How is that pronounced??

 

While in Baddeck, Nova Scotia (located on Cape Breton Island, and the home of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site) I came across an advertisement for a Ceilidh.

A what? How do you say that?

(Kay-lee) - A ceilidh is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering, involving traditional Gaelic folk music, dancing, and food.

Music? Food? We’re in! We were entertained for two hours by three wonderful local musicians - McKayla MacNeil and Myles and Harold Davidson – and were served tea and homemade oatcakes (a delicious thin, crispy oatmeal cookie).

And speaking of mispronouncing, here are just a few of the Nova Scotia place names we've come across that are not at all pronounced the way they are spelled!

• L’Ardoise – pronounced Lord-ways 

• Antigonish – pronounced Ah-ni-goe-nish 

• Whycocomach – Why-cog-hoe-mah

Boat building basics

 

As we made our way towards Newfoundland, we passed through Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. (I just love saying that name!) I made D stop so I could take pictures of the barn quilts on the storefronts, and the cute little tourist train that takes people from one end of town to the other.

Barn quilts everywhere!

We decided to spend a bit of time wandering through the town, and came upon the Tatamagouche Creamery Square Heritage Centre. D was not interested in going through the museum, but was instantly drawn into the boatshop, where they teach students to make wood-framed canoes. By the end of our nearly hour-long visit, we had learned almost as much as the students about how to build a wood-frame canoe, and Drew was nearly roped into volunteering!

One of the instructors, giving us a tour of the boatshop

Scottish pride

In Nova Scotia, there are towns where the street names are in Gaelic, where the campground groundskeeper wears his tartan tie to mow the lawn, and where they name beaches after me.

I love Nova Scotia.

A visit to 'The Rocks'

 

Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park

Less than an hour’s drive from Moncton, NB is Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, famous for the unique rock formations called sea stacks found along the shore of Hopewell Cape on the Bay of Fundy. The massive tides of the Fundy have caused the rocks to erode in a spectacular way – creating formations such as The Flower Pot, Elephant Rock, Lover’s Arch, and even Mother-in-Law Rock.

The beach around the sea stacks can only be accessed at certain times of the day, depending on the tide, and we were fortunate to arrive in time to walk down to the ocean floor and view the rocks close-up (along with hundreds of other tourists).

That's D, dipping his toes into the muddy water - looks like chocolate milk!

Fun-day at Fundy

 

There is a small village just outside of the Funday National Park that is right on the Bay of Fundy. Alma is quaint, touristy, and well worth a stop - especially for the lobster rolls at the Alma Boathouse Restaurant!

 

Fresh lobster rolls - YUM!!!

The tides on the Bay of Fundy are worth checking out, too. It was very odd to see fishing boats ‘sitting on the hard’, waiting for the tide to rise. Something we never experience on the west coast.

Waiting for the tide to come in

There's one in every province

 

Sussex, NB

Chemainus claims to be the Mural Capital of British Columbia. And while Lacombe is the proclaimed Mural Capital of Alberta, the little town of Legal, just outside Edmonton, is the French Mural Capital of Canada – and maybe even the world.

It seems that in just about every major city in Canada, there are street murals that transform ugly neighbourhoods and run-down buildings into vibrant works of art – portraying the community’s history or local historical figures, and some are just meant to get you thinking.

The town of Sussex in New Brunswick is the Mural Capital of Atlantic Canada (so maybe not every province has a town full of murals). There are at least 26 murals around the town (I believe there are close to 50 in Chemainus) depicting major historical events, such as the coming of the railroad, and favourite New Brunswick past-times like hockey.

It was a pleasant surprise to us to see the murals as we drove through town. The only reason we had pulled off the highway was to stop to get groceries before checking into our campground for the night, and had no idea that Sussex was such an iconic locale!

And while we were driving through town, I discovered this shop. I'd say the owner really knows her customers... fabric and wine!!!

There’s still time to enter!

It's the first annual North American competition - I guess they have high hopes for the future!

 

Everything is big in New Brunswick

 

Some fun facts about New Brunswick: 

• it is the largest of the three Maritime provinces (yet is only 0.7% of Canada’s total size) 

• the longest covered bridge – at 1282 feet - in the world is in Hartland (New Brunswick has 60 covered bridges) 

• the largest axe in the world is in Nackawic (it represents the importance of the forestry industry in the province) 

• New Brunswick is home to the largest concentration of Acadians in Canada (and is the only officially bilingual province in the country) 

• The Bay of Fundy has the world’s highest tides (the difference between high and low tides can be as much as 12 metres) 

• the world’s largest lobster is in Moncton (we haven't seen it yet)

There are many other ‘world’s largest’ in New Brunswick, but we have not seen them all yet. I’ll save the others for another trip.

World's longest covered bridge in Hartland

World's largest axe in Nackawic

La belle vieille ville (Beautiful old city)

Old Quebec from the Plains of Abraham

I had not been to Quebec City before (though D has), so it was high on my list of places to visit on this trip, and it certainly did not disappoint.

Our campground was out of the city, but offered a shuttle service that took us right into the old town. We wandered around, and when our feet got tired, we wandered some more. And then we climbed the 310 stairs from Petit-Champlain to the Plains of Abraham, and continued our wander through the old city wall to the L’hotel du Parlement.

Even though my feet ached, and my legs felt like lead at the end of the day, I loved every minute of it. This may have been my first time visiting Quebec City, but it certainly won’t be my last!

Chateau Frontenac

Random street with beautiful old buildings and flowers

Inside the Cathedral du Notre Dame

Along the Petit-Champlain

The oldest building in the city, built in 1677

L'hotel du Parlement

One of the four gates into Old Quebec

Oh, Canada!

 

We hadn’t planned it that way (because we haven’t really planned anything on this trip), but we managed to end up in Ottawa for Canada Day. What a party!! Downtown Ottawa was pretty much closed to vehicle traffic, and there were people everywhere. I see where all our taxpayers dollars go… into arial fly-by’s of all sorts of military craft, live music, a great show by the Snowbirds, and fireworks later (which we didn’t stick around for as we had a dinner date).

It was quite the spectacle, and certainly a highlight of the trip so far!

People everywhere!

Changing of the Guard at Rideau Hall

Bird Man of Byward Market

The Snowbirds in formation

Snowbirds

Peux-tu dire vin et musique?

The Little Red Wagon Winery

I think one of our favourite Harvest Host stays so far was at the Vignable Petit Chariot Rouge – the Little Red Wagon Winery – in Shawville, QB.

The lovely tasting room/restaurant at the winery

Going on the positive reviews on the HH app, we had made the booking for a Saturday night. A short time later, we received an email from our host informing us that on Saturdays in the summer, they serve a fixed price dinner and later have live music in their restaurant - if we were interested. We said yes.

Turns out, that was a very good decision.

Dinner was either chicken served with a mango-cucumber salad (so delicious we had to ask for the recipe) or a house-made burger with pommes frites. We ordered one of each and shared.

It's about time I posted a food picture!

Then came the desserts. Again, we ordered one of each and shared. The chocolate ganache cake was OMG delicious, but it was the apple pie cheese cake that had us both moaning in delight. Sadly, I didn't get the recipe for that one.

Both were delicious, but the apple pie cheese cake one out

And finally, the entertainment. Zachary Lucky, a country musician from Saskatoon, is the grandson of Canadian country music legend Smilin Johnny Lucky (not someone either D or I are familiar with). Zachary was joined by his friend Miles Zurawell, who played a resonator guitar – as D puts it, “A lovely sound for sad country songs.”

Zachary Lucky

Oh, and I nearly forgot about the wine! The waitress recommended their most popular wine to pair with our dinners. The P’tit Rouge is a blend of Fontenac Noir, Petit Perle, and Marquette – none of which we’d heard of before, but truly lovely! Too bad we can’t get this wine in BC, or we’d be buying it by the case.

P'tit Rouge

When Scott, the winery owner, came by our table to chat, he had in his hand a glass of something bubbly. I asked him what he was drinking, and he offered to bring us a sample. We ended up buying several cans of their P’tit Piquette. 

Mmm, mmm piquette! And a great label, too.

Scott tells us piquette is French for ‘shitty wine’, as traditionally piquette is made from the second press of the grape skins. It is then blended with sparkling water, making for a lighter drink with less alcohol. Piquette has become quite popular in the eastern US and Canada, but hasn’t quite made its way across to BC yet. Or has it? I did a Google search to find piquette in BC, and apparently there are several. I now have a mission upon my return home!