PEI again

Hi Again,
Most of the hotels at PEI have free internet access so I have been able to grace you again with another blog - hopefully slightly shorter than the others, but PEI has a lot to tell *g*!

I only just realised that I started every paragraph in my last blog with 'OK' so lets see if I can refrain from that LOL! Please excuse all the typos too - i'm really bad at that!

Well since my last post, we have been all around Cavendish to visit Maud's old haunts. I should point out that although I say i'm here to see everything 'Anne' it is mostly Maud info thank goodness as that is what I came for. Avonlea village was a little bit of a dissapointment, which is what we were told it was going to be. After their Labor Day weekend (late August, early Sept) they shut down the summer season at the village which includes live plays which you follow around the village and they re-enact parts of Anne in various places eg: slate bashing at the Avonlea schoolhouse (which I might add was the Belmont school where LMM taught - and they moved it to the village). This was a real shame because if this was still running I think it would have been a great place to visit. As it were, it was incredibly small and we were done travelling around it in a few hours. For the price you paid to go in, I don't think it was worth it, but I still enjoyed it - they had some great shots that LMM took in her time - another of her passions is photography.

After Avonlea village we then went to Green Gables. It is just lovely but nothing like the GG in the movie - naturally it is more to what LMM based the book on (duh!) and it is nestled in a lovely woodsey area surrounded by trees and the like. We then had a stroll through 'Lovers Lane' and the 'Haunted Wood', both of which were most enjoyable. All of this is really close (i'm talking 100mtrs if that) from where we are staying which is between GG and LMM's Cavendish homestead. Infact Mum and I have just come back from another ramble through the homestead, Lovers Lane and the Haunted wood. In a nutshel - Green Gables didn't dissapoint.

Since we finished what we wanted to earlier than expected, we then drove down the the Cavendish shore which is apparently spectacular. We walked along "the Dunelands" which was a gorgeous walk, surrouned by dunes (obviously!) and lovely wildflowers. With the sea softly hitting the red dirt that surrounds PEI and the grasslands encompassing the area, the sight is just gorgeous. Mum and I ambled along and took many 'happy snaps' trying to capture the scenery as well as (well on my part) playing with the features of my camera :P. From there we drove to Delvay by the Sea which is a high-class hotel that LMM based 'White Sands' on and is also was the 'White Sands' used in the Sullivan productions of Anne. It is certianly a very nice hotel....... if only we had the money hey! Off to have Mum's long awaited lobster dinner which was unfortunately a bit of a dissapointment, the lobster not tasting as nice as we would expect coming from an area where lobster fishing is a way of life for many. But then I guess they are also at the tail end of their season here too.

Hmm.... maybe this isn't to be as short as I expected! Today we went to Park Corner and New London to visit more LMM museums. Park Corner consists of two museums - one being 'Silver Bush' the basis of 4 of LMM's novels (Pat of Silver Bush, Mistress Pat, Story Girl and The Golden Rd). It is still owned by the Campbells' (LMM's cousins who lived there in her time were Campbells) and LMM used to visit this place often when she was younger. She was also married at this house. It is a lovely house and I think aside from her Cavendish homestead it was her favourite. In terms of her novels, the 'Blue chest' that features in 'The Story Girl' is still there as well as some of its contents including the wedding dress etc of 'Rachel Ward'. Again, more of her stories based on truth and it is fascinating to see things you imagined come to life, and be exactly as you imagined it! Silver Bush is also where 'The Lake of Shining Waters' lies and just over the hill from one of the windows you can see a house which would have inspired 'Orchard Slope' (Diana's house in Anne). Aside from that it was just a lovely walk around and Mum and I indulged in a carriage ride around Shining waters which was most enjoyable.

The other house at Park Corner (literally across the road) is where LMM's Grandfather Montgomery lived and is the basis of Ingleside. This is my favourite house in all of LMM's books and continues to be so after seeing it 'in real life'! I just love it - a large front yard with lots of trees, huge yard and the surroundings are bushland (I can imagine the kids walking through there to 'Rainbow Valley' but it only takes you to 'Shining Waters'). Out of the back windows in the house you can also see the ocean not too far away but not before rolling acres of lush green grass. In this house lies the 'rosebud spray tea-set' from Anne as well as Magog (Gog died:( ) from Anne also. The gentleman who owns the house (descendent/relative of LMM) actually took Magog out for me to hold, which was a thrill as he doesn't often do this probably due to the crowds - ah the joys of travelling 'just out of season'.

The house at New London was a bit of a dissapointment not having much else save the Wedding Dress of LMM and we didn't really have any one take us around to explain anything in the house as we did in pretty much all of the others. We were out of there pretty quickly also adding to the house being a lot smaller than the others. The significance of this house in New London is that it was where LMM was born (yes I know - they do live and breathe her here!).

I've probably rambled on long enough and if you have read this far you probably deserve a medal! Or you are as nutty about LMM as I am. I think I've certianly boosted their economy by 30% since we arrived on the island! I think i'm officially (or finally!) LMM'd out but I'm satisfied with what we have seen and am pleased that not much has changed. I can't wait to get home and read my books or even read my old ones again with the new information i've learnt on this trip. PEI really has been a dream come true and I have to keep pinching myself that i'm actually here - I never thought i'd ever get here! Tomorrow we head back to C'town for a quiet day (but no shopping!!!) and later in the night to watch Anne of Green Gables - the musical (ok don't laugh again - remember what I said about Anne & Gilbert!). Well I think i've bored you long enough, but hey - this was the whole basis of the trip so I might as well tell you all about it as well as the significance of the things we have seen!!!!

Cya!