Last Days in Nova Scotia

Halls Harbour

We slept overnight in the motor home in Heather's driveway in Kentville.  The next morning we headed over to the Blomidon looking for a view for miles.

Then we drove down to Hall's Harbour with it's big tides.  The fishing boats were resting on the sea bottom.

The next day we went back and stayed with sister Anne in Dartmouth.

Cathy, John, Anne and Leo

We drove over to Truro to visit Leo's last surviving aunt Gwen, her husband Donnie and daughter Donna.

Neither here nor there but this is an 1871 PEI penny from before they joined Confederation found in Cathy and Rick's old house.

On our last day we took the ferry across the harbour from Dartmouth to Halifax.

We walked around on the harbourfront enjoying the tourist sights.

This guy was a falconer, demonstrating his hawk.

Wedding Bells

 

The reason we flew out to Nova Scotia was to attend our niece Heather's and her partner Jeff's wedding.  They met volunteering at the Kentville fire department so Heather arrived in the department's restored fire engine. 

The wedding was held outdoors  on a farm property in Kentville.

Happy couple with bride's parents

The reception was inside the barn.

Here's the inside view.

Some photos:

Head Table

Bride and Groom Speak

The cupcakes matched the floral centerpieces

Leo was Emcee

Brother and sister up to shenanigans

Whirlwind Trip to Prince Edward Island

After breakfast with Kevin and Medana we headed off to the Confederation Bridge which links Prince Edward Island to the mainland.  

Confederation bridge

It's the longest bridge in Canada and the longest bridge in the world that crosses ice-covered water.  It takes about 12 minutes to cross.

We stopped at the PEI end of the bridge for lunch and some photo-ops.  There's a small interpretive centre where I learned a little history.  Despite being the cradle of Confederation, PEI did not join Canada until 1873.  One of the conditions was that access to the Island would be guaranteed in the wintertime.  Prior to the establishment of an icebreaker ferry service, Islanders used iceboats, fishing dories that would be hauled over the ice to reach open water.

Trinity United Church

Our next stop was Charlottetown where we parked near the cruise ship terminal and checked out the downtown.  We popped into Trinity United with its giant organ and its varnished wood ceiling.  When I was in Charlottetown last year our shuttle driver recommended we visit the church with a ceiling built to look like a boat.  Patti and I wandered around the church district but never found it.  Here it was, just a block away from the other churches.

We overnighted at the Confederation Trailside RV Park near Mt. Stewart.  Leo and I went for a short walk on the trail.

The next morning we stopped at Orwell Corner Historic Village.  It was semi shut down for the season, the blacksmith shop and the tea room were not open and the only interpretive townspeople on site was the general store owner.  

It was still fun though.  The buildings are all original to the site.  They have horses, goats, cattle, sheep, chickens and a turkey on site.

We visited the church and it turned out to have a varnished wood ceiling like the the church in Charlottetown.

Then it was time to head for the ferry at Wood Islands.  Wood Islands has a very attractive lighthouse.  We were to  cheap to go inside but 

 not too mature to pretend we were a lobster fisherman.

It's a 75-minute ferry ride back to Nova Scotia and a few more hours back to Chester Basin.

Fredericton

Leo peers through cool sculpture.

After we left St. John we followed the St. John River Valley towards Fredericton. We stopped for a break at a Brundage Point River Centre.  This sculpture,  Rivergate, was sculpted by Radislav Sultov of Bulgaria  as part of the St. John International Sculpture Symposium.  

Fun for all ages

We camped at the Hartt Island RV Park right on the St. John River with the Trans Canada Trail passing right by.

The next morning we drove into Fredericton and parked at the Superstore. Leo, Rick and I walked a half hour to the historic centre. Unfortunately the whole area was cordoned off for a music festival.  Instead we walked along the beautiful riverfront trail.

The lighthouse has been turned into a restaurant.

As an art project the benches along the river walk have been decorated:

Closeup:

We visited the New Brunswick Legislature.  We had to go through airport level security.  We were the only tourists there.  The legislature was not sitting.  It's very small compared to the BC Legislature.  There are only 45 members versus 93 in BC.

View from the visitors' gallery

We were interested to see that the Legislature has a copy of the original Audubon's Birds of America.  It's huge!  Bigger than the Book of Kell's, which I visited many years ago at Trinity College Library, Dublin.  We also toured the Legislature's cosy library which has an interesting collection of all things New Brunswick, books on the Audubon theme and even contemporary novels.

It was a super fun experience and now I'm keen to visit provincial legislatures across the country.

Once Rick sorted out some mechanical issues with the bus, we headed off to overnight in Monckton, parked in front of our friend's Kevin and Medana's house.  They were great hosts!

Saint John, New Brunswick

Our next stop was St. John, home of the famous reversing falls.  We waited for a couple of hours for high tide when the river reverses and flows upstream.    

Still flowing downstream

After a while we crossed the bridge and waited on the other side.

On this side there was a large sculpture called the Memory Vessel in the shape of a canoe and commemorating five people who died on the St. John River.

Eventually we got tired of waiting and it started raining so we drove over to the Carleton Martello Tower National Historic Site.  Where we took no pictures. The tower was closed for repairs but it had a nice little museum.  It was built during the War of 1812 and was occupied in both the first and second world wars.  I learned about the Fenians who plotted to invade Canada as part of the Irish uprising against Britain.  

We returned to the falls but the water was still running in the same direction.  Next we went downtown to Market Square.

It was pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon.  It looks to be set up for cruise ship traffic and there were no cruise ships docked today.

Fun instagrammable art

We camped at the municipal campground in Rockwood Park, mostly permanent residents from the looks of it.  (Also no photos.)

Monday morning we drove back downtown and checked out the City Market, the oldest continuously operated market in Canada (since 1785 though not at this location, built in 1876). Again no photos!  It's a cool old building and has a great bakery/cafe and a good butchers.

A block away was the Loyalist House, built in 1812 by the Merrit family, who continued to live there until 1958.  Like the City Market it's one of the few buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1877.

Dining Room

Kitchen

Cool Tools

Original Wallpaper

Bedroom