Today we spent the day meandering around the city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The island is much bigger than I thought. I expect it is 50 miles or more long and 20 or so wide. It is a separate province (State). We spent quite a bit of the day walking its mile long boardwalk along the bay and collecting a few souvenirs in the shops that lined it.

After lunch (I had haddock with lobster sauce, Yvonne had a cheeseburger) we went to Confederation Hall which was where the original Canadian confederation was formed in 1867. The museum there covered the times between 1800 or so and 2000. Canada has a pretty complicated history in forming the country we know today. There were the usual regional disagreements along with the French cultural issues and the allegiance with Great Britain.  It seems that one of the main reasons all the different areas wanted to come together in a union was the fear that now that the U.S. Civil war was over they would be invading Canada in an attempt to take over the territories. This was a big deal to the Canadians, particularly those in the maritime provinces. I seem to remember someplace that mentioned a possible Canadian invasion but it is just a small subtext to our overall history.

Tonight we will have an exciting dinner and after dinner event. Actually they both will likely take place at the same time.  We found a small establishment down by the bay that has a grill and a laundromat combination. So, we will be doing two plus weeks of laundry and eating grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner while watching our laundry spin in the dryer. What more exciting night could you ask for. 🙂

We stopped by the Grayline tour place near Confederation hall and discovered that they have a couple of opening tomorrow for the northern tour of the island. It is four hours long and covers the area mentioned in the famous book “Anne of Green Gables”.  I must admit that I enjoyed that series when it was on PBS many years ago. So, instead of driving it on our own we will be on a tour bus for four hours enjoying the scenery and hearing the French then the English versions of what we are seeing.

Tomorrow night I am going to have to convince Yvonne to have a lobster dinner before we leave the island on Monday.  PEI like Maine, not too far to the south, is proud of their lobster catches. Yvonne enjoys lobster as long as they remove the head before presenting it to her. She is such an animal lover she can’t stand to have something watching her as she devours it. Even if it is long since expired.

And the journey goes on…