Toronto - PEI

Thanks to all that replied to my blog! I'm glad you are enjoying it!

Ok for anyone that actually read this over the past few days it was meant to say more than one sentence but the computer buggered up and only printed the one line! ARGH! Luckily it was only a short blog! Basically all I had to say that nothing much else has happened since the last post. The last two days at Toronto were pretty quiet - for our travelling anyway. Tuesday was spent going around the city of Toronto including the CN tower as well as a tour boat ride thing around Lake Ontario facing the city and going around the islands. that was really interesting. The CN tower was good although there was a glass bottom floor and that played with your head. Although you know you are completely safe a couple of times I actually did a double take, thinking that I was falling through the floor! Wednesday we spent the day shopping - well Mum did most of the shopping anyway - Eve (family we were staying with) made the mistake of actually taking Mum into a fabric shop whereby she proceeded to spend up big and indulge herself! Well worth it I say - she doesn't do that half as much as she should! The fabric was cheap and I did enjoy going around with her and helping her decide what fabric to get :P. Wednesday night we caught the flight to Charlottetown. It was a teeny weeny regional flyer and with the weight of our bags (slightly too heavy for a regional flight) the poor plane was probably buckling under the pressure!!!! Arrived at Charlottetown PEI, late Wednesday night and was picked up from the airport by the B&B couple we were staying with.

Ok - so here is where the original blogger would have ended but boy we have a lot more to add now! Thursday was spend 'ambling' around Charlottetown area soaking up the atmosphere and ok, I admit it, shopping again..... only this time, it was my turn to go mad, which I expected anyway seeing as there is soo much ANNE stuff and MONTGOMERY stuff to be had! I couldn't believe it - all of those LMM books that I got online are everywhere here! I basically spent my money getting the Journals of LMM and the books relating to her life which I wanted but unfortunately you can't get in Australia. So I have to sacrifice some suitcase space and probably some of my hand luggage space to bring them all back *g*! In all honesty, that is all we did on Thursday, although it was a most enjoyable day! Friday Mum and I hired the car to begin our travels around the island. This is the point where you should start to worry with my *excellent* navigation skills and our driving on the 'wrong' side of the road is an adventure to behold in itself! I must say that I was suitiably impressed with Mum's ease at adapting to driving on the otherside and we didn't have too many hiccups except for a few times after a U-turn (no- we weren't lost...... honest!) where we would happily be driving on the LHS of the road and neither of us picked it up for a few secs....... thank goodness for quiet country roads!!!!!

Ok so Friday we slowly drove up to Summerside from Charlottetown - if you were to take the most direct route it would take around 45 mins we were told (yes, I said it was a small island!), but instead we took the scenic route and boy are we glad! The sights on this island need to be seen to be believed. They are just breathtaking - the most beautiful thing I have seen yet.... lovely blue ocean on oneside and rolling acres of countryside on the other! It is the most darling place in the world! We took our time and stopped many times to admire the view, take pictures or go for a little stroll. We arrived in S'side after a late-ish start around 5ish, naturally stopping at yet another fabric place on the way. We also stopped at Lower Bedeque, a site of one of the schools LMM taught at but unfortunately the refurbished schoolhouse was closed, so we just took piccies on the outside. Later in the night we watched the musical "Anne and Gilbert" - ok before you laugh hysterically and wonder what on earth has happened to me - it did come highly recommended to us from everyone on the island and dispite how corny it sounds, it was actually GOOD!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was suitiably suprised!

Today we had every intention of starting early for our longest drive yet (ok to the furthest point we were going) but due to a few 'technical' issues (the car was low in coolant) and wanting to pick up some 'munchies' etc, we didn't start till late again.... having said that we got to our said destination O'Leary in 35mins and went around the 'Quilt Gallery' and 'Potato Museum' - ok so laugh if you want but I knew before you did that there are 150 kinds of potatoes! Now that is valuable information!!!! The quilt gallery was a dissapointment because despite their advertisments (yes they have brocures) it wasn't a gallery but simply a fabric shop :(. Mum did find the Anne fabric she was after though! So that was a plus. The potato museum wasn't all bad but after a slow amble around we were all 'potatoed out'! We then made our way to Bideford which was another site of LMM's school where she taught and contained a Parsonage Museum where she boarded in her year of teaching. When we got there we were met by another group who were wanting to have a look in but no one was there to open up the museum. A poster was stuck on the wall telling us where to find them as they didn't have the staff to man the place all day - went down there but no one home :( - their house was all opened so we thought they couldn't be too far away so decided to stop outside the manse (lovely views I might add) and have some lunch. When we were just about to give up and go home - they turned up and we had a lovely tour around the parsonage - really really interesting - not just about LMM but also about the history of the town and the restoration of the place. Thoroughly enjoyed by both Mum and myself. We then drove on to the long-awaited trip to 'Anne's Land' which encompasses the surrounding area of where LMM was born and grew up in and around Cavendish. The drive from Malpeque (the gardens we wanted to see were shut :( ) to Cavendish was just stunning - the best we had seen yet. Mum and I were awestruck by the views. First big thrill was passing the "Lake of Shining Waters" and spotting "Silver Bush"! This is where it hit me that we were actually here!!! I still can't believe it now, I'm here, where Maud was, where Anne was created..... and the best bit is that is is exactly as LMM described, it still has that country feel etc. Sure, it is modernised a little, but the cusp of it is still the same. We also saw the (once in Cavendish) the old site of LMM's Cavendish home - breathtaking, you could almost expect her to come around the corner, everything as she described it... I can't believe it! We also visited her resting place and post office where she worked to send off all of her manuscripts - her grandparents owned this P.O. and hence she could send her mail without the knowledge getting around town. All of this is on the two corner blocks (cemetary on one side and P.O on the next, house behind P.O) opposite our motel.

Ok, I better go coz i'm about to get booted of the computer. Again, it is a long one - sorry - but there is just sooo much to tell! The holiday is really hit now, I feel like a 5 yr old kid at christmas! I am here - where I always wanted to come - where I dreamed of coming and it is exactly as I thought it would be..... honestly you have to come here if you love Anne! Off to Green Gables and Avonlea Village tomorrow!

Cya!