Trip Report!! ABD Canadian Maritimes: Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island/New Brunswick 8/25 - 9/1/24 - Updated 12/22/24

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I'm glad that you enjoyed some Timmie's soup . Tim's is practically an institution here!

 

[Eastridge]

Thanks for the update. I wonder if the rooms that ABD provided did not have room safes. I thought room safes were part of the requirement to be an ABD hotel.

 

[sayhello]

Thanks for the update. I wonder if the rooms that ABD provided did not have room safes. I thought room safes were part of the requirement to be an ABD hotel.

They did not. That's what prompted me to find out it's concierge level only. Others on the ABD who weren't on the same floor did not have safes, and when I had the regular ABD room when we returned for the last 2 nights of the ABD, that room also did not have a safe. I wasn't too happy about that. I have no idea if it's an actual requirement for an ABD hotel. Seems not!

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

Day 1 of the ABD: Meet Me in the Maritimes - more around Halifax and the start of the ABD.
Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this point! I'm hoping to post more frequently now.

I was reading through my little pre-trip thread I'd done, and realized that I'd left that thread with me going to Peggy's Cove for my first full pre-day. But the tour got cancelled by the tour company a couple of weeks before my trip. I could see on their website & on Viator that they had cancelled all of their Saturday departures for the rest of the year, so my assumption was that they probably lost the tour guide who did the Saturday tours. But that's just a guess. I'd had a hard time finding a tour that would take a reservation for a solo traveler, and I'd been a bit on the fence over such a long travel day, so I took it as a sign, and rather than scramble to try and find another tour just decided to see more of Halifax. And I really enjoyed it. I did receive a full, immediate refund, which *is* one of the benefits of booking through Viator. They are very good about that.

Anyways, this day started with breakfast at the ToGo cafe at the hotel again (they really had some delicious overnight oats & pastries) and a meetup with our Adventure Guides. One of our Guides was the fabulous Kira, who I knew from last year's New Zealand ABD. There had been some confusion when I posted about this just prior to my ABD how Kira was able to Guide this trip, because Canada is very strict that only Canadian Guides can lead tours in Canada, and none of us thought Kira was Canadian. Turns out that Kira's mother is Canadian, which qualifies Kira for dual Canadian citizenship and a passport. So she's allowed to do the tour. Our other Guide was the (very Canadian!) Josh. A real sweetheart! Had a wonderful conversation with the two of them until others started showing, and then decided I needed to share them!

I headed out to revisit another place I remembered from my previous visit to Halifax 30 years ago, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. I remembered that they had a really cool light from a lighthouse, and a lot of artifacts recovered from the Titanic. And I'd read they'd also added an exhibit about the Halifax explosion.

The lens from the Sambro lighthouse in Halifax Harbor. The lens was used there from 1905 to 1966 when it was replaced with an electrical beacon.



I started with the Titanic exhibit. It was a fascinating combination of photos and stories and actual bits and pieces recovered from the Titanic. The ships that went out to help save (and recover) the folks from the Titanic mostly came out of Halifax. Some of the artifacts were picked up as they sailed around recovering people and bodies, and others, I believe actually washed up on shore much later.



This photo taken on the deck of the Titanic, juxtaposed with a deck chair that was later recovered, is a bit sobering. According to the plaque, the two women in this photo survived, but the man with them did not. You can see deck chairs stacked on the deck behind the plaque.



A couple of pieces of the stairway railing, as shown in the photo.



A lot of the artifacts were kept for years by the sailors who recovered them, and eventually donated to the museum. It was understandably a hard task for these sailors, and folks kind of looked the other way when they held on to these objects.

The plaque here says "Keepsakes made from notable shipwrecks are an old tradition in costal communities. The crews of the Halifax ships commemorated the catastrophe by creating many "wreckwood" objects. William Parker, the ship's carpenter in Minia, made this cribbage board from a piece of oak from Titanic. (The Minia was one of the ships chartered by the White Star Line to search for bodies in the aftermath of the sinking.)



A lot of folks who died in the sinking of the Titanic were buried in Halifax. It was a fascinating and very sobering exhibit.

They also had a large exhibit of ship models. They were quite large and very beautiful.





As you can see, it was another gorgeous day, and the Museum is right on the waterfront!



Next on my list was the exhibit on the Halifax Explosion. I have been fascinated with this event since my previous trip to Nova Scotia, when I took a walking tour of Halifax that included many sites of significance to the explosion.



The Halifax Explosion occurred on the morning of December 6, 1917, when two ships, the SS Mont-Blanc and the SS Imo, collided in Halifax Harbor. Unfortunately, one the SS Mont-Blanc was a munitions ship loaded to the gills with explosives being transported from New York to France during WWI, and it caught fire and the munitions exploded. It devastated a large area of Halifax, killing and maiming thousands of people. 1600 buildings were destroyed by the explosion and fires, and debris was found miles away.

I realized I did not take many photos in this exhibit. Most of what is there is twisted metal remains of the ships and buildings. The plaques point out what the items *were* and showed examples so you could sort of see what the distorted item was.



It was winter when the Explosion happened, and the cold and snow made recovery and help difficult. Trains full of medical personnel and supplies were sent up to Halifax from Boston, which created a bond between the two cities. There are a few bits and pieces left behind these days, such as a metal pipe still left embedded in the wall of St. Paul's church. It was quite the disaster!!

Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

After I finished at the Maritime museum, I headed to lunch at another seafood restaurant that my driver from the airport had suggested, the Five Fisherman (in the green building on the left). I walked in, but the entrance was a little confusing. Turns out the Five Fisherman was upstairs, and not open for lunch, but the attached Little Fish Oyster Bar was open, so I decided to give it a try.



The six folks at the table next to me were sharing an amazing array of seafood. They seemed to be really enjoying it!

I settled on a lovely lobster and asparagus dish. Service was kind of slow, but the food was excellent!



After lunch, I decided to head down to the waterfront for dessert - to try the Cow's Ice Cream that @*WDW*Groupie*
had recommended.



There was quite a line. It wrapped around and went out the door. But it was well worth the wait!!



Cownadian Maple. Maple ice cream with a maple swirl and chunks of maple cookie. Extremely yummy! Josh said it was one of his favorites. They had quite the gift shop! This was my first taste of Cow's but would definitely not be my last!



I then just enjoyed the waterfront area. I took the stairs up to check out this interesting art installation. The stairs were part of the art.





I think you might have been able to go up in it at some point, but not anymore.








Continued in next post.

 

[sayhello]

I wandered around, and did some shopping (I bought an adorable Halifax onesie for my sister's first grandchild, whose shower I was headed to pretty much directly after this trip). Most of the shops were *ridiculously* expensive, but it was fun to look!

Some cool artwork and some funny shop names (Another Shop and Stare by the Stairs).







It was then time to head back to the Marriott to meet up for our Welcome Dinner!

Since they stopped giving out duffle bags, I'd been bringing one of the many duffles I have at home with me to use for things I want to carry back and forth to the motorcoach with me. But I realized I'd forgotten to pack one for this trip. I'd mentioned it to the Guides when I talked to them that morning and they procured this adorable bag for me to use!



I do not have any photos from the welcome dinner, which is totally not like me! I *believe* it was in a restaurant in the little historic shopping area next to the Marriott, but I'm not positive. Bad me! Met up with everyone, had a lovely dinner. There was a family of three (Husband, wife & adult daughter) that looked sort of familiar, like they might have been a family that was on my Greece trip ten years before. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant to ask, in case it wasn't them (which I know it's silly, but there you go). Spoiler - it *was* them (the daughter asked me). After dinner I then headed off to bed, ready for tomorrow's start of the Adventure!

Up Next: Day 2 - Maple Staples - Sugar Moon Farm & off to PEI!

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