We woke up ready to explore Halifax. This is another of the very old Canadian
cities that have at its center a citadel fortress. We were able to see the citadel nearly from
our apartment. Our location was remarkably close. We were able to figure out that we could go
there first, park for the day and then walk to our other destinations. Perfect. This fortress was built at the top
of a hill overlooking the city. It was
used over the years as protection.
We arrived just as a tour was heading off. Our favorite way to explore. Our young tour guide was full of lots of
interesting facts and stories. One of his co-docents led a demonstration of firing a rifle from the late 1800’s. Dick got a terrific photo of him
shooting! The he took us around and we
saw the creepy jail (said to be haunted), lots of the areas that were used to
watch out of enemies, and later we had the chance to watch a team shoot off the
cannon. This had happened vertically every day for the past 100+ years. Loud!
This place was full of all sorts of neat displays. We visited the school room where not only
children attended but they basically had adult school where soldiers could
learn to read and write.
There also was a very moving museum that honored Canadian
military service members throughout their history. We were much more familiar with what the
American’s did in the various wars, but were very interested to find out more
about the Canadians.
Dick had a great discussion with some guys who were part of
a group showing World War I ambulances.
After lunch, we walked out of the fort and enjoyed the views
of this port city. Then we walked downhill
until we reached the waterfront. They
had restored the waterfront area and made it into a very trendy boardwalk with
lots of stylish shops and restaurants.
We walked quite a ways until we reach our other major touring site of
the day: The Immigration Museum. As it
turns out, Halifax served as the port of entry for many people immigrating to Canada,
rather like Ellis Island in New York. Did you know that Halifax was the world’s
second deepest natural harbor (Sydney Australia was the deepest). This museum was dedicated to the immigration
experience and it was excellent.
We
were part of another fine tour, where the guide told us some of the many
stories he had gathered about people personal and family immigration
stories. He shared that virtually every
day, someone came through the museum with a story to tell of their own immigration experience or that of a family member. The films that share some of the stories as
well as both the photographic and high tech interactive exhibits were superb.
We were very pleased when we had the chance
to take a short version of the test that immigrants need to pass in order to
become Canadian citizens, by working together, we passed….and some of the
questions were really tough. Luckily, we
had been paying attention during the past couple of weeks and soaked up some
good information about Canada. This museum was a highlight of our Canada
visit.
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