Kings adventures: Charlottetown part 2 and the Red Sands Shore Drive

While wandering through Charlottetown we came on a chocolate shop - Anne of Green Gables Chocolates - and discovered something new to us. Here they make chocolate covered potato chips (crisps to us)! Jim said, "I'm not sure that would work". Anyway we watched the process where they use fresh PEI potato crisps and cover them with rich premium milk chocolate.

There was a lady handing out samples of fudge - very nice - so Jim asked her if we could try a chocolate coated chip. And ... it does work! I might even buy some (when Jim is not looking, of course!) They're called Cow's Chips.

We then went to the Confederation Centre of the Arts which houses several theatres, an art gallery, a restaurant and a gift shop. It is also very involved in arts education. The art gallery had one very interesting exhibition by an artist called Ruth Cuthand. In it she explores through a mix of humour, storytelling and political invective, the complex interplay between native and colonial identity. It is obvious that she, a native Aborigine, is very angry at the white people. I would have loved to have taken photos to give you a flavour of her work but photography is not allowed in the gallery. I remember one part of one of her paintings - "There is no racism in Canada, just an underlying 'bitterness'". Very telling, I think.

Another interesting exhibition is a large-scale installation created by artists-in-residence Christine Swintak and Don Miller. At some stage they asked to become involved in the day to day running of things with a view to creating something artistic from their involvement. They were asked to clear out the basement and out of that they created "The Tower of Babble" (that is how it was written in the exhibition). Don't tell anyone but Jim got a photo!

When we left the gallery and went outside, we could hear music. It turned out to be a young brass quintet playing a range of pieces from Bach to pop. This was taking place in the outdoor auditorium where, from June to September, there are performances from varying groups from noon to 1 p.m. It was very enjoyable sitting in the sun and listening to them.

In the afternoon we set off to do one half of the Central Coastal Drive - the Red Sands Shore Drive. And the sands are, in fact, red. We stopped at Port-La-Joye - Fort Amherst National Historic Site. This fort has not been renovated so the remains can be seen in the ground.

This National Historic Site is situated in Rocky Point from which there is a great view of Charlottetown Harbour.This location has the double distinction of hosting one of the first Acadian settlements in what is now called Prince Edward Island as well as the first military fortification on the island while under the control of France and the first military fortification while under the control of Britain. There are lovely walking trails there so we took advantage of that.

We saw this lighthouse in a field with trees around it and couldn't understand what use it would be to sailors. Later we discovered that it could actually be seen from the water.

The red sands and cliffs.

The Central Coastal Drive is home to the spectacular 13 km Confederation Bridge. It was completed in 1997 and spans the waters that separate Prince Edward Island from New Brunswick. It costs more than $40 to cross it. We hope to get time to do just that and to visit New Brunswick Island.

A spare bridge pier - hope the bridge can function without it.

We continued our tour as far as Kensington, where the Red Sands Shore Drive turns into the Green Gables Shore Drive, and took the quickest route back to Bonnie's.

Later we walked down town and dined at Lobster on the Wharf which comes highly recommended. It was quite good. It had a nice view.