We arrived on the evening of May 13th, after a 6-7 hour drive North/East-ish from Halifax.
I stayed with Julianna and Bill Parsons in North Sydney, about 25 minutes drive from Sydney itself in their very cute little cottage. Julianna has a pet chinchilla - so cool!
Julianna & Bill:
The next morning we spent some time at the Conference, and then went on a tour to Louisbourg - an amazing historical site from the early 1700's. There was so much to see and photograph! I have many more photographs, but here are a few!
It was a relaxed and casual afternoon, spent checking out such Canadian joys as "WalMart" and other such tourist attractions!! One of our hosts, Clarke Paynter was nice enough to drive me around the bay to see the "Giant Fiddle", which I thought was pretty cool! The fiddle is practically a National instrument here, and Ive really really enjoyed hearing the local music! Its like Scottish traditional folk dancing music, really fast and "bouncy" and great to dance a jig to!
That night at the Conference dinner, we were entertained by Cape Breton's "Three Men in a Tub" - a local musical comedy group who had us in fits of laughter! Colin, david and I learned to play the Spoons (Newfoundland-style!!) and Colin and I showed the Canadians how to dance "Ocker" (dont ask!!)
On May 15th Cate and I took a bus ride to the spectacularly beautiful Baddeck (while the others had a sleep-in!). Baddeck is the home of Alexander Graham Bell, so we visited the AGB museum and enjoyed some quaint shopping and icecream!
That night was the BEST night for me! It started with the District Governor's Banquet at the Conference venue, followed by a performance by "Men of the Deeps" a men's choir made up of ex-coal miners.
After that, we returned to the hotel where most Rotarians were staying, where a traditional band had been organised to play for us. Much dancing and hilarity was had! I even got invited up by the band to play a song or two on bass guitar with them - so much fun!!!!!!
After that (sometime after midnight), we were hijacked by a combination of members of the band, and members of St Johns and Gander Rotary Clubs (Newfoundlanders!!), and forced to partake in the late night party scene in Sydney. Thats all Im saying, and Im posting no photos. Well, maybe one or two...!
Thats all. Other than to say that we presented bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning to meet our Rotarian drivers and drive 6 hours to the Annapolis Valley.
The story continues......
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