September 21, 2018

The ship arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia shortly after 9 a.m. The sky was mainly sunny cloudy, a bit of wind and a temperature of 13°C.

In the daily program, a special Internet promotion of $79 US for the last 48 continuous hours onboard was advertised. The regular price is $49.95 for 24 continuous hours.

Since the dock is part of a cargo wharf, the port provided a complimentary shuttle to the Cunard Center about 600 meters away, not far from Pier 21, the Canadian Museum of Immigration. There were three other ships docked – Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas, over 3,400 capacity; Norwegian Escape, over 3,100 capacity; Silversea Silver Spirit, about 1,200 capacity giving Halifax up to 10,000 cruise ship visitors today.

Our walking tour started with a ride on a pink double decker bus which took our group of 12 up to the Halifax Public Garden. We drove along Barrington Street which was the former main street, then turned onto Spring Garden Street, passing the old library with a statue of Winston Churchill on the grounds. During World War 2, Britain’s Prime Minister Churchill and American President Roosevelt held talks in Halifax. The new steel and glass library was just a block away. Further up the street we were let off at the Halifax Public Garden. The garden began in 1847 as a private garden by horticulturalists and in 1867 the garden was bought by the city. There are still volunteers that augment the dozen gardeners. The original 1847 little white building for tools is now the teahouse. The main design, since 1874, is a Victorian Garden. A Victorian Garden also has educational characteristics. Most of the garden flowers are planted annually and several times during the year gardens are planted again. There are beds packed with flowers with a theme highlighting a charity, which changes each year. After the daffodils and tulips end the beds are replanted with other flowers that have been growing in the nearby greenhouses. Until the 1970s the head gardener and his family lived in a two storey house across the street by the greenhouses. In the cactus garden, again transferred to the greenhouses in winter, a 25 year old agave plant sent out its spike of seeds this year, which ends its life cycle. In the center of the 18 acres is the bandstand that commemorates Queen Victoria’s 1887 Golden Jubilee of her reign and where, every Sunday, there is a band concert. There were a lot of over 100 year old trees destroyed in 2003 when Hurricane Juan slammed into Halifax. The trees have been replaced and are over 10 meters high. There is a rose garden and the Dahlia Society has a colourful garden. For Queen Victoria’s 1897 Diamond Jubilee a fountain was added with symmetrical serpentine garden beds surrounding it. There is a war memorial and Griffin’s pond, where a model of the Titanic floats, and there is also a model of a Canadian Navy corvette. Corvettes were the ships that led the North Atlantic convoys to Europe in World War 2. On weekends, people sail their remote control model boats in the pond.

We exited the garden and climbed the hill by Sackville Street to go to the star-shaped Halifax Citadel National Historic Site in time for the Noon Gun firing at the Saluting Battery, a daily tradition for over 260 years, except on Christmas Day. From the Saluting Battery, there were good views of the harbour when not obscured by skyscrapers. In the middle of the harbour, you can see George Island. We learned that a fortress is a fort where the community lives within the walls, like Edinburgh Castle. A fort protects the community outside of the fort walls, like the Citadel. Halifax was founded in 1749 when Edward Cornwallis built the first fort, which was military buildings surrounded by a wooden stockade. The current stone Citadel was the fourth building and was constructed between 1828 and 1856. It remained a British fort until 1906 when it was deeded to Canada. Atop the Citadel are two masts used for communication to naval personnel and merchants. The taller mast signaled which merchant ship was in the harbour with goods to sell.

Halifax Harbour is 16 kilometers long with Bedford Basin at the top. It is the second largest ice-free natural harbour in the world. Sydney, Australia, is number one. During both world wars this harbour was the assembly point for supply convoys to Britain and Europe.

On December 6, 1917, at the narrowest point of the harbour, the Mont Blanc, a French ship carrying ammunition, caused a collision with a Norwegian ship igniting the cargo. This caused the largest manmade explosion in the world up to that time. Over 2,000 people died and thousands were injured, many blinded by the explosion. The concussion waves were felt as far away as Truro, 100 kilometers away. Boston sent a train carrying over 200 doctors and over 400 nurses within days to help the Halifax survivors. To this day, a 50 foot evergreen tree is found in Nova Scotia, cut down then Halifax sends it to Boston for its Christmas tree. It is a thank you for the assistance that Boston sent over 100 years ago. We exited the Citadel site down the stairs beside the Citadel clock that was built on the orders of the commander, Prince Edward, between 1797 and 1800,. He was the Duke of Kent and future father of Queen Victoria. The clock was officially started in October 1803. It is undergoing renovation this year.

The next stop was the “Old” Dalhousie and Grand Parade ground where the 1750 wooden St. Paul’s Anglican church is located and at the opposite end is the 1888 stone City Hall, a National Historic Site. One of the tower’s clock faces remains at 9:03 to mark the time of day when the Mont Blanc exploded. In the middle is a monument to the two World Wars, the Korean War and the Afghanistan War and nearby an arch to the fallen police officers and other law enforcement officers in Nova Scotia.

We continued down the hill toward the waterfront to the Historic Properties National Historic Site. These are the preserved warehouses from the late 18^thand early 19^thcenturies where the privateers stored their bounty from raided French, Spanish and American ships. There are gift shops, restaurants, cafés and shops in these renovated historic buildings. The walking tour ended here. Steps 9,123

From the Historic Properties, there is a boardwalk, the Halifax Harbourwalk, that follows the waterfront to the Cunard Cruise Center which is over one kilometer away. Along the walkway are lots of restaurants, cafés and shops and signs of the history of the harbour. From here the transatlantic cable ships laid cable for the early telegraph cables in 1866; the telephone cables and now fiber optic cables. The first telegraph cable could carry eight words per minute. In 1988 when the first TAT8 transatlantic fiber optic cable was laid from Cornwall England, to New Jersey it carried 40,000 phone calls.

The afternoon was a bit warmer at 16°C, but clouds were coming in. We decided to find the new Halifax Central Library to access free Wi-Fi that would not be too slow like complimentary Wi-Fi by the harbour where four cruise ships are docked. The 2014 library is just a block away from the old library. On the way uphill from the harbour, we passed St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral built in 1820 and expanded from 1860 to 1874. It became a Basilica is 1950. Beside it was Glebe House built in 1902 as the residence of the first Vicar general, Edward Burke. In the house he started the first Catholic boys’ school.

After posting yesterday’s blog entry, we walked downhill to the Halifax Harbourwalk and found a cluster of little food sheds and ordered a wrap and poutine to share. A little further along, we found a local coffee house for cappuccinos. We continued to walk on the boardwalk to the Cunard Center where we found the shuttle stop and took the five minute ride to the ship. Steps 14,907

Tonight was the last Evening Chic dress code for the dining room. We had a 5:30 dinner reservation at table 217 with Carol & Al (Eldon) and Audrey & David. Our table of eight was completed when Barbara & Steve joined us. Audrey & David’s tour to Lunenburg & Peggy’s Cove encountered a flat tire to their bus, which reduced the time they could spend in Peggy’s Cove to only ten minutes. Their bus was the last one to return just before 5:30. The gangway was removed when the passengers on their bus were all aboard and the ship was on its way by 6 p.m. to return to Cape Liberty. There was some rocking of the ship like other evenings since leaving Saguenay. The special dinner featured broiled lobster tails, beef wellington or duck à l’orange with Baked Alaska as dessert. The waves were only about 2.5 meters high, a bit shorter than the night before. We danced to the dance band, Dancing Town before going to the 9 p.m. production called Soundtrackfeaturing the singers and dancers which featured some familiar songs and energetic dancing.

Final steps 17,617