Thursday, July 03, 2008
Canada: Day 3
Talk about a room with a view…I woke up in a bus with a view. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and settled m
y focus outside the window, I couldn’t help but be filled with awe at the beauty surrounding us. We had arrived at Peggy’s Cove, a tiny fishing village dating back to 1811. It’s one of the most photographed places in Canada…and I can see why. The coast is made up of granite boulders over that are remains of the last glaciers.The lighthouse is quite a focal point although it no longer serves as a beacon. I
nstead, it operates as a summertime post office – the only Canadian post office housed in a lighthouse. We only had a couple hours there, enough time to eat a hearty breakfast, explore the land, and take a few photos. We didn’t venture toward the darker rocks as these areas are considered the danger zone. People are engulfed by vicious and unpredictable waves every year in these areas. There are signs everywhere warning you to stay away from the dark rocks, but tragically, some people don’t head the warnings and lose their life as a result. I didn’t see any huge waves while we were there.After our br
eathtaking tour of Peggy’s Cove we drove to Halifax where our first stop in the city was the Citadel. It’s now a national historic site of Canada. Our tour guide was a wealth of information and had a fun personality. As you can see he’s wearing a kilt, a common garb on many of the other young men in the fort as well. I don’t know how they stand the cold in those things…it had to be in the 50’s the day we visited and that was a “warm” day to them.We arrived in time to hear the cannon at noon. The men were dressed as the Royal Artillery of 1869 and reenacted drills taken from British Army manuals of that period. It’s a tradition to fire the cannon at noon every day save for Christmas Day. I was expecting it to be louder than it was…although I did jump in surprise as I was trying to get a picture of the cannon as it went off. Since I jumped, I didn’t ge
t the shot…oh well.This sailing mast was used to send out messages to the city of Halifax. There was another smaller sailing mast right next to this one in which the fort used to post internal messages in a code only the army knew. Today, they like putting fun messages up including birthday salutations or something just plain silly.
After a chilly tour of the Halifax Citadel we headed in doors to the Maritime Museum. There were all kinds of ship models and artifacts recovered from lost ships to see there. They also had a wealth of information about the Titanic. Halifax was the closest port to the tragic accident, and as a result they had the grueling task of tryin
g to save any survivors and then collecting and burying the deceased. Many were buried at sea, but some were brought to shore and buried in Halifax. We visited one of the cemeteries where some of the victims were buried. It was so sad to see many of the tombstones without names…just numbers since there was no way of identifying the person they buried.For lunch we ate at Tim Horton’s….they’re everywhere in Canada and a more affordable option so it quickly became a favorite. After our time in Halifax we drove to Truro and dined at Murphy’s Fish ‘N Chips for supper. Bet ya can guess what I had for dinner…yup…fish ‘n chips. It was delicious.
After dinner we checked into the Pallister Motel , and I enjoyed my first shower of the trip. After two days of traveling, I was thrilled to clean up and refresh myself. The motel itself was quite old and looked like one of those motels you’d see in a scary movie. However, the accommodations were just fine…especially after living on a bus with 35 people!
Truro is famous for their Tidal Bore, a natural phenomenon which is seen in very few parts of the world. The Bay of Fundy is located right next to the Pallister Motel and is noted for its extremely high tides and for its tidal bores. In the Bay of Fundy, the rise and fall of the tide is greatly amplified becoming a wave varying from just a ripple to several feet in height. It actually causes the river to change its flow as
a result of the wave flowing in over the outgoing river water. The bore arrives twice a day, and if we wanted to see it, 1:00 a.m. was the appointed time. So, rather than falling asleep and then getting up in the middle of the night, Leandra and I opted to just stay up for this natural wonder. Here we are out in the cold, dark night, awaiting the Tidal Bore. We heard the wave coming about a minute or so before it arrived and enjoyed watching the bay fill up rather quickly. It’s said the high tide at the Truro viewing site is reached in just over one hour from arrival of the bore. I can believe it as the bay filled up swiftly in just the short amount of time we were watching it.Jamie at 7:01 PM
