Not Much?

Warning: Lots of Photos!

Also, it’s really hot in this Internet cafe, so I might not mess with fixing Blogger’s messed up formating.

After typing up the blog entry to post later, I moved on to spinning.

Howe Hall has the perfect spinning chairs. Think they’d mind if I took one home? Don’t worry Dalhousie people. I will not really take your chair. I’m not about to lug a chair out to my car when I got enough strange looks lugging the spinning wheel in. Did I mention I have to walk through the dining hall each time to get to my part of the dorm?

About ¼ of the wool top prior to spinning.

I love the colors in this. And there’s 225 grams of it, so I think I might use it for my “final project” if the yarn turns out okay. I’ll be spinning on it for a while since there’s so much of it.

I took my daily stroll down (literally) Coburg Road with all the other commuters and Dal students wearing iPods. Passed a bunch of Victorian houses and shady trees.

If you cut through the shady (therefore cool) Public Gardens and take Sackville Street past the CBC building, then it’s mostly downhill and shady all the way to Argyle Street where I post the blog and where I ate lunch (lots of restaurants frequented by locals, so not quite so pricy as the tourist places). Remember to hang onto a toonie for the bus ride back to Dal.

After lunch I took FRED up to the Citadel.

Parade ground of the Citadel from the walls.

Citadel signal mast.

Yes, I even found knitting at the Citadel. I think for early Canadian women that knitting was like breathing. Either that or the interpreters really want something to do to keep busy.

Looking toward the mouth of Halifax Harbor from the walls of the Citadel.

George’s Island from the walls.

Next, FRED took me to Pier 21, which has been called “Canada’s Ellis Island.” Between 1928 and 1971 more than one million immigrants moved through here. I know that seems less than went through Ellis Island, but remember that Canada has about one tenth the population of the US.

Many English and Eastern European immigrants came through Pier 21. It also saw heavy use during World War II when almost all of the troop ships leaving for Europe left from here. After the war many war brides and then refugees from communist countries arrived.

Pier 21 is basically a big shed or warehouse.

View from Pier 21 (George’s Island).

Leaving their ship, immigrants would pass through these doors.

Mock up of the Immigration Department processing area. It was really much larger.

Many immigrants boarded the train for other parts of Canada right from Pier 21.

I was going to take FRED back to Barrington Street to catch the bus back up to Howe Hall (hiking down is one thing, climbing back up is another). But it was around the time of FRED’s last run, so I decided to stroll via the Harbourwalk instead.

Beep beep. I’ve seen a few Smart Cars around. But the most popular car seems to be the new Mustang convertible. I think young Nova Scotians could keep Ford going on their purchases alone.

Figureheads #3-5.

Figureheads #6-8. They’re everywhere. I guess it’s like the cows in Chicago. (It was cows in Chicago, wasn’t it?)

Time for a Break

All this walking and touring gave me very sore feet and was tired. I realized at the Citadel I was starting to think it looked the same as any other historical site. (It doesn’t – the views are spectacular and there are guys in kilts everywhere.) So yesterday (Thursday) I declared a moratorium on sightseeing. No pictures since it was just devoted to relaxing and recovering. I went to a bookstore (a la Barnes and Noble), hung out at the mall, and watched the newest Harry Potter movie. After supper I sat outside in a purple (they’re not afraid of violent purple here in Nova Scotia) Adirondack chair and knitted for a while before returning to the dorm and reading in bed. Today (Friday) is supposed to be cooler and it might even rain tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

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