Leelee's Place 2

Hello. We are once again back at sea. We do not dock in a port tomorrow, but will be out at sea all day. The Internet connection is not very good when you are just using the ship’s satellite connection. Therefore, I thought I would do yesterday and today all in one blog. I did at least think to compress the photos from today so maybe they would load faster. So here we go . . .
Yesterday we were in Sydney, no, not Australia, but Sydney, Nova Scotia. Leif Ericsson was one of the first explores to visit this area. There were several countries laying claim to the settlement, but finally in 1812 it became part of Canada. In 1867, Nova Scotia was made one of the provinces of Canada. It is a very beautiful island. The leaves are just beginning to turn to the colors of Autumn. You can definitely tell on which side of the island gets the most sunshine, as that is where the leaves are already turning. The highlight of the day was a tour of the Alexander Graham Bell museum. He and his wife, who was one of his deaf students, came to the area and fell in love with it and lived here the remainder of their lives. They wanted to buy the island where the lighthouse stood, but the Irishman that owned it didn’t like Alex Bell and would not sell it to him, so instead they bought 400 acres of land in what is known as Cape Breton. Their little “cabin” they had built is on one of the cliffs overlooking the bay, but is a mansion instead of a cabin. It is closed to the public, but you could see a little of it from across the bay. We also got to see photos of it in the museum. It is still owned by descendents of Alexander Graham Bell. I knew Alexander Graham Bell was a brilliant man, but never really thought much past the telephone that the invented. One of his main areas of interest was helping the deaf. His mother was deaf and so was his wife and he spent a large portion of his life trying to make the world a better place for the deaf. Bell was one of the first to actually devise a way to record orally speech and made a diagraph of the areas of the mouth, throat and nose to teach his students what part of the mouth to use for different sounds. Alexander G. Bell was also very interested in developing a way for man to fly. He created a hydroplane, which they had on display at the museum, and was really more successful at flying than the Wright Brothers, but you hear more about them. We could have stayed for several hours, but our tour only allowed 45 minutes and then it was back on the bus. We stopped on our way back to town for a few more photo opportunities and then back on the bus. We barely made it back in time to catch the ship. We were supposed to be back by 4:30 and the bus pulled into the parking lot at 4:40/ I was glad the ship had waited for us. I can see why the Bells fell in love with this area it is absolutely beautiful and so very peaceful. Kevin and I are determined to return and just stay in Sydney Nova Scotia for a week or so. Here are the photos from our day.



Today we were on to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. As I heard the ship blowing the horn this morning, I went out on the verandah and took some great photos. The island is well known for it’s red dirt. It makes for great photos. Since we slept in yesterday and didn’t get the opportunity to shop, we decided we would get up early and shop before we went on the tour. So that is what we did. Kevin and I also really loved this place too. I think we will have to just have a two-week trip up here, one week for Sydney and one week for Prince Edward Island. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Like I have said in previous posts, very calandaresque. I’ve been having a blast taking photos. Prince Edward is a very old Confederation of Canada with the first Premier being elected in 1851. The most notorious thing about Charlottetown is the author of Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery, was reared here after her mother passed away. According to the guide and the video at the National Park, her grandparents were not happy to be raising another child and pretty much ignored Lucy. They say that is where her vivid imagination came into play, in her creating the character Anne of Green Gables. We saw the house she described in her books, it was her uncle’s home. We also walked the grounds and even into the haunted woods. The grounds were very beautiful and you could see how and why her imagination was her playmate. I remember reading Anne of Green Gables as a child and it was so meaningful to get to see it in person. After our time at Cavendish, we were then off to a lobster lunch at a local Preserves and Restaurant Company. I was very excited as I never order lobster at restaurants as it is so pricey, but I thought “while in Rome . . . ‘ what better place to have fresh lobster. We got into the restaurant and they brought out our beautiful, complete, legs, claws, feelers, tail, eyes and all. We asked the waitress where and how to start. After she gave us some brief instruction, we started trying to “work” for our lunch. I had gotten the meat out of one claw when Kevin leaned over and said, “I’m about to freak out.” I asked him what he meant and he said, “I can’t do this. I can’t eat this thing. I am grossing out!” He called the waitress over and said, “Take this away. I can’t eat it.” You should have seen the look on her face. She really didn’t know what to do, so she called the manager over. I told her we would be happy to pay for it as of course it could not be re-served. They said it was fine and brought Kevin a potato pie instead. I asked him later what happened and he said when he tried to break off a claw the whole shell came off the lobster and he had eaten some of the meat from the body. I had already decided that was gross and was not going to eat that part. But he was DONE. I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about eating lobster at home. I really think he didn’t like the lobster staring at him. I ate mine and it was delicious. We then had fresh raspberry pie. After lunch we went out and walked the grounds. Again, another day with more wonderful photo opportunities everywhere we looked. We then loaded back up on the bus and went down to one of the beach areas. I took a few more photos and then back on the bus for the ride back down the mountain, back to the pier to get on the ship. I slept on the way back. We have three more days to go and then it’s back to reality. This has definitely been a wonderful trip of a lifetime, but I think we are both ready to get back to our normal life. Thanks for reading the blog and leaving us comments. We read them every day. I’m not sure if I will be blogging, but maybe one more time. We are almost out of minutes again. We will just have to see how it goes trying to upload this blog. Ask for some favor, if you want to read more, we need favor getting on the Internet quickly; otherwise you’ll just have to get the rest of the story after we get home. I am going to try to blog about the ship, but that may be it until we get home. See you soon.


Sorry, I think I uploaded the photos in the wrong order. The first ones are from today in Charlottetown.


This was the first look this morning. Check out the red dirt.


Kevin and I had walked down to the village area to do some shopping.

Hey, I actully had my eyes open. Just a street scene in the village.

Janine, this is a duck tour. They were amphibious boat/trucks they used in WWII I think, but now lots of cities use them for tours. They go in the water and on land. Therefore, Duck Tours.

We were getting ready to go on our tour when we saw a Canadian Mounty. Cool huh?

This is Anne of Green Gables homestead at the National Park.

Looking out on the grounds at the Anne of Green Gables homestead.

One of the beach areas. I thought the red dirt cliffs were beautiful. Looks like a calandar to me.

Getting ready for our lobster lunch. I wish all restaurants had bibs. I could use one. Check out Kevin's smile, he wasn't smiling for long though. Again, I have my eyes open, what's up with that?!?!?

Here is my lobster. Does he look good to you or would you be like Kevin and grossed out?

Another great calandar shot from outside the Preserves Factory.

Still at the Preserves Factory. Hey are my eyes open again. That's three times in one day. Miracles never cease. I guess tomorrow I will have them closed again. Can't get out of that habit.

This was as we were leaving heading back out to sea. I loved Prince Edward Island. Do you want to come back with us?

Okay, these are from yesterday in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Music is very important to their heritage. Lots of fiddle playing.

On the drive up the mountain to Alexander Graham Bell musuem.

More picturesque scenery on the drive up the mountain.

Kevin standing in front of the musuem.

One of the displays inside the musuem. This one was about his recording the visual representation of speech. Very cool!

I'm not sure if this is a replica or the real thing of the hydroplane he invented. His wife got to go up in it twice, but Alexander Graham never got to fly. Only in his dreams.

Another beautiful scene with another lighthouse. They are everywhere. A site to behold.

Finally some changing leaves. See the bridge in the background. That is the way back from the musuem.

We ate at the Tamarind Restaurant on the ship last night. It is another of their speciality restaurants that you have to pay to eat there. It is Asian influenced. Hey, are my eyes open again. I think I am getting the hang of that now. Maybe.

I had the sea bass. It was so yummy!

Kevin had the duck. It tasted like turkey to me, dark meat turkey.

Then they really surprised us when they came out singing and brought us this scrumptious dessert. We still aren't sure how they knew. It might have been on the gift certificate, because I had put that on the inscription on the Internet when I ordered it. Other than that I don't know. It was very special though.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for hanging in there, that was a long post. Love you all.