Sydney, Nova Scotia

Cheryl said to get up early as we came into Sydney to get some pictures of the cliffs that she saw on the TV. Being the dutiful little sister that I've always been, I obliged. I set the alarm, grabbed my coat and camera and headed off to the upper deck. This is what was waiting for me!

It was gorgeous, but so cold that there were signs saying beware of ice. Here's the railing, complete with ice.
I kept looking for the cliffs. I thought maybe I was too late and had already missed them.
I did get to see a very nice sunrise, and I enjoyed the color that was splashed out onto the houses and trees.




I found out later that the cliffs were non-existent. What she had seen on TV was a mixture of programs and the cliffs she thought were at Sydney were really at Dover, England.
We already saw those in 2006, on our Baltic Cruise! At least I got to see a fabulous sunrise :)

So here we are in cliffless Sydney.

Home of the largest fiddle. I don't know the significance, but they seem to be proud of it. Maybe Paul Bunyan used to play it.

Sydney did have some nice leaves, however.
We didn't take an excursion in Sydney (my brother and his wife did though, and they said they didn't really see anything either). Frankly, I don't know what there is of interest to do there if you aren't into checking out Alexander Graham Bell's museum. So we just wandered around. We found the store where they sell Clarks shoes. Several in our party found something there to purchase. We also found a park where we took a few pictures.
The exciting life of a gull in Sydney. I know, amazing isn't it? So much to do, even for the gulls.

So while we did a lot of this...
they did a lot of this.
Makes you wonder...um, huh?
And now back to the ship where we see...the back of the ship.

We were following a path that stopped rather abruptly. Cheryl decided to take my mom and brother on a shortcut which turned out to be not so short of a cut.

I wonder if she saw some cliffs while she was out there???

PEI, Cavendish Beach

We were so excited to come here! As you can see, we were the first ones off the bus even though we had to sit way in the back of the bus.

I followed the sign that said "beach access" and it took me here. I figured if I followed the road long enough that I would indeed eventually get to the beach, but I didn't have that much time! U-Turn, go the other way!

That's more like it.

And that too.

But this is what we were really after, the tall grasses growing out of the sandy beach.

Photographer #1.

Photographers #2 and #3.

We all have Nikons- different models.

Nice. But then I hear something...

It's Bud, trying to save us from being the dorks. Too late.

And I still had more pictures to take!

So did she!

Guess I'd better get back on the bus.

This guy has learned that if he hangs out by the road, the buses will stop so people can take his picture. While they're stopped, they toss him some food. Today he got a cinnamon roll.

Loved PEI. Loved Cavendish Beach.

One more port to go and then it's back to NYC.

From My Friend

Thank you, Jenny! You are so "sweet!"

Anne's "House"

Is this what you thought it would look like? This is the view from the side of the house.

There we go. This is the front. It's pretty much what I expected. On the inside too.
This is Anne's room. I'll spare you the others as they were rather plain-looking.
Lovers Lane. I thought it appropriate watching this couple hold hands as they strolled along.
The Haunted Woods. It does look rather scary.
I was just walking along snapping pictures and found my sister! I was totally surprised, because she did not come on the excursion with us, so I had no idea she'd be there!
Then I found my brother, but he was on the excursion with us, so not a big surprise.
We talked about how my brother used to always take us on hikes when we were little. It wasn't always a good thing though. Once he left me on the mountainside at Palm Springs (I didn't even think at the time about how many snakes could have eaten me while I was waiting for him to come back), because I was too slow and he wanted to get to the top before it got dark. It got dark anyway, he wasn't back, I was all alone, and then I saw a car coming towards me at the same time that Tom got back to me. It was my parents wondering where their kids were. I don't hold a grudge against Tom for that because he comes in handy sometimes. Like putting in a pantry light at my house. Thanks Tom.

This next picture reminded me of Christmas because of the colors and berries.
But it's not Christmas yet. It's still Autumn.

And lastly, we found my other sister. So much fun!
The thing about excursions...you don't want to be the last one back on the bus because you feel like a dork for holding everyone else up. I think I was the dork three different times on our vacation. It was my camera's fault. It wouldn't stop taking pictures. Yep.

Charlottetown, PEI

This stop was the whole reason we picked this particular cruise. None of the others were coming here, and it was not only on my bucket list, but also on my sister's list. So, NCL won the bid. This was the scene greeting us when we stepped off the ship. I think I could do a whole calendar just from Prince Edward Island.

I was excited for our excursion to the house representative of the Anne of Green Gables' house.

The Anne of Green Gables store was a short walk from the ship so we wandered out to see it. I bought a calendar, just in case I didn't get mine made in time, but I didn't have any of this.

These flags were on the way to the store. They were in front of a building which I presume was a government building.

Don't you love these streets?

St. Dunstan's Basilica, opened in 1919.

That was one year after my father was born.

The inside

At last, we're on our way to Green Gables.

But first, the commercial. A stop at the preserve store

(glad we stopped; I enjoyed it).

These were pictures taken from the "backyard" of the preserve store.

Which photo do you like better... above or below?

Which one (if either) should make the calendar cut?

Sometimes I think he gets tired of all the pictures I subject him to.

Still, he's a good sport.

Tomorrow we'll finally get to Anne's "house."