A very interesting & informative day

This morning started with calling in at St Mary's Basicila ,to light a candle in Fr John's memory. I spoke with a young man at Church who was a Seminarian .I was pleased to discover that Church was very close to my Hostel.
I continued to walk to the Halifax Citadel ..historically, a fortress built by the British for their soldiers, here in Halifax.
Each day at noon ,a cannon is fired ,which is a tradition from at least the 1800's . There were great views from the top look out posts . After finishing at the Citadel I caught the hop on hop off bus painted and delighted it was a 1963 London buses the same type I have been to school on ,jumping on and off whilst still slightly in motion.
The most poignant stop,on the tour was the Fairlawn Cemetery, where victims of the Titanic are buried,as well as those from the 1917 explosion.
The headstones are cut at an angle to reflect how the ice cut into the Boat.
There is a grave for an unknown child ,who was 6months old more recently identified and now named. The shoes for this child are on display in the Titanic exhibition in the Maritime museum in Halifax. It was a sobering experience.
The bus moved on past the docks and ship building, military operations and a place known as ground zero where a munitions ship collided with another in 1917 and caused a devastating explosion and fire ,with huge loss of life in the area.
Moving on again we arrived at Pier 21 which is associated with immigration.
Many families today have connections to those who emigrated to Canada after the war ...apparently 40,000 English brides who'd married Canadian soldiers are among those arriving in Canada via Pier 21.There's a museum which recognises the huge amount of immigration into Canada
Families can attempt to trace their immigrant relatives .I took time to look round the Pier 21 museum.
The sculpture of a migrant arriving outside Pier 21 is phenomenonal! It literally speaks to you ,it's so well done! You can just relate to the sentiment it conveys ...you've arrived, you're knackered so you sit down kick your shoes off and wait to be collected, not knowing what on earth the future holds. I've experienced this personally with people I've helped through chaplaincy at the airport and its a huge undertaking for the people who have lefteverything,bringing only what they can carry to start life in a strange country. ..I found this sculpture really emotional...quite took my breath away.
Finally catching the last hop on hop off bus...delightfully painted pink! I went to the Maritime museum to see the Titanic exhibition,as well as other aspects of Maritime memorabelia .
I did see the shoes of the unknown child...hugely poignant.
Personal effects of those who died were destroyed, but the person who found the shoes of the unknown child, couldn't bring themselves to dispose of them and put them in his desk drawer where they remained.
I learnt that the crew hadn't known how to use the lifeboats, and that the lifeboats were dispatched with less people than they had capacity for .. So, more people could have been saved There's displays of the 1st 2nd and 3rd class cabins ,plus wood from the grand staircase. Its a small but excellent and hugely moving exhibition.
I have been and will now go again in September to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast, particularly ,after today.
Bodies were brought to Halifax because of the railway links. 1st class passengers got a coffin, 2nd and 3rd class passengers got a body bag ,crew were just uncovered on a trolley. The bags were all numbered, and contained personal items which apparently helped with identification. I saw some descriptions ...which included things like hair colour and the clothes worn...stark!
I learned also that in the Jewish cemetery it was assumed that all 10 victims of the Titanic buried there ,were Jewish, but, it transpired that 2 were actually Catholic and the Rabbi allowed the Catholic Bishop to consecrate the ground they were buried in...I love this story and instantly shared it with my Jewish chaplaincy friend and colleague. If only such interfaith cooperation could exist in the wider world !
The Maritime museum is at the waterside so I moved on ,from there , to have a fabulous steak and a small Malbec in a waterfront restaurant. Felt suddenly knackered and decided to chill out sitting at the waterside. There are benches and chairs all the way along..so I kept sitting down between making some progress towards returning to the hostel.
In one prolonged stop ,I nodded off 😅...funny that it was near Cows ice cream shop...So, having sufficiently recovered from my main meal ,and woken from my power nap ! ....a Cows chocolate ice cream, definitely helped me with the final spurt of getting back to the hostel.
I settled early ,about 9pm..as had busy day, but on only 4hrs sleep the night before ,only to be woken at 11pm.by a fire alarm that could have woken the dead!!...so had to get up and go outside. The fire brigade came,but we had all been able to go back inside before they arrived...not sure that's the right thing to do.
Since then not got back to sleep so having a brew and doing my penguins...
Halifax is proving to be a very interesting as well as beautiful place to be .
I've learned so much more by coming here than if I'd gone to the Calgary stampede.
Really think Fr John would have loved so much about this place as there is a lot to like!Læs mere