Day 7

September 2, 2009

Charlottetown, PEI

Today is the day, the reason for taking this cruise. Our tour: Ultimate Anne of Green Gables. We boarded the bus and headed to our first stop: Silver Bush, the homestead of her cousins the Campbells. This family still owns and maintains the site as a museum and gift shop. Lucy Maud was married in this home and based her “Pat Books” on this site. This was also the site of “The Lake of Shinning Water”; in the books this is the lake that separates the Cuthberts from the Barrys (Diana’s family). I bought some souvenirs, of course, and we took a short horse and carriage ride. Next stop is Green Gables.

Lucy Maud never lived in the house that GG is based on, her grandparents (who raised her), lived across the woods from the GG homestead. The site has been transformed into the GG described in LM’s books. Complete with the haunted woods, lover’s lane, Matthews barn, and Marilla’s sewing room. The grounds were even more beautiful than I expected and there was an energy about the place that was bringing it alive. The only thing that would have made the visit better would have been more time to just lounge around and maybe read one of the books while sitting in the front lawn.

We got back to the ship and played Skip-Bo on the Lido deck (I have yet to win at this game). Dinner was in the Lido buffet and then it was off to the show. Tonight was a magic/comedy show and it was really good. Two kids from the Hal’s kid club helped with one of the tricks.

These red cliffs greeted us as we sailed into Charlottetown.

When the minerals in the soil come in contact with the air they oxidize and turn red.

Green Gables