Many years ago, when I first moved back to Cape Breton, my family started a tradition of going to the Fortress of Louisbourg every Canada Day. This year, we thought about doing something different for a change and we did. But before the day was done, we ended up at the fortress like we always do.
The day started off with some indecision on everyone's part. At first, I was going to go to Ingonish to attend a concert at Cape Smokey. When no one else wanted to travel that far, we thought it might be nice to stay close to town and take my little nephew to some festivities at Colliery Lands Park.
We did end up at the park and it turned ok. Little Liam was nervous of the crowd at first but he warmed up to it and took a liking to the duck pond area. We stayed there for about an hour or so and when Liam got tired and cranky, him and his mom headed home, leaving me and Dad wondering what to do next, if anything.
It's like the car knew just where to go because we ended up in Louisbourg. There was a good crowd and the weather was decent. We walked around the fortress, took some pictures, watched some musket firings and wandered around some of the buildings before heading back home.
Some summers, I don't get the chance to visit the fortress a second time but I did end up back there again in late July when my other sister was home visiting from Alberta. Her boyfriend is from Quebec so the whole French aspect of the Fortress and its history is of particular interest to him.
There was a lot going on that day at the fortress! We got there at a good time to see many demonstrations. We got to watch a public shaming of a thief, some musket firings, some cannon firings and a lively dance. And we had time leftover to walk around and explore the grounds a bit more.
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