A packed day. Rained pretty hard in the am and stopped for breakfast to kill some time for it to clear. Strange sausages with the eggs as in very blah strange. Then to yet another Mariner's Museum but very interesting stuff about shipwreaks of which Nova Scotia is the world's capitol. Have special laws and permits etc so any private person has to give 10% of finds to the government and conduct archeological research while searching for treasure. Also Cunard of the shipline was a very prominent Halifax business man before getting into the luxury liner business.
But mainly the museum is about the horrible explosion in the harbor at Halifax in 1907 I believe when 2 ships collided. Unfortunately one was leaving to take explosives to Europe for the war. The town was leveled and thousands died. Just awful and explains why the town's architecture is pretty modern compared to other places we have been.
Another section of the museum on another horrible thing - the rest of the Titanic story. The White Star Lines (I think) who owned the Titanic arranged for 3 ships from Halifax to retreive the remains of the people who died. Each ship had a chaplain and some people were buried at sea - we assumed they were unrecognizable and could not be identified. The rest were brought to Halifax where 30-40 undertakers gathered to handle the remains and relatives came to claim the bodies, etc. 150 were never claimed and the city buried them in 3 different cemetaries - Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. One of the undertakers is given credit for developing a system for identifying and attaching other info, etc. Like the first CSI. Was then used to identify the thousands who died in the explosion which also created a tidal wave. Also an exhibit on pirates and privateers that was good.
We took a little break and had a beaver tail which is a large pastry like a funnel cake really. Ours had maple walnut on it.
Then on to Pier 21 which is Canada's Ellis Island. Not nearly as big or in depth as Ellis Island Exhibit and essentially the same thing except they included a thing on WW II Canadian soldiers leaving from Halifax - they all left from here. And a thing on war brides coming here. They had a train right in the pier so people got off the ships and right onto trains for Saskatchiwan, Manitoba, etc.
Lots of talk about diversity but we aren't seeing it. We just missed the celebration of diversity fair. Saw it in the paper. The picture was of the Portugese booth and we did pass a Greek restaurant. Very few blacks around and the Asians are either tourists or students as far as we can tell. Another thing we found out today is the Blacks who came here from Jamaica -Maroons - many left for the Ivory Coast instead because of promises not kept to them. Maybe we aren't in the right sections because we stayed pretty much in the touristy parts.
However, we ended on a high and less depressing note. Had a recommendation to go to the Grafton St Theatre to see dinner show - Tartans, Tougues, and Tales, eh? Sat at a table with about 12 women from a card club in Westville who have been playing together for 20 years. Very nice and lots of ehs? when they were talking. Show was good - we think. Hard to understand the accents of the characters from each province but the music was good. Started with Anne Murray and ended with The Night That Patty Murphy died. 2 of the ladies wanted us to have their Westville pins that came with strip of Scottish plaid. How nice.
But mainly the museum is about the horrible explosion in the harbor at Halifax in 1907 I believe when 2 ships collided. Unfortunately one was leaving to take explosives to Europe for the war. The town was leveled and thousands died. Just awful and explains why the town's architecture is pretty modern compared to other places we have been.
Another section of the museum on another horrible thing - the rest of the Titanic story. The White Star Lines (I think) who owned the Titanic arranged for 3 ships from Halifax to retreive the remains of the people who died. Each ship had a chaplain and some people were buried at sea - we assumed they were unrecognizable and could not be identified. The rest were brought to Halifax where 30-40 undertakers gathered to handle the remains and relatives came to claim the bodies, etc. 150 were never claimed and the city buried them in 3 different cemetaries - Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. One of the undertakers is given credit for developing a system for identifying and attaching other info, etc. Like the first CSI. Was then used to identify the thousands who died in the explosion which also created a tidal wave. Also an exhibit on pirates and privateers that was good.
We took a little break and had a beaver tail which is a large pastry like a funnel cake really. Ours had maple walnut on it.
Then on to Pier 21 which is Canada's Ellis Island. Not nearly as big or in depth as Ellis Island Exhibit and essentially the same thing except they included a thing on WW II Canadian soldiers leaving from Halifax - they all left from here. And a thing on war brides coming here. They had a train right in the pier so people got off the ships and right onto trains for Saskatchiwan, Manitoba, etc.
Lots of talk about diversity but we aren't seeing it. We just missed the celebration of diversity fair. Saw it in the paper. The picture was of the Portugese booth and we did pass a Greek restaurant. Very few blacks around and the Asians are either tourists or students as far as we can tell. Another thing we found out today is the Blacks who came here from Jamaica -Maroons - many left for the Ivory Coast instead because of promises not kept to them. Maybe we aren't in the right sections because we stayed pretty much in the touristy parts.
However, we ended on a high and less depressing note. Had a recommendation to go to the Grafton St Theatre to see dinner show - Tartans, Tougues, and Tales, eh? Sat at a table with about 12 women from a card club in Westville who have been playing together for 20 years. Very nice and lots of ehs? when they were talking. Show was good - we think. Hard to understand the accents of the characters from each province but the music was good. Started with Anne Murray and ended with The Night That Patty Murphy died. 2 of the ladies wanted us to have their Westville pins that came with strip of Scottish plaid. How nice.
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