We spent one day enjoying the waterfront area in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The city is very old and reminded me a bit of Charleston as I drove around lots of one-way streets but Halifax sits on a hill.
The Maritime Museum was wonderful--large enough to tell the story of Halifax but small enough that I didn't get tired of looking at exhibits. I had no clue that Halifax was so tied to the history of the Titanic disaster. The people of Halifax were the ones to respond to the event. Hundreds of Titanic victims are buried in Halifax, pulled from the sea by Halifax sailors.
We also toured the Alexander Keith Brewery and learned more about the city's history. I learned that Nova Scotia means "new Scotland." There was also singing and dancing involved in this tour. Fun!
Jessica had booked a harbor sail on a tall ship. This was great way to see the city from the water. The weather was perfect for it.
Then we enjoyed one of the best meals of the trip at McKelvie's, just across from the waterfront. A 30-year-old restaurant in a 100-year-old building.
The next day we traveled to Prince Edward Island, our actual destination. Charlottetown, PEI is about three hours from Halifax. We planned to take the 1:00 PM ferry over to the island. We got to the ferry site at 12:30 thinking that was plenty of time. We were in one of about 8 lines of vehicles and watched as cars and trucks from each line were directed onto the ferry. Our line started to move, a few cars at a time and we inched forward, waiting for our turn to board. You could tell the ferry was nearly full because they started measuring trucks to see which ones might fit.
They came back to our line of cars finally, now loading them one at a time as they figured out the jigsaw puzzle of vehicles. It looked like the car ahead of us was not going to make it on board but they figured out how to add just one more car--the car AHEAD of us! Someone shouted that was the last car. Oh no! I asked how long it was until the next crossing. One hour and 45 minutes!
Then a walkie talkie crackled and the man directing the cars waved at me and said, "Darlin', it's your lucky day!" They squeezed just one more car--OUR car--on at the very end. Had to park almost sideways so they could close the gate. It WAS our lucky day. This is the end of our rental car, about 20 inches from the gate...
All that water! A tall ship ride! Ferry rides!
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