sandwich, 

after our staff meeting on the deck next door. 

Tough life

Trans Canada Highway to P.E.I

 The view from my window this morning 

THE LAKE OF SHINING WATERS!

As a life-long Anne of Green Gables lover I cannot tell you how excited I was to be back on the Trans Canada Highway this morning and heading towards Prince Edward Island. The journey started out pretty  spectacularly on 12km bridge - not great pic of this amazing span (& this bit may not be TCHwy).

I’m not sure when we got back on this impressive road, but just look at it. Can you believe such a well constructed & maintained road runs right across this huge country and they drive on it for free - well taxes I guess but no massive tolls. We have come across a couple of tolls only one was $1.25 & the other was no charge to us bc was had the right plates on. That’s pretty cool, right?

First stop on our Anne day was L.M.Montgomery’s home, which is well preserved as a museum and still run by her descendants. 

This cabinet inspired LMM to create Anne’s bestie, Katie Maurice.

I was getting to a point where I wasn’t sure I could contain myself as we approached Green Gables. I imagined myself in Anne’s place riding in the buggy with Matthew as we drove along the road between the museum and Green Gables, about a 20 minute journey. The Lake of Shining Waters didn’t really live up to Anne’s breathy rapture. Not sure that there’s a lake in existence that could match LM’s lyrical hyperbole. 

But Green Gables? Yes. That absolutely 100% lived up to the vivid picture her prose created for my imagination. Somewhat expectedly there is quite the Anne industry here. We had to pay to see the museum as you’d expect - maintenance and all that. This, however, is what greeted us at the Green Gables address, and this I just did not expect.

I don’t know why, I just thought to be able to walk up to it, in the field like Anne did but of course it is monetized. This outer building is quite interesting too, lots of info and the ubiquitous souvenir shop but talk about your delayed gratification! 

This was worth it though.

Be still my heart.

Inside. I wanted to curl up in the parlor.

Eat Marilla’s hearty food at the good dining table.

Sneak some raspberry wine in the kitchen

And stomp up the stairs in a temper to Anne’s room.

Honestly it was very hard to tear myself away.

But there was a walk through the Haunted Wood to entice me out the door.

We walked to the place where the school room was (not there now) and to the cemetery where LMM is buried. Try as we might we couldn’t locate her though. This whole day was so deeply satisfying I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am to my indulgent traveling companions for generously enjoying today with me.

We’re staying the night at Charlottetown, which is much bigger than I thought it would be (bc my head is still stuck in the book) but has some quaint areas and another quirky hotel for us.

 The  digest-our-dinner walk tonight was around the docks & a very pleasant way to end the day.