Halifax - the touring begins.....

Saturday, April 15, 2017
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
2017 September 15 - Friday
Given my long and tiring day yesterday, I treated myself by sleeping in this morning.   I went for breakfast at the hotel just before 10:00 and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.  After that I went back to the room to get organized for the day, and didn’t go out touring until about 12:30.
My first stop of the day was HMCS Sackville, a WW-II Corvette that is now a museum ship.  The Sackville was launched in May 1941 and is the last of the Flower class Corvettes.  These are the smallest class of warship and were built primarily as escorts for convoy duty and anti-submarine work.  They were fitted with a single 4-inch gun on the front, 2-pounder (40 mm) anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, rear depth charge racks and K-gun depth charge launchers on the side.  The ship had a single propeller powered by a steam engine, a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h) and a complement of 85. 
At the end of the war, Sackville was placed in reserve and in 1952 was converted to a research vessel for the Department of Marine & Fisheries and continued in that role until 1982.  The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust in 1983, restored to her original wartime appearance and now serves as a Museum Ship in Halifax during the summers.   In the winter, the ship is towed to drydock at the naval base, where any necessary repairs can be completed.  The ship’s propeller has been removed and sits in front of the nearby Maritime Museum.
It was about a four block walk downhill from the hotel, which of course meant that the walk back was uphill.  Only some parts of the ship are open to visitors, and touring it would normally take only an hour or two.  However it took me longer as I stopped to chat with both the staff and other visitors.  I had a very good visit with one of the young guides, who was attired in a WW-II vintage naval uniform. For his age, he was very enthusiastic and well versed in military history.  It was fortunate that I stopped to chat with him, as I learned something that most visitors wouldn’t have known. There were some  photographs and a letter in the front crews quarters and it turned out that the person in the photos was his grandfather, who had served in the Navy during the war.  The letter was written by his grandmother, asking his grandfather when he would be coming home, etc.   That was a poignant connection to the ship which made my visit somewhat special.
It was interesting to see the equipment that the ship operated with during the war, such as the 4” gun, Hedgehogs (anti-submarine mortars), radio gear and depth charges.  It seems so primitive in comparison to the equipment being used today, and it’s remarkable that they were able to win a war with that equipment.  The living quarters were very spartan but adequate.  Of course the Captain’s quarters was larger and better than the others (including a pet cat).  As some member of the crew would always be on watch there would always be someone sleeping, and in some cases that meant sleeping in a Hammock.  Due to their small size, the Corvettes were known to bob around like a cork in rough seas, so serving on one would not be for someone susceptible to seasickness!
By the time I was finished on the Sackville, it was too late to tour the Maritime Museum so I’ll try and get back there tomorrow before the tour introductory meeting.   I believe the tour will also be visiting the Maritime Museum but I’d like a bit of time there on my own to look around and take pictures. On the walk back to the hotel I noticed an Irish Pub, (The Old Triangle) so decided to stop there for dinner, and of course a pint of Guinness!  I had Fish & Chips tonight, which is a bit different than my usual fare at home and it was a nice meal. The walk back up the hill was somewhat tiring and I had to walk very slowly as by this time  I was tired and easily winded.  At the time I didn't realize that there was a shortcut through "the tunnels" which led to an indoor shopping mall and an elevator right back to the hotel (more on that later).
2017 September 16 - Saturday
This seems to be a popular hotel with tour groups as there were two groups in the breakfast room this morning.  The server said my breakfast was included this morning, so I happily dished up from the buffet.  It turned out later that I wasn’t supposed to have an included breakfast (oh well). After breakfast I went back to the room to get organized and watched TV for awhile to catch up on the news.
Again at about 12:30 I headed down to the Maritime Museum to have a look.  A guided tour of the Museum is included with the tour, but I wanted to get some pictures without being pressured by time constraints. The museum was on a smaller scale but very interesting.  Admission included the Acadia which is moored behind the museum, but I didn’t have time for that.  I was especially interested in the Titanic exhibits and they had a fairly good collection of artifacts, including the leather booties of the only baby recovered from the Titanic and one of the original deck chairs.  The display of Canadian Navy articles was also good. At about 16:30 I walked back to the hotel to meet the tour director and attend the introductory meeting with the group.
The tour director, Karen, is originally from the Maritimes (Truro) but is now living in Atlanta.  She’s a retired Teacher, which is perfect as she will essentially be “teaching” her group about the history and culture of the Maritimes. The introductory meeting went well.   Two drinks were provided and a full buffet of appies, and that was a meal so that took care of supper.  I especially enjoyed the Atlantic Salmon with Pesto Sauce.  The tour director gave us a rundown on the tour, and we each introduced ourselves.  There’s quite a diverse group from people all over the U.S., some from Canada, various parts of Australia and even one couple from Ireland.  Interestingly, there are quite a few retired teachers in the group.
We had to be out of the banquet room by 19:30, so a few of us stopped at the hotel bar, and I had another glass of wine.  The same young lady was working again tonight and I had a nice visit with her.  She was pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Development, but decided to become a Pastry Chef and Bartender instead. There’s a large wedding taking place in the hotel tonight also, and they were in the bar earlier and very loud!  One of the couples walked by the bar and I enquired how the wedding was, and they said “great, come and join us”.  I briefly considered doing that but the group has a long day tomorrow so I thought my time would be better spent getting organized for tomorrow.
2017 September 17 - Sunday
It was a very early morning today, and I didn’t like getting up at 06:30 and having to rush through my morning ablutions.  We had to be ON the bus at 08:00, and I wanted to be on time. We met our driver, Jim, who is from Cape Breton and we left at 08:00 for Lunenburg, about a two hour drive.  The bus was a brand new 2018 Prevost, and very comfortable.  Insight has the seats reconfigured so there are only about 40, which gives everyone more room.  This tour was supposed to have 40, but three people from Florida cancelled at the last minute due to the hurricanes.  The tour director had assigned seating for everyone, which is a new procedure for me.  The bus is also equipped with both AC outlets and USB chargers at every seat and also WiFi. We stopped first at the Fisheries Museum and had arm bands applied for admission.  We were then taken up the hill for a group photo and a walking tour with a local guide.  The photographer was very professional and had everyone positioned on the steps of the Lunenburg Academy within a few minutes.   Unfortunately the weather was gray and dismal, but hopefully it will still be a nice picture. We then started our walking tour with Shelah, and she provided a very informative tour of the history of Lunenburg, which went back to the 1700’s.  That area was settled by a mixture of British and Swiss / German immigrants (hence the German sounding name).  Some of the houses from about 1752 are still in use!  We walked back down to the Fisheries Museum for another guided tour with guides there.  That included a talk on Lobsters (which are apparently still plentiful as the guide’s brother is a Lobster fisherman), and later on the Cod fishery (which unfortunately has collapsed for the most part).  I found the part describing fishing for Cod using a Schooner and Dorys to be especially interesting.  That was hard, dangerous work!  Two guys on a Dory would lay out long fishing lines with hooks and then have to pull them in by hand and dump the Cod into a barrel.  When they got back to the Schooner, they would use a pitchfork-type tool to throw the fish into the Schooner where they would be stored in salt.   That might sound easy but the fishermen were in a small boat and if the seas were rough it would be hard to get the fish into the Schooner. After the tour I stopped at the restaurant in the Museum and had a chicken wrap, which came with potato chips which appeared to be home made.  After lunch I wandered about the dock area to try and get some pictures.  While looking at a cod trawler, I had a nice visit with a German couple from Heidelberg.  Eventually we were back on the bus for the trip to Peggy’s Cove. Peggy’s Cove was somewhat crowded not only with tour buses but also other tourists.  I was again disappointed in the weather, especially for getting the iconic pictures from this area.  I took several of the Lighthouse and more down by the fishing boats.  Hopefully I can tweak them in DXO to give them some colour.  As I was heading down to the Lighthouse, I noticed a lone Piper playing so I stopped to have a chat with him. His name was George, and it turned out that he has a brother in Vernon.  I provided a “donation” and he kindly played Highland Cathedral for me. We were dropped back at the hotel at about 18:00.  I had a short rest and then walked across the street to East Side Mario’s for dinner.  In retrospect I should have gone to The Keg, which is also across the street. The quality at ESM hasn’t improved and it’s no surprise that their operations in B.C. closed.  However, they did provide a discount for the crappy service and lukewarm food. After dinner I walked around the hotel, as the Three Fisherman’s Restaurant is just down the hill and I wanted to have a look at the Menu.  We’ll be having a group dinner at the restaurant tomorrow night.  I discovered the Cheers bar is also nearby.  I might stop there tomorrow to see if I can spot Sam, George or Cliff.  While looking at the menus in front of the restaurant, I was chatting with a couple who were also looking.  It turned out they were from Port Coquitlam and were on their honeymoon.
After that it was back to the hotel to do some computer work and get everything ready for tomorrow.  Fortunately we’ll be starting at 09:00 so I can sleep in a bit.
2017 September 18 - Monday
I was able to get a slightly later start this morning as the bus wouldn’t be leaving until 09:00.   I had a relaxing breakfast and was ready in plenty of time.
Our first stop this morning was the Fairview Lawn cemetery where some of the Titanic victims are interred, so we were accompanied by a local guide, Bob.  He was a retired teacher and school counsellor, and very entertaining and knowledgeable.
The cemetery is multi-denominational so people from all faiths are buried there.  The Titanic section must be very popular as there were several other large coaches there at the time.  Our group seems to be on much the same Itinerary as a Tauck group.  Bob provided a very interesting narrative of the events that followed the Titanic sinking, and pointed out several notable and different headstones.  One very small headstone belonged to the only infant that was recovered.  Through DNA testing he was eventually identified as Sidney Leslie Goodwin, a 19 month old from England.   One other headstone was notably larger than the others, and that one designated the resting place of the personal valet of J. Bruce Ismay, the Chairman of the White Star Line, who has been reviled in history as he took a spot on one of the lifeboats.  He apparently wanted to reward his Valet for long and faithful service and to indicate that his importance was greater than the other victims.
Following the visit to the Titanic section of the cemetery, we were driven to the ornate public gardens for a short look.  The gardens were beautiful and I’m sure would have been more so on a sunny day.  After our visit to the gardens we were then driven to the Maritime Museum for another guided tour, with a Museum docent.
The museum guides provided a more detailed look at the sinking of the Titanic and the recovery of the bodies. The shipping company was under a lot of pressure from wealthy relatives of the deceased to recover the bodies of their loved ones, so the crew of the CS Mackay-Bennett and a couple of other ships were dispatched.  Bodies were numbered as they were retrieved and those numbers are listed on their headstones.  A larger number of first class (ie: rich) passengers were retrieved and brought back to Halifax, and the others were buried at sea.
Our tour also covered the famous Halifax explosion of 1917 which occurred when two ships collided in the harbour.  One was an ammunition ship that was fully loaded with explosives, including hundreds of drums of gasoline stored on the deck, on the way to battlefields of WW-I.  The explosion was so large that it reportedly drained all the water from one section of the harbour.  One of the heroes of the day was a telegraph operator who repeatedly sent the message “stop the trains”, which prevented the loss of many more people.  He was never found.
At the completion of the tour, the group was on their own for lunch.  I decided to once again stop at The Three Triangles Irish pub as it was close and convenient.  The Turkey burger with bacon, cheese and avocado along with a bowl of chicken barley soup was just right.
At about 13:30 we met the bus in front of the Maritime Museum for the ride to the Halifax Citadel.  The Citadel is a large star-shaped stone fort which was built on top of Citadel Hill to defend the strategically important Halifax.  It was never attacked but would have provided a formidable defense.  One of the notable features of the Citadel are the two signalling masts, which are similar to a ship’s mast.  These were used hoist flags to signal ships in the harbour or announce which ships would be arriving.  During the tour, one of the small cannons was fired and it was very loud.
I asked the guide, who was dressed in period costume, whether his musket actually worked.  He said that it did work, but slightly differently to the original.  It had been modified to act as a breech loader, using a pre-made black powder charge fitted with a percussion cap.  When the spring loaded pin struck the percussion cap, the gun would fire.  One of the other guides was demonstrating that, and I was surprised at how loud that was.
After the official tour ended, we were on our own until dinner.  I looked around some other parts of the fort, which included a re-enactment of a WW-I trench system which had been constructed for the occasion of Canada’s 150th birthday.  It covered a large area, and I didn’t go all the way to the end, but it was well done.  Just prior to leaving, I stopped to talk to the young lady who was assigned to that area, and she was dressed in WW-I costume.  She had recently completed her degree in Earth Sciences or Geology.
After the Trench display, I had a brief look at a WW-I ambulance and medical tent that was set up, and then proceeded to the Museum, which was in a large building opposite the trenches.  The Museum was on the second floor and although somewhat smaller than others I’ve seen, it was very well outfitted with uniforms, weapons and other items from various periods in Canada’s military history, including Afghanistan.
That ended my visit to the Citadel and I started the short walk (about 2-3 blocks) down the hill to the hotel (what a great location for the hotel).  As I got about half way down, I noticed an older and younger woman sitting on a bench.  I had passed them a couple of times in the Museum.  The younger girl asked if I was working for Insight Vacations because of my name tag, but I told her that I was just one of the group.  It turned out that she was a travel agent with Flight Centre and had sold many Insight tours.  I ended up chatting with them for about 20 minutes.
I finally made it back to the hotel with about an hour to spare before our group dinner, so took the opportunity to get cleaned up and organized, and have a short rest.  At 17:15 the group met in the lobby for the walk to the Five Fishermen Restaurant.  Half the group walked down the hill with Jim (the bus driver) and the rest (including me) went with Karen in the tunnels, which are accessible via an elevator from the hotel.  The route led through an indoor shopping mall, which apparently also contains a walk-in medical clinic and pharmacy.  The exit of the indoor tunnel and mall is only a few metres from the entrance to the restaurant, which is about two blocks downhill from the hotel.  I wish I'd know about the tunnels earlier!
At the restaurant, we were provided with a group menu which had two choices for appetizers, three choices for the main course and a lemon tart for dessert.  The tour also paid for two glasses of wine or beer.  I decided on the salmon croquettes and the chicken & shrimp Criolla (without the shrimp!) along with seasonal vegetables on a bed of Basmati Rice.  It was an excellent meal and of course was followed by my usual coffee.  I sat with several others from the group so had a chance to visit.
After dinner our small group again took the tunnels and elevator back to the hotel.  Fortunately we got back at an early hour, as we have to be on the bus at 08:00 tomorrow for the trip to our next destination.  The tour will be collecting the larger luggage items from the rooms at 07:00 so I’ll have to get my pack loaded up again.

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2025-02-16

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