May 2008
We recently extended our US VISA's for another 2 years. Doing this meant we had to
leave the US and go to a consulate in another country. This seemed a good opportunity to visit Canada and so we headed to
Halifax in Nova Scotia.
A beautiful seaside port, it is a city of about 400,000 people. Much of the city
is perched on a steep hill overlooking the harbour, and topping the hill is the famous "Halifax Citadel", a fort known as
Fort George that protected the town during the revolutionary wars in the 1700's - it was actually designed to repel a US naval
attack.....
Fort George is now a tourist attraction, complete with a daily midday cannon blast.
It is part of a living history program featuring people portraying life in the fort where soldiers of the 78th Highland
Regiment, the Third Brigade of the Royal Artillery, soldiers wives, and civilian tradespersons lived in the 1860's.
We spent an interesting morning looking around Fort George. It is built on 2 levels,
with sod and flowers growing over the walls and roof, so it blends in well. The guards from the 78th regiment and the regiment
pipers were a hit with the family. The guards cannot speak or show any emotion, and imagine our dismay when Erin ran up to
one guard and said to him "liar liar your pants are on fire" trying to make him laugh......
The harbour also has an island fort - Georges Island is home to Fort Charlotte.
We had a week in Halifax while we waited for our visa's to come through and got to
look around the town as well as some day trips to Peggy's Cove and Prince Edward Island.
