Day 17 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Part 1

OK - this really fits in with the day before, but we will put it here. After dinner (the night before) Barbara had an extreme attack of esophageal spasms, and we ended up in the ship's infirmary. To get an idea of the pain, she said she wanted to rip off her clothes and jump overboard! It was bad!!! After a careful evaluation of her, and an EKG, she was allowed back to our stateroom. I don't know if the smile is because she feels better or she was happy the bill was as small as it was.

Halifax is a bustling modern city in Nova Scotia (New Scotland for all the people who escaped Scotland and moved here.). We had another beautiful day. We were extremely lucky that the weather was on our side almost every day.

No tours in Halifax for us. On our trip to Alaska, we met a mother and daughter (Pauline White and Cindy Patriquin) and have kept up our friendship. They were gracious in offering to chauffeur us around for the day. It was a delightful day. They also were willing to take us into Dartmouth to see some old friends from Fresno (Elder Michael and Sister Lois Tanner) who are missionaries for the Church and run the office for the Halifax Canada Mission of the Church. This mission covers Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Labrador and a little of Maine. This is an immense area in size - about as big as the United States. It was fun to see them, since they left Fresno several years ago for Utah, and are now here in Nova Scotia.

Our first tourist stop was Peggy's Cove - the place all tourists have on their list when traveling to Halifax. It is about a 45 minute drive from town, and, of course, has the classic lighthouse. This one is exceptionally photogenic. being out on a rocky point. When storms come through, the breaking waves can literally break up on land up to the lighthouse. I loved this on a sign on the lighthouse:

Warning

Injury and death have rewarded careless sight-seers here.

The ocean and rocks are treacherous, so savor the sea from a distance

We were greeted by the sounds of music coming from a bagpiper. We found her down by the lighthouse. She is a struggling college student, playing music for donations. This was so appropriate out here at Peggy's Cove.

Cindy, Pauline, Barb and I next to the lighthouse. This is from the ocean side of the lighthouse.

Peggy's Cove hugs the coastline in a tundra environment. Because this area is washed over by waves on a regular basis, there are few plants here, though a couple of miles away it is forest land. The salt in the sea must kill off most of the natural vegetation.

Here is another shot of this picturesque little village. The nice thing of being on our own was that we could wait for all the tourist boats to leave and have the village almost to ourselves. We ate lunch here without a ton of people all over the place.