At the end of February, we get our vehicle out of winter storage and prepare it for the next big tour. We have decided to travel North America again. We are hoping for endless expanses, freedom and adventure. We have already seen a lot on our Panamericana tour from 2013 to 2018, but this time we want to drive more off the main tourist routes. MOMO gets a few necessary upgrades after hibernation and at the end of March we bring the vehicle to Hamburg for shipping to Canada. On April 10, we fly to Halifax, the second largest port in Eastern Canada. Halifax belongs to the province of Nova Scotia and most of it consists of an elongated peninsula surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic. During the colonial period in the 17th and 18th centuries, many Europeans settled here, mainly from Ireland, Scotland, England, France and Germany. Today, 36 ethnic groups live in the province, which leads to interesting ways of speaking and special dialects, such as Acadian French. But the main language is English and so we don't have to activate our rusty school French for the time being.

We check into the hotel around midday and make the most of the beautiful weather for a city tour under blue skies and a fresh 10 degrees. We were last here in 2018 when we shipped our car back to Germany. Not much has changed and the waterfront is still as nice to look at as it was 6 years ago. Karin purposefully finds the sushi restaurant that impressed us 6 years ago and is still as good today as it was then. In any case, a successful start to our North American tour 2.0. 

After a night in the hotel, we set off to unload MOMO. After a short meeting with our agent, we get our loading papers and have to go to customs. They check our passports and ask us a few questions about our itinerary. We are asked about weapons and alcohol, but the car itself is not checked. How could they? It's parked 5km away in the harbor and the young man doesn't look like he wants to leave his warm office without a reason. At customs we meet Nicole and Roland, who are just starting their trip around the world and want to drive the Panamericana. @milaontour4x4. The four of us take a cab to the port and the exciting part begins. Anyone who has ever shipped their vehicle knows that the strange feeling in the stomach only stops when you hold your good piece in your hands again undamaged and you sit behind the wheel and can simply leave everything behind you. Thank God everything is fine, only my window crank broke off. Either it was material fatigue, which can happen after 36 years of MOMO life, or the loading driver mistook the cockpit for a fitness studio.

We stay one more night at the hotel and use the large hotel parking lot to get the vehicle ready for the trip. The next day we check out and do some bulk shopping at Walmart. It was pouring with rain and a gale force wind of around 5 degrees. Once all the storage compartments are full and the credit card is empty, we drive 20 km outside Halifax to Terance Bay Riverpark and spend a quiet night there. 

The weather has opted for fog and rain today and so we can only see the famous Peggy's Cove lighthouse in the mist. In the high season, cruise passengers are bussed here from Halifax - after all, it's the must-see hotspot in Nova Scotia. Now there are only a handful of tourists and we are pretty much on our own. As a result, we don't see much, but we already had the pleasure of enjoying the glorious sunshine in 2018. 

We continue along the coast and find a nice place to spend the night at Graves Island Provincial Park. We follow the coastline via Chester, Lunenburg, Liverpool and Shelburne to Yarmouth. In the small towns there is usually a beautiful waterfront with historic houses and always a nice pub with fresh seafood on the menu. At Yarmouth, we take the cul-de-sac to the lighthouse and find a nice pitch surrounded by water. 

In the meantime, we have a steel-blue sky and drive on to Digby. This is home to the world's largest scallop fishing fleet and we have the scallops prepared in various ways in a nice restaurant and then stock up at the fish market until our freezer is full. Shortly after Digby we find a nice pitch near the sea. It's almost 20 degrees in the sun today and after a walk along the beach, we put our new deckchairs to good use until we move inside after sunset. 

Our next stop is Annapolis. The French settled here as early as 1605 and built Fort Anne around 1650. In the following decades, they repeatedly fought fierce battles with the British until the fort finally fell into British hands in 1710. All that remains of the fort, which is strategically located at the mouth of the river, is the ammunition depot and the officers' quarters. The town itself seems to have fallen out of time with well-preserved buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Via Margretsville with the only black and white lighthouse for miles around, all the others are red and white, we continue to Kentville to do some laundry and watch the Bayern v Arsenal Champions League soccer game on the internet in the Walmart parking lot. We spend the night in Kingsport on the Bay of Fundy, which has a tidal range of 16 meters in some places. Around 8 p.m., eight girls arrive who seem to have their regular get-together here. Wrapped up in sleeping bags and blankets, they party with a campfire on the beach in 5 degrees and icy winds. We watch the spectacle from the window of our warm living room and are sure that the people here must have a different perception of cold. During the day, you can see lots of people in T-shirts and shorts at 10 degrees, while we wouldn't think of going outside without a down jacket, scarf, gloves and a warm hat. 

On the way to the north of Nova Scotia, we pass through Truro and take a walk along the Bible Hill Trail on the campus grounds. There is an unexpected piece of German history here. In 2000, a few concrete slabs from the Berlin Wall were transported here and a small area was created.

We spend the night nearby in the middle of nowhere in the woods. In the morning, we are relaxing at breakfast when suddenly the cell phone alarm goes off. An emergency warning lets us know that there is an armed person on campus in Truro and everyone is asked to stay indoors or seek shelter. This is exactly where we saw the Berlin Wall yesterday. Fortunately, we are already 20 km away from the action and can finish our coffee in peace.  

In New Glasgow, we visit the industrial museum, which is really worth seeing. The museum vividly illustrates how the development of craftsmanship and technology from the 18th to the 20th century changed life and the world of work. 

We pass through Antigonish, a cultural center of Scottish traditions. The Highland Games, the largest Scottish festival outside Scotland, take place here every July. Unfortunately, there is still nothing going on at this time of year and we cross the bridge to Cape Breton Island at Port Hastings. A few kilometers further on, we find a nice campsite right on the water and experience a wonderful sunset.  

We follow the road along the sea and would really have liked to do a whisky tasting at the large distillery we pass. Unfortunately, the gates are closed as the season doesn't start until mid-May.

Inverness lies on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and owed its economic boom to coal mining in the 19th and 20th centuries, until all the mines were closed after the Second World War due to stagnating demand. Today, the town with its 1500 inhabitants lives from fishing and tourism. We park in the parking lot of the Mining Museum and are later joined by Robert and Janet, whom we met when we shipped the car in Hamburg. In the evening, the four of us go to a pub with live music and take a close-up look at what people do in Inverness on a Saturday night. This definitely includes a lot of alcohol and a one-man band playing country songs that we don't know, but which everyone here obviously knows because they sing along at the top of their lungs. It feels like being in Scotland or Ireland and we spend a merry evening until just before midnight.

It rained cats and dogs during the night and in the morning everything is cloudy and overcast. We say goodbye to Janet and Robert, but we will certainly see them again, as they want to take roughly the same route as us. After a few kilometers we enter the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The picturesque road follows the park boundary for over 100 kilometers with beautiful viewpoints. The park, which covers an area of 1000 square kilometers, is largely untouched and only accessible to hikers. We make a stop at the Skyline Trail and start our hike on the 8 km circular trail around midday in thick fog. But after a good hour, the sun breaks through and we see the magnificent landscape in all its glory. We drive on to Ingonish and spend the night at the harbor in the company of the fishing boats. Surprisingly, there is even a free WLAN with good performance. 

Our tour through Nova Scotia ends in Sidney and we take the ferry to Newfoundland on April 23. As always, you'll find out what we experience there in our next blog. Until then, enjoy reading and looking at the pictures.