Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove is basically a small working fishing and lobster town that has a landmark lighthouse out on the rocks that make up the cove. It is somewhat like the Point Loma Lighthouse except the rocks are really round and smooth, not craggy.

In many ways this reminded me of the small fishing villages we saw in Norway up by the North Cape.

After our tour we went and had a "lobster wrap" for lunch. It was a little spicy for me, but Dan loved it. Don't let the concept of a wrap fool you-there was nothing diet about the meal.

Mussel Tasting

On Saturday we went to the city of Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. It is similar in historic value to our Williamsburg, VA. As we were docking we had a beautiful view of this sleepy little town with small wooden homes. It reminded me a bit of Norway. We took a nice scenic bus tour around the eastern section of the island before getting onto a small vessel that took tour groups out to see the mussel and lobster traps. It was a cold, overcast day, but the trip was fun anyway. Luckily the windows on this tiny boat had plastic roll down coverings or we would have returned as popsicles! Once on board we headed out to see where the traps are kept- and there are thousands of them! The crew cooked us some mussels and passed large plates of them around to everyone. Dan had two plates and I passed completely! YUCK.

After eating the mussels we motored on to

see the lobster traps. The gal pulled one out for us to see and showed us 2 of the lobsters inside. They reminded me of the crayfish we study in 3rd grade science. Did you know that lobster are related to the cockroach family? Lobster are really sea insects. Think about that next time you spend $55 on a lobster dinner! Guess that McLobster for $5 from McDonald's is sounding better all the time, huh?!

From here we went on to a seal rookery. It was a fun 2 hour excursion, but good to get back onto the warm ship.

Coal Mine Experience

In this tiny little town of Glace Bay, a part of Sydney Nova Scotia, we headed down into an inactive coal mine. Before going down we had to put on hard hats and these black capes to keep all the soot from getting on us. Then we learned that while the ceiling tunnels start out at 7 feet high, they eventually go to only 4 feet 2 inches in height. That is a lot of stooped over walking! So, down we go into the cold, wet, low ceiling mine. This is not a place to go if you are claustrophobic!

Our guide actually worked the mine beginning at age 9 until 1980 when the mine shut down. His father and grandfather worked the mine as well. You worked from age 18 until 65. If you lived in a company house and were injured on the job, then your oldest son had to go into the mine and take your place until you could return to work.

They took kids as old as 9.

Remember those old movies where they would take a canary down into the mines and if it died, then you knew there was toxic gas and you need to

get out fast? Well, they really did that and he showed us the canary cages they used.Near the end of the tour the ceiling got down to 4 feet. We walked it for about 50 feet. I am very glad that Brandon, the trainer, had me do so many lunges and squats, because I needed those quad muscles to get though without the back pain other's were experiencing.

The experience was interesting and made you appreciate the hard work and danger these men and their families went though to provide heat that came from coal! Being a teacher was so much easier!

McLobster

When in Nova Scotia, Sydney to be exact you have a few fast food restaurants to choose from. McDonald's is one. However, there is a twist on the menu...a McLobster sandwich!

It is available May through July. It consists of a hamburger bun, shredded lettuce, a dab of mayo, and fresh lobster! All that for $5.50. Make it a meal deal and for $8 you are out the door. This sandwich is not Weight Watcher approved :( so I passed on it. We will not discuss the cruise ship food I am attacking!

A Bell with Feet

Check out this Liberty Bell photo! Doesn't it look like the bell is walking?

There were hoards of folks wanting to be photographed in

front of the bell, so I got what I could. This was a cool piece of history. Did you know that the crack was made wider - like you see today- so that it would sound better? With the original crack the metal vibrated against itself and the tone was apparently awful, so they drilled it out to what you see today.

Everything we saw including the grave site of Benjamin Franklin shown below, was really neat to see, but our little 200 years of history does not compare with the 2,000 years of history we just saw in Israel!

History is Made

After today, I REALLY wish I had paid more attention to my high school history as well as what I was teaching my 5th graders. Seeing Independence Hall and where the Constitution of the United States was written, debated, re-written, and signed was amazing. The only remaining real piece of furniture is the chair that Gen. George Washington sat in. The other pieces are from the time period and match what is seen in historical paintings. Notice the gray paint? They have stripped the paint down to its original color (15 layers)!

The outside of the building is going through general maintenance and restoration, so we had to look around a good deal of scaffolding. What was kind of cool was that the covering over the scaffolding was imprinted with a picture of what the outside looked like. But what a bummer to come all this way not to see Independence Hall or the Reflecting Pond in Washington D.C. I doubt I will be back, so that was kind of sad.

Philly Cheese Steak

When in Philly one must have a Philadelphia Cheese Steak Sandwich. So we went to the Borse House which is an old building filled with shops and a food court. I have to say, I was very disappointed. The meat was a shaved beef and then the sandwich had cheddar cheese and grilled onions on it. I nixed the peppers. It was OK, but my neighbor Christa makes a far better Toby sandwich which is thicker strips of beef, a provolone cheese with grilled onion. Oh, to die for!

All of us were disappointed, but we were glad to have had the chance to get out of the heat and eat a bit before heading for the Liberty Bell.