Halifax

I travel by bus down the east coast of the Gaspe peninsula and arrive in a small town called Campbellton, which isn't a destination in itself; most people seem to go there on their way to or from the Gaspe peninsula, or to catch the train and I am here for both reasons, as from here I am planning to catch the train to Halifax in Nova Scotia. The hostel here is in a little wooden lighthouse and it is owned and run by the town. It only has 2 dorms and a lounge cum reception in the old lighthouse keeper's house and a kitchen in the base of the hexagonal lighthouse. Only the ground floor is accessible, as there is still an automated light at the top.

Lighthouse Hostel at Campbellton

Apart from two snorers, the only other guest in the hostel was a Swiss girl, called Mirjam (pronounced Miriam). She recognises me from the hostel in Quebec City. It's funny how travellers meet and re-meet; everyone pretty much does the same circuits. Since leaving Quebec City were have both pretty much done the same route, but in opposite directions and we have been trying to work out when we passed each other. We have just been comparing photos and laughing that we saw many of the same things, but in different weather. She has a photo of her at a lookout at Land’s End with a beautiful panorama behind her and in my photo there is only me in the mist and we have almost the opposite shots in another location, me in the sun at Tadoussac and Miriam in the mist.

Mirjam She is also travelling to Halifax on the train today and is also staying in the same hostel as me there, so I have some company again for a while, which is nice. We join the train at 7am and are due to arrive in Halifax just after 5pm. The train originated in Montreal, so the other passengers are sleepy from their overnighter and arms and legs hang out of seats into the aisles. The train rumbles along quite slowly and to begin with are close to the coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence and look out across the water on this grey misty day. It is reminiscent of the train journey along the South Devon coast from Teignmouth to Exeter. That's a coming home/going away memory for me, as I used to catch the train from Newton Abbot to Liverpool during my college years. After we leave the coast we travel through broadleaf forest and sometimes break out to run parallel to a road as we approach a small town. It’s a single track line, with an occasional piece of double track, like a siding, where we stop from time to time to allow a freight train to pass. When we pass into Nova Scotia the countryside becomes more familiar and opens out into rolling farmland, with rather scruffy-looking fields surrounded by trees and the occasional farm house and out-buildings dotting the landscape.

I read my guidebook on the train and it tells me that in 1917 Halifax experienced the greatest man-made cataclysm of the pre-atomic age. In World War 1 Halifax was a departure point for conveys transporting troops and armaments to Europe. Two ships collided in the harbour, one f which was carrying half a million pounds of TNT. The blast killed 2000 people instantly and flattened 300 acres of Halifax and with fire destroying much more. Part of the anchor of one of the ships was later found in a field 4km away. To make matters worse 40cm of snow fell that day, hampering rescue attempts and bodies of many of the victims were not recovered until the following Spring.

Via Rail to Halifax

Halifax is a small city and our hostel is in an old heritage building close to everything we want to see and visit. The waterfront has a boardwalk which is pleasant to wander along at any time of day or in the evening. It goes along by restaurants, a small marina, tourist kiosks, passenger ferries and docks where tourist boats wait. The city looks out across the water of Halifax Harbour, with its various islands, to Dartmouth on the other side, where there is an oil refinery and a flame and plume of smoke escape from the top of a tall chimney.

Halifax Waterfront

Oil Refinery

The city is somewhat of a hotchpotch of old and new buildings, but they seem to be making an effort to keep old building where they can, even if it is just the facades.

Old Town Houses

Old Building Façades

Restored Waterfront Buildings

Public Garden in Halifax

On a hill at the top of the city is the Citadel, which is the original fort, built in a star shape. From here they fire a noonday gun and a changing of the guard is enacted for the tourists.

Changing the Guard at the Citadel

We visit a farmers’ market where people wander around inside and outside an old waterfront building. One stall is selling Eccles Cakes and Cornish pasties. There are many free tasters on offer and we stop to try homemade chutney at one stall and chat to a woman there. She tells us that she was born in Scotland and immigrated with her family when she was a baby. For 45 years she was officially a ‘landed immigrant’, with a British passport and she only sought Canadian citizenship after 9/11, because she said that then ‘everything changed.’ 

Cornish Pasties and Eccles Cakes in the Farmers' Market

Cow

Stall Holder

We visit the immigration museum at Pier 21 to find out more. It was here between 1926 and 1971 that all immigrants to Canada arrived. It was also the departure and return point for Canadian troops during the Second World War. We learn about the different waves of immigration during these years from various parts of Europe and the reasons why people decided to move across the Atlantic. For many they had very little choice, no possessions or documents, as they were refugees. It is all very informative, well-presented and moving. There is also an exhibition which celebrates Canadian multi-culturism and how people have maintained and continue to celebrate their original customs and practices in their adopted country. 

Pier 21

Immigration Hall 

On the wire fence surrounding a large building site there are blackboards printed with the starter, ‘In my life I have learned….’ Chalk is available in a box to add your own wisdom. Many of the phrases are serious such as ‘happiness is a choice’ and often to do with love in its many forms, such as, ‘that there is always room for more love’; ‘the best present is my own family’. But there are also truthful light-hearted ones such as: ‘always bring my camera’; ‘sushi is terrible for hangovers’; ‘that I should have gone back to Ontario’; ‘everything is better with cake’; and written at the top of one board, ‘it’s useful to be tall’. 

In my Life I have Learned 

Do you remember when I stayed with Ann and her grandson in Orillia, north of Toronto? Well Harold lives in Dartmouth, across the water from Halifax, with his Dad, also called Harold and his mum, Michelle. I give them a ring and arrange to meet up and fulfill my promise of taking Harold for icecream. Mirjam and I take the ferry across the harbour and as I am early, Mirjam and I take a look around the waterfront and admire the view across the water back to Halifax. 

Me with View of Halifax

In the ferry building there is an event going on and as we walk through the doors it is like entering a parallel universe. This is a comic book festival. Stall holders sit behind trestle tables displaying their art and many are absorbed with drawing their strange and often violent images. Punters mill about and watch and I catch snippets of strange conversations that I don’t understand and wouldn’t know how to join in. They are all taking it very seriously, but also having a good time.  

Comic Book Festival

Just along the waterfront there is the ‘World Peace Pavilion’. The idea came from a youth group in 1989 and all the countries in the world were asked to contribute a piece of rock or a brick. The rocks are to represent the earth we all share and bricks to represent our ability to shape the future. It is interesting to see the different contributions from the various countries; some exhibits come with a little explanation and others have no information, other than the name of the country – maybe those just sent any old rock and didn’t give it much thought. There is a piece of ‘The Wall’ from Germany, complete with graffiti and metal reinforcing rods. Standing out amongst all the pieces of rock and bricks, there is a clay pot from Fiji. I bet when the Fijian delegation saw it in with the others there was a lot of whispering and nudging of each other, 'Hey, everyone else has brought a brick...'  'I thought they said ‘pot’, not ‘brick’ 'Never mind, keep smiling and no-one will notice'.

Piece of the Berlin Wall

I meet up with Harold and give him a hug and meet his parents for the first time. They take me a short way along the river in the direction of the sea, to a little place called Eastern Passage. Here a shingle bank juts out, with the ocean on one side and the river on the other and a pleasant sea breeze .freshens the air. We wander along a pleasant broadwalk past colourful wooden kiosks, mostly selling gifts. In Nova Scotia lobster is plentiful and the local delicacy and we visit one shack where live lobsters lie in an open tank of water, with their pinchers tied closed. The girl there tells us she doesn’t like to eat lobster herself, but she shows us a couple of 5-6 pounders and tells us that these are really bigger than the most sought-after specimens. She picks a couple of smaller ones out of the tank and they buck and clack the shell plates on their backs. Smaller lively ones like these make a tasty dinner. 

Eastern Passage

Kiosks

Lobsters

Shingle Bank at Eastern Passage

We stop at a kiosk and choose ice cream. I discover a new flavour of orange and liquorice, called tiger tail. Then we take a wander along the beach and shingle bank where families paddle in the incoming tide and fish in the fast-flowing water of the river mouth. It has been very nice to see young Harold again and meet his parents and Ann will be pleased to know. I’ll send her a picture for her to enjoy our meeting vicariously.

Ice Cream with Harold and his Parents

Harold and his Dad, also Harold