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.
