Leaf Peeping - Day 4: Sydney, Nova Scotia [2014]

Wow, it has been warm! We docked this morning around 10, after a local pilot jumped on board mid-channel to take us into the Sydney dock. We had met in the Lido pool area god a special breakfast of creeps and flapjacks (with real maple syrup) and some Celtic music accompanying! At the dock (deck 3, so minimal gangway - yesterday the exit was on deck 5 with lots of ramps) we met our guide Tommy by the worlds largest fiddle and he took us around Cape Breton Island, including Christmas Island, Iona with the Highland Village with reenactors and buildings transplanted from surrounding old settlements, Baddeck including the fascinating Alexander Graham Bell museum - what an amazing renaissance man! - and Kelly mountain. He was a ton of fun, and got us back in time!

For dinner, Steve and I took advantage of their offer to give us a free meal at their upscale joint, the Pinnacle, in compensation for he damaged luggage. Just lovely: amuse bouche of a mushroom 'cappuccino'; appetizer plate of grilled asparagus, a dollop of whipped potatoes and some terrific sautéed mushrooms; main course was a roasts pumpkin risotto with a side of brussel sprouts for Steve and baked potato for me; pre-dessert of coconut covered in dark chocolate, espresso cream covered in dark chocolate and pistachios, pecans and dried fruit in a (solid) puddle of white chocolate; dessert for me was a baked Alaska variation: Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia in the center, surrounded by fluffy white cake and covered in toasted whipped cream cover, plus some bing cherries in a sauce and for Steve, a trio of creme brûlée: normal custard, espresso and chocolate. And we decided on a yummy Pinot noir to help up along the way :) a wonderful meal.

Afterwards, we went next door to the Explorations Cafe to see if we could find Mom & Gert. They were there, finishing up their second game of cribbage. They had dinner in the dining room, the Rotterdam, and met some really fascinating well traveled folks.

Off to bed!

Leaf Peeping - Day 3: Halifax, Nova Scotia [2014]

What a sweet city - so much more to see! We must come back. We walked along the waterfront for a few hours this morning, and this afternoon caught a bus tour of some of the city's highlights and did some walking in key spots. First, the cemetery where most of the bodies recovered from the Titanic are buried, then a stroll through the amazing Victorian Public Garden, and lastly the Citadel. Our tour guide wore a kilt - lots of Scottish traditions here. Halifax is very multicultural due to lots of waves of immigration: French, English, Freed slaves, German, S Ottis's and Irish primarily.

Mom had an unexpectedly long day of walking but muscled through it.

As we were shoving off, us girls got together for a drink while Steve hit the gym... And we all met for dinner in the main dining room. Again, the food was a hit - citrus fruit salad infused with Gwerstemiener for all, then tomato fennel soup (wow!) and French onion (guess who) for the middle course and for the entree the meat eaters had turkey+stuffing+veggies in solidarity for Canadian Thanksgiving and us vegetarians had a yummy penne with a bit of basil, etc. For dessert we sampled a fruit cobbler, pumpkin pie and strawberry mousse in a white chocolate cup. And we all had the drink - Violet Beauregard - chambord floating on top of creme de cacao.

By now it was about 9, and we had missed the fiddlers, though we had been serenaded by a bagpipe and drum before we left. So we ambled over to the pianist who played Irish songs for about an hour, followed by some standards and singalongs. Really good stuff!

Our towel animal was a butterfly :)