Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

2008/10/01 Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia

My job and studies have taken me more extensively through the United States than Canada.  Thus, I was excited by the opportunity to see the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, albeit on a whirlwind 3-day trip.  We flew in to the Halifax airport, which is over 20 miles northeast of the city.  After a long freeway drive, we crossed from Dartmouth westward over the MacDonald Bridge into Halifax.

DI_20081001 095250 Halifax MacDonald bridge

Across the bridge, we drove south and then nativated around some building towers to find roads down to the waterfront.  We parked the car, and walked out onto Queen’s Wharf Pier.  Looking southwest gave a great view of the city on a cloudy day.

DI_20081001 101650 Halifax QueensWharf pier view sw

Turning counter-clockwise, and looking south we saw more piers on Halifax Harbour.

DI_20081001 101556 Halifax QueensWharf south view

Continuing counter-clockwise, Georges Island has a lighthouse as a navigational aid to shipping.

DI_20081001 101626 Halifax GeorgesIsland lighthouse

Continuing to pan, almost east, are the refineries at Dartmouth Harbour.

DI_20081001 101608 Dartmouth harbour refineries

Skipping past the bridge to the northwest, I could see the towers that we had to drive circles around.

DI_20081001 101752 Halifax QueensWharf view nw

As we were walking back inland from Queen’s Wharf, I noted a well-fed bird on a comfortable perch.

DI_20081001 101702 Halifax QueensWharf bird

Northbound, as part of Harbourwalk, we crossed over a pedestrian bridge between the piers.

DI_20081001 101856 Halifax Harbourwalk bridge n

Just off Queen’s Wharf is Murphy’s on the Water.

DI_20081001 101918 Halifax QueensWharf Murphys

Moored just beyond is Theodore Too, a large scale replica of Theodore Tugboat.

DI_20081001 102026 Halifax Theodore Too

Turning landward, I noticed a marker declaring “Halifax: Here We Began”, placing Chebucto Landing nearby.

DI_20081001 102108 Halifax HereWeBegan marker

We had flown from Eastern Time into Atlantic Time, so we were hungry for lunch.

DI_20081001 102056 Halifax StaynersWharf

The pub food at Stayners Wharf was convenient.

DI_20081001 102850 Halifax StaynersWharf lunch

After lunch Stephen retreated to the car for a teleconference.  Geovanni, Nancy and I went for a short walk westward, up George Street.

DI_20081001 112458 Halifax GeorgeStreet

This took us past a Celtic Cross, placed on the site in 1786.

DI_20081001 112616 Halifax GeorgeStreet CelticCross

On the next street, up some stairs, we found the back way to the plaza and some interesting sculptures outside the Art of Gallery Nova Scotia Halifax

DI_20081001 112802 Halifax ArtGalleryNS sculpture DI

We stepped into the building, but didn’t have time to tour the gallery.  I noticed a painting high in the atrium of the entry.

DI_20081001 112930 Halifax ArtGalleryNS entry painting

Continuing, away from the water, is the Province House.  I was surprised that legislature building is so modest.  The building was first put into use in 1819, long before Canada became a country.

DI_20081001 113252 Halifax ProvinceHouse

At the south end of the Province House is a statue of Joseph Howe, who led Nova Scotia as the first British colony to win responsible government in 1848.

DI_20081001 113436 Halifax ProvinceHouse JosephHowe statue

Walking south, we saw the old Halifax fire station, now McKelvies.

DI_20081001 113628 Halifax McKelvies

Of a similar vintage is The Old Triangle.

DI_20081001 113642 Halifax TheOldTriangle

The Mitchell House is another historic building in the neighbourhood.

DI_20081001 113720 Halifax TheMitchellHouse

Our time was running out, so we headed back to where we had parked the car.  We passed the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the way.

DI_20081001 113726 Halifax MaritimeMuseum

It hadn’t occurred to us that is was Treaty Day in Nova Scotia.  The Mi’kmaq had set up a tent by the Harbourwalk.

DI_20081001 113828 Halifax Harbourwalk Mikmaq tent

Small tables were set up selling crafts.  Some artisans were working on pieces.

DI_20081001 113938 Halifax Harbourwalk Mikmaq crafts

Festivities were just starting up on stage.  We couldn’t stay, as we had to go to our meeting.

DI_20081001 113908 Halifax Harbourwalk Mikmaq stage

The destination of our next meeting was in St. John, New Brunswick, on the following day.  There isn’t a practical airline service between Halifax and St. John, so the best alternative is driving.  Before we left Halifax, we detoured up the the big hill to the Citadel National Historic Site.  Without the luxury of time to go into the site, our best view was a drive-by of the back entry.

DI_20081001 150214 Halifax Citadel change guard

From the heights, the view northeast looks away from the city centre.

DI_20081001 150332 Halifax Citadel view ne

To the west, the foreground buildings are either institutional or commercial.

DI_20081001 150400 Halifax Citadel view west

Our destination would take us northeast, by the city centre and back across the bridge.

DI_20081001 150258 Halifax Citadel view east

There’s two driving routes to St. John:  one 4 hours via Moncton around the Bay of Fundy, or the other almost the same time to Digby and then a ferry across the bay.  We had agreed that the latter would be more fun.  As we drove north and west, the weather cleared.  I had seen a mention of Wolfville as potential place to stop for dinner.  We didn’t have a local map, so when we pulled off the highway, we were aimless.  We thought we had found a solution with the Wolfville Memorial Library, but it was closed.  Fortunately, we found a large town map on a kiosk in the park next to the library.

DI_20081001 162118 Wolfville library

Reoriented towards Main Street, we discovered a variation on the theme:  the Library Pub.

DI_20081001 162450 Wolfville Library pub

This is when we discovered Nancy’s preference for dark, dark beer.  We were all delighted that the menu offered more than the average pub.  Our choices made this cosy upstairs restaurant a great choice.

DI_20081001 163828 Wolfville Library pub dinner

Across the street is Clock Park, certainly a landmark for the town.

DI_20081001 173548 Wolfville Clock Park

Wolfville is small.  After dinner, we could have had an easy stroll down Main Street.

DI_20081001 173528 Wolfville MainStreet view west

We continue our drive to Digby.  As the night fell, we had the uncertainties of never having driven the route before, with detours around some road construction in the dark.  The weather got worse again, and we ended the evening at the Digby Pines Resort, unloading our luggage in the rain.

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