Today is our last full day in Nantucket, although we've been here for six days.

Nantucket is historically one of the main centers of Whaling in the U.S. -- whaling ships based in Nantucket traveled all over the world. It is also home to the characters in the novel Moby Dick--and home port to the whaling ship Essex, on whose true story the adventures in Moby Dick were based.

Nantucket now pursues touristss rather than whale, equally successfully. The town is well preserved (and renovated) with cobblestone streets, grey shingle buildings, and dozens of shops and restaurants (yeah!). The grey buildings -- and the frequent fog -- gave rise to the nickname "Grey Lady" for the town and island.

We spent an afternoon at the Whaling Museum (and adjoining shop, of course) and enjoyed hearing the tale of the whaling shipp Essex, as well as all of the exibits. Of the restaurants we ate at, Company of the Cauldron and Black-Eyed Susans were our favourites; both sat around fifty people and had delicious food. Although it's been around for 25 years, Company of the Cauldron looks like (and sounds like) it could be from the set of Harry Potter.

We also had two afternoons of walking around town and stopping in shops that interested us (upon which, as you can imagine, we didn't all agree). In summary: Nantucket is great, and it has been "officially" added to our "places to go back to" list.

The picture is a typical street/shopping scene, on Straight Whaft by the harbor -- of courrse, in the middle of the picture is an ice cream shop!