Hello, Halifax

Today, Halifax - capital of Nova Scotia.

As I said yesterday, we are now retracing our steps - we were in Halifax in May, 2013. (click here for that blog entry) Loved it then, and loved it today, too.

Woke this morning to find we were no longer the only ship in town - the behemoth Regal Princess, and the stately Maasdam were also docked in Halifax.  We were easily the smallest of the bunch, or in other words, "just right." <grin>

Glorious day in Halifax, weather-wise.  Sunny and warm all day!  We set out with long sleeves and layers, but quickly shed some of those layers in the warmth.  Fabulous.

We signed up for a City Harbour tour, with a ride on an amphibious vehicle. Given what happened recently in Seattle, with the very unfortunate accident involving a Duck vehicle and a charter bus, I'll admit, I looked the vehicle over pretty closely.  (not that I know what I'm looking for, but you know...)  Turns out, these vehicles are a different make and model.  The "Harbour Hopper Tours" in Halifax use LARC 5 vehicles:  Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo, 5 ton capacity.  They were used in the Vietnam War.  The one that had the accident in Seattle was a DUKW, or "duck" from WWII.

Anyway, we had a great, if quick, tour of Halifax and its harbour. Our energetic guide did her job in pointing out all the significant buildings and attractions of the city.  Halifax is quite a significant port and harbour (it just seems better to use the Canadian spelling) for Canada, as it is the major site for the Eastern part of the country.  Roughly half of the Canadian Naval frigates are in Halifax, the rest are in British Columbia. So, we got to see some of those ships, and other naval vehicles, right in the heart of downtown.

We also saw sites such as:
- a floating golf green, occupied by a heron at the time we went by. Apparently, if you hit a ball from the shore and make a hole-in-one, you'll win a car
- curious Harbour Seal popped up to check us out
- The Halifax Citadel, which commands an impressive view of both the harbour and the surrounding countryside (as any good citadel should do)
- Halifax City Hall, with its clock stopped at the precise moment of the Halifax Explosion, a disaster that leveled the city in 1917. Two ships collided in a foggy harbour, and one was filled to the gills with explosives.

Speaking of explosions, our guide apologized in a very Canadian way for the failed efforts of an ancestral Canadian (British at that time) who tried to burn down the White House.  Major General Ross, leader of the pack, is buried in Halifax.

Once our tour finished, Nancy and I pushed our way through all the other cruise traffic (kidding, kind of) and got a bite to eat at the portside Farmers Market.  Fortunately, most of the kiosks were open today, but a lot of shops in town were not open, because it is Canadian Thanksgiving. In fact, one of our guides today said she was happy because her husband was home cooking the turkey, so she would come home from work to Thanksgiving dinner, done! And, she was hoping they would have their dinner outside. Lovely!  I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving by having my first lobster roll of the trip.  Nancy, who has to avoid the clawed shellfish, enjoyed an Asian lunch of steamed pork roll.

During lunch, we saw one of my favorite sights from a Regent cruise:  staff and crew on the shore, having some down time. Several of the crew were hanging out at the Farmers Market, using the free wifi, probably Skypeing with home. Like most cruise ships, I expect, ours has a staff from all over the world.

After lunch, we set off along the very pretty waterfront boardwalk, watching people fishing (with success!), busking, and mostly just strolling.  Numerous dogs, happy to be in the sunshine, too.

I was happy to see that the "drunken lightposts" of Halifax are still there - I thought it might be a temporary exhibit when we saw it in 2013, but they're still there!  Official name of art: "got drunk, fell down" Party on, Halifax!

We walked to the end of the boardwark and the Halifax branch of Cows Ice Cream. Corny puns, great ice cream. And, closing for the season after today!  You could have chocolate, PEI strawberry, or Bubble gum flavors.  Cows, the business, is based on Prince Edward Island (PEI) so having PEI strawberry was a very locavore thing to do anyway.  But good thing we got there when we did - shortly after we got our ice cream, they were down to just bubble gum flavor.  Ew.

Walked back to the ship, taking a moment to watch the ferry come across from nearby Dartmouth.  The ferry boats are a curious round shape, and are very efficient at docking and undocking - they appear to just latch onto a large clip.

Once on board and set to sail, the port of Halifax (presumably?) offered up a wonderfully Scottish send-off: a piper and drummer, dockside.  I think they do it for all the cruises, which is a nice touch.

The internet is being even more stroppy tonight, so I'm going to wrap it up quickly.  Lovely session in the pool and hot tub (in the sun!), cocktail party for return Regent guests, dinner, and now back in the suite.  Much calmer seas tonight, but still a gentle rocking. Sweet dreams.