Trip Report Contents
Part One: Introduction & Planning
Part Two: To Boston & Sailing Away
Part Three: Bar Harbor, These Are Tender Times
Part Four: Cloudy and Windy In Halifax
Part Five: Seeing the Sun In Sydney (This Installment)
Part Six: Sunny Charlottetown
Part Seven: Down the Saint Lawrence, a Day “At-Sea”
Part Eight: Québec City. Again.
Part Nine: Into Montréal; Out of Montréal
Part Five: Seeing the Sun in Sydney
An Inauspicious Arrival
Into Sydney, I decided to stick
with the main dining room for breakfast, while Mike headed to the Lido buffet,
the quicker choice. When we disembarked
at Sydney, the police presence was remarkable.
One of the best things about going to countries like Canada is that one
doesn’t feel like they’re in a police-sate; Sydney was full-on that morning. We later found out that, upon pulling in to
Sydney to dock, someone on our ship spotted a body floating in the water, thus
the police. (About that
here.)
In Sydney we rented a car instead
of booking one of the excursions through the cruise line. Our $50 rental car was a lot cheaper than an
excursion for one person, much less than the cost for two of us. Because of the police presence the rental
company wasn’t allowed to drive down to the boat, so finding the rental car shuttle wasn’t easy, but we
managed. Soon we had the car and were on
our way.
We had asked a couple of folks
which driving routes to take, one a waitress in Halifax who happened to be from
Sydney, and then the staff at the rental car place. In the end we decided to drive out to a small
town called Baddeck, which had a few places to eat and an Alexander Graham Bell
historical site; and, it was the logic stopping and turn-around spot on the
route we were considering.
The drive out was pretty but
gloomy, with overcast skies most of the way to the Alexander Graham Bell
Historical Site. At the site one can
learn about Bell’s interests and inventions, and explore the man’s legacy.
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| Even though Bell is mostly known for his telephone, he spent a lot of time figuring out how people hear and helping the deaf |
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| Canadian dogs: I stepped out on the patio at the museum and was charged by this cute little fellow, while the second looked on, half scared |
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| Lighthouse view from the patio |
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| Lighthouse view from the patio |
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| Another patio view |
After we saw the Bell Site, we
headed the mile or so back into the town of Baddeck for some lunch. We stumbled into Bell Buoy, for a really
tasty lunch. A sign outside the place
listed things they served, which seemed to be just about everything. This made me nervous, because usually places
that try to do too much don’t do much of anything very well.
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| View out the window from our table |
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| Seafood chowder |
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| Fried scallops and baked potato with all the trimmings. Clearly I was watching my diet that day. Ha! |
Just as we were leaving the
restaurant, the sun timidly broke through the clouds; soon the overcast was
vanquished and we had a pretty glorious drive back into Sydney.
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| Sunshine ... finally! |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| Beautiful Nova Scotia |
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| The bridge we'd be crossing over on the way back to the ship |
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| Looking out toward sea |
Well, yes, the sun did come out and
we did have some wonderful sightseeing, but we also got a little lost. We weren’t hopelessly lost but I began to
feel that way when I stopped into a gas station for directions, which consisted
of something like this: “Well, you need
to go down that way and to that road that has the bike lane, the one they just
put in, then go over there where they put up that stop light, just before you
get to the hospital. You know, at that
busy intersection. Somewhere over there
you go left … I think … or is it right.”
And on from there. Me: “Um, I’m not from here, so I don’t know where
any of these things are.” Her: “Oh.
Does anybody know how to tell him to get over to XYZ?” Thankfully someone did and we righted
ourselves, made it back to the car rental place, and back aboard the boat with
plenty of time to spare.
A Pre-Dinner Promenade
After freshening up, there was
still a bit to go before dinner, so I took a walk around on the Upper Promenade
deck and took some photos. I was amazed
at how sunny it had been just a couple of hours earlier, because there was so
little sun to be seen by this point.
There was still some pretty spectacular landscape to be seen from the
ship.
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| Ominous skies along the Nova Scotia coast |
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| Ominous skies along the Nova Scotia coast |
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| Ominous skies along the Nova Scotia coast |
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| Ominous skies along the Nova Scotia coast |
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| Ominous skies along the Nova Scotia coast |
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| Geometry: the ocean and the skies, yet all lines |
Tuesday Dinner
Then, on to dinner, shows, the
piano bar, and then to the room for bed…
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| The starter: a cheese tarte |
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| The [second] starter, in lieu of soup: pâté and prosciutto |
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| The main: lamb |
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| To finish: cheeses |
Back in our cabin, there was, of
course, towel animals:
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| A swan? A turkey? Who is to know?! |
