Thurs July 18, 2024
Hi All! Today we were docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The population is 450,000 and it has the second deepest harbor in the world other than Sydney, Australia. Over 200 cruise ships stop here every year and during the large immigration from Europe back in the early 1900’s over 1 million immigrants passed thru here.
Today we did an all day tour and had one of the most detailed and knowledgeable tour guides we’ve ever had. He covered so much of the area and the history and even had a 10 inch TV monitor in the van to show us videos and pictures of what we would see. There were only 10 of us so it felt private. And he took us to the best seafood place we’ve probably ever eaten at (more on that later).
We first drove around the city and he pointed out various landmarks. He showed us a statue from the sculptor Armando Barbon that depicts the immigrants coming thru Halifax. We drove past several of the 7 colleges in the city with one of them being Dalhousie College where Lucy Maud Montgomery, the writer of Anne of Green Gables, went.
We stopped at the Halifax Public Gardens that were established in 1867. It was very large and beautiful with lots of plants and flowers. After that we went to the Halifax Citadel to watch them fire off the Noon cannon and we also watched the changing of the guard. Very impressive!
We then stopped by several of the cemeteries where the people who perished on the Titanic were buried. The grave stones are laid out like the hull of a ship. There were many sad stories but we did see Jack Dawson’s grave (but not Leo DiCaprio!).
We then stopped for lunch across the water in a town called Dartmouth at a place called Evan’s Fresh Seafood. I got my lobster fix! We both had a lobster roll that was sooo delicious and I had the best seafood chowder I’ve ever had. That thing was chocked full of haddock, lobster and scallops! Kathy got some clams too so we got our seafood fix!
We then went to this cute little fishing village named Fishermen’s Cove. Our tour guide stopped by the lobster place and brought out two fresh lobsters for us to see. Really cool.
Then our last stop was to a memorial to the Halifax explosion which occurred on Dec 6, 1917 and pretty much changed the city due to all the devastation it caused. It was caused by the collision of two ships in the harbor carrying explosives. When they hit, the explosives went off and glass shattered over 200 miles away. Over 2,000 people died and over 9,000 were injured. But there were two interesting stories that came out of it.
One was of an 21 month old baby named Annie Liggins. She was thrown under a bunch of rubble but landed next to the ash pan of a stove that was warm. A major snow storm came right after the explosion but they found her under the rubble next to the stove that kept her warm so they named he “Ash Pan Annie”.
Another story was of a brave man named Vince Coleman. He saw the ships collide and knew the explosion was going to be devastating and he also knew a train was heading up from Boston with 700 people on it. So he stayed long enough to send a Morse code signal to tell them to stop the train. He did not survive but he saved the lives of those 700 people. Now that’s bravery!
We were whipped after that long tour so we just chilled for a while. That’s all for now and I’ll send an update after dinner. Happy Thursday to all!
The Wandering Italian 