This time our camp spot was located within walking distance of a town. Although it had rained again during the night and it was still raining lightly we decided to walk to town and risk getting wet. Why else had we packed our raincoats anyway? But we did not take the bikes, and do not know whether we again leave them unused here. (Ah, well. They make a nice ornament on the tail of our trailer.)
We walked along many of the main streets of Lunenburg and enjoyed the ‘old look’ of the houses here. Even though basically all the houses followed one of only five basic structural patterns they all looked a bit different as their owners had made various customizations to them to make them unique each one from the others. The varied coloured paint coats they were given added to their individuality. Together these qualities in turn help strongly to make Lunenburg the special place that it is. If you are ever in Nova Scotia we would definitely suggest that this town is a “can’t miss”.
As we walked, the rain finally stopped and the sun started to come out. When this happens it gets hot very fast to the point that it becomes a very uncomfortable, humid heat.
On our walk we came to a most beautiful church. It was called St. John’s Church and its first version was the first church built in the town in 1753. All denominations initially used this church and then later built their own places of worship. In its present incarnation, which was completed in 1892,the church had beautiful stained glass windows which Leo tried to capture for you in his photos. The most remarkable thing about this church was that it had burned down almost completely in 2001 and had since been totally restored again by the local people. To look at it now one would never guess that it had endured this crisis. We also visited the Lutheran Church which had a beautiful pipe organ which again Leo tried to capture.
Lunenburg (http://www.lunenburgns.com/our-town-content/history-of-lunenburg.html)
is a UNESCO Heritage site and was first established by German immigrants whose influence is still present in the houses here. We had a really nice lunch at a restaurant along the wharf and then went back to our trailer. After a drink we went out again to visit Mahone Bay another small community to the east of Lunenburg. Here Leo walked around ‘naked’ (carrying no cameras) for the first time on our vacation but no one in the town seemed to notice the importance of this event. No parents pointed Leo out to their children, nor spoke in hushed tones to them about how he was wearing no imaging tools. We did some ‘shopping’. We went to the bakery to buy some bread, oatmeal cakes and a $2.20 brownie for Leo which in Calgary would cost $0.75. (He remains convinced that he was overcharged because he was walking around `naked`). However, it was late in the afternoon and the town shops closed at 5 or 5:30 pm so we did not get to visit a lot of the souvenir shops unfortunately.
Back to the trailer we went again and later that evening Leo went out to take some evening and night pictures of Lunenburg which can be seen in the pictures for today to be found here.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Day 61 – Travel to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Today looked like it was going to be another rainy day so it was a good day to travel. This time we drove along the South Shore from Halifax to Lunenburg. We took the so-called ‘Lighthouse Road Tour’, which winds you through all the small fishing hamlets along the coast. It is a bit slower to drive and the road surface is not always that good but the scenery certainly makes up for this.
We did not stop that often until along the way because of the rain until when we got to Mahone Bay, a lovely small town with lots of little souvenir shops. We will go and visit Mahone Bay again as it is only about 15km from where we are staying in Lunenburg.
We got a campsite in Lunenburg itself which is located within walking distance from the centre of town so we can perhaps finally leave the car behind and do some walking. We have rarely had a campsite from which one can walk to see anything in the way of sights. That is to say, we will go walking if the weather cooperates as well. Leo was an optimist: he took the bikes off the trailer and oiled them with the idea that we might even bike in town.
After we set up our trailer Leo went out exploring on his own for a while. He experienced a major disappointment on this walkabout. The thing for which Lunenburg is most famous, past and present, is of course the legendary fishing schooner Bluenose which can be found on the Canadian 10 cent coin. Its replica, the Bluenose II is based in Lunenburg and offers tourists the opportunity to go on a 2 hour cruise. This was one of the major reasons for us to go to Lunenburg, although we would have gone anyway. But Leo discovered that the boat had left the town harbour the day before after spending virtually all of August here. It was due for a schooner reunion in Gloucester, Maine and would not return until September 11, by which time we will be in other quarters of the Atlantic seaboard. Leo knew that the Bluenose might not be in Lunenburg all the time during the summer, and was prepared to miss it if need be, but it was adding insult to injury to learn it had left only the day before. It would at least have been grand to have been able to shoot some pictures of it, even if a cruise was not possible, but that was not to be either. However, this offers us a powerful inducement to visit Lunenburg again on our next trip to Atlantic Canada.
The pictures which Leo took on this day can be found here.
We did not stop that often until along the way because of the rain until when we got to Mahone Bay, a lovely small town with lots of little souvenir shops. We will go and visit Mahone Bay again as it is only about 15km from where we are staying in Lunenburg.
We got a campsite in Lunenburg itself which is located within walking distance from the centre of town so we can perhaps finally leave the car behind and do some walking. We have rarely had a campsite from which one can walk to see anything in the way of sights. That is to say, we will go walking if the weather cooperates as well. Leo was an optimist: he took the bikes off the trailer and oiled them with the idea that we might even bike in town.
After we set up our trailer Leo went out exploring on his own for a while. He experienced a major disappointment on this walkabout. The thing for which Lunenburg is most famous, past and present, is of course the legendary fishing schooner Bluenose which can be found on the Canadian 10 cent coin. Its replica, the Bluenose II is based in Lunenburg and offers tourists the opportunity to go on a 2 hour cruise. This was one of the major reasons for us to go to Lunenburg, although we would have gone anyway. But Leo discovered that the boat had left the town harbour the day before after spending virtually all of August here. It was due for a schooner reunion in Gloucester, Maine and would not return until September 11, by which time we will be in other quarters of the Atlantic seaboard. Leo knew that the Bluenose might not be in Lunenburg all the time during the summer, and was prepared to miss it if need be, but it was adding insult to injury to learn it had left only the day before. It would at least have been grand to have been able to shoot some pictures of it, even if a cruise was not possible, but that was not to be either. However, this offers us a powerful inducement to visit Lunenburg again on our next trip to Atlantic Canada.
The pictures which Leo took on this day can be found here.
Day 60 - Wednesday, August 27, 2008 – Halifax, Nova Scotia
I am sure no one will be surprised to hear that we had rain again during the night and into the morning. We decided to spend our day indoors as it was raining a bit too much for walking outside. First we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/index.html ) where we spent most of the afternoon looking at model ships from days-gone-by and the more modern ships. They also had a few life size boats and ships out on the wharf for visitors to view. They had a special display on the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, but by now dear Else had had enough of this subject!
Next we moseyed up the hill to the Halifax Citadel (http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/halifax/index_E.asp ), also a National Historic Site. We did not have a lot of time here as they close at 6 pm and it was already 5 pm when we entered the site. But the short time we were there we sure enjoyed.
After the Citadel we did some driving around the harbour of Halifax, including through Africville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africville), or the vestiges of what it had been. This was a community of black people who occupied this separate area of Halifax, but who were almost forcibly removed in the 1960s in what many still see as a racially-motivated decision. We even got to see a working CN train here pulling intermodal containers out of the port, but there were not very many ships to be seen unfortunately, aside from those of the Canadian Navy’s eastern installation. We also passed the Pier 21 museum which commemorates the arrival in Canada of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came from Europe by boat. It was of course closed by then, but we hope to view it on another trip as we do not anticipate staying in Halifax any longer.
Once it started to get dark we went back to our trailer to get some sleep as we were packing up again the next morning to go on to Lunenburg.
Some of the pictures Leo was able to take for today can be found here.
Next we moseyed up the hill to the Halifax Citadel (http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/halifax/index_E.asp ), also a National Historic Site. We did not have a lot of time here as they close at 6 pm and it was already 5 pm when we entered the site. But the short time we were there we sure enjoyed.
After the Citadel we did some driving around the harbour of Halifax, including through Africville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africville), or the vestiges of what it had been. This was a community of black people who occupied this separate area of Halifax, but who were almost forcibly removed in the 1960s in what many still see as a racially-motivated decision. We even got to see a working CN train here pulling intermodal containers out of the port, but there were not very many ships to be seen unfortunately, aside from those of the Canadian Navy’s eastern installation. We also passed the Pier 21 museum which commemorates the arrival in Canada of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came from Europe by boat. It was of course closed by then, but we hope to view it on another trip as we do not anticipate staying in Halifax any longer.
Once it started to get dark we went back to our trailer to get some sleep as we were packing up again the next morning to go on to Lunenburg.
Some of the pictures Leo was able to take for today can be found here.
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