After a day travelling the Cabot Trail and lunching at the Keltic Lodge, I visited to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Fortress Louisburg, and sailed on Bras d’Or. I’m very overwhelmed. I have so many pictures to share, however here are a few of the best. Needless to say, I love Cape Breton Island!
Travelling through Prince Edward Island and then heading to Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, I learned a lot about the lives of the Acadians – French-speaking settlers. In the 1750s, the Acadians were forced to leave this area, many of them moving to Louisiana and became known as Cajuns. The culture of these two areas share a love of music and many times of arts and crafts. On PEI, we stopped at a re-created village that is next to a church and the Farmers Bank of Rustico that was setup to try to help those who found a way to stay on PEI.
On the way to Cheticamp, we learned about the customs of Mi-carème. The is a time celebrated half-way through Lent where people dressed in masks and costumes and did the things they had “given up for Lent.” We were greeted by people in masks and costumes and got to see some of the makes made for this festival.
Cheticamp is an Accadian fishing village. It is also the centre of “hookers” – women who created hooked rugs that are truly works of art. We went to les Trois Pignons Musee to see their work. Elizabeth LeFort is considered the best and her works are in the Vatican, White House and Buckingham Palace. Her works include portraits and religious subjects.
Today was truly a magical one in PEI. As an ice end to the day, we went to watch the sunset at Brackley Beach. I really am still a beach girl! Not only did we see a beautiful beach and sunset, but we shared it with a red fox!
Ninety percent of the visitors who come to Prince Edward Island make a pilgrimage to the site of Anne of Green Gables and pay homage to the author Lucy Maude Montgomery. Much of the setting and the people were based around her own images of PEI its people. A Canadian national park now takes care of this site.
I remember reading the book when I was young, but the details do escape me. But there is a magic to the book and today, wandering through the house and walking along Lover’s Lane, the Haunted Woods and the Canvendish beach. Here are some of my favourite pictures of my own magical visit to this treasure of PEI.
The Bay of Fundy is one of the natural wonders of the world. The Fundy Tides are the highest on earth, changing 6 to 8 feet an hour and can rise and fall 50 feet – once every 12 and a half hours. Twice a day, one-hundred-billion tons of water flow into the Bay of Fundy, creating the Fundy Tides that overwhelm rivers that will reverse their direction. This is called the Tidal Bore.
Near the top of the Fundy Bay is Hopewell Cape and a collection of rock formations that have been carved from the sea that produces these intense tidal phenonom. Here are some of my favourite pictures of the Flowerpot Rocks at Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick.
