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Published: June 13th 2017
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Geo: 44.6462, -63.5739
Nova Scotia – Prince Edward Island – Cape Bretton – New Brunswick
By Tommye Fleming (Spoonball on TravelPod)
Today is arrival day for our Canadian Maritimes tour with Tauck. We actually arrived in Canada two days ago, at the tail-end of our driving trip along the coast of Maine. See my blog for that trip, "The Maine Thing", at http://www.travelpod.com/dashboard/entry/9/1442274021.
We arrived a day early as part of Tauck's "Gift of Time" ... a bonus day before or after the trip, for loyal Tauck travelers. We checked into the Prince George Hotel last evening, after a long drive in from Saint John, New Brunswick. We dined across the street at The Keg, which came highly recommended on the Tauck Travel Forum. Thumbs up to those who suggested it; we like it too!
This morning we returned our Enterprise rental car (rented in Boston, dropped in Halifax) and were met at the airport by Tauck ground transportation – a driver in a handsome black BMW. Thumbs up!
We asked our driver to drop us at the wharf where we wanted to look around and check out the Nova Scotian Crystal Gallery. The products were lovely. I fell in love with a crystal Lunenburg
Dory, which reminded me of all the boats we've seen in harbors throughout the last ten days, and presumably will see over the next ten days. A lovely souvenir. Next door, you can see the glassblowers creating the gallery's products.
We wandered the wharf, taking in the sights and sounds. There were 10,000 tourists in town today from four cruise ships – things were hoppin'. Our driver suggested we take a ferry across the water and back – a great way to see the Halifax waterfront. We didn't, but were intrigued by the various tours available, including a cute guy named Theodore Tugboat.
We lunched at Stayner's Wharf Pub & Grill, where I had a bowl of lobster chowder. It was really good, with huge chunks of lobster.
When we were in Bar Harbor, ME last week, I saw a tee shirt that read:
- Lobstah
- Chowdah
- Beeyah
Very clever.
We returned to the hotel for some relaxation. I rarely build that into our itineraries, so Patrick was happily surprised.
We were met in the lobby at 5:45 by Allison Stoyles, our Tauck Travel Director. She is from Saint John, Newfoundland but is now a resident of Halifax. She has been with Tauck four years.
There are
only 23 participants on this tour; Allison has had as many as 45 on the same trip at other times. That means a more intimate group and a lot more room on the bus. I'm likin' that.
Welcoming night involved cocktails and dinner at The Citadel National Historic Site, a fort which protected Halifax from 1749-1945. The strategic hilltop location offers a commanding view of the Halifax harbor.
We were greeted by a bagpiper and a "representative" of the 78th Scottish Highlanders who gave us a brief history of the fort and then introduced us to the British 3rd Brigade Royal Artillery who set off cannons for us.
Cocktails and dinner were inside the Citadel … the first of many meals, I would guess, that include lobster. And I'm OK with that. There were appetizers, a lobster salad, tenderloin entrée and strawberry shortcake. Nice start, Tauck! And a fun location too!
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Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0436s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
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Liz
non-member comment
Excited to read this blog about the Canadian Maritimes as we're going NEXT September on a Kalos Golf trip with much of the same itinerary. Most of it will be on a small ship though. Looks like you've had superb weather so far!