Monday, August 30, 2010

Places that inspire: Cape Breton

Mr. Ringy and I decided to leave town to avoid the G20 Summit in June, and visit the Maritimes.

Our last leg of the trip took us to Cape Breton.

Other than the famous sights like the Cabot Trail and the Fortress at Louisbourg, we made a point of checking out the Mira River and crossing the Marion Bridge. Our choir had recently performed Song for the Mira in a concert, and we wanted to see this place that inspired the lovely tune.
The Mira River
The Marion Bridge (there probably used to be an older, prettier one)

We soon learned that the charming people of Cape Breton (which includes the Rankin Family, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, and Rita MacNeill) sing about EVERYTHING. Literally. We attended a ceilidh (a community party with fiddle music and often dancing) at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's, where a local fiddler and singer were performing songs about inbred families, highways bypassing small towns, commuting to the Fort McMurray oil sand mines...
Rachel Davis & Buddy McDonald at Gaelic College

To borrow a popular ad campaign: There's a song for that.

We decided not to continue trying to visit everything for which a song had been written.

That being said, I can't blame them at all for being inspired by a place like this. Could you?

No comments:

Post a Comment