Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Louisbourg Day 1

Monday August 23, 2010 (Day 1)

7:15 AM
I woke up to a blaring alarm clock that scared me so much that I stumbled out of bed and raced to the thing as fast as I could, slamming myself into the desk. It was so loud that I was afraid I was going to wake up the other patrons of the B&B.

8:00 AM

Went down to the kitchen for breakfast. The innkepers served me first because they knew I had to get down to the Visitor Centre by 8:30. They served up a Fritatta which was like a baked omlette with peppers, onions and potatoes. It was probably the best breakfast of them all, but they were all pretty good. They brought me a tea, and each breakfast came with this beautiful fruit salad consisting of blue berries, bananas, apples, peaches, melon and watermelon. It also came witha side of toast.

8:20 AM
I scarfed down my breakfast and left for the Visitor Centre which was about a 3 minute drive. I waited out at the Centre and noticed a lot of children. I decided to ask an official person about where the archaeology program was meeting up. She pointed me out to a man in a beige hat. When I approached, I was introduced to Dr. Bruce Fry, one of the head Archaeologists of the Fortress. I also met up with three of my fellow program goers.

9:00 AM

We boarded the bus adn drove into the Fortress. It was gloomy, windy and spitting. We walked to a building called the Chevalier House where we got to know each other and the staff. We were each given a water bottle, a coffee mug with "Louisbourg Archaeology" on it, a folder full of papers to be filled out (Safety procedures, membership, lunch menu), a duo-tang filled with blanket papers and a pencil. We were told that the mugs were a souvenir to take home, and to write our names on the bottom of each one.

10:00 - 11:00 AM
Dr Bruce Fry gave us a run down of what was going to happen during the week and the history of the Fortress.

11:00 AM

Bruce took us on a short little tour of the site where we saw the King's Bastion Barracks and the cannon ramparts.

12:15 PM
We all went to Grandchamp House where the program was treating us to a 18th century style lunch. I had the beef stew (with carrots and turnips), a cup of tea and a dessert called bread pudding which was actually a cake with a pudding like topping on it, and not so much the bread pudding I was thinking of. It was still very good.

1:30 PM
We were bused to the Compound, where the consveration lab and archieves were. We had a tour with the conservationist. We then walked over and had a tour with Heidi, the collection manager who showed us an array of artifacts. They also showed us their computer system and how they kept track of all their items.

3:45 PM
We took the last bus from the COmpound back to the Chevalier House. We then had our Primer explained to us by Becki, the Archaologist in charge. She gave us more indepth information about the excavation site we were working on and why coastal erosion was becoming a huge problem for the area.

5:00 PM
We all started to head towards the bus pick up to take us back to the Vistior Centre. Bruce said we were okay, as they hadn't fired the last cannon yet. Then, a group of soldiers came by with a drummer and a flutist towards the harbor of the fort. We watched them and their demonstration. Once they fired off the cannon, we headed to the bus.

5:20 PM
We caught the bus back to the Visitor Centre. I arranged for the majority of the group to meet for dinner that night around 6:30. I bought the book Endgame 1758 at the gift shop, and made a mental note about what sort of things wer ein there for souvenirs. I drove back to the B&B and freshened up for dinner. Around 6:10 I started walking towards the restaurant we had agreed on.

6:30 PM
Dinner at the Station House. I picked the Station House since none of us had gone there yet. We got to know eahc other a little better, and we all ende dup having the fish and chips. The food was okay, but nothing spectacular. I rather was disappointed in my suggestion.

7:00 PM
We walked along the board walk for a very short while, talking about many things. We then decided to call it a night after it beame dark and colder.

7:50 PM
I returned to the B&B

11:30 PM
forced myself to bed even though I really wanted to continue to watch Top Chef.

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