Halifax

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Museum of Natural History and Home Again

The Airporter shuttle was picking me up near the train/bus station at 1:30 this afternoon, so I didn’t plan much for the morning. Julie suggested I take her car into town and leave it parked in a lot for her to pick up tonight, which turned out to be a fantastic idea.

My choice for the morning was the Museum of Natural History, which was okay but nothing to write home about. I did like the exhibit on quill art as I knew nothing on the subject.

The rest of the day was the usual going back home stuff. It was pouring by the time I exited the museum and I was a soaking wet, frozen, and a tad grumpy when I finally made it back to the train station to kill the forty-five minutes or so until my shuttle arrived. My poor bones just can’t handle dampness. I look forward to the dry heat and cold of the Prairies!

The Shuttle arrived on schedule and I was at the airport by 2:30. For some reason, I always forget that I have to go through security, so I almost plopped myself down before the checkpoint. *shakes head*

Friday’s flight had been smooth with an almost unnoticeable landing, but such was not the case tonight. There was a nasty bit of turbulence and the landing was quite hard, but takeoff was worth it. We left in peasoup fog and climbed and climbed and climbed… Suddenly, we burst out of the clouds into a brilliant blue sky. At the horizon, a large swath of rainbow separated grey from blue.

To sum up, Halifax was okay. Like Minneapolis, it’s a tad cold in attitude and inapproachable and should probably be experienced in the summer, when the tourist trade is at its peak. But the people are extremely friendly, the seafood is awesome, and the scenery is spectacular.

I find it interesting that the in-air magazine on the flight to San Francisco had an article about Toronto, which wound up being my next stop. The on train magazine for the Toronto trip had an article about Halifax, which was my next stop. Boarding the plane on Friday, there was a touristy video playing. It was about Manitoba.

Dum da dum dum.

Cemeteries, the Halifax Citadel, and Pier 21
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Cemeteries, the Halifax Citadel, and Pier 21

I was on my own since Julie had to go to work. Friend that she is, she left me the car. My favourite thing to visit on trips is cemeteries, followed by churches. I overdosed on the former on Monday and will not bore you with the couple hundred (!) photos I took. :-S

First stop was the Fairview Lawn Cemetery to view some of the Titanic graves.

I wonder how many people have visited this grave since 1997:


This person was identified at a later date, probably through DNA testing. Science never ceases to amaze me.


Next stop was the Old Burying Ground, Halifax’s oldest cemetery. This stone stood out:


And I thought she had a bad reputation…

After spending some time at this cemetery, I hiked to the bus terminal to inquire about transportation to the airport, which was a waste of time and I should have just called the Airporter shuttle service.

There was money left in the metre after this, so I walked up Spring Garden hoping to find some cute shops to explore. Unfortunately, a lot was closed since it was Remembrance Day Monday. But I did find a fantastic little bookshop on Queen Street. There, I chatted up the seller and he went off to his attic in search of some Wallis Budge for me. While he did that, I hurried back to the car as my metre was about to expire! When I came back, he looked relieved (and a tad dusty).

After much consideration, I only took three books as I had to keep in mind that my luggage was carry on! The first book was the Budge, called The Mummy, which is actually a really good primer on ancient Egyptian history, language, and customs as well as descriptions of funerary rites. The second book was about the move of the temple of Isis at Philae, and the last about how the Rosetta Stone cracked the hieroglyph code. I was thrilled with my haul!

Next stop were some antique shops on Agricola, but they were all closed, so I just had lunch, then I headed for the Citadel.

There, I took a couple of pics of the Clock Tower:


I then climbed all the way up the hill to look at the ruins:


Since none of the exhibits were open, access was free and I could have driven my car up to the lot there, but the hike was nice!

Coming back down, I served through an expanse of grass and just happened to find 1.85$. How odd is that?! LOL

I finished the day at Pier 21, Canada’s Immigration museum, which is the equivalent of Angel and Ellis Islands in the US. The movie alone was worth the experience; it featured some Oscar worthy performances! I won’t spoil it. 🙂

Julie and I went shopping after a fabulous dinner (made by her) of fresh Digby scallops (num, num) and I found a brass candlestick in the style I collect at a Value Village of all places!

Alexander Keith Brewery and the Maritime Museum
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Alexander Keith Brewery and the Maritime Museum

Nothing would be open in the morning, so we slept in laaaaaaate, then headed to downtown. There, we signed up for an Alexander Keith’s Brewery tour at 1PM. We killed the time before the tour by walking on the pier a bit.

The tour was probably my favourite part of this trip. It was so much fun and hosted by actors who really bought into their act. The tour included two samples of beer and I was feeling pretty good after a full pint of red and a quarter one of India Pale Ale. 🙂 Hey, at least I was reasonable and didn’t have a full second sample! dueSouth fans will be amused that we were lead into a rousing rendition of Barrette’s Privateers by none other than Ian MacDonald. *snickers* I really like Keith’s, and even more now that I know the history and brewing process!

The following picture is my favourite of the Keith Brewery. If you look closely at the right side of the stone arch, you can see a large nick in it. This nick was caused by hundreds of wagons turning sharply as they entered the courtyard and their axles rubbing against the arch.

This sign at the brewery amused me:


We then ambled down to the Martime Museum where the highlight for me was the Titanic exhibit, followed by the Halifax explosion section. The museum is nice; big enough to contain plenty of treasures and surprises, but small enough to be done in a manageable amount of time. I bought a mug in the giftshop, taking advantage of the fact that I’d finally found a mug in a style and size I’d been looking for for months, and for a price I was willing to pay!

It wasn’t even four when we came out, but it was time for linner since our late breakfast had meant no lunch. We went to Salty’s, which is apparently a must-eat-at Halifax dining establishment. I had an amazing seafood casserole–scallops, haddock, shrimp, and salmon in a basil cream sauce covered with crispy mashed-potato rosettes and a hit of cheese. I’ll work off the calories later this week. 🙂

Another early night.

Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg
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Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg

Had a good night and a relaxed morning with a late start for Peggy’s Cove.

The cold, windy weather could not deter me from enjoying this iconic lighthouse set on sheer granite.

(note the population count!)

I sent some postcards from there since getting mail stamped with the Peggy’s Cove postmark is a bit of a tourist ‘must.’

Next, we visited the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial. Heartbreaking. I used to work with some of the investigators who were assigned that case, have seen pictures, read reports, etc. It made being there all the much harder because the victims aren’t just faceless names.



Our next stop was Lunenberg, with a stop in Chester for lunch. By the time we hit Lunenberg, cold wind had turned to icy wind with wet snow, so neither one of us was motivated to walk around town. I’d been looking forward to finally seeing the Bluenose, but it was shut up tight for the season. Bummer! We went back to the car, drove around the village a bit to take in the gorgeous houses, then headed back home in the first snowfall of the year.




Dinner was shrimp, bought fresh from a store near Julie’s, and pasta. We watched a movie and had an early night.

Been twenty-two years since I travelled this way…
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Been twenty-two years since I travelled this way…

and I made Halifax day last Friday (with all my apologies to Stan Rogers).

I have some strong memories of Nova Scotia from my last trip there as a child, but it had been long enough since I’d been for me to feel it was necessary to revisit the area. Also, my last visit to the Maritimes was to New Brunswick, in 1994; just recently enough to remember things clearly, but long enough to coat the memories with romanticism. Even though my decision to move to Manitoba is firmly taken, I felt an inkling of regret at not giving the Maritimes a chance, too, as I love the ocean.

A friend’s move to Halifax and a subsequent request to come visit provided the perfect opportunity for me to test the waters, pun intended, and see if this ocean lover is really a landlubber at heart.

I’ll spoil the ending now: she is.

FRIDAY

An 8:30AM flight required an early start. Up at 5:30. Yawn. Thank goodness for the programmable coffeemaker!

The bus ride to the airport was very quick; in fact I was so immersed in a book that I almost missed my stop!!!

I’d checked in from home, so I only had to deal with security. There, I had to either surrender my hand cream and toothpaste or check my luggage. I picked the former.

Landing in Halifax is comparably spectacular to landing in San Francisco, only this time you land in a sea of conifers instead of salt water. Apparently, Halifax Airport was built where it is located, in the middle of nowhere, because it was never foggy there. Acres of trees were cut… and the fog rolled in.

First stop after the airport: Pete’s Frootique. Apparently, this store was featured prominently on a CBC noon-hour programme about twenty-years ago. It’s a produce store with a large section devoted to British products. It’s definitely an experience!

Next, we dropped off my luggage at Julie’s. Her apartment is huge and located in a coniferous enclave off the bay. There isn’t much around her place, but downtown is about twenty minutes away.

We then drove to Martinique Beach, which is the nicest in the Halifax area. To do this, we had to cross the MacKay Bridge and then all of Dartmouth. There is a fare both ways. I was amused by the fact that the ‘speed pass’ for the Halifax area is called a ‘MacPass’ as the other bridge is the MacDonald.

Martinique Beach was indeed gorgeous and Noel’s ravages were evident in the amount of seaweed on the beaches and the broken docks.

After a couple of hours, we drove home to change and then headed back downtown for dinner.

Julie took me to The Old Triangle, her favourite pub, which was very nice. My meal was an okay veggie burger and a Keith’s Indian, and we shared a Bailey’s chocolate pie for dessert. Just as we were thinking of leaving, a couple sat down beside us and we began to chat. They were retired Americans from Colorado who had traveled extensively throughout North America and seen a good chunk of the rest of the world. We were regaled with tales of their travels through Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. I really enjoyed making their acquaintance.