We are one week into our Nova Scotia sojourn. We left early
last Saturday morning and drove to Bar Harbor, Maine, where we took a three
hour car ferry over to Yarmouth NS. It
was a beautiful boat and ride.
In Yarmouth we stayed at the Golden Bamboo Inn, one of two
houses owned by Alex and his partner, who we never met and whose name we didn’t
get. Together they are called the
Chinoiserie Hotels, although I am not sure where the chinoise comes in.
Actually Loring just pointed out that Alex’s heritage is half Chinese, so that
makes sense. But it doesn’t quite convey the flavor of the place, either the
houses or of Yarmouth.
The houses are pretty grand former sea
captains’ homes. They are in the process of changing the décor more to their
taste. The houses had been a b and b
before. The woman from whom they bought the houses had moved into a tiny house
behind the house next door. An amusing transition.
Each had a widow’s walk with a view to the
sea. We have them in New England too,
the sailor’s wives supposedly looked from there anxiously awaiting their
husbands’ return. We had a whole suite, bedroom and living room, very nice. And
Alex cooked us a mean breakfast each day.
Yarmouth is pretty quiet, not bustling as we expected
considering it is at the end of the ferry. There is a self guided walking tour
of the mansions, which it took us a couple of hours to complete, and was well
worth it. Most of the houses are single
family residences now, a few are b and b’s, and a few were made into
apartments.
There are only a couple of restaurants in town, and a few more on the outskirts. But there was a lot of excitement in town, both a ribfest and a fireworks display.
The ribfest is apparently a travelling event, quite
large, and three days long. There were
five huge trucks set up, with billboards advertising their ribs, and lines
waiting in front of most of them. We chose two, mostly on the basis of not
having the longest lines, realizing that also might have meant they didn’t have
the best ribs! The two ribs were
noticeably different but neither of us could say we preferred one over the
other. There is supposedly a taster’s
choice as well as other awards, but we didn’t see any place to vote, not that
we would have. We wondered how anyone could try all five, unless they were part
of a large group. I guess it would only
take five, or less if they were really hungry!
There were some bouncy house type activities for kids, and
from the posters I’d seen in town, I think there had been music on a previous
day.
Someone had mentioned to us that there would be fireworks at
10, so after a rest at home, we went to a nearby park to watch. The grassy hill
was filled with folks and families, and we had a perfect view.
So all in all, a nice flavor of the town and townfolk.
Earlier in the day, we had driven out to a scenic lighthouse
on the end of a peninsula, about 10 miles out of town. In addition to the lighthouse itself, there
was a man demonstrating lobstering techniques.
Lobstering is big here, bigger I think than at home. Wherever you drive there are houses with tons
of lobster traps, many more than I have ever noticed in Massachusetts or Maine.
Next stop was Halifax, for two nights. It’s a fairly large city. We stayed at the Hotel Barrington right in the middle of town and walkable to everything. The harbor is the hub for activity, certainly for tourists, and perhaps for residents too. It’s filled with boats large and small, and stalls with food and souvenirs. It seems that many, even most of the visitors are from Nova Scotia.
My main desire in the city was to visit the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, really a museum rather than a gallery. I had heard
of and read about a folk artist named Maud Lewis, who was originally from
Halifax, but had spent most of her life in a tiny house in Digby built by her
husband. She painted many local scenes and painted pretty much everything in
the house as well. The house was neglected for years after her death, but had been restored and brought to the
museum, where it is now, along with many of her paintings. So, you can imagine
how disappointed I was when we got to the museum and they told us the Maud
Lewis rooms were under reconstruction and not open. There were several other
interesting exhibits, and we did get a peek at the house thru an adjoining
room. There are several books about Lewis, and also a fairly recent film called
Maudie, which seems highly rated. I will
have to check it out. I know Ethan Hawke
plays her husband, but I don’t know the actor who plays Maude.
On the way from Yarmouth to Halifax, we stumbled upon a UFO
site and small museum. We almost didn’t stop, but I am glad we did. The man
running it, in his 70s, had been the been the first one to sight the object
back in 1967. He was 17 and had been out
with a friend. Of course they were asked if they had been drinking, which he
says they hadn’t. There had been numerous sightings that night,
and people assumed that an airplane had crashed into the water. Officials
searched the water for three days but never found any trace of anything. There was documentation from a pilot and
copilot flying a large commercial plane who had both seen the object. When I asked the man at the museum what he
thought had happened, he said he truly didn’t know. There have been a couple of
books written about the incident, but he says he hasn’t read them because he
doesn’t want to color his recollections with others’ narratives. There was a small boy with him who was his
grandson. I wondered what the boy, and his other grandchildren and great
grandchildren, think of the whole story.
Next we drove up to Cape Breton Island, which is the
northern part of the province. We stayed in Port Hood, which is on the western
side of the island. It’s a small village. We stayed in a cabin which was part
of a bed and breakfast, several rooms in the main house, and three cabins. It was run by a couple who we guess was
German, very nice. We hadn’t been sure
if we would stay there one or two nights, but decided that one was enough.
There was a private beach that was part of the property, and which we walked
down to. There were also five beaches in town, about which they bragged. We
drove down to a couple of them, on which there were quite a few people. Nothing nearly as nice as the beaches at
home. There was also a huge trailer
camp, which looked as though people stayed for a long time, perhaps the entire
summer. Some trailers had permanent
looking decks.
Yesterday we drove up the coast through towns like
Cheticamp, which is renowned for its hooked rugs. In the several gift shops
there are rugs ranging from large wall hangings to tiny pieces meant to be
coasters. I bought one that depicts the small traditional local houses and
though it’s described as a coaster I will hang it on the wall.
We also stopped at Inverness, where there had been several coal mines and
where most of the male population had been miners. There was a small coal mine
museum in what had once been the train station. Some of these little local
museums are the kind of places I love, where the things on display are very
local, and the people leading you through the museum have lived those lives
themselves. The woman who was very eager to guide us had grown up and I believe
always lived there. I asked her if anyone in her family had worked in the
mines. She said one cousin, who had died at age 18. She showed us his name on the plaque
commemorating all those who had died there. She said that her grandmother had
been adamant that none of her children work in the mines. I believe her father
had been a carpenter.
We had made a reservation for the Markland Resort and Beach
Cottages in Dingwall, where we are now. It’s at the upper edge of Cape Breton. It is a lodge with a number of cabins spread
out throughout a large rolling lawn down to the beach. We walked down to the beach earlier today and
spotted a bald eagle in a tree. Even though we have them at home, right on our
lake, it’s still exciting to see one.
The Inn has a main lodge where they serve breakfast and
dinner. I had a mixed seafood chowder last night, very different from both New
England and Manhattan chowder. It’s not thick like our chowder, more of a soup,
quite delicious. It had mussels, shrimp, lobster, and fish. I believe all of
the fish and shellfish were local.
There was a musician singing folk songs in the lounge. The
mining museum had put me in mind of a song I learned decades ago when I was at
summer camp. It is one of the most beautiful and haunting songs I have ever
heard, and has stayed with me all these years, sixty to be exact! It’s about the Springhill mining disaster of
1958. Springhill is not far from here.
We will drive close to it tomorrow. I asked the singer if he knew the
song. He said he knows of it, but doesn’t know it, and should probably add it
to his repertoire. There is a different musician tonite. Maybe he or she will
know it.
The lounge is filled with wooden chairs. I read that it is
all the work of one man, and is actually an exhibit, the work is not always
here. It is all built from old wooden lobster traps. Every chair is different.
In the dining room there are also a number of mirrors on the wall, all
different, from recycled wood. They range from $75 to $100 dollars. That’s
Canadian, so about 20% less in US dollars. The prices on the chairs range from
$500 to $700.
Today we drove out to nearly the furthest edge of the
island. Our gps mistakenly guided us to
someone’s house, where we told the woman we were just driving around. She said
that people’s gps’s often misguided people. And that there was once a tour bus
that got stuck and had a lot of damage. She was very friendly, as everyone here has
been.
On our way back to the inn this am we went past another
small museum and lighthouse. The lighthouse had been moved from a nearby island
some years ago. Around the island there have been numerous shipwrecks, some of
which the museum documented, along with other local artifacts.
It’s about 630 and our dinner reservation is for 730. Loring
has already gone up to listen to music and socialize. I will head up shortly.
Our plans from here on in are a bit up in the air. We had
planned to go on to the Bay of Fundy, and also to Campobello, FDR ‘s home on
the the US/Canadian border, and also to stay at a lighthouse keeper’s inn for a
couple of nights. They are up in the air because Carolina is due to give birth
shortly. Her original due date was August 11th, but they have moved
it up to August 4th and possibly sooner because of some health
issues. It could even be in the next few
days but she may not know until the last minute. So we are trying to head back
sooner so we are closer to home. Today is July 15th.
Well, time to head up for music and supper. To be continued.
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