Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Halifax, Marie Joseph, Goldboro, Nova Scotia

Halifax was just another big city. We stayed in a large mall parking lot in the downtown area. It was really a nice place to park. On Friday night we went for dinner at one of Ron’s friends (Lynn and Dawn Allison) who lived in Dartmouth. He cooked us steaks and we had a wonderful time.


Saturday we did some touring in Halifax. Our first stop was the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where 121 victims of the Titanic were buried. There are three cemeteries in Halifax where a majority of the 209 bodies recovered were buried. Only 59 bodies were shipped out to families for burial. The gravestones are granite blocks with a number (order of discovery) and name, if they were identified. The monument to the unknown child is located at this cemetery.






Next stop was the Citadel National Historic Site. This large fort is one of the best preserved forts we have seen. It sits on a hill watching over Halifax. There have been four different forts built at this site. The present one was constructed form 1828 to 1856 and was the last and strongest of the Citadels. It has never been attacked. We took a tour and watched a couple of films. Every day of the year noon is announced in Halifax by the firing of the Noon Gun (cannon). Well, we watched as they got it ready – but the cannon didn’t go off today because of a faulty igniter. Oh well – so much for tradition.







After the Citadel we went to the boardwalk and walked along the water. There were some colorful boats in the bay. I really liked the one that had a face on it. Very cute! There was a cruise boat docked so the boardwalk was crowded.


















We were glad to pull out of the big city on Sunday. We drove to a picnic are near Marie Joseph (a tiny fishing village) and decided that it would be a good place to spend the night. We had a great view of the ocean.









Monday we went to Sherbrooke Village Museum, a captivating living-history museum of restored buildings and residents dressed in period costume explaining the everyday life of the town in the 19th century. There was a printing press that was actually printing business cards, quilters, blacksmith shop where Dean and Ron saw a really good demonstration and got a gift, drug store, doctor’s office, etc. and in each restored building there was someone to talk to us and give a thorough description of who occupied the building. The mill was a favorite since we watched lumber being sawn by waterpower.
































After we left Sherbrooke we had to take a ferry on Hwy 316. It cost $5.25 and they only allowed one of the motorhomes at a time. So we got some good shots of Ron and Bernita’s rig coming across.

We then boondocked at Goldboro by the Interpretive Center (which was not open yet). When we got here there was a fisherman coming in with some lobster so guess what – we bought some more lobster at $5.25/lb. That is 18 lobsters we have cooked, cleaned and eaten since we got into Canada between the three of us (Bernita doesn’t like them). And we are not tired of lobster yet.

No comments: