excellent fish restaurants. If you are after culture, there is also
plenty to see and do here. The Maritime Museum is a must
for history fiends and there is a massive art gallery, which
houses really interesting folk art as well as some more familiar
European painters. Whatever you choose to do in Halifax you
will find the Haligonians (that's people from Halifax to you
and me) incredibly inquisitive and friendly.
the original place had been demolished to make way for
expensive condominiums. We took a walk to an old hangout
of my dad's known as Dead Man's Island a spooky place
of around 2.5 acres of forlorn bogland. Here the bodies of
188 anonymous American soldiers and sailors were buried
after the 1812 war. It made me shiver and I was glad when
we moved on to see Dalhousie, dad's old university. The
incredibly efficient alumni office managed to trace his entry
in the university year book which read "Bill is a good egg and
will always share his last sandwich with you!" which made
me laugh out loud. Family legend has it that he gave up the
last seat on the last plane out of Singapore before it fell to
the Japanese, to an injured soldier. That decision cost him his
freedom for four years he was just 31 when he was taken
prisoner of war.
Atlantic coastline, surely one of Canada's best kept secrets.
First stop was Peggy's Cove, a famous beauty spot, actually
little more than a lighthouse on top of the most amazing
smooth rock formations. The rocks overlook a tiny scattering
of little fishing shacks and whitewashed cottages a little like
Cornwall but without the traffic! The weather was so warm
drove past the most exquisite lakes and beaches fringed with
pine trees. We soon arrived at Chester, a sailing retreat for the
rich and famous. Some ridiculously large yachts were moored
in the harbour. The Rope Loft serves as the main watering
hole and was the best vantage point to watch the action on
the water while sipping a cold beer.
originally settled in 1753 by German, Swiss and French
protestants and we were fascinated by the extraordinary
architecture of the region the dockside buildings are painted
red and are given a fresh coat of paint every couple of years.
The town itself is a fishing and shipbuilding port, where the
famous fishing schooner Bluenose was built in 1921 and you
can now sail around the harbour on the original ship.
character. I can also see how the city in the early 1900s
might have seemed stifling to someone with ambition and a
yearning for adventure. I feel I have laid many ghosts to rest
and feel somehow closer to my dad for having done this trip
and with direct flights from the UK to Halifax taking only
five hours, I will most definitely go back.
www.viarail.ca / www.tourisme-montréal.org / www.novascotia.com
OF THE VICTIMS ARE HERE.