Winter Travels - Part 2 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax. There's so much to say about Halifax! It is truly one of the most interesting cities I have ever traveled to.

What started as a trip to see the 2016 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships turned into an amazing week of learning and fun.

As an avid figure skating fan, I try to make it to the Canadian Championships every year (Canada has great skaters. Their National Championships cost less to attend than the U.S Championships. And its a chance to explore more of a country that I love.) And since a different city hosts the championships each year, it is also an opportunity to take a nice winter vacation. This past year, Halifax, Nova Scotia hosted the competition so I started planning a trip. After our brief stop in the Buffalo/Niagara Region, we were on our way to Nova Scotia!

I try to be prepared when I go on vacations. I like to research the location I'm going to so I can find out what's open and what isn't (unfortunately in the winter you are somewhat limited on things to do in certain areas of Canada), and so I can get a general idea of where everything is located in relation to where we will be staying. But even with all the research I had done before the trip, I wasn't prepared for just how much I would enjoy Halifax.

Halifax turned out to be a pleasant surprise. We arrived in the city armed with a list of things that we wanted to see and do, but I wasn't prepared to be as "wowed" by the city as I was. This is a city that is FULL of history that I never knew about. I've always loved history, and while I understand that growing up in America means that I mainly learned American history, I was still surprised at how little I knew about Halifax history. Some of the historical events that took place there are such huge and significant events (keep reading for info about Halifax's connection to the Titanic) that I find it sad that we never learned about them in America. Some of the events are even tied to the United States in a way (keep reading for info about the Halifax Explosion), yet we still never learned about them.

So consider yourself lucky ;-) that not only are you reading a blog written by someone who loves to travel, but you're also reading a blog written by someone who loves history. So here comes the history lesson from me!

First though, here's a taste of what it felt like in Halifax when we were there. I love my winter vacations. I love snow (living in Texas makes me really miss snow) and I love cold weather. However, our first few days in Halifax had me regretting the fact that I had been wishing for a real winter! When it feels like -3 degrees F outside...thats a little too cold, even for me! This is what our first few days were like (and yes that is in Fahrenheit, not Celsius):

The first thing we visited was the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. The United States had Ellis Island. Canada had Pier 21. An often overlooked fact in American history classes is that America was not the only country that had masses of immigrants coming in to it. I feel like we, as Americans, have been taught about how great America is and we are made to think that no other country can possibly be better than us...or even similar to us. As much as I love my country, I also find this upsetting. It's one thing to have national pride. Its another thing to overlook the fact that there are plenty of other great countries out there. Canada is right above us, yet I never once learned about the fact that Canada is a huge melting pot of cultures too. Thankfully, a trip to Canada is what finally taught me the facts that I never learned about the Great White North in school.

It turns out that Canada had a large number of immigrants too. And they were all processed through Pier 21 in the same way that immigrants were processed through Ellis Island.

When we went to the museum it was suggested to us that we go on a tour that was about to start. We had initially just wanted to look around by ourselves, but the tour was really pushed so we agreed to go on it (We ended up being the only people who opted to take that particular tour which turned out to be great). We are both VERY glad that we took the tour. It was led by a museum volunteer named George Zwaagstra, a Dutch immigrant who was processed through Pier 21 in the early 1950s. For more information about this fascinating man, you can simply google his name and several videos and articles will come up. In the meantime though here are two short pieces about him:
George Zwaagstra 1
George Zwaagstra 2

Mr. Zwaagstra took us on what was supposed to be a 30 minute tour and talk. It ended up lasting for over an hour, and it was one of the best history tours I have ever been on. He took us around the museum, which is in the original Pier 21. Even the original doors that immigrants walked through after getting off of their ships are still there. He told us about his own personal experience of immigrating - everything from the ship ride over, to being processed at the pier, to finally being allowed into the country. He had his original passport and travel stamps to show us. He had pictures to show us of his personal experience. He even pointed out some of his personal belongings that he had donated to the museum for their immigration displays. Reading about this kind of stuff is interesting. But hearing it from the mouth of someone who actually experienced it is beyond fascinating and I truly feel honored that we had the chance to listen to this wonderful man's story. Without a doubt, if you ever go to Halifax, go to Pier 21. And if you have the chance to take one of Mr. Zwaagstra's tours - take advantage of it. You won't regret it. Click here for my personal review of Pier 21.

 George Zwaagstra showing us a picture of the ship that he came over to Canada on.

George Zwaagstra showing Ross the view of Halifax Harbour, and talking about his immigration experience. The doors in this picture are the original doors that immigrants walked through and it was fascinating to hear this man tell us about how he once walked through these very doors as an immigrant.

The next fascinating piece of history that we learned about was the Halifax Explosion. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic seemed like an obvious "must see"...seeing as how we were in the heart of the Maritime Provinces. 

The Halifax Explosion was probably the most interesting display in the museum, mainly because this was a massive event, and I had never heard about it. This was the largest man made explosion in the pre-atomic era. It killed close to 2000 people, injured 9000 more, and destroyed the entire north section of the city of Halifax. As we worked our way through the displays and information about this huge explosion, Ross and I wondered more and more, "How have we never heard of this before?" This wasn't some small little explosion. It was massive. 

The gist of it is that on December 6, 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One of those ships was completely packed full of multiple types of explosives - including TNT, gasoline, and gun powder. A fire started first, but within minutes the explosives on the ship did exactly what they were meant to do. The force of the explosion caused a piece of one of the ship's anchors to be thrown through the air, and eventually land over two miles away.

I took some pictures in the museum but due to the glare of the light, most didn't come out very well. I HIGHLY recommend googling "Halifax Explosion" just to see pictures of the devastation it caused. It forever changed life in Halifax, and is a piece of history that deserves a lot more recognition than it gets (at least in the United States).

As for the connection to American history - as soon as Boston heard about the explosion, the city dispatched volunteers to Halifax. They arrived on December 8th to help. To this day, the Christmas tree that is lit in Boston Common every year is an annual gift from the province of Nova Scotia as continuing thanks for their help after the explosion. Personally, I really found that interesting, and while its possible that Boston school children are taught that piece of history, it seems like something worth mentioning as a piece of American/Canadian history in general.

 A clock that was found in the rubble that had stopped at the exact time of the explosion.

 Picture of the Halifax Explosion

 Boston's official city Christmas tree is a gift from Nova Scotia each year.

The Halifax Explosion memorial. This is the actual piece of anchor that was thrown 2 and a half miles away from the explosion. The memorial is in the spot where the anchor landed.

And finally, the piece of history that I thought was the most interesting, is the connection that Halifax has to the Titanic. The story of the Titanic is such an iconic piece of history, and I find it odd that I never learned this particular piece of history about it. I knew the story of the Carpathia arriving to help the survivors. I knew that Carpathia then took the survivors to a dock in New York City. I knew that about 1500 people died. Beyond that though, I knew nothing about the people who had died. For some reason, history likes to leave out that part. I assume its because people don't like to talk about death as much as they do life. And while that's understandable, sometimes there is a lot to be learned from death. Sometimes there are interesting stories to tell.

So while New York City was processing the survivors, what was happening to the dead passengers? It turns out that Halifax was the city that ended up being in charge of recovering the dead bodies. Three ships were sent out from Halifax, and those ships recovered 337 bodies - the only bodies that were ever recovered. 209 bodies were brought back to Halifax, and the others were buried at sea. Once in Halifax, the bodies were carefully catalogued so that family members could identify their loved ones. It was done in a way that is still used in morgues today. 

Of the 209 bodies brought back to Halifax, 59 of them were claimed and shipped home to relatives. The rest were buried in three cemeteries in Halifax. The largest number of them were buried at a place called Fairview Lawn Cemetery. They have their own section of the cemetery and it is truly a moving place to visit. 

Being able to see the graves of the people who died on the Titanic caused the whole tragedy to be brought to life for me - in a sense. Seeing this stuff in movies or documentaries, or reading about it in a book just doesn't have the same effect that seeing the grave sites in person. It made it seem more real to me. 

Check out these pictures for some more information about Halifax and the Titanic:

 An actual deck chair from the Titanic. The crews on the ships that were sent to recover bodies collected a lot of "souvenirs"  at the site of the sinking. This wasn't done to disrespect any of the victims. Instead, sailors believed that it was good luck to collect objects from shipwrecks. 

 A replica deck chair in the Maritime Museum. It is there for people to sit in to see what it would have been like to sit in one on the Titanic (and it wasn't as comfortable as one might have assumed).

Some "souvenirs" from the Titanic. These were picked out of the water and taken home with the crews of the ships that came to recover bodies. As mentioned above, this wasn't done to disrespect the tragedy. It was actually considered to be respectful of the dead. Some items were kept on the ships that found them and looked at as a type of good luck. If you zoom in on the picture there is information about this particular cutting board. Some objects (like cutting boards or other large pieces of wood) were carved and cut up and used to make other objects out of them. This cutting board has remained in its original state though.
 

 A piece of the life jacket that is believed to be the one worn by John Jacob Astor.

Info about the above life jacket
 

The Titanic Graves in Fairview Lawn Cemetery. Without a good camera its hard to capture a good picture of this area. But if you look closely, there are three lines of graves and they are curved in a way that creates the image of a bow of a ship.
 

 One of the unknowns buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery

Some families paid to have larger headstones for their loved ones. Clicking on the pictures to zoom in will let you read the various things that are written on these larger stones.
 

 

 

  

This is the grave of an unknown child that was pulled from the water. When crews from Halifax went out to recover bodies, they recovered the body of one child - who was around 2 years old. The child went unclaimed and unidentified so when he was buried, the crew members pooled their money together to give this boy a nicer headstone. For years people tried to identify this boy, and he was misidentified at least once. Modern day technology and DNA testing finally figured out this child's true identity just a few years ago. However, the original headstone still stands at his grave.

Moving on from the Titanic, on a much happier note, we spent one day at the famous Peggy's Cove Lighthouse. Actually, I shouldn't say that we spent a day there. We planned to spend a day in the area but with the below freezing temperatures and the below 0degrees F windchill, we only spent about an hour there. It was worth it though. 

Peggy's Cove is one of the most famous photographed lighthouses in the world. Visiting it has made me realize that there is probably never a good time to visit. In the summer hundreds and hundreds of tourists flock to the small town that its in. A quick Google search will show you hundreds of pictures of the lighthouse with people in the pictures. It seems completely impossible to get a picture of JUST the lighthouse in the summer. So we thought we were being smart by visiting in the winter. It turns out that that also isn't the greatest idea because it is one of the windiest places in Nova Scotia. I've done a lot of winter traveling and I can honestly say that I think this is, by far, the coldest I have ever been. But...we got our picture by a famous landmark so I suppose it was worth it! (And for the record, we were NOT the only people crazy enough to visit in the middle of winter. There were at least 3 other crazy people there too!)

 

 

Since we ended up not spending an entire day at Peggy's Cove, we took this day to go back to our hotel room and relax a bit. We stayed at the Lord Nelson Hotel and had an...interesting....experience.

 I love historic old hotels so when I was planning this trip and found the Lord Nelson, I knew we had to stay there. It turns out that we had some problems during the first few days of our stay, and those problems resulted in us being moved to 4 different rooms over the course of 3 days. I was at the point where I was starting to get annoyed and was NOT enjoying our stay, but then the absolutely wonderful management saved the experience for us.  

For what its worth, I know that things can go wrong and that mistakes can be made. I'm pretty forgiving of these kinds of things, as long as an effort is made to correct the problems. But if I'm paying close to $200 a night for a hotel room and no one seems to care that things are going badly, then I'm not going to be happy. 

After our experience though, I can say without a doubt, that I would recommend the Lord Nelson Hotel to anyone who is visiting Halifax. Not only were the staff beyond friendly, but they were quick to solve all of the problems that we had, and they did so with smiles on their faces. Even so, while I was happy with the staff, the experience was still disappointing and was leading to me not liking the hotel in general. 

Then we came back from our Peggy's Cove adventure. While we were getting settled into our 4th room, someone knocked at the door. We were beyond surprised when we found a guy standing there with a bottle of wine, a personal card from the front desk, and an offer of a free movie and free breakfast. The very fact that the staff dealt with all of the problems to begin with, and dealt with them in the correct way, is what made this surprising to us. We had never gotten loud and obnoxious to anyone. We didn't make any demands other than what was necessary (i.e. one of our rooms had no heat - and heat was necessary). We were satisfied with the way everything was handled. So to bring us a free bottle of wine, a free breakfast voucher and a free movie, along with a handwritten card is so far above and beyond anything that we would have expected. It was the above and beyond from the staff that made me change my mind about our stay there. Stuff happens. Things go wrong. But how you deal with that stuff is what makes all of the difference. I can say that the dedication from the hotel staff to make our stay a great stay is why I will absolutely stay there again if I am ever back in Halifax.  

Click here for my personal review of the Lord Nelson Hotel.