Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island
Canada has
13 provincial and territorial capitals.
I have now been to 12 of them. I
have taken my picture in front of the legislative assembly in 11 of them
(somehow having neglected to do so in Toronto).
This trip next year, in St. John’s, I will be uttering some very
significant words when I have my first bite of whatever seafood is local to
Newfoundland. Those words will be
something to the effect of, “Well, that’s all 13 of them. Every Canadian Province and Territory.” When I take my picture in front of the NFL
legislative assembly building, I will be able to proclaim that I have visited
all 13 legislative assemblies in Canada, along with the Parliament in
Ottawa.
When I set out to see the world,
at Mammoth Caves National Park, on this trip four years ago, I declared that,
among other things, I would visit every province in Canada by the term I have
turned 30. I am still 28, and only one
remains. In the past 24 hours, I have
been able to knock two off of the list.
Today, I drove between the capitals, from Halifax to Charlottetown. I started my day off with a Nova lox bagel,
and I finished it with PEI mussels (though I suspect there will be some
blueberry ice cream soon). I have
visited two legislative assembly buildings and a world heritage site. It was a good day. A very good day.
After I closed last night, I headed back to
my hotel, publishing outside the hotel with the rest of my cigar, loving how
alive the city was. I fell asleep almost
as soon as I got upstairs. I slept in as
late as possible, my limiting reactant being when the souvenir shops would open
in Halifax and when they would close in Charlottetown. The schedule was thereby pretty flexible,
since Joggins Fossil Cliffs would be my only stop of the day.
I headed down to the restaurant and ordered,
of course, a bagel with Nova lox and cream cheese, a whole wheat bagel, and
coffee. They served the bagel open
faced, and I took one look at it. It was
just too much bread. I wasn’t even
thinking about my diet. I just didn’t
think I could eat that much bread in one sitting. I consolidated the lox and cream cheese into
one half of the bagel. It was good. Really good.
I was wearing my Edinburgh shirt, not even yet making the connection
between Nova Scotia and Old Scotland. I
was told that the best bet for my flag pin would not open until 11 AM, which
was kind of pushing it for the souvenir shops in Charlottetown, but I had a
lead on a place with a flag pin that was opened until 10 PM. Still, the earlier I arrived, the
better. I walked to the Legislature and
took my ceremonial pictures there. I
then wandered in search of my flag pin.
Due to the blue laws, it seemed no place would opened until 11 AM, but I
found one, though it did it have flag pins, only crest pins. I got my other souvenirs.
Long story short, I found a shop that had
flag pins, and it was opened at 9 AM, though it was close to 10 AM by the time
I got there. I was done in Halifax. I had gotten all of my souvenirs. I headed back to my room, asked for my car,
and went upstairs to retrieve my luggage.
I got in the car, entered Joggins Fossil Cliff into the GPS, put on Red,
and lit up my old traditional cigar for the first long drive of the trip: a
Davidoff Nic Toro. Loving the cars
powerful acceleration, I easily hit 161 for a brief spurt. After my Nic Toro, I lit up a Cabaiguan. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive, but I
arrived at Joggins without stopping. On
that note, I will pause so that I can get my ice cream before they close.
Well, it is
significantly darker now than it was when I started this entry. I arrived at the VC, and the location was in
a completely out of the way location. It
reminded me of a site I saw in, I think, Germany, a similar paleontological
site with a nice VC right next to the fossil location. The parking area was a dirt lot, and there
was nothing of note outside. I headed
inside and went to pay my admission.
I
asked if they had a Plaque. This was the
only of the sites that I had not been able to locate the Plaque head of
time. He asked if I meant like the one
they had at Miguasha? Yes! He said that that was a really nice
Plaque. Did they have one like that
here? No. I asked what they had then? He pointed behind me. It was the same design, logos, and wording of
a traditional Plaque, but it was printed on the kind of display you meet see at
a children’s museum. I was forced to
conclude that that was, in fact, a Plaque.
One problem. There was some kind
of easel in front of it. I tried to move
it out of the way. It collapsed. I thought I had broken the easel, so I tried
to put it back together, and failed. I
turned around. A member of the museum
staff was behind me. I prepared to get
berated. Instead, she laughed, and said
it was so tricky to put back together.
Only in Canada. Once she put it
back together, I asked if she would take my picture, which she gladly did. I had my picture.
There was a little café, and I ordered a
scallops dish, figuring that was appropriate to the site, along with some
coffee. It was a pasta dish, but, again,
I couldn’t even come close to finishing the past, instead just picking out the
bits of protein. It was time. I headed out, into the brutal wind, in my shorts,
lit up an H. Upmann, and headed down to the rocky beach, in my flips, and I
went in search of the inscription photo.
There were miles of very similar looking fossil cliffs along the rocky
beach. It was a hauntingly beautiful
experience, and I thought I saw off in the distance where the photo might have
been taken. It was quite an ordeal, the
wind making it uncomfortable, my flips on the rocks making it very
difficult. When I was about half a mile
from the VC, I told myself not to fall because I was a long way from help if I
twisted anything. I got to where it
looked like the inscription photo was taken and took my ceremonial
pictures. I loved this place.
I then made my back to the VC, ditching my
cigar on the way. Back up the stairs,
and I went into the museum to look at the fossils. I then bought some souvenirs and headed back
to the car. I entered my hotel in
Charlottetown into the GPS, and I lit up a Padron Damaso, which brought me most
of the distance to the Confederation Bridge, which connected New Brunswick to
PEI. I also stopped to take a brief
picture at the Welcome to New Brunswick sign.
The bridge was one lane in each direction, and I suppose it was a
testament to modern engineering. As soon
as I got off the bridge, I was on the lookout for the Welcome to PEI sign. So much of this trip was designed around getting
that picture. I knew I would not get
another bite at that apple. In fact, the
whole reason why didn’t just go straight to Charlottetown last night was so
that I could, in fact, get that picture in the daylight. I had previously found it on Google Maps, so
I was ready. I found it, but it was not
easy to pull over. Of course, I did
anyway.
I waited until it was safe to
cross, and then I went to take my ceremonial pictures, triumphantly announcing
that I had now set foot in 12 of Canada’s 13 territories and provinces. I lit up an Aroma de Cuba Noblesse, which
lasted me until I got to Charlottetown, and I headed straight to my hotel, a
nice B&B that dated back to 1838 and is a National Historic Site.
They had cookies and crumpets and coffee and
tea. I helped myself, since I had a bit
of an appetite and wanted to do my sightseeing in town before I had
dinner. My room was just as charming as
the rest of the building, and I packed my pockets with everything I needed up
until dinner and my first cigar after dinner.
I headed back out, straight to the Province House, which was a short
walk away. I took my ceremonial pictures
there and then went in search of souvenirs.
The closest place that was opened was an Anne of Green Gables shop,
which I had thought was only AoGG souvenirs, but I was wrong. They had all sorts of stuff, including my
flag pins.
I continued to the
waterfront, passing by the site of, I shit you not, the tavern where the
legislators used to meet in the early 19
th Century before they had a
building of their own. Again, I shit you
not, they were passing laws in the tavern.
This was the city where Canada had its constitutional convention, and
the legislature used to held session in the tavern.
I continued to the waterfront and found the shop
that I had called earlier. It turned out
there was a bit of a misunderstanding.
They had Canadian flag pins, not PEI flag pins. Well, it was a damned good thing that I had
gotten my flag pins at the AoGG shop. I
got some other stuff and explored some more sites. I then was ready for dinner. I had chosen an oyster bar that was ranked #1
on Tripadvisor, but they didn’t have anything available.
Plan B was a seafood shack by the
waterfront. I went back to my hotel to
get my computer bag and drop off my souvenirs.
My reader will recall how cold it is in Atlantic Canada at night on the
waterfront and that I didn’t have any casual longs. More on that later. The restaurant was called Water Prince Corner
Shop. It was located on the corner of
Water and Prince Streets. I do not think
it will challenge my reader much to figure out how it got its name. They had an extensive seafood menu, and I
wanted to try all the local favorites.
Oysters, lobster, clams, mussels, I wanted it all. This was likely the one and only meal I would
ever have in PEI, so I wanted to make it count.
They had a sampler dish with half a chilled lobster, steamed mussels,
and fried scallops. I asked if they
could substitute the fried scallops for fried clams. If they did that, I could get some raw
oysters as an appetizer, and I would have run the gambit. They agreed.
I got a local beer to go with it, and I was all set. The outdoor seating family style. The two people next to me, two women from a
legal conference, were convinced that I was at the conference with them. They literally would not believe when I told
them that I wasn’t. One of them muttered
under her breath that I must be a doppelganger.
We were soon joined by Lionel, who sat across from me. I then learned that I was the only person at
the table who didn’t have a name beginning with an el. My oysters came, and out came the
chopsticks. I ate all six oysters with
my chopsticks, and they were so good, so fresh.
After my first oyster, I issued my proclamation, announcing that I had
now had my Official meal in 12 of Canada’s 13 territories and provinces. Just 1 to go.
“PEI Complete.”
After the oysters,
they soon brought my main course, along with Lionel’s fish and chips. I should note that they neglected to bring us
silverware. Lionel wondered if he just
had finger food. That could not have
been it. I’ve been served utensils with
grilled cheese. A sit down restaurant
never assumes anything is finger food. I
was picking out my mussels with my chopsticks, and I told him that I was just
going to use the chopsticks. He asked
where I got them. I told him that I had
brought them with me. Now he was even
more confused. Eventually they did bring
silverware. I turned down the
silverware, very much enjoying the efficiency of the chopsticks for eating the
shellfish.
Meanwhile, we talked American
and British politics. What else would an
American and a Canadian discuss? After
my meal, I headed to the waterfront and lit up a VSG. Reader, recall what I said about the chill
air? I walked into the souvenir shop and
did something that I quite possibly had never done before, in my entire
life. I bought myself a sweatshirt. The last two sweatshirts I remember acquiring
were an Ellis Island sweatshirt my grandfather bought me when we went there
when I was at NYU (or possibly even in high school), and the NYU sweatshirt my
parents when I started there. This PEI
sweatshirt was probably the first time I bought one for myself.
It did the trick. I scoped out a picnic table, and I heard
someone say, “Nice Cuban you’re smoking.”
“No, it’s not a Cuban.” “Oh,
you’re smoking the cheap stuff.”
“Actually, it’s more expensive than most Cubans.” That shut him up. I repositioned a table so that I could have a
nice view of the waterfront. I then sat
down and proceeded to write this entry.
I paused to get some ice cream at the famous Cow’s creamery, opting for
their iconic Wowie Cowie and PEI Blueberry flavors. I got a lid on it so that it would keep until
I finished the cigar. After the cigar, I
had the ice cream as I finished my entry, which I will now close so that I can
head back to my hotel and publish outside before I get some sleep. It’ll be a long day tomorrow.
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