Wednesday 18 July. The weather over the last few days has been cold and the visibility
outside of the boat is almost zero, the ship’s foghorn was sounded every 90
seconds.
Halifax –
California Currency –
Canadian Dollars
This morning
we docked in Halifax, Canada 2 hours early at 1030 hours and the weather had
cleared and the sun was shining, the first time we had seen the sun in days.
Halifax
Harbour is one of the world’s largest natural harbours and Eyvonne, Pat and I
once again didn’t have a tour and we set out on foot to discover this Canadian
township. The wharf area was very modern
and there was a lot of activity happening with lots of tents and display areas
being set up, we were told that the Tall Ships were arriving over the next 5
days and they were preparing for the festivities. One ship arrived when we were there, what a
magnificent sight.
We wandered
up the streets and the motorist were so polite the stop for you to cross the
streets even without a pedestrian crossing.
We decided to walk to the Citadel National Historic site which is on top
of a high hill and we had about 15 minutes to walk to the peak to be in time to
hear the firing of the noon gun and to see the changing of the guards. The gun was huge and although we were ready
for the ‘bang’ it was extremely loud and a number of people jumped. The changing of the guard was lovely, the
soldiers seem to be so young and they were Canadian Mounted Police in very
traditional uniform.
We wandered
back down the hill and walked towards the shopping area of the town and went in
to Tim Horton’s which is the Canadian version of Starbucks and bought a coffee
and a jalapeno bagel which cost a total of $2.50, so cheap.
I saw a
hairdresser and fortunately they were able to take me in immediately so I had a
wash, haircut and blow dry and styling for $40, he did a great job and
certainly cheaper than the ship where the same thing would have cost well over
$90.
We spent some
time in the centre of the city, Halifax is very nice and the mixture of French
and English is very noticeable as everything is written in both languages. The buildings are about the same ages as the
ones in Australia and it would be easy to imagine that you were walking around
any large country town in Australia.
The time was
flying by and we went back to the wharf area for lunch at about 1530, lobster
is the specialty of the area and although we were very tempted as a number of
the customers were tucking into hugh red lobsters, it was hard to justify $60
so we had fish and chips which was lovely and certainly less than a third of
the price.
We wandered
slowly back to the ship and I took some pictures of a Tall Ship which had just
come into harbour and they were furling their sails.
Back on board
and I sat outside on the top deck and read in the sun and waited for the ship
to sail and even though it was still light, I went into the dining room for a
bowl of soup and a roll and then off to bed.
Thursday 19 July at
Sea. The weather outside of the ship is cold and windy and the sea is calm and
most of the passengers are staying inside except for the poor smokers. It is the last day of progressive Trivia and
yes, believe it or night, my team came last again and this time we were given
gloves, masks and a cleaning rag and laughingly suggested that we spend our
time helping with the clean up!!!
The Princess
Pop Choir also had our performance and as usual we were very good and I must
admit I didn’t realise how much I would enjoy singing so much. It is still a challenge not being able to
read music but I have now worked out if the notes go up then so do I.
Once again we
had Baked Alaska after the last evening meal as over 500 passengers were
leaving the ship and the same number boarding.
The walk down
the corridor back to my cabin showed how many were leaving as they leave their
suitcases outside their doors to be picked up by the stewards.
It is coming
home to the long term travellers as we are on our way back to Aussie now, more
days at sea than on shore.
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