Dave paid the dinner tab to a woman with a huge red lobster on her chest. The image sums up my favorite times in the Maritimes--eating lobster after lobster after lobster. After visiting New Brunswick, we drove east, across Nova Scotia, to Cape Breton. Cape Breton is a gorgeous island, fringed by green mountains and rocky coasts, with a huge inland sea, Bras d'Or, in the center. Cape Breton is now anchored to Nova Scotia by a bridge and causeway.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, had his summer estate in Baddeck, on the banks of the Bras d'Or ("Arm of Gold"). Bell was born in Scotland, and Cape Breton reminded him, and us, of the highlands of Scotland.
We started our exploration of Cape Breton with the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. We didn't realize he invented many things besides the telephone.
We then took a catamaran ride around the Bras d'Or.
Our captain teased us that he learned his sailing skills from his "Sailing for Dummies" book.
We passed the Bell estate, visible only from the water.
We were delighted with our B'n'B, which had been a home for one of Bell's managers.
From our B'n'B, we could see the shimmering Bras d'Or.
The best restaurant in town was the lobster pound. We waited 90 minutes for a seat.
Next morning, we visited Ft. Louisbourg, the French fort on the eastern tip of Nova Scotia. It was a self-contained city for 100 years, until the French traded all their land in America to the British, after the end of what Americans call the French and Indian War, and the Europeans call the Seven Year War. The fort brochure says that Ft. Louisbourg is the largest living history museum in the Americas. What, I wondered, about Williamsburg? In any event, Ft. Louisbourg was splendid.
Our first stop was to hear a fisherman tell about catching and drying cod for transport to Europe.
A favorite part of our visit was the military parade.
The soldiers fired old-fashioned muskets.
At the head engineer's house, the kitchen staff was preparing for a party.
The commander slept in style. Note the crucifix on the bureau.
Tatting is not a totally lost art.
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