We awoke to more cool and wet weather, but I think that is the norm here. We headed out to see Fort Louisburg, about thirty minutes from the college. Louisburg is the place in which the English defeated the French in 1758. This defeat led to the English moving on to take Quebec and eliminating France from this part of North America. You may remember all of this from your previous study of the French and Indian war or maybe you don't!
The site is a Canadian national park with about 20 percent of the original buildings reconstructed. Park employees dress in period dress and play the roles of the people living in the buildings. It is sort of a mini Williamsburg. The year represented is 1744, when the French were still in charge. We were greeted at the gate and interrogated to make sure that's we weren't British spies, sort of a 18th century security check. It was only 58 degrees, so I was thankful we didn't have to take our shoes off!
We headed next to board the ferry which had a 5pm departure. The only other time I was on a car ferry was about 35 years ago when we took the ferry from Patras, Greece to Brindisi, Italy. Scott was about 18 months and Peter was 3. I just remember that the cabin was very tiny!
God smiled on us and we got the second to the last cabin on the waiting list. We won't have to spend the night trying to sleep in our chairs. I am writing this from the lounge on the ship. The Atlantic Vision is a Swedish cruise ship that has been converted to carry cars. It is quite nice and still has cruise ship amenities---dining rooms, a gift shop and a game room.
In the lounge 2 old Canadians are singing Canadian country western songs. They just finished singing about a sheep and a moose!
The people on the ship are a mixture of some families with kids who are camping, motorcycle riders and retired people like us. Most are Canadians. Newfoundland is really off the beaten track of most American tourists. I've stopped collecting the names of state license plates and have starting collecting
Canadian province plates instead. I have eight now!
Diane
Glad you made it across. We were waiting for the blog post to confirm!
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