Sept. 24 Halifax, Nova Scotia

Our last day of visiting a port of call has arrived. We woke up docked in Halifax which is the capital of Nova Scotia and the largest city in Canada's Atlantic Provinces. Halifax was once Great Britains major military bastion in North America and this is my first time seeing it on the opposite side of Canada from where i live. I knew Nova Scotia was older and different from British Columbia in many ways but it can't be explained until you experience it. Their history so tragic as what happened way back in 1917 in a time of war is something that is hard to imagine. Two ships collided in the harbour and one was carrying a lot of explosives to be used in the war; 2000 people killed, 9000 wounded, 12,000 buildings destroyed, 25,000 people homeless.....windows broken by the blast 50 miles away......many people blinded by flying glass.....during a very cold winter....it's almost too much to bear the horrific details. Click here to learn more and how this brave city overcame it all
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

Nova Scotia is a beautiful unique Province consisting of many things which i might not have appreciated without seeing and hearing the reasons why. It's made up of granite rock and shallow soil that causes trees to not grow as luxuriously as they do some of the other Provinces. In the city of Halifax you see mostly deciduous trees tended to by the city and homeowners. In the countryside there's fir, spruce, hemlock, cedar and pine but they're different here; thin and spindly as there's not enough topsoil on the granite to feed them. In some places they're short and uneven, in other places they're taller and skinny, distorted and oddly shaped, almost like bonsai. I noticed a lot of annual undergrowth and will assume it's natures way of shading the soil and protecting it from the wind as well as keeping the sun from drying the ground by holding the moisture in the little soil that there is. From the west coast to the east coast there's a huge difference in the soil and the way things grow and Nova Scotia is very beautiful and has a unique personality all it's own.
http://www.novascotia.com/about-nova-scotia
We drove to Peggy's Cove where the surf pounds the granite cliffs and rocks and a solitary lighthouse creates an unsurpassed scene of rugged natural beauty. It's the most photographed lighthouse in the world. Click here for the story of the stone sentinels: 
http://www.peggyscoveregion.com/  
The Titanic went down near here and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic has the worlds foremost collection of it's memorabilia including the ships only surviving deck chair.
http://tinyurl.com/pzuuwek
Our tour guide David was a kilt wearing retired school teacher and he was very good at giving us lots of interesting info and a joke or two and even sang a nice song. St. Paul's Cathedral is an 18th century Protestant place of worship in Halifax. We were to see the "explosion window" and the metal piece embedded in the wall as a result of the 1917 explosion. David told us all about the explosion and it was horrific but we didn't go in.
After our bus tour we got on another ride; a pink Hop On, Hop Off bus and rode around to a dozen or so places of interest in Halifax and then returned to the ship, had something to eat then crashed for a little quiet time reflecting on the stories we heard of Halifax and Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia.

 David said that people are told over and over to not go on the rocks down where the dark colour is as it's very slippery there. I'm not sure if it's the tide line or wet from rogue waves that can happen at anytime or just plain slimy from the constant moisture.

                              If this guy had slipped there would be little chance of rescue

                                                                   Lobster traps

                                                            which way to Halifax?

                                                 

Here i am standing on that dam Seawalk again and yes, i may have gotten a little obsessed trying to overcome my fear of heights, Anyhow, the grayish squares are sets of 2 and 4 chairs around round tables. Don't know if it's a public deck or semi-private. I didn't think to try and find that deck and now it's too late. I don't remember if the polka dots are a reflection of something or if it's in the glass. Yeah....it would appear that i'm not very observant but probably i'm just terrified in that 0.1 second that i stood there with my life passing before my eyes, lol.