I forgot... my first evening in Halifax I did go out for a beer between unpacking and bedtime. I remembered from my last trip in 1994 that there were a few nice pubs on Argyle Street so headed there. It was only a ten minute walk. I found a place called the Economy Shoe Company. Inside any of three doors, each to a different pub/restaurant, is an interconnected group of pubs, bars, lounges and restaurants. In the back of one is an atrium with a huge glass wall extending vertically to about 20-25 feet. During the day it turns the whole back section into a greenhouse. Lovely in winter I hear. As you continue through and down there are more restaurant and bar areas. This would become my favourite place to go for drinks in the evenings.
Did I mention before? VIA Rail gave everyone on that train a "late train credit" of 50% of the cost of their ticket. For me that meant I got back 500 points plus a cash credit for the Ottawa to Montreal trip. I will use that cash credit for a visit to Sara in Montreal in a few weeks.
Day 2 in Halifax, the 16th, started slowly. After a shower and getting dressed I went out in search of a place to have breakfast. After about 45 minutes I found Cora's and stopped in there. I had a huge brunch so that I could keep going through to supper. I then headed to the train station to find out about the credit, went to the Atlantic Super Store (Nova Scotia's version of the Loblaws Super Store) where I bought lots of groceries. After dropping my groceries I took a walk to the Computer Lab in the tallest building in Halifax, Fairfax Hall (Dal U residence), where the free internet access was. Checked and answered e-mail and did some searches for the diving, checked out the online buddy list for Torpedo Rays SCUBA Adventures and called one of the dive masters on it. He gave me tons of great advice for diving around the area. A really nice guy. All before starting my day as a tourist.
I booked myself on a dive for Wednesday evening. Walked down to the Harbourfront Boardwalk and started looking around. The Bluenose II had just arrived in the harbour that morning and there was a notice about ticket sales for taking a harbour tour aboard. I made notes. When I was in the tourist info office later I asked how early to be on line and was told 7:30am or earlier. The plan was to be there at 7:15 the next morning. They were doing 4 tours: 9:30am and 1:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday. So I spent the rest of Tuesday just touring around the Harbourfront area, shopping, enjoying the scenery and chatting with people I met here and there. I ate supper at the University in my kitchen area and freshened up before going out for a beer. I was exhausted with an early, busy day planned for Wednesday so it was one beer and 'home' to bed.
Day 3, the 17th. Out of bed and in the shower by 6:00am. A quick, substantial breakfast and a fast 20 minute boogie to line up for Bluenose II ticket. I got there at 7:20am and already there were 8 people ahead of me in line. But no worries, there were 35 tickets up for grabs and the people ahead of me were buying 13. During the 45 minute wait for the booth to open I got talking to lots of nice people in line including a nice lady , my age, who is travelling solo, a young couple on their honeymoon and a couple about my age on vacation. After we got our ticket we had to wait until 9:15 so I went to the Perks down the road and got a Chai Tea then did a bit of shopping. Bought a pair of sunglasses that would be better for being on a boat. My others are loose fitting (fall off easily) and not dark enough for being on the water on a sunny day.
We cast off from the dock precisely at 9:35 after a brief "History of the Bluenose II" and an explanation about the main sail. A couple of days previous it had "blown out" and been destroyed. This sail is 4150 sq. ft of heavyweight sail canvass and when it blew out it 'exploded', very loudly ("it sounded like a canon exploding on deck") and tore to shreds. Much of the cloth ended up in the water and irretrievable. So somewhere out at sea are shreds of the main sail of Bluenose II. We were told the replacement will cost $50-60,000. What it meant in practical terms... we were going on a motor-sail tour. For those of you unfamiliar with sailing and schooner rigging in general here is my amateurish explanation. The main sail is just that... on a windy day you can get a good sail with it alone. The next largest sail it the foresail on the foremast directly 'in front of' the main sail and mast. It is 1495 sq. ft. It and every other sail on the boat are designed to add surface area to the main sail in order to 'catch more wind'. So without that 4150 sq.ft. on a boat the size of Bluenose II there is not enough canvass in the right place to push it. On top of this severe disadvantage there was not much wind. So the motors ran most of the trip with the foresail, jumbo (fore staysail) and the jib hoisted. There is an excellent photo of the schooner with all but one sail hoisted on their website. It shows the importance of the mailsail very graphically. The engines were cut for about 20 minutes and the sails did loft out a little though they certainly did not fill. But as much as I would have loved a good sail on Bluenose II I was thrilled just to be out on the water and on her deck. Watching the deck crew at work hand-hauling those gigantic heavy sails and handling the heavy black ropes on such a beautifully historic schooner was mesmerizing to say the least. The crew is a well oiled machine working in perfectly coordinated unison. I was very impressed. For detailed info on Bluenose II visit the website at http://www.bluenose2.ns.ca/
We returned to dock right on time at 11:30. I waved my goodbyes to the people I had met, thnked the crew as I set foot ashore *sniff* and tottled off to meet Jane's sister Doris. Ah, yes. On Tuesday I had spoken with Jane who was visiting her sister in Halifax before heading to Boston. She had suggested to me that her sister could give me good advise about places to stay for my last night. The University closes to visitors after the 19th because the students start coming into town (50,000 students decend on Halifax each academic year). So I decided to use my saved funds to stay somplace extra special for my last night. I had wanted to stay at the Nova Scotian (now owned by Weston Hotels) but the price was outrageously high for a single. I spoke with Doris and she was going to check on a few places for me. Well, she did much more than that. I expected to meet her for lunch and go over some names and maybe go on my own to check them out. But Doris had other plans. She met me after her meeting in town and drove me around to 2 B&B possibilities. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding about the night I needed the room for and as it turned out the 2 places we went did not have anything available for the Saturday night. The second one was quite nice with a jacuzzi tub in every room and I liked the lady who owned it... originally from the southern states. Doris dropped me off and we went our seperate ways. She also tried some contacts at the Radisson and was able to get me a room at a reduced price and called me about it a couple of days later but before I heard from her I had booked a room at the Halliburton House Boutique Hotel. I did talk to her and her husband Terry again before I left. Lovely people they are. It was a very lucky thing that I met Jane.
Well that is it for tonight. I must get my laundry out of the dryer and get to bed.
Posted by gailene at August 28, 2005 09:34 PM