May Maasdam Cruise Ft Lauderdale to Montreal Part 3

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After leaving Bar Harbor and having a nice dinner we went to bed relatively early in order to be fresh for the second shore excursion that we had signed up to with HAL in Halifax. The ship docked around 8:30 which was actually time we were supposed to start out tour. We had again gotten breakfast in the lido trying out the omlet line and finding they did an excellent ham and cheese one. The tour we were taking was the Fine Wines and High Tides tour. We arrived at the theater the requested 15 minutes early but because we were a little late getting docked we didn't leave to board our bus until around 8:45. This was to be a full day tour that included time at at the Domaine De Grand Pre winery http://www.grandprewines.com views of the Bay of Fundy with it's extreme tides and a lunch at a very nice restaurant in Halifax. There were less than 20 people on the tour and we were given a large bus so there was plenty of room to spread out which made the longest drive out to the Winery a pleasant experience. We had an excellent guide who told us stories about Nova Scotia's history and terrain during the drive. The drive took about an hour and when we arrived we found a very nicely landscaped terrain with a very nicely restored 1826 Georgian style farm house in the center of fields of wine vines. Because it was very early in their growing season, the temperature was in the high 50's to the mid 60's the day we were there, the vines were very short and just beginning to reach upward. The winery is owned by a family of Swiss bankers who found it abandoned about 10 years ago and spend a lot of money and time getting it back into production. One of the sons with his family lives there and has become the wine maker. After a tour of the grounds we were invited to a very nice wine tasting area that includes an art gallery. We tasted 5 or 6 wines including an apple based desert wine that we ended up purchasing a bottle for later in the trip. We would get to try some more of the wine later with our lunch in Halifax. We then drove to a look out point that had a great view of the Bay of Fundy and the Annapolis valley which is where the winery was located. After a chance to take some nice pictures we reboarded the bus and headed back towards a small fishing village, Hall's Harbor, where we got a close up view of the Bay of Fundy as the tide began to go out. The day we visited was not a particularly big day for the tide so the rise and fall was somewhere between 30 and 40 feet. The tides can go as hgh as 49 to 54 feet. After another stop to take a few pictures and for some people time to pick up a snack to go at the local seafood restaurant we again boarded the bus to begin the return trip to Halifax and a late lunch. The restuarant we went to was about two streets up from the harbor but had a wonderful view from it's second story location of the harbor. We were served a very nice 3 course lunch with a seafood chowder that was one of the best we had the whole cruise, a large entree and an excellent desert of cheescake with either choclate, strawberry or raspberry sauce. During the whole meal we had large water glass sized glasses that they kept filled with wine, either white or red, from the winery we had visited earlier in the day. I quit counting after the 3 glass but I was definitely enjoying myself on the bus ride back to the ship. We got back to the ship around 4:15 and the ship sailed around 5. We got some pictures of the harbor both in the morning and in the evening. I wish we had more time to see some of Halifax but that left things to see if we come this way again. Again the tour we took was High Tides and Fine Wines and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes good wine, excellent food and a tour that doesn't require a lot of physical exertion.

 

After the ship sailed we checked out the program for the day and noticed tonight was the Desert Extravaganza. We always try to at least get to it to take pictures even if we are too full to fully partake. We also noticed that we were going to have a time change setting our clocks forward an hour and therefore losing an hour's sleep, tonight. Dinner was again casual so we cleaned up and got ready for another evening with our friends around table 68. Evenings were always fun because we all were doing different things and every evening we got together and talked about our experiences. This evening was no different. Peggy, John, Sandy and Peter had went to Peggy's Cove and had a great time. Steve and Jean had done some shopping and touring in historic Halifax. Dinner was again excellent as was the service. By the time we took a short walk around the ship and got back to the cabin it was time to grab the camera and go up and take some pictures of the Desert Extravaganza. HAL and its chefs always do a bang up job and they did it again on this cruise. After trying just a couple of the many deserts on display we retired to our cabin so we would be refreshed for another adventure in Sydney the next day.

 

The ship docked in Sydney at a little before 8. We had our breakfast in the dining room as we were scheduled to go on a tour with Peter, Sandy, John and Peggy. We were all going to meet on the dock at around 10 which we did. The temperature was in the high 40's to the low 50's but the wind was blowing hard and it felt a lot colder. There was only the 6 of us and we were supposed to have a van but the guide had a mechanical problem and had substituted a much larger vehicle that would have probably handled 20 people. The driver said he had just gotten the call the night before at 10 PM that he was going to be working. Anyway we were planning on heading to the reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg and then lunch followed by a visit to a look out place where we would be able to take some pictures of Cape Breton.

 

The drive to the Fortress was uneventful with some nice scenery until we arrived at the welcome center for the Fortress. Here we got our first surprise for the day when it turned out the Fortress wasn't actually operating at full capacity and there were no buses available to take us from the welcome center to the Fortress. There were several other groups from the ship there with private guides or who had rented cars and after some discussions they decided to board as many people as they could on our bus and we would follow one of the guides out to the Fortress. A group of German tourists also from the ship elected to drive out in the Limo they had rented. We did get a break on the fees for the park as there was a "family" rate which we decided John and Peggy would adopt the rest of us and so we all got in for $13.50. That worked out to $4.50 Canadian per couple. Looking at the brochure as we drove out to the Fortress I noticed that officially it wasn't supposed to open until June 1st. As it turned out we only got to see maybe 20% of what was available. None of the historical costumed characters were around and none of the restaurants or exhibits were operating. The Fortress, it's named that rather than Fort because it was both a fortification and a place for settlers to live in, is about 20 to 25% reconstructed. It was destroyed by the British after they took it for the second time in 1761 during the wars between the French and British over who was going to control Canada. By the way let me also say it was extremely windy and cold out by the ocean where the Fortress is. It felt like it was in the 20's although the temperature was actually in the mid 40's and was relatively comfortable if you could get out of the wind. We got to see the Museum, the King's Bastion including the Govenor's quarters, the chapel and the soldiers barracks. We then walked down into some of the other areas of the Fortress including the storehouse and prisoner building and saw the outside of the Engineer's house. I actually was able to get into the Engineer's house when one of the workers noticed me taking pictures and asked if I wanted to go inside. It wasn't totally set up for viewing but I did some pictures and appreciated his kindness. We spent about 2 hours at the Fortress and I really believe when everything is open and functioning that you could easily spend a full day there and not be bored in the least. After driving back by the welcome center we talked with our guide and decided to stop in the modern village of Louisburg and get some lunch at a local restaurant, the Station House. I had a scallop burger which was pretty good. The small restuarant also had some excellent clam chowder that one of our party had. We then took a drive up to a place we could get some light house pictures and see across to Cape Breton. After that stop we made the journey back to Sydney and our ship. If anything the wind was blowing even harder when we got back and it felt even colder so we checked out the tourist area right by the dock before returning to the ship. They had a local craft;s market there for our visit and we picked up some hand knitted mittens that we wished we had earlier in the day at the Fortress. We got back on the ship and mainly wanted to get warm again. This was our night to dine in the Pinnacle Grill so we would be missing dinner with our friends.