Halifax (round 1)

Halifax - looking toward the citadel, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Our trip through the maritimes began and ended with Halifax.
We spent a few days when we first arrived going to the Maritime museum, pier 21 and to the citadel.
I had my first proper lobster dinner in Halifax.. and I must say fresh lobster is really very good. Almost as good as crab.

Halifax - Theodore Tugboat, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

In the harbour we ran into this guy... do you remember Theodore Tugboat? I do, what I didn't know was that it was set and made in halifax! This was a harbor cruise boat but we also saw the original set and characters in the Maritime Museum

Halifax - Cogswell Street, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Up by the citadel... we had to walk a little ways to find it.. but there it was.. a very important street

The Train

Quebec City - Train route, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

From Quebec we went east to the Maritimes. Can you believe none of us had been there? The train ride was really relaxing and awesome actually.
We opted for the excellent "Easterly class" which included meals, sleeper cars, a park car and tour guides and naturalists.. well worth it.

VIA Rail through the maritimes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

VIA Rail through the maritimes - salt marshes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

OK, I'm going to geek out a little. I just found this really interesting.
These are some of the salt marshes of the Bay of Fundy. The Acadians settled here and constructed dykes with system of one way valves called aboiteaux, that allowed fresh water from the marsh to drain out but preventing salt water from entering. But here is the really cool part.. on the opposite side of the track (the area I didn't take a picture of) there was all these tall thin poles.. Radio towers! the salt in the ground made for excellent conduction and amplification .. This is the site of the Radio Canada International broadcasting! cool.

Quebec City - Day Two

Quebec City - Family pic!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The second day we took to go to the Citadel and the Plains of Abraham. I had no clue that they would be so integrated within the city.

Quebec City - gates of la Citadelle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The day started with a tour of the Citadel home of the Van Doo's. With Canada being at war in Afghanistan we had all heard of the Van Doo regiment what we didn't know was that Van Doo is a anglophone pronunciation of the regiment number Vent Deux (22). From the citadels top wall you could see all of the plains of Abraham as well as the St. Laurence and the city.

Quebec City - Plains of Abraham, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The rest of the day we wandered though the Plains of Abraham. Most (ALL) Canadians should know about the battle(s) fought here and really everyone should visit them. It was one of the most memorable places of the whole trip. Seeing the spot where Wolfe received his mortal wound, imagining what the battle must have been like. The plains are rightly now a national park, but did you know that the plains of Abraham were named that because a guy named Abraham rented them to pasture his animals?
I would have never guessed!

Quebec City - city tour

Quebec City - Chateau Frontenac, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I love Quebec City. Love it. It has enough Europe flair to make me feel chique being there and enough Canada to make me feel at home. If I spoke French even a little bit better I would move there. The old city is tight knit and comfortable. Lots of hills (not surprising) and views of the water. We did a few things in the city but I think the best thing we did was a walking tour. The tour started at Chateau Frontenac, once the governor's residence and now a luxury hotel. We then wandered down through the Seminaire de Quebec. It was full of school kids and so quite loud and full of echos but really beautiful.

Quebec City - Seminaire de Quebec, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We wandered down outside the city walls and into Place Royal. Almost all of the land beneath the city walls is reclaimed land. The area we wandered into was built to recreate what the city would have looked like in Champlains time. This was a requirement the city fulfilled in order to receive UNESCO world heritage classification.

Quebec City - Rue Petit-Champlain, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We ended with some shopping (of course) the main tourist-y shopping street was directly below the chateau and was extremely busy.