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We arrived in Halifax at 8am today and were off the ship for our first excursion (“Halifax Highlights” by bus) thirty minutes later.

Our first stop was the Halifax Public Gardens.

We drove through the Halifax Citadel on our way to our next stop, the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where many victims of the Titanic and the Halifax Explosion are buried (along, of course, with thousands of other Haligonians).

Titanic Grave Site at Fairview Lawn Cemetery

All of these victims of the Halifax Explosion (and more) were on the SS Curaca in the harbour at the time of the explosion

Our last stop for the morning was the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which has a terrific exhibit on the Titanic (including many artifacts), as well as exhibits on Cunard, the Age of Sail, maritime communications, and much more. I could have spent a few more hours there, but that would have meant missing our next excursion (and lunch!).

Yet *another* White Star ship disaster – the *Atlantic* (1873, Halifax)

A deck chair recovered from the *Titanic*

Modern Ham Radio Station as part of the shipboard telecommunication exhibit (note the WWII-era equipment on the right side of the photo)

We drove to the southern end of the harbour so we could see our first lighthouse of the day and then returned to the ship.

The second excursion was “Picture Perfect Peggy’s Cove”. Much of the drive covered the same ground as our morning excursion, but I was struck by the horses when we passed the Halifax Lancers field.

The scenery was beautiful all the way and only got more interesting as we reached Peggy’s Cove itself.

Our guide Loly making sure we can find her

We finally tore ourselves away from the lighthouse and spent the rest of our time exploring the village and shops – twenty minutes wasn’t long enough.

The ashes of the artist and his wife are behind the white marble square

And then it was back to the bus for the trip back to Halifax and the ship.

One final view of the lighthouse before we drive away

The “Historic Properties” (Privateer’s Wharf) in downtown Halifax

Pictou is a beautiful little (3000 people or so) town on the Nova Scotia shore; it calls itself the “Birthplace of Nova Scotia” because the first Scottish immigrants landed there after a truly horrifying journey on the Hector, a Dutch cargo ship converted (badly) to passenger use. They had been lied to about what to expect (both on the journey and on arrival), but were able to survive and eventually thrive with the help of the local Mi’kmaq.

Here are some photos to tell the story of our visit.

MV Polar Prince was docked next to us in Pictou. It has quite a history, including bringing the ill-fated Titan submersible to the site of the wreck of the ill-fated Titanic.

We walked down to the Hector Heritage Quay – Town of Pictou (well worth a longer visit than we had time for!) before our official walking tour of the town.

We became honorary Nova Scotians without having to drink anything!

We returned to the ship and met our guide for the morning, a descendent of Hector immigrants, Sandy Macdonald (he said that when he came back from university, he was one of seven Sandy Macdonalds in the phone book!), who took us on a walking tour of the town.

Pictou was so important in the early 19th Century that Samuel Cunard moved here to run his steamship business

The old Post Office has a window in its chimney

Market Square (Hector Monument at the top)

True to the Scottish heritage of the town, the Pearl Mist was played away by bagpipers. I’d like to come back sometime with more control of my itinerary.