All over the world there are "Day Care's" and Halifax is no exception. Great care being given.
On this trip as many of you know by now, Ruth and I are not big fans of "doing" the big cities. "Off the beaten track" is our forte, but today we mingled with the crowds and got some valuable work accomplished at the same time. Two things were on the agenda, 1) a visit to the Nova Scotia Genealogy building to see if there were records of Ruth's great grandfather coming through Halifax, which we believed was the case and 2) to pick up a few souvenirs at one of three places, especially at the harbour where the souvenir shops were by the big passenger vessels.
The time in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia was well spent, as Gail the guide there, gave Ruth some personal time and instructions about working the machinery and the parameters of what is possible. Ruth did find information of her Great Grandfather's movement in England, and family relationships in England. There is still much to be done, but it was a help. We had visited the Dalhousie University in Truro as you might recall, and this was the main campus here in Halifax. (Historically , Halifax was the site of the huge explosion that occurred here in 1917 during WW1.
...
From Wikipedia...
"The Halifax Explosion was a maritime disaster in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada, which happened on the morning of 6 December 1917. The
Norwegian vessel SS Imo collided with SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship
laden with high explosives, in the Narrows, a strait connecting the
upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin." 1,930 people were killed and 9,000 injured.
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| Nova Scotia archive building across from Dalhousie U. |
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| Gail helping Ruth get started. She was very helpful. |
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| Ruth deciphering the ship manifests. |
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| The microfiche are up to date and have more "moves". |
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| The entrance to the "U" is right across the street. |
The second half of the day was spent at the harbour where three huge passenger liners were docked. (The one that was delayed because of the Hurricane had left, but one had a blood emergency and had asked for "O" type donors to save a woman's life.They succeeded. We parked right across the street from the immigration center and port with our Handicapped license, and viewed the shops that were selling to the thousands that were coming off the ships. (3,500 on the "Regal Princess", 2.500 on the 'Aidadiva', and an unknown number on a third ship. There was a small lunch shop there and a we bought two sandwiches and talked to Alex the cashier. We commiserated with an English lady while eating. She had a friend coming from Michigan to do some "Halifax" things with her.
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| The shopping "mall" inside the new Immigration Building. T shirts, crystal, pots, jewellry, and other souvenirs. |
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| The "Regal Princess" carries 3,500 passengers and a crew of 535. |
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| Pier 21 is thePort of Entry and immigration center . Note the top of the "Regal Princess in the background. |
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| A view of the top deck of the "Regal Princess" .Whew , too busy for me. |
We found our way out of town around the heavy , narrow streets and that was much easier on the driving even though a bit longer. We did not visit the Citadel, as we had been there on our last trip here some years back.
N.B.:
Nova Scotia is one of the few Canadian jurisdictions to digitize its
Historical Vital Statistics and put them online. Two centuries of
surviving birth, marriage and death records registered with the
provincial government are available on our companion website, www.novascotiagenealogy.com.
That’s one million names in a searchable database, each name linked to
the corresponding digital record of the event – you’re going to be busy!
The "Aidadiva" of the AIDA Cruise lines (Germany) is in port today with this itinerary.
| Departing Sep 7 | from Warnemunde-Rostock, Germany
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| 09 Sep 07:00 -17:00 | Bergen, Norway
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| 10 Sep 11:00 -19:00 | Kirkwall, Orkney Island, Scotland
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| 13 Sep 08:00 -20:00 | Reykjavik, Iceland
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| 16 Sep 08:00 -13:00 | Qaqortoq, Greenland
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| 18 Sep 14:00 -20:00 | St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada
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| 20 Sep 08:00 -16:00 | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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| 21 Sep 09:00 -18:00 | Bar Harbor, Maine
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| 23 Sept. Arriving in New York, Cape Liberty NYC
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| The top of the "Aidadiva" is showing. It had the itinerary above. |
We had a few sidelights on the day and here the photos sum them up for you .
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| An aerial view of Halifax with the "Citadel" at the left on the hill. |
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| Triple decker busses bring a "British" flavor to the city. Handling 6,000 tourists can be taxing! |
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| How about a tour of the town? Note sign on back for tempted auto drivers. |
Tomorrow we shall visit Peggy's Cove and environs.
** I have tried to use Canadian (British) spelling on words of note .IE: harbour, flavour, whilst, etc. |
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