Halifax (Part 2) NS Canada

The best laid plans of mice and men….  On Thursday 10 August it rained heavily all morning and blew hard too. Sailing in a 25 footer was not a sensible option and none of us really wanted to get soaked on board BV either, so we called a halt to sailing plans and, instead, agreed to have dinner with Chris and Steph and Doug that evening.  It was an excellent evening, of which I have no pictures.  We had great pizzas and salad and far, far too much rum and the end result was a very late [Ed: early?!] return to BV and a much slower than intended start to the Friday, though Nicky did, keenly, get the laundry done (thanks to Judy for the use of her machine).  But, with that work complete and it being such a beautiful day, having had the guided tour to the city from the water, we felt that we had to get downtown to take a closer look.

We took the bus from just outside the shopping centre into the city (CAN$2.50 per person each way, a bargain!) and got off close to the waterfront. Being a sunny, summer’s Friday afternoon the waterfront was really lively, with many bars and restaurants already busy with customers enjoying the weather and the ambiance.

The waterfront has been relatively recently renovated and the boardwalk along the front has several large areas with information boards showing notable events in the city’s history.  One such event is the Halifax Explosion.  On 6 December 1917 at 0904 the French munitions ship Mont Blancand Belgian relief vessel Imocollided in Halifax harbour, close to where the 2 big bridges now cross the harbour, linking Halifax and Dartmouth.  The Mont Blanccaught fire and burned for 2 hours before the fire reached the hold resulting in the world’s largest human-made explosion prior to the atom bomb drop at Hiroshima in 1945.  The blast killed 2000 people, left thousands more injured, blind and homeless, and saw neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and flames.

“For your own protection, do not climb”!

With that sobering thought, we thanked our lucky stars that we hadn’t been in Halifax on that dreadful, cold day and, like most of the rest of the city, set our minds to enjoying the beautiful sunny day we were experiencing.

The children’s approach to the wave sculpture (left) on the waterfront was predictable.  Plus, they seemed to be having great fun clambering up and down it and, somehow, surviving the experience despite the warning on the sign.

As we walked along the boardwalk we once again discussed bringing BV down to the waterfront but, again, we decided that she was much better off where she was and it was hardly difficult or expensive (and probably quicker) to catch the bus in to enjoy the city.

Away from the waterfront, but not too far away, we found streets with rather attractive traditional style houses.

Government House

And, having walked in enough circles we eventually happened upon Government House, the home of the Queen’s representative in Nova Scotia, too.  According to the sign outside it, the building was constructed between 1799 and 1805 and is one of the oldest official residences in Canada.  It’s a lovely looking building, though doubtless cold in winter.  The Governor of the time, Sir John Wentworth, was very pleased with it and regarded its completion a personal triumph.  But the local populace was less enamoured, particularly regarding the cost of its construction which, one assumes, was pretty eye-watering, given that it’s built of stone and in the style of the home of an 18^thcentury landed gentleman.

The Citadel

From Government House we climbed the hill out of the city towards the Citadel.  We didn’t have time to visit on this occasion but we planned to return the next day to tour it.

The Public Gardens

And so we reached the Public Gardens which had been recommended to us by both Chris and Mike.  These are, apparently, one of the finest surviving examples of Victorian Gardens in North America and were established in 1874 by the amalgamation of 2 older gardens, the aim being ‘to establish the best horticultural examples of vegetables, trees and flowers’.  Given that the site was formerly a swampy piece of ground covered in brambles, I think we can safely say that the Nova Scotia Horticultural Society achieved its objective!  We certainly appreciated wandering through the cool shade and enjoyed the changing views across the gardens – flowers and grassy swathes in one direction, water features and trees in another and, of course, a Victorian bandstand.  And all freely available to ‘the citizens of Halifax’ thanks to a £2000 grant from the city governors in 1874 – money well spent in our view.

Horseshoe Island (top) and BV picked out by the evening light

We got back to BV as the shadows lengthened and the light turned a glorious golden, slightly footsore but happy from a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon out in a lovely city.

Halifax, NS, Canada