Halifax Redoux

Another early morning and today, my body said enough. I could not move to get out of bed. If I didn’t have a commitment, I would never have gotten up. As it was, Michael had to hold me up while I washed my face at the sink. Mornings are HARD and getting harder. I finally got the old body warmed up a bit and made it out the door.

I had the same tour that Michael took last time we were here so I am not going to repeat all the history and stops we made. Weather forecast called for 74* and some sun. Hahaha. They didn’t even come close. We left the ship, it was cloudy but not too cold; by the time we got back, it was getting colder and the fog was getting pretty thick. Gray skies, but no rain. The light was “flat” so the pictures are all washed out looking. It is a shame because the Public Gardens were very beautiful, but I could not really capture the colors.

Here are just a few extra tidbits I picked up for the trivia minded. Cunard, the British sailing ship company name after Mr. Cunard, was really a Halifaxan (I hope that is right). When it snows here, our guide said they get six feet at a time! There are two synagogues. Each year, the city of Halifax sends a huge Christmas tree to Boston to commemorate and thank the people for helping with disaster assistance during the big 1917 explosion (which is detailed in the previous Halifax post). Also, I learned that some 188 American prisoners of war are buried here in Halifax. What, POW’s in Canada? But it’s true. These were American soldiers captured during the war of 1812, and died in Halifax prisons where they were kept in inhumane conditions.

I went to the Citadel where I witnessed the changing of the guard and firing of the cannon, which occurs daily at noon. There are 78 Highlanders, most are young college age men who do this for a summer job. After exploring and listening to the pipers, I wandered over to a cute young Highlander and asked a few questions. He told me that there is about 50 pounds of wool in the uniform and it gets awfully toasty during the hot and humid weather. People ask him what time the noon cannon goes off. But I really, really wanted to ask what he wore under his kilts, but I didn’t want to appear too gauche, so I asked him some round about questions like WHO asked that question the most, and his reply was, “about 85% who ask that question were men. I tell them it’s the same thing that they have.” He then went on to say that elderly ladies had no compunction about reaching under and trying to cop a feel. When I returned to the bus, I asked the folks if anyone of them asked the question – and of course, they all said no; the men just scoffed and said they knew what was underneath. So there is your answer.

***

Michael:

A very different experience for me today. I escorted a tour to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. Lunenburg, about an hour’s drive southwest on the Trans Canada Highway, is 257 years old and was originally a shipbuilding and fishing community. It has recently been named a Unesco World Heritage site so as to preserve its uniqueness. And unique it is – the buildings are painted some really garish colors and many have a unique architectural feature called Lunenburg Bumps. What they did was extend the very common dormers so that they extended over the front door and sometimes even over the sidewalk. This was an early form of “neighborhood watch” since you could see everything happening in the street from all directions.

Lunenburg was where the “Blue Nose” schooner was built and sailed out of. Canadians are all familiar with and very proud of this schooner which was the fastest in the world until it sunk in 1946. It is so famous that it appears on the Canadian dime. In fact, it is said that while it was the fastest schooner, it could still stop on a dime [oh, a real groaner – chuckle chuckle]. We next traveled to Mahone Bay where an incredible thing happened -- the sun came out and the temperature went from the low sixties to almost eighty instantly. It didn’t last long but it was nice. Mahone Bay is a resort seaside community with lots of interesting shops including a yarn shop, which I probably should not have told Beverly about.

P.S. He didn’t even take pictures or get me some samples [rats, darn, fooey]