Liesing Life

Quebec- New Brunswick
We drove 5000km in 10 days. I still can't believe it. We went to a new place each night and discovered a part of Canada that I didn't know at all. It was great. We drove through to Quebec City, then to Edmunston. It took about 8 hours. Most of that part was rather dull, except for the broadening of the St. Lawrence River. This was pastoral, green and beautiful. Edmunston, NB was not terribly attractive. It is a pulp and paper town and smells like it. We had our first of many interactions with the most friendly and helpful tourist information people on this trip. They were incredible. Not only did they provide information about things to do, but places to eat and to stay. In addition, they would help you determine where you would be at such and such a time after driving 3 more hours, for example. They would show you photos and information about accommodations in that area and then would call and book for us. It was great. We did this every day and were treated to some really wonderful and neat B&B, Inns, cottages and motels. It was easy to find a place to sleep. Using this technique we didn't have to plan anything. It was such a spontaneous and lovely way to travel.

Our first night was spent in an old catholic boy’s school in Grand Falls (photo). It turned out to be the most spartan accommodation but clean and fine. It was on the St. John River and in the morning we could see a pastoral farm view across the river in Maine. The border for Canada and the US is the river in this area. Grand Falls (photo) was impressive, as was the longest covered wooden bridge in Hartland (photo), which we saw sometime later on. We drove through endless potato fields and passed Florenceville, the French Fries capital of the world. We went to Fredericton and then to Saint John and ended up in Hampton with my friend Kim's mom. She has a gorgeous home there (photo) and is across the street from her brother's family, her son's and one of her daughter's families. It was wonderful to be there and to see all Kim's relative. Kim and I have been friends since we were 14 years old. So our history goes way back. It was great to catch up and to relax in the forest outside the small town of Hampton.

The following day we drove to St. Andrews by the sea (photos). It is a lovely old sea town on the Bay of Fundy. There, we went out in a whale watching boat for a few hours. While the skies were gray and it was cool, the water was mirror-like and it was wonderful to be on the sea and to see the whales (photo), porpoises, seals, bald eagles and star fish (photo). They showed us these amazing looking traps (photo) for herring that were used by the Indians and are still used today and showed us areas of aquaculture used to raise salmon. It was very interesting. We had a lovely lunch there (lobster, of course (photo)) and wandered around a bit. They have a lovely old CP hotel there called the Algonquin (photo). It is very pretty. It is not as large and elaborate as the other old CP hotels, like the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, or the Banff Springs hotel but it has it's own beauty and charm. We tried to get to the Van Horne home but it is only accessible during low tide. He was the president of the railways in Canada at one time and he lived quite the life of luxury. He lived on this tide-island called Governor's island and in Montreal and had the train tracks built right to this small village so that when he was in Montreal, he could get produce and fish shipped to him from there every day. We found a great place for smoked salmon. It was called Oven Head smoked salmon. It was already 8 pm, but I thought that we should see if it was open anyway. We went and found that the place was in a garage beside a house. We rang the bell, he opened the place up and we had probably the best smoked salmon ever. It was sooooo smokey and delicious. He showed us the whole place and explained the process to us too. He has a web site and ships all over the world. Look up Ovenhead smoked salmon and you will find the website. We are looking forward to shipping some over here one of these days. Alas, we returned to Hampton.

The next day was raining and awful. We decided to check out Saint John a bit. We weren't really interested in spending time in the cities. I needed the outdoors and nature. The cities are small and have pockets of historical interest but somehow it didn't appeal. Instead we went to see St. Martin, which is a beautiful place with incredible caves (photo) that are accessible during low tide. I haven't broached on tides, but the tides are incredible in the Bay of Fundy. In places it is 37 feet up and down every 6 hours. It is truly a wonder.

Nova Scotia
We traversed the Bay of Fundy on that rainy day to avoid a 7-hour drive to the northern coast of Nova Scotia (photo from the Ferry looking at Saint John). It was a good time-saver and was a good thing to do on a rainy day, but somewhat expensive.. over 160 Cdn dollars for the car and us. This photo shows St. John from the Ferry in the fog (photo). We arrived in the early evening and went to the tourist information place and found that they were even better equipped, nicer and more efficient than New Brunswick. We stayed in the Garrison Inn in Anapolis Royal, the town that is thought to represent the true beginning of Canada. The plaque that Oskar photographed (photo) says, ‘From its strategic setting, Annapolis Royal has witnessed pivotal events in the history of European settlement in Canada. Located on a former Mi-kmaq meeting place, the townsite and its environs were known as Port-Royal by the French, who occupied the area in 1605. The distinctive Acadian settlement and agriculture patterns later developed on the surrounding marshlands. As the capital of the French colony of Acadia, Port-Royal experienced a tumultuous first century. Its fortifications were repeatedly besieged, captured and rebuilt in the English-French rivalry for dominance in North America. In 1713 France ceded Acadia to Britain. Port-Royal, renamed Annapolis Royal, served until 1749 as the capital for the British colony of Nova Scotia. Annapolis Royal’s richly layered history is embodied in today’s well preserved townscape. The winding French road which linked the scattered Port-Royal houses survives as St. George Street. The town’s buildings provide a showcase of 18th and 19th century architecture, from the stately homes of upper St. George street to the vernacular dwellings in the lower town.” It was a lovely old home with a great restaurant on the first floor. We had a delicious dinner and a funky attic room with sky windows. It was beautiful. We took a stroll after dinner in the village. Across the street from the Inn are the Fort St. Anne and an old cemetery. In the heavy mist we could see people with lanterns walking together in the cemetery. It was so spooky and so cool to see. The town has a late evening cemetery tour. What a neat idea. I wish that we could have captured it on film, it was something out of a film.

The next morning we headed off to Digby, the scallop capital of the world. It is a small harbour town that is real. It doesn't look like a tourist trap, it looks like a real working place. We went to the harbour to where the fishing boats come in and had scallops in the seafood factory on the wharf (photo). It was a hole in the wall place with the best food. A beer and scallops-yum. Oskar took this photo in Digby because he said that we found weapons of mass destruction pointed at the USA v(photo)… He found tat rather amusing. We headed out in the afternoon and drove along the entire east coast of Nova Scotia to the Southeast tip. This area is comprised of small Acadian villages and it was the weekend of the 4th world wide Acadian Congress and so the place was beflagged and jubilant. French everywhere and the sad story of yet another ethnic cleansing... awful. We followed the famous story/poem by Longfellow 'Evangeline' about these terrible times. These people settled in the area in 1604. It was the 400-year celebration. What a lot of activity. The coastline here was rugged and beautiful (photo). We finally ended up in the village of Lockport. It’s claim to fame is that the beach (photo) was on the old 50 dollar bill and that one of their inhabitants won a gold medal in the Olympics in the ‘60s for 100 yd dash. The beach was surrounded by gorgeous dunes and they had piping plovers on this silver, powder fine sandy beach. The water was really cold… couldn’t really understand that people were actually swimming. We stayed at a cottage (photo)on a nearby lake that was very enjoyable. I took Oskar out for his first Canoe experience. Aside from having some trouble getting in and out of the canoe he did very well and enjoyed paddling through the water lilies in the tiny lake (photo).

In the afternoon, we made our way to Lunenburg, the home of the Bluenose II and a world heritage Unesco site (photo). It is a gorgeous town with fabulous old houses in great condition. It looked so much like the New England area. Our last stop of the day was Chester, a town near Halifax that is filled with stately mansions and a lovely marina (photo). It was beautiful. We went to dinner at a great seaside restaurant. And had an awesome bucket of mussels and Nova Scotian beer under the trees in the patio. We enjoyed the warm weather, it was a heat wave. It was a great end of the day. Sadly, Oskar chose the seediest, no-tell-motel called the Windjammer in Chester and we spent a night in a moldy-ugly room.. the last hotel decision for the big O. It had the feeling of the motel in Hitchcock’s Psycho movie.

We woke early and made our way in the fog and mist to Peggy’s Cove where we had one of those huge egg/bacon breakfasts and saw the famous lighthouse post office on the rocks in the mist (photo). That afternoon we drove into Halifax and were greeted by the tall ships (photo). This was a great event to attend. The ships were beautiful and the whole place so festive. We wandered around the harbour and ate some, what else, lobster and enjoyed the festivities. We decided to leave Halifax in the late afternoon and made our way to Stellarton where we stayed with Mrs. MacDonald. It was a lovely old turn of the century house with lovely knick knacks, clean quilts, and fresh sheets. What a nice change from the seedy motel. Oskar thought that she resembled Miss. Marple. The address is MacDonald’s B and B, 292 South Ford Street, Stellarton, NS, BOk 1S0, phone. 902 752 7751. In the evening we went to New Glasgow to see the town festival. They had blues bands playing, which were quite good.

Next morning after a good hearty breakfast, we took off from the MacDonald B&B and went to Antigonish (photo). We spent time looking around at the St. Francis Xavier University and took photos for our friend Robert, who publishes poetry in the Antigonish review. In fact, one very famous one called, ‘Oskar Hoffmann in Siena’, which we love. From Antigonish, we went to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail. We took the road on the north coast and drove through the small beautiful towns along the coast in the misty and sunshine (photo). It is really gorgeous. We stopped in Cheticamp for some seafood and some ‘french’ ambience. The Acadian festival was in full swing there as well. Just after Cheticamp, you enter Cape Breton highlands Park. As with most parks, it is fantastic. We drove up and down the coast, in the forests and were lucky enough to see a few wild animals including a female moose. Each vista was more beautiful than the next (photo). We drove towards Meat Cove (what a name) but made it just to White point and Bay St. Lawrence before driving to our hotel in Ingonish. It was called Castle Rock Country Inn. It was very starkly decorated but nice. A little too expensive. It reminded me a bit of Budir, a lovely place we stayed at in Iceland. Same sort of style. In Ingonish, we stopped to see the famous Keltic hotel.

In the morning, we went off again. We stopped at the Clucking hen for breakfast- a great place. There must have been 20 signs alerting you to its presence. We then took a 2 minute ferry and drove down to the Alexander Graham Bell museum situated in the Bras D’Or Lakes. What incredible lakes. Anywhere else, they would be inundated with houses and holidayers, but because of the proximity of the ocean, these lakes are rather quiet. From there, we had to drove back towards New Glasgow so that we could catch the ferry across to Prince Edward Island.

It was great weather for the crossing and it only took 1.5 hours. We took off and drove east immediately after leaving the ferry and went to an area called Murray Harbour. Oddly, it was packed with tourists and no places to stay. The most valuable player of the NHL season, playing for the Tampa team, was from Murray Harbour and he was showing the Stanley cup to his fellow PEIer’s. It was a riot. People were buying tickets and traveled far and wide to see the Stanley cup. We did finally find a place, but had to go off the beaten path. We stayed at the Lobster Shanty Motel. It was quite a ‘shanty’ looking place, but very pleasant. The back of the motel faced a lovely river, with a great view (photo). We had dinner there and enjoyed our first fresh from the ground PEI potatoes that night. Scrumptious. Additionally, we tried the only wine from the region (photo).

The next day, we drove through farm fields towards Anne of Green Gables. It is an especially tranquil and pastoral countryside (photo). Very different from the rugged Nova Scotia coast. We ate lobsters along the way and enjoyed the famous Malpeque oysters and mussels at a great new place called the Malpeque Oyster Barn in Malpeque Harbour (photo). It is a don’t miss kind of place. Phone nr. 902 836 3999. It was peak strawberry season, and while we had our strawberry season in early June, it was early August. It was a big delicious surprise. We visited Charlottetown, which is a pretty city. We stopped briefly for a coffee and made our way back out into the country. We spent so little time in cities this trip. The landscapes were so appealing that the cityscapes were drab in comparison. Our next night in PEI was at a Bed and Breakfast in Malpeque. It was run by a Dutch couple who were really nice and hospitable. I would provide an address for them, but they are no longer going to be maintaining a B and B. Pity, because it was so clean and wonderful. Breakfast was Dutch pancakes with ligonberries and whipped cream and very good coffee. The couple love Austria and had even spent time in the lake near Oskar’s home village. It was very interesting and enjoyable to spend time with them and to chat about life in Canada. They lived on Vancouver Island for many years and had moved to PEI 3 years ago. Discussions about the contrast between the coasts and life as Europeans in Canada were enlightening.

On the last morning in PEI, we bought several kilos of fresh new potatoes –picked that day- from the neighbour’s house to bring home to Montreal. It was crazy, but why not. We wanted to spend our last morning seeing a bit more of the island. We drove through Summerside, don’t ask why. I know the city because of my GST returns. It is the tax center that deals with reimbursing foreigners with their GST. We then visited Victoria by the sea (photo). This small village is lovely. I wish that we had more time and could stay there. It was so pleasant and delightful. Old houses, nice funky restaurants, a nice harbour. It was a nice way to end our stay. We then drove towards the incredible Confederation bridge. For a mere 39 dollars, you can drive 12.7 kms over the ocean to New Brunswick. Incredible piece of engineering and design. We were very impressed and even bought a book about the building of it. We drove through New Brunswick, as we were told one does. We did stop in Shediak (photo) for a brief time and then kept driving towards Quebec, trying to decide where to stop for the night. At 10 pm, we were in Quebec city. I really wanted Oskar to see the city, at least a glimpse of it. We drove up and down the streets in the old city and drove around the fortress wall. It was lovely. There was a festival on and many people were wearing costumes of early settlers. I was sorry that we didn’t have time to stay there. Oskar decided at midnight that it was only a short trip to Montreal and so we drove back that night and arrived on my parents doorstep at 0300. What a trip. We were already making plans to return to Atlantic Canada next summer!