Prince Edward Island Part 2
During our time in PEI, the area around Province House became our de facto central hangout – luckily, parking is free there on weekends!. The beautiful Confederation Centre of the Arts complex is right next door, with its theatres, galleries, restaurant, and beautiful library.Adjacent are the central walking and shopping areas of Charlottetown.Nice, really nice.
Since we both enjoy a range of music, it was a real treat to learn how PEI is a real hotbed of live music of many sorts.We attended a ceilidh (pronounced“kaylee”) in Charlottetown the night after our fabulous lobster dinner.Cynthia MacLeod, a sparkling Maritime fiddler, was the feature artist at the weekly Irish Benevolent Society ceilidh – what a lively, gifted, energetic young woman!
Check out this Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQH8LlIdWAw. The evening also featured a “lunch” -- snacks during intermission, all for the ticket price of $10!
Charlottetown is decidedly picturesque ...
It is also the site of the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, one of the first meetings of what would later become the Fathers of Confederation, to discuss the idea of creating some kind of union. A re-enactment of some of the early discussion and debate, which included ordinary PEI folks asking why this would be good for them, really brought home the issues of the day -- it felt like we were in a time warp!
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| Hey! Look who Surrinder is talking to! ... Sir John A ... |
It is also the site of the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, one of the first meetings of what would later become the Fathers of Confederation, to discuss the idea of creating some kind of union. A re-enactment of some of the early discussion and debate, which included ordinary PEI folks asking why this would be good for them, really brought home the issues of the day -- it felt like we were in a time warp!
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| The very room in which early Confederation discussions took place ... |
During our time in PEI, the area around Province House became our de facto central hangout – luckily, parking is free there on weekends!. The beautiful Confederation Centre of the Arts complex is right next door, with its theatres, galleries, restaurant, and beautiful library.Adjacent are the central walking and shopping areas of Charlottetown.Nice, really nice.
Since we both enjoy a range of music, it was a real treat to learn how PEI is a real hotbed of live music of many sorts.We attended a ceilidh (pronounced“kaylee”) in Charlottetown the night after our fabulous lobster dinner.Cynthia MacLeod, a sparkling Maritime fiddler, was the feature artist at the weekly Irish Benevolent Society ceilidh – what a lively, gifted, energetic young woman!
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| Her hands were a blur of energy! |
Saturday morning, we finally made it to a Farmer's Market – we had great time looking and stocking up on the local fruits, vegetables, and seafood.
We met Tony Campbell, a fascinating geologist and gemologist.Surrinder's passion for rocks kept them going quite a while, and we ended up with a lovely early birthday present for Surrinder.You just never know what's going to happen one moment to the next!
We met Tony Campbell, a fascinating geologist and gemologist.Surrinder's passion for rocks kept them going quite a while, and we ended up with a lovely early birthday present for Surrinder.You just never know what's going to happen one moment to the next!
We were on a mission to eat and taste lots of seafood in the Maritimes, part of which involved trying different chowders and lobster rolls wherever we could. Surrinder has never eaten so much seafood in her life! She really likes the texture of lobster compared to that of crab - lobster is like eating 'meat'. Ever creative, Surrinder also developed her own style of lobster rolls.With Gerry’s lessons under his belt, Shamir fearlessly undertook the shelling of a few lobsters along the way (though we did let others cook them), leaving Surrinder with several opportunities to test her skills.Let’s say we’ve discovered a new food treat for Surrinder …
PEI does an amazing job of catering to the hordes of tourists it attracts over the summer.There is a tremendous variety of entertainment happening almost every night of the week, including a busy theatre scene.We attended Evangeline at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the play based on Longfellow’s long poem about the expulsion of the Acadians (Maritime French settlers) by the English in the 1700's. A lavish production, it brought home that very dark chapter in our history.
A very brief summary … The English and French were fighting back and forth over a couple of centuries, to decide who would formally claim (actually, we would say “steal”) North American territories in their own names. Meanwhile, a distinct colony of New France, separate from that in Quebec, was established in the Maritimes, particularly Nova Scotia.These became known as the Acadians. After several generations, however, the crazy goings-on in faraway Europe resulted in France formally ceding the territories to the British. The Acadians were wary of the British, and refused to swear allegiance to the British crown, wishing to remain neutral.
Long story short –the British deported them wholesale, out of the Maritimes, an episode known as the Grand Dérangement or Great Upheval.About a third did not survive the deportation, drowning or dying of disease.Some ended up around Louisiana, and are now known as the Cajuns (say “Acadian” quickly and a bit lazily, with a silent first syllable, and you have “Cajun” …).The whole thing was quite nasty in our view, and left a very sour taste in our thoughts of Canadian history.We learned while we travelled that this was but one of numerous dark episodes in our history. It opened our eyes.
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| The Acadian Monument to the Grand Derangement, or Great Upheaval |
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