At Sea: Cruising Pt.2

IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC

Life on the ship continues to be most pleasant. While on board, there are lots of options for entertainment and enlightenment and more food and drink than one can imagine. If so inclined, you can play Mahjongg or bridge, learn to knit, participate in fitness activities, refine your computer skills, watch a movie, borrow a book or CD from the library, attend a lecture, or walk the promenade deck around the perimeter of the ship (this latter something I’m determined to do at least once!).

We have enjoyed the musical offerings throughout the various venues on the ship: from the all-female string quartet playing classical music, to the sextet of instrumentalists and vocalists who provide music for dancing, to the ship’s symphony who are part of the big “shows” in the theater. Last night we had fun at the rousing “Across the Water” show which presented dancers and singers performing pop and rock songs from Britain to the USA ending with a long string of my favorite Beatles tunes.

Lounges and quiet corners abound and it’s easy to find a comfortable chair with a view of the water where you can read or nap or just plain veg.

SYDNEY (Cape Breton Island)
The highlight of our stop in Sydney was “Spirit of the Fiddle,” a performance of Cape Breton music by three accomplished musicians. Two men and one woman on violin, guitar, and keyboard, who switched around as to who played what.

It was a great introduction to a range of Celtic gigs, reels and other tunes with a bit of Scottish step dancing tossed in. This step dancing is closer to the floor without the high kicks of Riverdance, but still requires fleet and intricate footwork. Seating was cabaret style and we sampled Scottish oat cakes, each plate on the tables anchored by a square of a different tartan. Cape Breton Island is known for its music and there is a 55 foot high all metal fiddle sculpture in front of the cruise pavilion.
Later in the day, we walked around this small town, population 30,000. It reminded me of upstate NY as we wandered the quiet streets, checked out the shopping (would you believe I bought a pair of my favorite brand of shoes?), and got briefed on some local history from the guide at the historic Anglican church, built as a garrison chapel. Our last stop was the Jost House where our gray-haired colorful guide amused us with quips and stories midst the history. Sydney had a long history of coal mining followed by the steel industry. Both are now long gone and the town counts on these visits from cruise ships.

CHARLOTTETOWN (Prince Edward Island)
Our stops in port are brief. Most of our cruising is done at night and hence, we arrive in port around 8:00 am and then depart generally around 5:00 pm. We arrived in the port at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, just before 8:00 and the first excursions left right after that. Since I had signed us up for one of these, that meant we had to get up and get moving a bit earlier and at a less leisurely pace than we prefer.

The CP ended up not going, but I did the island drive and stop at Anne of Green Gables Heritage Center. Very well worth it! Charlottetown itself is pretty and charming with a strictly enforced prohibition on changing the facades of any building and the frame houses are all neatly kept and painted in a variety of handsome colors. There are no billboards and no landfills (everything is either recycled or burned). I was pleased to see autumn colors, finally!

Leaving the town, we drove by the malls and big box stores (yes, there’s even a Walmart), noted the many, many oyster beds in the shallows, stopped to see a few moored lobster boats, and then were able to tromp down to the sandy beach. Soil here is either red sandstone or red shale which tinges the ocean water a reddish brown near the shore. It was cold and very blustery so we quickly trod down the sandy path, looked at the waves and then rapidly retreated. After snapping the requisite photos of red dunes and rolling water!

We then headed to the town of Cavendish, site of the Green Gables center, a state or national park. The short film was a good introduction and included quotes from Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery lived in Cavendish and it and this house were used in her series of novels about a young orphan girl named Anne Shirley, the first of which was published in 1908. Like many young girls, I loved and revered these books. They have since been translated into more than 15 languages.

We had time to tour the house, furnished as it was described in the books, and to get glimpses of the several walking and hiking trails also in the park before purchasing some Anne books or memorabilia in the gift shop.