and on to Cape Breton

From Pomquet, Calin, Susanne and I headed east to Cape Breton, around the Cabot Trail. We had great weather while in Pomquet, and equally beautiful weather for our first whole day on Cape Breton, for which we considered ourselves rather lucky.
We stopped in Cheticamp, stopping in at the church both to have a look inside as well as to use the bathrooms.

We also stopped there for lunch, where Calin and Susanne had a lobster each, and I had a giant snow crab, on the first day of the season (see the plate in the foreground).
From there we continued onward, into Cape Breton Highland National Park, and on toward Pleasant Bay.
I had called ahead and reserved us some spots on a whale watching tour out of Pleasant Bay. The weather couldn't have been nicer, as even out on the water it was warm enough to be wearing shorts and short sleeves, and the sun was just brilliant.
We had some pretty good luck with the whales as well, seeing a large Minke whale soon after leaving the harbour, and after that dozens of pilot whales, surrounding the zodiac and frolicking with each other.
Here you can see me enjoying the sunshine (wearing my glasses, for better wildlife-spotting capabilities), and Gilles, our charming Acadian fisherman-turned-tour guide.
Here you can see lots of dorsal fins, right next to us...
And here was a seal, out sunning himself on a rock.
There were also some lovely rock formations along the shore. We went in close to this beach, because the tour before us had seen a bear cub walking along the shore. Alas, we were not so lucky.
We also went into a little cave, where the water was just filled with big purple jellyfish (you can see them here a little)...
There were lots of interesting sea birds as well, particularly the Northern Gannett, which had a really distinctive bright yellow head and bright blue eyes. They'd circle way up above the water and then dive in after fish. Gilles said that they actually dislocate their wings before hitting the water, as otherwise they'd break with the speed of the impact, and that some percentage of young die every year because they hadn't mastered the trick yet.

The flocks of birds also made it easy to find the whales, as they were feeding on the same schools of fish, and sometimes on the scraps left behind.All in all, we were more than satisfied with our tour!
Finally, to give you some idea of how great it was and how happy we all were, here's a short video that Susanne took on the ship. At about 2 minutes in we completely got sprayed by the spray from one of the whales, leaving us all with a fine sheen of whale snot as a souvenir. (No complaints from us!)

And then we were back in at the harbour, and ready to continue our drive.
We never did manage to see any moose while on Cape Breton, though we did see lots of signs warning us about them. Jeremi and I did see one moose while driving across the Renous Pass on our way from Vanessa's wedding to New Brunswick at around midnight, before Calin and Susanne arrived, and it was a little scary - it was in the middle of the road of course. While I was hoping Calin and Susanne would get to see a moose, at least we didn't meet one in that most unfortunate of ways.

While we had originally thought of camping along the way, and had all the supplies with us, I was coughing like crazy while suffering from a summer cold (damn you, summer colds!), and we thought it might be best that I sleep somewhere warm and dry, rather than getting pneumonia the week before the wedding. And so we drove onward to Baddeck, where we knew we'd find hotels at least.

We opted to take the ferry across from Jersey Cove to Englishtown, as it saves a bit of driving, but we hadn't counted on the wait for the ferry. Still, it was a lovely evening, and it was quite pleasant to wait on the peninsula with water on either side and sea birds all around as dusk settled.Finally we made it onto the little ferry, just as the sun was setting.

The guy collecting the tickets was incredibly friendly (okay, normal for Cape Breton), and stopped to play with the dogs in the back of the truck in front of us. Calin and Susanne were also impressed that well over half the vehicles on the ferry were pick-up trucks - as tourists we were definitely in the minority still at this point in the season.

And so we made it to Baddeck, and were able to get a room at the Telegraph Hotel, where I'd stayed with my parents one time that we were there. Here Calin is testing the (very comfortable) beds, before we headed out to find something to eat.


I was worried that we might be too late to get anything as it was after 10:00 by then, but we managed to get some delicious pizza and calzones at the yellow cello, as well as some casual live music.
Here, amidst the threatening morning clouds the next day, you can see the Telegraph Hotel in daylight.
Though the next morning did not bring more beautiful sunny weather, we didn't mind the rain so much as our only plans were to drive back to Halifax, and help get ready for the bachelor/ette party (in my case) or meet up with an old friend from Denmark who is now working at Dalhousie (in Susanne's case).

First stop, Pomquet

After our first few days in Halifax, Jeremi and I parted ways. He headed to New Brunswick to catch up with old high school friends at their 10 year reunion, and Calin, Susanne and I headed to Cape Breton. On the way we stopped and stayed in Pomquet, where Marie's from, on Saturday night. As usual, Marie's parents were wonderful hosts, and the weather was just beautiful. On the Saturday afternoon when we arrived, there was still enough time to get in a quick swim on Pomquet beach, where both the water and the sun was pleasantly warm.

After playing in the water for a while:
That night we had a wonderful meal of mussels, lasagna, and salad, and a few nice glasses of wine.

The next morning during breakfast Marie's grandmother and uncle stopped by, which was a nice chance to say hello.

And a picture before leaving:
Then we were back on the road, for a day of impossibly nice weather in Cape Breton.

Calin and Susanne arrive in Nova Scotia

Calin and Susanne arrived on Thursday a week before the wedding. We left NB that day to go to Halifax and to eventually pick them up when they arrived at the airport. On Friday we took them out to see the sights in Halifax. First stop, Dalhousie University. Following Julia's old walk to work/class we got to the campus and showed them around.

Then we went down Spring Garden rd. to the Public Gardens and saw the Harbour Hopper amphibius tour bus on the way.

We walked through the gardens and then had a pint and some food on the Rogue Roost's patio.

Then we walked down to the waterfront and went on the Keith's Brewery Tour. Julia and I had already been on the tour several times, but it's always fun and a must for tourists. Here's Julia checking liquid for clarity during the brewing process.

Here we are at the Stag Head's Pub. This is where the tour ends and you get a couple glasses of Keith's.

Then we followed the harbour going south. We couldn't follow the harbour the whole way but eventually we got to Point Pleasant Park. But on the way there we walked through a movie set. Watch for Seawolf coming to a theater near you, or probably something that had Seawolf as a working title.

Once at Point Pleasant, we walk around some more and went down to the beach to check out the Cormorants and play in the "No Children" zone.

Julia and Susanne are being Cormorants (who sit like this in the sun to dry the feathers on their wings).

We took the bus back into town after all that walking and went to the Economy Shoe Shop to meet up with more friends and eat something after all that walking. After that it was off to the the Granite Brewery or the Henry House as some call it now, which is yet another wonderful Haligonian brew pub. Here's Calin with the sampler. Doesn't he look happy?

We also briefly stopped at Bearly's Blues House for possibly another beer. The next day we went to the market before I had to leave for NB for my 10 year high school reunion and Calin Susanne and Julia make their way to Pomquet and Cape Breton. We always loved to go to the market when we lived in Halifax cause there's lots of fresh everything and interesting meats like boar and ostrich and other fun stuff to do. It's also a good place to roam around when you're hungover Saturday morning, which was often the case. Here's Sussane in front of the Dutch Gouda salesman.

This sign has aparently been there forever and I only noticed it now.

Passing through Bellville

After Vanessa and Joey's wedding we drove to Belleville to see some of Julia's high school friends on our way to NB. We swung by Reid's Dairy to get several different kinds of cheddar. Cheddar is not so popular in Germany and hard to come by in Jena, especially if you want any kind of old cheddar. We also got Loonie Shake's (milk shakes for a dollar) and wanted to get fresh curds but they were out.

We went over to Pam's house for supper with her and Jen. Here's Julia unwrapping our present from them. A hand-picture-frame with a photo of us from when we were all in Dublin last year:

Jen couldn't come to the wedding which is why we got to open that present right then and there. Pam also wasn't sure she could come because her grandmother was sick in the hospital.

After supper we went to the local sports bar to have a Rickard's White or two and so Julia could get up on all the latest Belleville gossip.

Unfortunately, Pam's grandmother passed away that night while we were sleeping. Pam went to see her and her family early that morning.

Next we were off to NB and Halifax.

Vanessa and Joey's Wedding

Now the chronology of our blog gets all messy. This was on the 5th of July, two weeks before our wedding (the last post). The next few post will also be taking place before the wedding.

First of all I have to say that the day before Vanessa and Joey's wedding was a big day for me because Julia was arriving from Germany. Hooray! The poor girl had been working non-stop at work and at several sewing machines for the two months (and more) prior to this. Then, we were on the cross-Canada wedding circuit for the next month. So after she got of the plane we went to Chris and Karen's (and Owen's) for a nice supper on the patio and a night of jet-lag sleep.

The next morning after quickly sewing horse hair braid onto the hem of her dress we were off to Venessa and Joey's wedding in Kitchener-Waterloo.

A quick note on Julia's dress: this was the practice dress she made before attempting all the wedding garb. It's made from the same patern as her wedding dress but with a shorter skirt and no train.

Between the wedding and the reception, we checked in to our hotel room and had a few beers. Above is Owen repetedly requesting "Row, row, row your boat" by screaming "Row, row, row" and rowing Joy's hands like oars.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was held at the Polish Legion which meant Polish beer which is like Czech beer, delicious. The Hall was decorated in white and blue, the colours of the wedding. This matched the baseball theme of the wedding since they are Blue Jays fans and they first met at a ball game.

We had lots of kidly entertainment during the supper as we were seated with Owen, Midori and Toby and of course their parents Chris, Karen, Shane and Dayna who are also lots of fun.

Here's the top of Toby's head climbing into his seat.
Owen and Julia's uncle Beer.

Dayna and Midori playing with a doll.

The supper was all traditional Polish dishes. I would enumarate them but I have no idea what they were called. All I know is that there was lots of courses and it was all delicious. There was also an impresive spread of midnight snacks later on.

Here are lots of people cutting a rug after the speeches and bad jokes.

Here are Julia and Baba and her uncle Ray (he of the bad jokes) in some kind of line dancing thing that was going on.

We partied until about 1:00 and then went to bed so we could get up for the brunch the next day and drive to Bellville (the next post).