Prince Edward Island

Friday, July 12 to Thursday, July 18   -   Days 24 to 30

Charlottetown

We took the Confederation  Bridge to get to Prince Edward Island. (If you follow this link – also check out the “About” tab – neat design and construction stuff.) This is the longest bridge over ice covered water in the world at 13 kilometers.  An amazing structure that only took 4 years to complete including the approaches and toll plazas.  (The City of Winnipeg could learn some lessons from this massive project.)

In the truck we were able to see over the barricades – that’s a lot of water below us and we could see the red sandstone cliffs of PEI appearing in the distance.  There is no toll going over to PEI but there is a toll coming back – I suppose that is how they increase their population on the island.  And it’s true they grow potatoes on the Island: lots of them from what we could tell travelling towards Charlottetown.  The soil is a deep brick red colour and appears to be derived from those same red sandstone cliffs.

We settled into a Kampground of America (KOA), in Cornwall which is just outside Charlottetown.  Finally a good Wi-Fi connection!  We have been surprised that there is such poor connectivity in the east. This was our home base for exploration of the island.

Charlottetown prides itself on being the Birthplace of Canadian Confederation, although nothing was ever signed at the 1864 Charlottetown Conference and PEI didn’t even join confederation until 1873.  They joined Canada when their railroads needed to be bailed-out of financial difficulty. Their pride in joining confederation is shown in a number of venues around the city. The Confederation Centre of the Arts presents a free, outdoor, noon hour show, daily during July and August.  The show presents a story of Canada from the landing of the white man, to the building of the trans Canada Railroad – immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot’s, Canadian Railroad Trilogy and through to the multi-cultural Canada of today.                                               There are also people in period dress who do impromptu presentations on the street as well as leading guided tours through the downtown.   The other tribute to Confederation is a museum called Founders Hall. This is a multi-median presentation of confederation starting with the Charlottetown Conference of course and working through to the Canadian Centennial in 1967.

 

Lots of nice old buildings in the downtown area.  We went into St. Dunstan’s Basilica which is just down the street from Province House.  I’d never been in such an ornately decorated church in my life.  I can only imagine someplace in Europe that could surpass the beauty of this place.