Saturday: On the way into Halifax we stopped at a mall and bought S a nice jacket to replace her old favorite warmup suit top which she lost; she probably took it off at a restaurant, thanks to the beautiful weather we've had for a few days, and left it on the chair back. The canoe was left back at camp so that we could fit into a parking garage. We found one with an advertised clearance of 6'4" and I have measured the Suburban at 6'5", but we gave it a try. Turned out we had almost a foot to spare. Anyway, we hiked uphill to the Halifax Citadel, 19th Century fortress, the last line of defense for the city, with a dozen or more forts out to the mouth of the harbor. Halifax, Canada's #1 Atlantic port, never has been attacked. All those forts may have been a deterrence to a naval attack, and the Atlantic Ocean's width helps against air attack. What did happen, though, was a 1917 explosion of a munitions ship after a collision in the harbor. The largest non-nuclear explosion in history; killed thousands and destroyed the waterfront area.
The citadel is manned by reinactors representing the Highland regiment who garrisoned the fort in the 1880's. Got a good guided tour, and they fired a cannon at noon, as they have done for decades. The story goes, in the mid 19th century they regularly sent one of the soldiers down into the city to check the correct time with the watchmaker so they knew when to fire the noon cannon. Only after a long while did they learn that the watchmaker set his timepieces by the cannon.
After lunch at a glitzy sports bar we had couple of hours to kill before Mass at the cathedral basilica, which we spent at the city's park. Dates from 1870's and we enjoyed walking around, identifying trees and admiring flowers. Met a couple from Toronto; the woman had taken a fall on the waterfront boardwalk yesterday and had her broken arm in a sling. Game girl- they are continuing their trip. They strongly recommended we visit Petty's Cove, on the coast SW of Halifax. Pretty much on our route tomorrow, and I was inclined to go that way anyway.
The church is a very big mid-19th C neo-gothic, beautiful architecture if you can look beyond the Vitorian art.
We stopped for a glass of wine on the waterfront, and then we'd planned to take a ferry across the harbor and find dinner on the Dartmouth side. But S's back and hip have been giving her fits, and we were not hungry after the big lunch, so we fetched the car and drove back to camp. But on the way we stopped and had a very good ice cream dinner.
Sunday:
Drove to Peggy's Cove, a tiny fishing settlement harbor spectacularly located at a rocky promontory. Another beautiful day so there were hundreds of people climbing on the rocks and taking pictures of themselves. The little town knows what it has, and is making a good living on the tourists with art galleries and restaurants. It was at Peggy's Cove that I couldn't find our camera, an ageing Sony digital. Still haven't found it, and we really feel the loss, especially of the pictures on the card. With the help of an agent at the Peggy's Cove tourist office I was able to figure out the name of the restaurant where we had wine last night, where I took a picture of a schooner in the harbor. I must have left the camera on the table, but the restaurant says they don't have it.
Outside of Peggy's Cove is a little "Swissair 111 Memorial". 1998 a flight from NY to Zurich caught fire and tried to divert to Halifax, but crashed in Margaret's Bay with no survivors. Another memorial on the other side of the bay also has graves of some of the victims. Canada handled crash investigation at a cost of tens of millions, even though the plane just happened to be flying over Canada when it crashed. Who will investigate a crash in a poor country?
Following the coast around Margaret's Bay and Mahone Bay there are several small sand beaches, crowded today on what is probably the best beach weather Sunday of the year for them.
At Lunenburg, the city's campground is at the top of a steep hill only a few blocks from the waterfront. It was only about 4 p.m. so we walked the waterfront and saw the several large sailing vessels at the piers plus many traditional small craft moored offshore. Canada's icon, the Bluenose II, is out of town on its summer cruise. But just like her at the dock was the replica of Columbia, another 140' fishing/racing schooner. Built of steel and launched only last year, in Panama City, Fla. A gorgeous schooner in spit-and-polish condition. The original Columbia evidently never raced against Blulenose I, before she was wrecked on Sable Island off Nova Scotia about 1923. Also at the dock is an auxiliary salt banker schooner built in 1938, a type which succeeded the earlier all-sail Grand Banks schooners. Interestingly, I saw a virtually identical schooner at Triton in northern Newfoundland in 1970. At the time I assumed it had been converted to an auxiliary, but now realize it was built that way, probably about the same time. I can't remember the name of that schooner, but I know I have a picture of its nameboard at home.
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