Aug. 23 - Almost Halifax

"To be fully alive, fully human and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest." -Pema Chödrön 

From Peggy's Cove we drove up to Halifax. We spent the afternoon walking the boardwalk along the waterfront. There were no cruise ships in the harbor so it wasn't too crowded, but it seemed like a lot of businesses were closed. We were not  impressed. 

When we were cruising our planes seemed to change frequently. Weather dictated a lot of those changes, but sometimes they would change just because we didn't like the feel of a place or we wanted to take advantage of good cruising conditions and move on. That can happen when you're on a road trip too. The only part of this trip we had planned was our stay in Halifax. Well that changed because we really didn't like the feeling of the city and the accommodations we booked didn't measure up to our expectations. Luckily we were able to get a complete refund from Airbnb and we moved on to explore somewhere else. 

Hali-Facts:

• The first European settlers to arrive in the Halifax region were French, in the early 1600s, they established the colony of Acadia.
• The British settled Halifax in 1749, which led to the colonial capital being transferred from Annapolis Royal.  
• First public school in Canada
• Canada’s first law school and art college
• First printed book (1752) and first newspaper in Canada (Halifax Gazette)
• First place of free speech and freedom of the press in the British Commonwealth
• First all-electric city lights in North America
• Oldest intact executive mansion in North America (Government House circa. 1800)
• First seat of democratic government in Canada (1758)
• Location of the first official rules for ice hockey

Part of the waterfront near the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

The Wave

George Island Lighthouse