Oh Canada!

From Portland, we traveled to Augusta, ME to see the Capitol Building.  Then we drove through Maine countryside to Calais and crossed into St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.  What a great birthday adventure this was turning out to be.  A few hours later, we arrived in St. John's, where we were going to catch the Fundy Rose, a car ferry, across the Bay of Fundy, to Digby, Nova Scotia.  It was over a two hour ride on the water.  We ate lunch on the outside aft deck as we departed. Wandered the ferry, exploring, buying souvenirs, watching for whales sitting in the sun.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the bay.

New Brunswick, Canada

Car Ferry

Fundy Rose

Once we got to Digby, we had another couple of hours drive to Halifax.  We found our hotel on Chocolate Lake, had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, then planned what we would be doing the next day.  After a nice continental breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the Halifax Public Gardens.  It is the oldest Victorian Garden in North America.  From there we went to the Fairview Cemetery, the final resting place for over 100 victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  Then Shane and I went to the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk, which included shops, restaurants, museums, and historic buildings along the harbor.  We browsed shops, got some souvenirs, ate some seafood, and walked the entire length of the boardwalk from end to end.  From there we stopped at the Province House, the seat of government for Nova Scotia.  While buying souvenirs earlier, one of the clerks told us to check out the Dingle Tower.  Sir Sanford Fleming, famous for introducing Standard Time to North America, donated land to Halifax, established a park, and built a tower to commemorate Nova Scotia's governmental achievements.  It is referred to as the Dingle.  It rises ten stories on the Halifax peninsula and offers great views of the city.  We then went over to Point Pleasant Park, a large, partially forested park on the southern end of the Halifax peninsula. We traversed the forest walk down to the harbour and the Atlantic Ocean.  Afterward, we stopped and had some coffee and a doughnut at Tim Horton's before heading back to the hotel.  

Halifax Public Gardens

Garden Fountain

Dahlias

Titanic Burial Site

Waterfront Boardwalk Art

Shane on the Boardwalk

Province House

The Dingle

Dingle View

Pleasant Point Battlement

Pleasant Point Trees

Atlantic Rockpile

The next day, we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the boardwalk. Public galleries include the Days of Sail, the Age of Steam, Small Craft, the Canadian Navy, the Halifax Explosion, and Shipwrecks. A special permanent exhibit explores the sinking of RMS Titanic with an emphasis on Nova Scotia's connection to recovering the bodies of Titanic victims. The museum has the world's foremost collection of wooden artifacts from Titanic, including one of the few surviving deck chairs.  One friend of Shane's told him he had to eat a Donair while in Halifax and another told him to try poutine.  We stopped at the King of Donairs restaurant on Quinpool Road for lunch.  A Donair is the Canadian version of a gyro, with beef and a sweet sauce.  Unbeknown to us, it was created in the very location we were dining back in the 1970s.  Poutine is basically french fries and cheese curds covered in brown gravy.  Both were delicious, I have since looked up a recipe to make Donair.  While eating, we were discussing the Halifax Explosion, which both of us had never heard of, until we went through the exhibit at the museum.  The Halifax Explosion was a disaster that occurred in Halifax harbor on the morning December 6, 1917. The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo, causing a cataclysmic explosion that devastated the Richmond District of Halifax. Nearly all structures within a mile radius were destroyed and approximately 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, and collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured.  There are several monuments around Halifax that Shane and I decided to check out.  We explored more of the city and stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee and a doughnut before going to the hotel.  

Lighthouse Lens

Full Steam Ahead

Sails

Montblanc Anchor Shaft

Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower

We checked out of the hotel the next morning, driving from Nova Scotia back to New Brunswick towards Prince Edward Island.  We crossed the Confederation Bridge over the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait to PEI.  Spent some time in the village browsing shops and taking pictures.  Then we crossed the bridge back into New Brunswick and headed for Quebec.  We stopped in Fredericton, the Capitol of New Brunswick to see the Province House and to have a late lunch. When we crossed into Quebec, all road signs where in French, the official language of the province. We were able to decipher without any problems. We stopped in Rivière Du Loup for the evening. In the morning we drove to Montreal. We spent time in Old Montreal, got some more souvenirs, ate lunch, and did a little sight seeing.  Back on the road toward Toronto, Ontario, our next stop on the journey. 

Prince Edward Island

Fredericton Province House

Riviere Du Loup

Old Montreal

We ate breakfast at Tim Horton's, packed up the car, got on the road, and headed to Windsor, Ontario.  We crossed into the United States through Detroit.  Shane and I met up with our friends Tony and Alaina for lunch and sightseeing. We got back on the road, a couple of hours and we arrived home in the evening. What an incredible trip and experience. 

Tunnel Entrance to the United States

Lunch Spot

Guardian Building Detroit

Shane, Matt, Tony, and Alaina