Saint John, Halifax and Sydney

Oh Canada!

We arrived in Canada and were promptly greeted by cooler temperatures.  We are currently in Sydney, Nova Scotia where we enjoyed breakfast at our usual location outside on the back of the ship.  This morning we enjoyed it under sunny skies and a temperature of 61 degrees.
We've been very fortunate weather wise.  The seas have been as smooth as glass and the only rain was at the end of our long day of walking around Brooklyn.  That downpour was like an outdoor shower, quite refreshing.  The forecast for the remainder of the cruise looks good as well.  After today we are at sea tomorrow and then arrive at our destination of Quebec City on Thursday.
Over the last three days we've visited Saint John (Sunday), Halifax (Monday) and Sydney (today).  These were all three cities that we had enjoyed on previous visits.  We enjoyed them again and found a couple of new things to do in each one.
Saint John, with a population of around 70,000 is the second largest city in the Province of New Brunswick (If you're keeping score, Moncton is the largest city in the province).  Saint John's main claim to fame is that it is located on the Bay of Fundy and that it has the largest differential between low and high tide in the world.  Every day, twice a day the tides rise and lower by around 28 feet, which is an amazing amount of water flowing in and out.  When we arrived it was low tide.  When we finished walking around it was high tide.  Windows on the ship that were at street level when we got off were now close to three stories high.  It's an amazing site to see.

Saint John is a little hilly!

Downtown Saint John as we sailed away

On a previous visited we had walked from the port to the Reversing Rapids.  This is a narrow area where huge rapids flow one way as the tide rises and the opposite way as it falls.  This time we walked a little bit of the path to the falls but mainly just roamed around the small but very nice downtown.  There is a nice city market located just a few blocks from the pier.  It is usually closed on Sunday's. However, with close to 3,000 visitors in town, many of whom were anxious to spend a few loonies and toonies (Canadian dollar and two dollar coins) the market was open and doing a brisk business.  Adjacent to the market was the Kings Square Park and Loyalist Burial Grounds, a historic cemetery from the 1700's.  Both the park and cemetery were full of colorful flowers and relaxing places to spend a part of the afternoon.
From Saint John we sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Halifax is located on the Atlantic Ocean and is the capital city of the Province of Nova Scotia.  It is the home to six different universities and proclaims itself as "one of Canada's smartest cities".  On a previous visit to Halifax we took a taxi out to Peggy's Cove which is a very scenic fishing village and lighthouse.  Like in Saint John, we opted to stay in town.  Beth had seen much of the town on previous "old lady trips" and was a wonderful tour guide.  We spent the majority of the day moving from one shaded bench to another in the very colorful Halifax Public Gardens.  Near the public gardens is the Halifax Citadel which is a historical fort that was established in 1749.  The overlook near the top offers great views of the city and harbor and tells of the most tragic day in the history of Halifax.
On December 6, 1917 a Norwegian ship collided with a French ship that was full of explosive material.  Over 2,000 people were killed, 9,000 injured and every structure within a half mile radius was destroyed.   The explosion also created a tsunami that wiped out villages miles away.
The Halifax Explosion
Between the Halifax Citadel and the waterfront there are numerous streets lined with shops, restaurants and businesses.  The shops and restaurants were doing a bustling business but the businesses were all closed.  The first Monday of August is a holiday throughout most of Canada.  I did a few minutes research and really couldn't find that there was a particular reason.  You gotta admire a country that just declares a holiday for no particular reason!  Thousand of locals joined with thousands of cruisers (we were joined in port by another ship) enjoying a sunny day along the waterfront in this exceptionally smart city.

Halifax Public Garden

A recurring theme on most of our adventures.  A park, shade and a place to sit!

Today we are in Sydney which is also located in the Province of Nova Scotia.  It is in the Cape Breton Island region of the province and is located near the Cabot Trail.  If you're not familiar with the Cabot Trail, it is a very scenic looped drive that is extremely popular in the summer and fall.  The drive is around eight hours.  It can be done in one full, very long day but is much better broken up into several days.
Cape Breton Island
The area is also known for it's love of music.  Festivals and concerts are held not only in Sydney, but in many of the small cities along the trail.  Their love of music greets you at the port where there is a statue known as the "World's Largest Fiddle".  After seeing it, I don't have any reason to doubt there is a bigger one anywhere else.

We've never seen one bigger!

Rather than do part of the trail we enjoyed a nice walk along the waterfront boardwalk and down several of the treelined streets including Charlotte Street, which seemed to be the heart of this city of just over 30,000.

Beth took this picture from the ship

Fiddling the day away in Sydney

Everything is in full bloom in Sydney

Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park

Along the Jordan Pond Trail in Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island on the east coast of Maine.  It has a population of around 5,000 and is one of the favorite tourist destinations along the New England Coastline.  It is also the gateway to the 49,000 acre Acadia National Park.
We arrived early in the morning and headed straight for the national park.  There are free buses from the Village Green which is in the center of town.  The Island Explorer buses have several routes that will take you to the park (#3 bus), around the park (#4 bus) and back to the town (#5 bus).  There are great hiking trails throughout the park.  Here's a few pictures from our day:

Nesting Loon

Boston.........getting into Harvard isn't that hard!

We got into Harvard...………..just for the day!  That's the Charles River between us and the campus.

Like New York a few days earlier, we decided to explore a different section of Boston.  This time we headed for the area around the oldest and arguably most prestigious institution of higher learning in the US, Harvard.  I thought getting into Harvard was difficult but it as simple as a $13 Uber ride and walking through the gates into Harvard Yard.  I guess not being a "visitor" but being an actual student is a little more difficult, unless your mom and dad are among the super rich or you're actually super smart!
It was really fun to walk around trying to decipher the super smart from those of us just visiting.  Eight US Presidents have been educated in these classrooms including JFK, Bush-43 and Obama.  Who knows, maybe we walked past a future president as we made our way around Harvard Yard and Harvard Square!

The main library

Harvard Yard

Harvard Memorial Auditorium

The worlds first programmable computer.  This is actually just a part of it.  The rest of it is in the Smithsonian.  It is in the lobby of the Science Center.  It's well worth a look if you are on campus.

The Charles River.  Parts of the campus are on both sides of the river.

The intersection of Bow and Arrow Streets.....near the Harvard Campus

After having done the Freedom Trail and downtown Boston several times in the past few years, this was a very interesting and different experience that kept us entertained the whole afternoon.

Lizzy's Homemade Ice Cream in Harvard Square.  Smart people need ice cream too!

Boston skyline as we sailed in

Newport, Rhode Island..........a few quarters short!

The Atlantic Ocean is on my left and the mansions along the Cliff Walk are on my right

Size wise, Rhode Island is the smallest of the fifty states.  With a little over a million people, it is the eighth least populated state (Wyoming is #1 with 575,000).   We docked in Newport Harbor, which was filled with large sailboats and several yachts that had values listed between 50 and 100 million dollars.  I'm not sure if they were in town for the Newport Jazz Festival, which we missed by a day or simply keeping the tradition of Newport as a summer playground for the rich and famous.  Newport has a long history as the place where the wealthy families from New York would retreat to during the summer.  The Vanderbilt family would spend around six weeks per summer at their "summer cottage" which is actually a seventy room oceanfront mansion known as "The Breakers".
Newport is another great city that is easy to explore by foot.  The harbor is not large enough for cruise ships so we were anchored offshore.  Getting ashore by tender (small boats) is never fun but we were up early and on one of the first tenders.  We took off along America's Cup Ave. which turned into Memorial Blvd.  This took us to the Cliff Walk which is a coastal walking path that passes behind several of the many large mansions of Newport.  As we walked along, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the mansions on the other side, we were inspired.  We thought it might be nice to see if we could buy one of homes.  Nothing too over the top, we don't need seventy rooms, maybe something in the 25-30 room range.  Sadly, we quickly realized that we'd probably be a few quarters short on the price tag.  I'm sure the upkeep on those places is pretty expensive and being intentionally homeless isn't bad, so we quickly put that idea to rest.

Easton's Beach, the Cliff Walk begins here

The Breakers

The Marble House

Newport Tower.  It was originally a windmill built in the mid-1700's

In addition to exploring by foot, there is also a local bus #67 that runs frequently along Bellevue Ave. and the cliffs area.  It stops close to several of the mansions such as the Breakers and Rosecliff and Marble House.  All of these mansions are now owned by the Newport Historical Society and are open to the public.  We toured the Breakers several years ago, and while I can't remember what the cost was it was well worth it to get a glimpse of how the wealthiest of the wealthy lived.

Not exactly a 100 million dollar yacht but a cool picture

   

Brooklyn............a big piece of the "Big Apple"

The Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO

There were a couple of options as to where the ship would dock in New York.  One in the mid-town area on the west side of Manhattan.  The other option was across the East River from Manhattan in Brooklyn.  While most folks were probably hoping for the Manhattan location we were wishing for the Brooklyn location. We were pulling for Brooklyn because it would allow us to easily explore some new areas of the city without having to deal with the crowds in Manhattan.  Our wish came true and we docked at the Red Hook Cruise Terminal, which is located on the mid-western side of Brooklyn.  Our location gave us a great view across to the Statue of Liberty.
About 8.4 million people live in the five boroughs of New York.  Brooklyn's population is just over 2.6 million, or roughly 30 percent of the entire population of the city.  It truly is a big chunk of the "Big Apple"!
We headed out shortly after docking, with our sites set on exploring an area of Brooklyn with a somewhat unique but quite logical name.  The area we had in mind was about two miles from the terminal and is known as DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.  It's actually in the area where both the Manhattan Bridge and the more famous Brooklyn Bridge come within a few blocks of each other.  The area has undergone a major renaissance in recent years, with old warehouses being converted to shops, apartments and condominiums.   There is also a nice mix of greenspace along the waterfront, making it a great place to spend a day if you're visiting or to live.  Speaking of living there, we enjoyed saying hello to our nephew's fiancee, Nermin at their apartment which is located in this area.

A selfie from the rooftop of Kyle and Nermin's apartment

A Brooklyn City park between the cruise terminal and DUMBO

There is a pedestrian walkway that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan.  You'll have great views of the Manhattan skyline from the Bridge.  Once in Brooklyn you'll be on the edge of the DUMBO area

By the end of the day we had covered close to twelve miles of Brooklyn.  I'm sure there are many other interesting areas of Brooklyn to explore but our feet were tired and the skies were quickly turning gray.  We almost made it back to the ship before the rain started coming down in buckets
The soaking rain actually felt good after roaming around just a tiny portion of this huge borough.
If you're looking for a new or different New York experience check out the DUMBO area.  If you're staying in Manhattan it's an easy walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  I think you'll love it as well as the views back across the East River to the Manhattan skyline.

Lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge Park