The last day

As promised, breakfast was served by candlelight, and what a lovely feast it was, with fresh coffee, homemade blueberry pancakes and a fresh fruit salad with orange yoghurt.   This was all served on  110-year-old china and as soon as I was informed of this it was all I could do to raise my coffee cup with confidence.   What?  Is there no Tupperware?  Melmac?

As evocative as this lovely old home was, it reminded me of a Holly Hobbie pattern that somehow exploded and implanted itself into every floral wallpaper, lace curtain and delicate piece of china.  Like a cacophony of chinz.  Although a very interesting experience, I was glad to hit the road, especially since sleep was elusive on my bed high up in the eaves.  It was comfortable enough but the mattress had been wrapped in something (I did not want to think about what or why) and I felt like I was sleeping on a giant diaper all night.

We had another gorgeous day to cross the Confederation Bridge and enjoyed the two hour trip back to Halifax, stopping for a leisurely wander around a very laid-back town called (of all things), Victoria By the Sea.  Four blocks square contained the entire town and it was lovely step back in time, reminiscent of little prairie towns in the 1960s -- peaceful, sleepy,  and the perfect antithesis to highway travel.

PEI SPUDS!

We are now back in Halifax in a nice inn about 10 miles from the Halifax airport.  Tomorrow is an early one, as I need to be at the airport by 0630.   From there to Edmonton, where I will cool my heels for about 3 hours, and then at long last - Comox sometime in the mid-afternoon.   Hard to believe that I'll be home so soon as I sit here on the other side of Canada, but therein lies the beauty of travel and all the adventures within.

All about the lobster

Look at these two beauties:  Beamer (the Bibee) and Emily-Anne (the Biber)

And this lovely crustacean:

who sacrificed his life for the glory of garlic butter and a splendiferous sunset over Charlottetown harbour.

What a beautiful and historic city this is, easy to find your way around and full of interesting shops and again - friendly Maritimers.   We've checked into this amazing B&B, circa 1860, and our room is at the very, very top of the house.  We have to ascend two very long winding staircases and through spooky old hallways to get to our suite, and after walking more than 17 km around Charlottetown today those stairs were even steeper than usual.   It's gorgeous though, and tomorrow at precisely 8 a.m. we will be served breakfast by candlelight (probably by either Mr. Jeckle or Mr. Hyde).

We took the ferry over, a calm and windless trip and so warm we were able to sit up on the top deck through the entire trip.  Turns out the ferry dock is a good hour away from Charlottetown, so we got a good look at the pastoral scenery and red earth of PEI along the way.  Lots of potato fields!

On our stroll home from dinner this evening we followed the boardwalk along the ocean and in the gathering dark, as we approached our B&B  on our quiet residential street, we noted a tall fox standing quietly to the side, just watching us.   It was almost eerie as we were able to get fairly close, although the pictures are too blurry to post as it was nearly dark.  Either our spirit animal has tracked us down or foxes are a common sight around here, but in any case, it was amazing to get so close to one.

We have a few more hours to explore PEI tomorrow before taking the Confederation Bridge back to Halifax, dodging briefly into New Brunswick on the way through - which officially makes this a three province holiday - wu hoo!

Oh yes we did!

Ta DA!  Here it is - Lonely Planet's respectful nod to Dartmouth, created by the Two if by Sea cafe, a humble little spot directly across the street from the local soup kitchen, where a long line was already forming.   The ambiguity did not escape me but I bought it anyway and carried it all the way back to Halifax in its greasy little paper bag.  Yes, it was worth it, every last buttery crumb and melty bit of chocolate, worth the long walks ahead and the scolding that I have to give that girl in the mirror with icing sugar dusting her chin.

The ferry ride to Dartmouth is actually an extension of their bus transit system, it runs every 15 minutes from downtown Halifax and is a really pleasant and inexpensive cruise that affords nice views of the Halifax skyline.   If you're only staying in Dartmouth for 90 minutes (believe me, that's plenty of time) then the trip back is free and at $2.50 round trip, it's a steal.  So what if the croissant was nearly double that!   

Halifax harbour

It's a pretty little spot, Dartmouth, with a nice park on the harbour, a tiny business sector and a lot of hills.  You could smell alyssum everywhere!  Today the temperature has zoomed up to the mid 20s and after sweating our way up and down several of those hills we were only too happy to reboard the ferry and head back to Hali and our sunny patio deck, with a quick stop at the grog shop for some cold Schooner beer first.  Shoes off and toes in the sun, this is the life.

Tomorrow we will pack up and leave this beautiful little house and make our way to PEI via ferry.   Kind of funny - it is free to travel to PEI no matter how you get there - ferry or the Confederation Bridge.   You are only charged when it is time to leave.   Now that's good marketing! We are booked into a gothic-looking heritage B&B in Charlottetown which will be quite the change from our comfy cottage (see the POD below).    Apparently breakfast is served by candlelight.   What do you bet it will be chocolate croissants.... gack.