East Coast: Baddeck, Nova Scotia and the Bell Museum (Day 7)

Continued from Day 6 ...

It was raining. After a long time, we have seen some rain. This was not a sightseeing day though, at least not yet. For now, we had a ferry to catch. The ferry would leave at 930 am, and the terminal was at least an hour's journey away. We just made it - reaching the terminal at 920 am - and we were the last car allowed on to the ferry!

A light house dotting the PEI landscape. One of many on its many beaches. Now abandoned, derelict, and mostly a relic of a bygone era - these lighthouses served no more than a tourist picture's backdrop. The slight drizzle added to the grey mood as the ferry left the shores of Prince Edward Island. Onward to Nova Scotia.

If you climbed to the top deck of the ship, you could see the coast of Nova Scotia in the distance. It wasn't far - the ferry would only travel about 26 km or so, but the journey would take the big boat around 75 minutes. This is why people build bridges!

It was a huge ferry, and soon the weather cleared up - just a little - and we could enjoy the sun on the deck outside. Even though it was summer, the captain told us that the water was very cold - it was the Atlantic waters that was flowing into the Northumberland Strait. So ... um ... no one try any swimming, he joked.

The ferry reminded me a bit of the BC ferries trip when you journeyed between Vancouver and Victoria. Being the last car in meant we were parked on the lower deck. As we discovered, that also meant we were one of the first cars out of the ferry!

Welcome to Nova Scotia. Our fifth - and last - province on this trip.

It was around 1 pm when we reached our destination - the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. This was a museum dedicated to the life of the inventor of the telephone and his work here in Baddeck. Once again, it was free entrance with the National Parks Pass. It was raining in Baddeck, but for the moment we didn't care; we were going to be indoors in the museum. This used to be the Bell family home, but now it was converted to a museum.

One thing that was disappointing about the museum was that how little of it was actually devoted to the telephone - which is Bell's most famous invention. Most likely because much of the work on the telephone was done by Bell in Boston, USA (at MIT). To its credit, the museum had a lot on Bell's other inventions and work - which I didn't even know he was involved in. In particular, on aviation - much of the work that was done by Bell in Baddeck, Nova Scotia was on aviation.

It's surreal when something you remember using as a child (the rotary phone) is now found only in museums. I put a modern Android touch screen phone next to it to take a picture - can you spot it? Very amazing how technology changes.

An uncluttered work space - an uncluttered mind. You can see Bell's office, preserved here, was wide open with lots of space, and not a lot of clutter. Throughout the museum we also saw Bell's tribute to his wife. It is true - behind every successful man is a supportive woman - and Bell was driven in part to conquer sound and transmission, and later aviation, largely due to his wife's continued support.

The Silver Dart is what this museum is primarily dedicated to. You can read more about the Silver Dart here. This was what A.G. Bell is known for in Baddeck. It also just happened to be Aviation Day on the day we visited the museum, so there was a bunch of festivities to celebrate the Silver Dart.

Usually in museums I don't watch any of the video exhibits, but there is one here that I would recommend everyone to watch. It tells about Bell's passion for aviation and how Canada made some of the first steps in this new field.

It had stopped raining by the time we exited the museum. Now I understood why there was a old pre-WW2 plane outside of the complex. It was time to get some lunch, and for that we would have to go to the nearby village of Baddeck, which is also where our hotel was.

Can you spot the Silver Dart? 

Baddeck is really a very small village. Just a couple of streets, with some shops and souvenirs, and that's it. Still, there's a Tim Hortons nearby and an Imperial gas station, plus a small convenience store if you need water or fruits. However, it did have some nice restaurants and also a couple of pizza places (for kids).

By the time we had parked, it had started to rain again. It would be a combination of lunch and dinner, since it was late. We only had fast food on the way. We were supposed to do the Cabot Trail tomorrow, and the weather outlook wasn't great - it was supposed to rain all day tomorrow.

The seafood I had on the east coast simply has to be one of the best I have eaten. They don't use any spices, but mostly butter, garlic and some herbs, but I guess it's the freshness - it makes a huge difference.

The last time I had lobster before this was in Cuba, but it was very, very bland. Cuban food, sadly, is not the best. Here, the way they had prepared the lobster made it very yummy. Not to mention pan grilled halibut or even the fried fish.

The Cabot Trail. I will talk more about this in the next post, but this is a great road that goes around the northern part of Cape Breton, and is usually on the list of must-do drives on anyone's list. Baddeck is on the lowest point of the Cabot Trail.

The Red Barn Gift Shop & Restaurant, which is just outside the city of Baddeck, is usually the start of the Cabot Trail if you are doing it clockwise. We planned to do the Cabot Trail counter-clockwise, so we just visited this place after lunch as it is mentioned in every guidebook.

It's a neat gift shop, and I feel sad I didn't buy one of these big lighthouses. They were not that expensive, and if you have a big house, it would fit in very nicely as part of the decor. If you want to buy gifts and souvenirs from Baddeck, or of the Cabot Trail, this place is a must visit.

They even have a nice model of the Titanic - pretty realistic looking. I mean this is more of a Halifax thing, but why not. And if you wanted to purchase it ...

... it would set you back just a meagre $330 . 

Plus tax.

It really was a long day, so it was great to just head to our hotel and relax. We had booked in a small resort, and it was very well maintained.

One of the big advantages of starting early is that you can cover a whole lot of things on your day. This was one of the themes of our East Coast trip. Set out early in the morning, so you can travel as well as sight see. And don't worry about kids - kids adjust very well as long as you take care of certain things. Like lots of activities (Dollarama Zindabad), food and etc.

This was a nice place, and I can recommend the resort to anyone visiting Baddeck and the Cabot Trail. Quite near to everything in the village.

Tomorrow - the world famous Cabot Trail.

East Coast: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Day 6)

Continued from Day 5 ...

Confederation. 

The word seems a tad overused when you are in PEI.

The Confederation Bridge. The Confederation Centre of the Arts. Confederation Bakery.

And then ... on the sign of Charlottetown, the capital of PEI - birthplace of the Confederation.

There is no doubt that PEI plays up its role in the founding of the modern nation of Canada.

Another good thing of PEI being a small province is that road trips does not take long. We were in Cavendish, and we were going to Charlottetown today. The trip took 30 minutes. And that was because the highway speed limit was 80 km/hr.

Charlottetown is the biggest city in PEI. You know it's big when you see a Walmart and other big box stores. It also has a historic downtown section with lots and lots of old buildings. Government House is one of them. It is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor. It is open to the public for free guided tours during the summer.

If you think the design reminds you a bit of the White House in USA, you are not alone. Looks like this design was pretty popular during that time period.

As I said, Charlottetown really plays up its role in the Confederation, and you see statues of the "founding fathers" in many places. This one is of John A. MacDonald (the first Prime Minister of Canada) .

Now I only 2 of the above three, and I can tell 

you they were very, very good!

An open air street play being performed in front

of the Confederation Centre of the Arts

The Canada flower

One of the coolest things to see near Province House (which is sadly under renovations at the moment) is the exhibition recreating the table at which the founding fathers of Canada sat, discussed and eventually agreed to form the country we know today as Canada.

You will not see Ontario or Quebec there. You will see Canada West and Canada East. Canada West, previously known as Upper Canada, formed one-half of the British colony of the Province of Canada. After Confederation it changed its name to Ontario. And Canada East? Lo! That became Quebec.

And of course someone made the Province House using Lego as well!

Now I normally would not think of highlighting an Indian restaurant on a trip to Prince Edward Island, but we suddenly spotted this place while looking for a place to eat. On inquiring, we were told that the lamb is halal (probably because it was from New Zealand). So we decided to eat here.

Lamb biryani, lamb karahi and lamb korma. Oh my God it was so delicious! Hot and spicy without being overwhelming and so full of flavour! If you are in Charlottetown you must check out this place, and do ask about halal as it may have changed in the meantime since this blog post.

After lunch and some rest, it was time to take a quick tour of a couple of beaches.

The singing sand beach - where the sands 

make a squealing sound if you rub against it

The iconic red sands of PEI

Overall, our time in PEI was one we would look back on fondly. It was a small province, but very beautiful, with great food, atmosphere, beaches and lots of things to do outdoors. My only regret is that we only allocated two days for this province. 

East Coast: Shediac, Confederation Bridge, Cavendish, PEI (Day 5)

Continued from Day 4 ...

The world's largest lobster is in Shediac, NB 

Ontario. Quebec. New Brunswick.

Prince Edward Island.

We were about to cross into our fourth province so far. But before that, we had a stop in Shediac, a small city about 20 minutes away from Moncton. Shediac (population about 6000) is known as the "lobster capital of the world", and hosts an annual festival every July which promotes its ties to lobster fishing. At the western entrance to the town is a 90-tonne sculpture called "The World's Largest Lobster".

The World's Largest Lobster

Of course, if you are in Shediac, you HAVE to try their lobster. We found a place that was selling lobster rolls for around $9. Each sandwich had about 2 lbs of lobster meat, freshly cooked. The sandwich ... was ... AMAZING.

Something to be said for seafood on 

an east coast trip in Canada

After that, it was time to head for Prince Edward Island (PEI). PEI is Canada's smallest province, but connected to the mainland through the Confederation Bridge - Canada's largest bridge.

In fact, the 12.9-kilometre (8 mi) bridge is the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water. There's no toll if you are travelling from New Brunswick to PEI (like us), but there is if you are travelling in the other direction.

It takes some guts to drive on to a bridge that you do not see the end for a long time. It just disappears into the horizon, over the sea (technically the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait). When travelling at the speed limit (80 km/hr), it takes about 12 minutes to cross the bridge.

You want to get off at the first exit as soon as you cross (Port Borden) so you can get some great pictures of the bridge. Luckily, it was a glorious day, with plenty of sunshine. This was originally a rail stop where passengers would disembark and wait for a ferry to cross in the past.

Interestingly, even though PEI is the birthplace of Canada, the island (province) itself joined Canada a little later (1873). A condition for its joining was that the Government of Canada would provide a ferry service from the mainland. This condition was finally dropped only after the bridge was constructed in 1997, after more than a 120 years. Canada had to make a constitutional amendment once the bridge was open, and PEI had to agree, that the ferry was no longer a requirement!

After the brief stop in Port Borden, we made our way to Cavendish, PEI. The drive through the island was glorious. If there was one regret from our trip, it was that we only had 2 days to spend on PEI. In hindsight, the island was so pretty, the beaches so divine, the food so tasty, and the people so friendly, that we would recommend anyone spend more time exploring Canada's most unique province. Ideally we would have liked another couple of days in the province.

Cavendish, besides being a beach town, is also home of Green Gables, of Anne of the Green Gables fame. Green Gables is the name of a 19th-century farm in the city, and is one of the most notable literary landmarks in Canada.

The Anne of Green Gables house

The Green Gables farm and its surroundings are the setting for the popular Anne of Green Gables novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery (also a TV show). The site is also known as Green Gables Heritage Place.

The house was designated a National Historic Site in 1985 and the complex is located within Prince Edward Island National Park. Hence if you have a park pass, you can get in for free. Inside, each room is kept as it would have been during Anne's days, as it was on the TV show (and in the books).

It reminded me a bit of similar "old" houses you see elsewhere in Canada, such as the Grey Roots Museum (in Ontario).

The furnishings were straight out of a 

museum ... or my grandmother's

Is that a Singer?

Of course, for me a highlight was the full construction of the famous Green Gables house in LEGO!

Close to the Green Gables house was a cluster of shops that were all eateries. And yes, it included a chocolate shop also called Green Gables.

If you are visiting PEI, you have to visit its beaches. There's many beaches throughout the island, but we visited the one closest to us that day. As you can see, even the beaches are inside national parks (again, free with your park pass).

These were some of the best beaches I have seen in Canada. White (or red, unique to PEI) sands, with crystal clear blue water. And for some reason, not very crowded. It was very, very hot (almost 30C, even with the cloud cover) - so perfect weather to be at the beach.

Close to the town was some board walk shops that stayed open quite late, and were filled with tourists like us. So if you are one of the folks that got a souvenir from someone visiting Cavendish, this is likely where it was obtained from.

Charming. Cute. Quiet. Peaceful. Delightful.

Those were just some of the words I can use for Prince Edward Island. Truly a remarkable place. And for some of us in our group, PEI was the highlight of the trip.