Days 9, 10, 11 & 12: PEI

Comfort Inn, Edmundston, New Brunswick

I know, I know... I'm a little bit late on the blog. But in my defense, we haven't had any Internet in the cottage where we were staying in PEI. So I guess I'll sum up what we've been doing for the last couple of days.



Mum and I in a carriage at Green Gables



We had two days at Cavendish by the Sea, a little gathering of cottages on the edge of the ocean. The two other days were spent traveling, and thus were not very interesting. On Monday, we (well, Gaby) wanted to go swimming, but it was sort of rainy and cloudy and altogether not very good for swimming in the freezing-cold Atlantic Ocean. So instead, much to Gaby's dismay and to my joy, we went to Green Gables, the house of, you guessed it, Anne of Green Gables. It was really cool. There was a barn and a path through the "Haunted Wood" and a sign toward "Lover's Lane." The house itself was rather small, yet very cozy and nice. Most importantly, it looked excatly like I had imagined it in the books. It was so perfect.

We found this patch of grass next to the ruins of L.M. Montgomery's, the author's, house. There, Gaby and Mum attempted to teach me how to cartwheel, to no avail. It was quite impossible, actually. I got pretty close, though, but at the end I got really tired, so we started doing handstands and headstands, which was no easier.



Mum trying to do a handstand, and Gaby, well, freaking out



For dinner, we went to this place with the intention of ordering a lobster dinner, but we all were too tired so we ordered something lighter. I was really upset with the restaurant, because they were out of both garlic shrimp and pan-fried haddock. Can you believe it?! Anyways, I had to settle for a haddock steak, although we had to explain to Gaby, who innocently remarked "But, Didi doesn't like steak," that no, there wasn't any actual meat in it. After dinner, we went to this ice cream place called "Cow's." Now, you might think this is too insignificant to mention, but trust me, it is very significant. Because it was, according to some international magazine, the BEST. ICE CREAM. IN THE WORLD. And it was. It was AMAZING. Please, if you're ever on Prince Edward Island, go to Cow's. It's for your own good.

Well, on our second day, we went to the beach. But we didn't really go swimming. Now, during this vacation, I've discovered a little phobia of mine. I am TERRIFIED of jellyfish. They're so scary that the phobia doesn't even have a real scientific name. It's just called Jellyfish Phobia. And you know what? The water was filled with jellyfish. So, I lay down and read all day while Gaby buried my feet under a mountain of sand that she had taken out of a hole she had been digging toward China. It got pretty deep; she was knee-deep when she was standing in it.

Finally, that night, we had our lobster dinner. At the cottage. Mom went out and bought three lobsters that were already cooked, and we ate them. And they were good.

So now, we're on our way back from the East Coast. Tomorrow we should be entering the province of Quebec, and right now, we're in Edmundston, NB, a nice little town where, as we've witnessed, EVERYONE SPEAKS FRENCH. EVERYONE.

Days 6, 7 and 8: Halifax

Delta Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hey... I guess I've been getting a little bit behind. So this is going to be a little short.

Day 6, we were driving the whole day. We stopped at a visitor's center on the way, and I bought a Nova Scotia sweater. We arrived in Halifax in the evening, and Gaby and I swam in the pool.



At the Citadel



Day 7, Gaby and I woke up really late again. Then, we walked over to this other fort, called the Citadel. It was really cool, and once again, very prison-like. We took a tour with this guy in period dress, kilt and all (they were from Scotland), and we got to see some really big cannons. We also visited the prison part of the fort, where they left soldiers who were "misbehaving badly" (words of the University student tour guide, not mine. So does it mean that they were not misbehaving, since they were't doing it very well? So they were behaving?).

Anyway, when the tour was over, we went for sushi, and then Gaby and I went back to the pool.

Day 8, so today, we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which was really ineteresting. They was a whole exhibit on the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and on the Halifax explosion, a devastating blast caused by the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives. It was very cool.

Then, we went on a sailboat, the SILVA, where we toured around Halifax and Dartmouth. It was really funny, because a bunch of passengers had decided to get dressed up as pirates. It was windy, and Mum explained to us every single part of the boat. It seemed like that, anyways.

We finally went for our lobster dinner. Actually, I was the only one who ordered the lobster, but everyone had a little bit of it. It was soooooooooo good. It was also our most expensive dinner yet. For dessert, we had something called "Chocolate". Yep, just Chocolate. It was a mixture of dark, milk, and white chocolate, and it was delicious. We also decided that the words pimento, momento, olive, pickle, and toothpaste, could not be said in an evil voice. We just did.

On the sailboat

Day 5: Passing into Canada

Holiday Inn, Saint John, New Brunswick

Gaby and Mum near Fort Knox

We're finally in Canada! That's right, we passed by a Tim Horton's, ate A&W, and may now speak in kilometers and Celsius, although we did anyways when we were in the USA.

We traveled ALL DAY today. There wasn't enough room on the ferry back to Portland, so we had to wait for the next one, at 10:45. Oh well. Except that Gaby was feeling cranky. When we finally boarded the boat, and Mum and I were sitting on the open windows eating ice cream while Gaby sulked in the car Mum said: "Isn't it ironic that Gaby is cranky because she stayed up all night watching Glee?"
That's right, Gaby is officially OBSESSED with Glee. She spent about half an hour in the pool at our hotel telling me who is with who, who broke up with who, and who got who pregnant. I guess I forgive her, for I am equally obsessed with Death Note, this AMAZING manga I'm reading on the Internet, I won't bore you with the details, but it's so good that instead of yelling out at Gaby to be quiet because it was so very interesting and absorbing, I yelled at her to be quiet because it was so very important. And to me, it is.
Anyways, after Gaby got over her lack of sleep, we had a really good time laughing and singing in the car for the 8-hour drive. The theme song to this trip is Payphone by Maroon 5; it keeps coming on on the radio and when my iPod is plugged into the car speakers on shuffle. It's so good, but it's getting to be so annoying. I remember on our last road trip, when we went to Tennessee in February '11, the theme song was Forget You by Cee-lo Green. Both "clean" and "unclean" versions were acceptable.

Mom hanging (falling?) off an old (OLD) soldier's bed

On the way to Saint John, we stopped at Fort Knox, Maine. It was really cool, and prison-like. I have this strange thing for prisons. Especially the run-down ones. Well, it was very AWESOME and dark, as well as very echo-y. I kept losing Gaby and Mum (purposefully?) and having to find them again. There was also an observatory (meaning, a bit tower to go up) where we could see... uh... water and forests and mountains and stuff. Which water? Which forests? Which mountains? And which stuff? you may ask, and I may respond that I have no idea.



Well, we have another day of traveling ahead of us tomorrow, that will last another 5 hours. But then we'll be in Halifax, so we'll be able to stay in one place for a few days. But I don't mind the traveling. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time when I'm not doing anything, as I do when we could be visiting places.

Day 4: Nothing Day

Peaks Island, Near Portland, Maine

Today was a nothing day. We did nothing.
Almost, anyway,

Mum actually got up before us. At 9. We got up at 12:30. And then we sat in bed and read/watched Glee (Gaby is now obsessed with Glee. She will finish season 1 in about 3 minutes.) until 2. And then we had breakfast.
We went down behind our hotel/cottage where there's a really nice pebble beach, and Gaby, still feeling photographer-y from the beach, decided we should make a music video. We filmed 3 takes of me singing Outsider, and they do look pretty cool. I just hope I wasn't too fast, because we didn't have the song in the background for me to follow along, and I tend to speed things up when I'm playing without a steady beat.
We relaxed for the entire day. For dinner, we decided to have a picnic on the beach, but we couldn't find a beach. So we went out back and unfurled the blanket on the grass, where we had pasta salad, cool ranch chips, and Stewart's. It was yummy.
We just came back from downstairs. We were playing ping-pong for a while. I'm actually not that bad at ping-pong, when we're practising, at least. It's once we start playing an actual game that I get really bad. So I lost. So I started playing piano. After that, Mum and I managed to add 4 pieces to a 500-piece puzzle that an earlier guest had begun but never finished.

Our little pebble beach where we filmed!

I'd like to make a comment on Peaks Island, since it's our last day, and we've been driving around quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if we've gone around the whole island. But one thing we have noticed is, EVERYONE HERE HAS A GOLF CART!!! I mean everyone. I guess it's just easier to get around without using as much gas, since the island is so small. But now Gaby and I really want a golf cart.
I suppose it's because there's such a small number of people living here that we feel like such tourists. This evening, when we were driving around looking for a beach, it seemed like every person we passed was staring at us strangely, as if to say: "Who are these people? We don't recognized them." I hate that feeling. I don't like telling someone when I'm a tourist, unless they're a tourist, as well. I want to walk around a place I'm visiting as if I lived there. Does that make any sense?

Tomorrow is a travelling day, and we're passing the border into Canada. 8 hours in a car! Good thing we have a lot of stops planned.

Day 3: A Danielle Day in Boston

Peaks Island, Near Portland, Maine


We're in a military base, right now.
Actually, we're on it.
But more about that later.



The Harvard logo



We left relatively early this morning (10:30), and drove to Boston. Mum had this idea about walking around the Harvard campus, but the trouble was, we had a hard time finding it. I mean, it's just so huge, and there are so many buildings and all, and we couldn't decide on which destination to select on Rilla. Harvard Medical School? University of Harvard? Harvard Quad? Apparently, they're not all the same thing. Gaby was complaining the whole way through (Sorry, Gabs), until we gave up and stopped at Starbucks for smoothies and lemonade. And she kept complaining after that, until she spotted an Urban Outfitters and begged to go. So after following the signs marked "P" for parking leading us in a circle about four times, we hopped out and decided we would stop at a) Urban Outfitters, or b) The Harvard book store (Gaby wanted a Harvard sweatshirt, as well, although she didn't want to see the actually campus...), whichever we would find first.

We found the book store.

While Gaby was looking at a book about the Periodic Table of the Elements (She has this thing where she likes science), I found the fiction section, and more importantly, the scripts/screenplays section. There, I found The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, just about all 37 Shakespeare plays, and the entire works of Gilbert and Sullivan. After finding this last one, I read through the entire Major General song, which goes pretty much like this:

I am the very model of a modern Major-General

I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral

I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical

I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotepotenuse

I'm very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General

That's just part of it, and I want to learn it by heart.

Anyway, all in all, Gaby bought her Elements book, I bought The Crucible and Pygmalion, and Mum got buttons and a really cool bag. (Two out of three of the buttons are mine, the Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare ones.)
We also went to a Harvard clothing store, where Gaby bought her sweatshirt, and I a T-shirt. Then, to Urban Outfitters. We didn't buy anything, there (And after all of Gaby's begging!.



Mum on the ferry to Peaks Island



After taking the last ferry in Portland, we arrived here, on Peaks Island. The Island is an old military base, and nothing like the cemented, symmetrical, underground, single prison-like building Gaby and I were expecting. It's filled with houses. Ordinary houses, and restaurants, and cafes, things one would find in any small village. It's quite cute, actually. Except that we're on a military base, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.

The man who own our hotel-that-looks-like-a-cottage (Everything looks like a cottage, here: restaurants, stores, bicycle renting places...) is about a thousand years old (84, actually), and although we share a bathroom and cafeteria with the other non-existent tourists, it's nothing like a military base.

After he showed us around and explained the detailed history of about every chair and picture in the house, we went out for dinner (seafood, yum!) and watched the sunset and a little boy putting out lobster-traps/net-thingys in the water. Can't wait to eat some lobster, we haven't eaten any, yet...

Mom announces that since this was a Danielle Day at Harvard, tomorrow should be a Gaby Day at the beach (I'm fine with that, as long as I have my book! I'm reading The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, aka Wicked.).

Day 2: First Taste of Salt

Hilton Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island



Yep, we're still here.

We went to the beach, today! Gaby says it was the busiest beach she had ever seen, but she's obviously never been to any busy beaches before. All she wanted to do was go in the water (Can you believe it? We're at the beach and she wants to go in the water?), but I just wanted to relax and read. But I went in anyway. The strange thing is, Gaby's usually the wimpy one with water, but this time, while she jumped right in, my head was only submerged after a long string of: "COLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!" But we don't have to mention that, do we?

The worst part is, Mom says that the water is only going to get colder as we move our way northward on the East coast. Brrrrrrrrrrr.

We also went for a walk waaaaaayyyyy out to this jutting-out piece of land, with a little cottage resting on the very edge. We almost went to go knock on the door to ask if we could exchange our hotel room for one night in the cottage. But we didn't. Sadly.



The cottage in South Shore Beach, Little Compton, Rhode Island



Gaby was feeling artsy today, and took a picture of almost EVERYTHING that was even remotely nice-looking. I'm sure we'll have a few good shots. Especially ones with me in them (While Gaby was playing photographer, I was playing supermodel. She actually gave some really good directions).

We just came back from dinner at The Capital Grille, just about the most expensive steakhouse ever. I had seafood: Crab and lobster stuffed shrimp. Although I was wary of the whole seafood-stuffed-with-seafood concept, it was delicious. And expensive. Gaby and Mom shared a steak. Equally expensive. All and all, although it was super (I won't add the -duper--Mom's been bothering me because she says that super is sufficient as an adverb, we don't need the -duper) good, it was expensive.

An update on Rilla's name: We still haven't decided yet, although Mom is now suggesting Elaine...

P.S. Salt water tastes so good...

Day 1: Meet Rilla/Ellie/Ella/Holly

Hilton Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island.

First day on our inter-state inter-country trip. After leaving Dad and Connie's this morning at 9-ish (meaning 9:30 in Mom-speak) and a few hours of driving later, I had already managed to get us lost. Stupid Google Maps. And what rule states that the passenger in the front seat must be navigator? Well, despite my unawareness of my tacit duties, I am still the scapegoat for us having driven through Philadelphia instead of around it. Anyway, Mum got fed up and is now the proud owner of a GPS.

Rilla/Ellie/Ella/Holly (But it's actually Rilla)

Yeah, we're still trying to name her. Gaby wants Holly, because the first street on which we drove directed by her was Holly Street, but Mom wants the name to be the opposite of "Danielle" because apparently, " 'Danielle' is a really bad navigator," and thus she chose Ellie or Ella (Elleinad is Danielle backwards). And I want Rilla, a tribute to Anne of Green Gables' daughter. All this results in a big confusion of names whenever it becomes necessary to yell at the GPS.

Unfortunately, this happened very frequently directly following Mom's declaration that "buying the GPS was so worth it." Right when we entered the lovely town of Providence, Mum missed a turn to the left because she thought that "50 ft" meant "Not yet" on the GPS. She found out later that 500 ft=Not yet, that 200ft=Very soon, that 100 ft=Right now, and that 50 ft=RIGHT NOW LIKE TURN RIGHT THIS SECOND!!! Anyway, after Rilla's quick "recalculating", she suggested we make a U-turn. I guess Mom missed the memo about that, too. Except that I was clearly telling her she should keep turning:
"Turn. Tuuuuuurn. TURN. TUUURN!! TURNTURNTURNTURNTURN YOU FAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL!!!"
At last, something she cannot blame me for.

P.S. In case you were curious and all, we did arrive safely at the hotel, although 8 minutes later than Rilla had predicted.

P.P.S. If you have any suggestions for GPS names, please feel free to comment (Sorry, Lola, from the movie RV, has already been taken).