Charlottetown is the New York City of Prince Edward Island. While the two are ultimately nothing alike, Charlottetown is where the city atmosphere and nightlife live.
Our first night on PEI, we checked into our villa and took a drive around the New Glasgow area.
There wasn’t much to see.
It was nine o’clock at night with not a single street lamp to light our way.
Needless to say, it was an interesting drive trying to distinguish random figures in the darkness.
Always up for an adventure, we decided to drive to Charlottetown. During the time of the Green Gables books, a trip to Charlottetown was at least a half day event. To be home in time for supper, one would have to plan their journey for early in the day.
I felt rather spoiled to be able to do it in a half hour.
Like most of the island, the excitement in Charlottetown starts to wind down around nine. However, on our first visit, we passed a restaurant that turned into a music performance venue after hours.
Naturally, we later visited the Anne of Green Gables store and Anne of Green Gables Chocolates. I may have purchased a rather large amount of chocolate, of which I only shared a few pieces* with Hubby.
*It was that good**.
**My favorite were the dark chocolate truffles.
Like any city, Charlottetown had its fair share of panhandlers. I found this Caring Meter to be an effort missing from most large cities.
We saw our first ever start up business incubator. After watching the show “Silicon Valley”, I kind of, sort of, geeked out seeing this kind of thing first hand. Just imagine if one of the businesses in there becomes the next multi-million dollar idea? And I got to stand there and watch them work!
Being an island, anywhere you turn you eventually come to face water. We walked the main street of Charlottetown, on a particularly dreary day, down to the docks and watched these sailboats who looked as though they might topple over with the next angry gust of wind.
It was almost impossible to get a good picture in front of this bold sign. The wind kept tossing my hair into my face and just when I got it to stay put, it started to rain.
Even though I was cold, wet, and ready to find shelter, I had to take a picture of this boat. Now I know what is a must have for when I get my yacht*….a water slide!
*Let’s be real. I can’t even afford a boat for the bathtub, let alone a real one.
Our final event in Charlottetown was attending the play, Anne & Gilbert. I purposefully ignored the play’s existence when we planned our trip to Prince Edward Island. I couldn’t imagine a musical about Anne of Green Gables being worth seeing. But Hubby pushed me to buy tickets as soon as he found out about it.
Yes, it was incredibly corny.
And yes, when Hubby made me buy the CD at intermission I looked at him as if he had two heads.
But yes, the play, both its songs and dialogue, though terrifically hokey, somehow had that element, that feeling strung through them, of the books and original movies.
So if you ever hear me humming a tune about Gilbert Blythe, hot house flowers, or the island, just know I’m reminiscing my time spent in one of the most nostalgically, beautiful places I have ever visited.
Leave a Reply