Wednesday 10/8/08
The South Coast
This morning looks like the best weather day of the trip. It is crystal clear and pleasantly cool and as it turns out, will stay that way all day. We hop in the car and head west along the south shore out of Halifax and through a series of little seaside villages that look like they have been scraped off a postcard. It is an almost two hour drive to Lunenburg our destination. Lunenburg is another of the historic fishing ports of Nova Scotia with all of the appropriate museums and tall ships at the docks. It is a fun walk through the town. A local trait we have been noticing is the preference for painting the buildings in deep dark colors. There are a lot of reds, blues, greens and purples that add a lot of character to the towns.
Lunch is a the Briganteen and Mary has a pretty good fish and chips while John has a great Cajun fish stew. We are taking turns getting the best meals. Nova Scotia means “New Scotland” and after our time in Catholic French Canada, this is very much British Anglican Canada. A couple hundred years ago the French “Acadians” tried to set up shop but were not well received by the local types who were still fighting with the Pope over several issues. The Acadians were persuaded to leave and caught a boat to the more welcoming Louisiana Territory. The area around Lafayette, Louisiana is still referred to as “Acadiana” and the people there as Cajuns. There are a few historical references to the wonderful Acadians around here, but we don’t really think they mean it.
On our drive down we passed through the beautiful little village of Mahone Bay and made that our next stop on the return trip. Not only could this village be a painting, but they are having “Scarecrow Days” and all of the local businesses have put out artsy scarecrows, many of which are representative of their businesses. We spend over an hour just walking around and snapping pictures. “Look at his one, it’s the best.” “No, the one over there is better.” The town is full of folks just like us walking around with cameras. What a great promotion for the businesses and a great idea for our little up north towns.
It is late afternoon when we get back to Halifax and spend another couple hours wandering around the waterfront and downtown. Rush hour is in full gear but we are not participants so we poke along at our old retired person pace. When we had dinner last night we noticed a fun little grocery store next to the restaurant called Pete’s. It is all fresh produce and meats with an array of cheeses and nice deli. They even have a real live piano player elevated above the floor banging out some ragtime stuff. We decide to make this dinner and grab meats, cheeses and a bottle of wine for dinner in our room.
We knew this was going to be a good day when we got up, and it was. Why spoil it by checking our stocks?
The South Coast
This morning looks like the best weather day of the trip. It is crystal clear and pleasantly cool and as it turns out, will stay that way all day. We hop in the car and head west along the south shore out of Halifax and through a series of little seaside villages that look like they have been scraped off a postcard. It is an almost two hour drive to Lunenburg our destination. Lunenburg is another of the historic fishing ports of Nova Scotia with all of the appropriate museums and tall ships at the docks. It is a fun walk through the town. A local trait we have been noticing is the preference for painting the buildings in deep dark colors. There are a lot of reds, blues, greens and purples that add a lot of character to the towns.
Lunch is a the Briganteen and Mary has a pretty good fish and chips while John has a great Cajun fish stew. We are taking turns getting the best meals. Nova Scotia means “New Scotland” and after our time in Catholic French Canada, this is very much British Anglican Canada. A couple hundred years ago the French “Acadians” tried to set up shop but were not well received by the local types who were still fighting with the Pope over several issues. The Acadians were persuaded to leave and caught a boat to the more welcoming Louisiana Territory. The area around Lafayette, Louisiana is still referred to as “Acadiana” and the people there as Cajuns. There are a few historical references to the wonderful Acadians around here, but we don’t really think they mean it.
On our drive down we passed through the beautiful little village of Mahone Bay and made that our next stop on the return trip. Not only could this village be a painting, but they are having “Scarecrow Days” and all of the local businesses have put out artsy scarecrows, many of which are representative of their businesses. We spend over an hour just walking around and snapping pictures. “Look at his one, it’s the best.” “No, the one over there is better.” The town is full of folks just like us walking around with cameras. What a great promotion for the businesses and a great idea for our little up north towns.
It is late afternoon when we get back to Halifax and spend another couple hours wandering around the waterfront and downtown. Rush hour is in full gear but we are not participants so we poke along at our old retired person pace. When we had dinner last night we noticed a fun little grocery store next to the restaurant called Pete’s. It is all fresh produce and meats with an array of cheeses and nice deli. They even have a real live piano player elevated above the floor banging out some ragtime stuff. We decide to make this dinner and grab meats, cheeses and a bottle of wine for dinner in our room.
We knew this was going to be a good day when we got up, and it was. Why spoil it by checking our stocks?
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