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Halifax Travel Journal

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Late Fall 2003, we were invited to judge the Harmony Incorporated annual International Contest & Convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The dated entries are actually our Emails home to the kids, and they serve as kind of a daily diary. The convention was only over the weekend, but we spent a few extra days sight seeing in the area. Enjoy!...

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Here we are all situated in the Nova Scotia Casino Hotel, right on the water. Got here on schedule at mid afternoon without incident. It was a good flight to Newark, New Jersey and then from there to Halifax. Since we got up at 3AM we are tired, and will try and write more on another day soon. It is two hours later here, which really does not matter when we got up that early! Danny also got up and was at our house promptly at 5:AM to get us to the airport. Thanks Dan!

Both arms of the air trip were Continental and on airplanes not familiar to us. I think the name might have been French. Only two seats on one side, and only one on the other: 19 rows, so it only required one flight attendant. But three guys were in the cockpit, some of whom were wearing 4 stripes.

Overcast all the way, so we saw little of the ground. But climbing out of Newark, it provided little breaks in the clouds and we did see some of Manhattan. First glimpse was the Empire State Building rising up out of the clouds. (Roger has been there but I never have). Also going up along the Atlantic, coast we did see some of the coast line. Photo opportunities were few, though. But all in all a good trip.

I (Theresa ) napped in the Newark airport, and that helped. Got all the way to our hotel before I really realized that I was tired; and the arthritis stayed moderated, thank goodness.

We have met some key people for the convention already but are now back in the room ready to go to bed.

We are near a forested area, and the city is 500,000 prosperous and friendly people. I thought of Duluth, with water, hillsides, etc.

That is about it for tonight.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

We are starting today's message between official sessions at the convention. Did we tell you that we are walking back and forth to the convention Center through Skyways like in Minneapolis, only here they are called "pedways". Total distance is maybe 3-4 blocks, and of course you go past a food court and shops of every kind. One pedway is very long, going over a divided highway, access streets, and a small parking lot, all in one span.

The photo below is from the airport upon arrival. Roger is seen and the bottom off center right below the early airplane and three Nova Scotia scenery photos. You still see the French influence here, as evidenced by the French greeting on the wall. But it is a lot more subtle than in Quebec when we were there last summer.

We are told that winters here are milder than at home; ice on lakes is common but not so as it is safe to drive a car on them. Some years snow barely sticks; other years it does, but they get very little, even though they are kind of off the coast of Maine.

Today is a bit windy and rainy (not nearly as bad as it is today in many places in New England and also North of here, apparently) . We took a few interesting photos through the windows covered with raindrops. Also learning to take photos on a highly lit stage: something I need to get better at. And I think we have found the secret...settings I never knew about.

It is now bedtime after a big day so we will not put today's photos on this. Also the next two days will be even busier so don't fret if you don't hear from us.

Friday, November 14, 2003

Couldn't get the e-mail out for yesterday. Last night the create message screen had no space for the body of the message and this morning I couldn't even get connected to the Internet. So, we'll try it again tonight - to send both today's and yesterday's messages.

Last night we both sat as audience members in the VIP section (as opposed to from now on when Roger will be in the judging arena) . The event was their annual show of past quartet champions. It takes all kinds. Old, young (youngest was 14, and maybe the best talent of all!) Skinny and otherwise, married and single, Moms, and grandmoms, from near and far, mostly in sparkly dresses and all in their Queen of harmony tiaras. Also singing was last year's chorus champs from Louisville. Lots of song and dance; the highlight was a song "It's Raining Men", complete with cardboard life size cut outs of Yanni, Elvis, and other "hunks".

Weather has improved here but we hear that down in New England it is going to get ugly again today.

Today's quartet contest is now over. Big day. Weather is cold here but as we said we stay inside via skyways. I think it will be 20F degrees tonight. Little wind, though.

We are very tired and are going to bed; glad that there is nothing going on until 11:00AM tomorrow.

For Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we have tours of varying lengths scheduled. More later.

Saturday, November 15, 2003

It's now evening, about 11:45 PM... very late for oldsters like us. Anyway, the International chorus contest is now history. A good chorus from the Chicago area won. Afterward, we had a nice dinner and then went to another "showcase" show of the top 4 choruses and top 4 quartets. After that Dad had to attend a meeting to evaluate a candidate judge who had worked the contest. Finally we walked over to the casino to see Saturday night "bustling" and then came back to the hotel, sticking our heads in a couple of chorus afterglow rooms. And now we're going to bed. Will probably put this up on the web in the morning.

Mom has selected a couple of pictures from today's batch. The first is taken from our hotel window showing a "pedway" we use to walk to the convention center. In the pedway are Dad and Dwain Chambers, our friend from Memphis who's also here judging. The second picture is the chorus Mom mentioned in a previous message doing their set complete with cardboard cutouts. She says that their song was a very funny "It's Raining Men"...notice the hunky guys. (The chorus was from Louisville, Kentucky)

Mom has a tour planned for tomorrow. to Peggy's Cove...lighthouse, etc. Will fill in the details then... Good night.

Sunday, November 16, 2003

Gee, we really slept late this morning. Even Dad slept till after 9. Then updated the web page with last night's news, added a picture and got our e-mail. Dan, we're accessing the web by dialing the ATTBI access number in Portland, Maine. And I noticed again this morning that Kath's e-mail was still bouncing. So will you call her, Dan, and tell her the URL to access to get our daily mails/travel logs. Thanks.

Today, our tour was about 3-1/2 hours; drove south from Halifax out to the ocean to a very small (60 residents) fishing village about an hour out of town called Peggy's Cove. The tour driver was most informative of the area and area history.

He told us about a very interesting area just north of Halifax called the Bay of Fundy that you might have heard of. It has tides of over 50 feet, highest in the world. We tried to schedule a tour there for tomorrow, but couldn't due to the "season" being over. We did see it from the air, however. 

This evening we walked a ways down the boardwalk and ate in a pub that used to be a building where they repaired ships.

Added a couple of pictures taken at Peggy's cove... rugged country.

Going to bed early. Leisurely day tomorrow. Good night.

The above was obviously written by Dad. He thinks I should say something.

For one thing we left our calendar at home and are ashamed to say it is our "brains" as far as when exactly K & C's wedding anniversary - and Cam's 40th birthday are. Best guess is that Cam's B day is next Saturday? and that the anniversary is Tuesday??? apologies.

More soon. Pretty tired. But nice city here. And pleasant people.

Monday, November 17, 2003

Thanks, Dan, for correcting my URL. Obviously, I didn't test it due to my very limited, expensive Internet access here in our hotel room. Did you call Kath about the URL? Her messages are still bouncing.

Slept in late again this morning... till after 9... that's particularly late for Dad. Guess we're getting caught up from the big weekend.

After Dad went jogging, we relaxed all morning till 11 when the tour came to pick us up.

Big day. Will have great photos eventually, but will restrain ourselves with what we send tonight.

Our tour guide was the same as yesterday but this time he drove an authentic black London cab. With the steering wheel on the "wrong" side. We were the only passengers, and he picked us up and said " Good morning, my Lord". The tour was of the city and he was most informative with his extensive Halifax history lessons. For one thing,  European "Pilgrims" came here a little before 1620 when they went to Plymouth Rock down near Boston.

This is a city of almost a half million, prospering from fishing and banking, and "trading" for 400 years, and logging. Very little farming due to poor soil. Mostly Scotch, Irish, English, and of course, French, have settled here. (We see very little French compared to Quebec.) But they like to say they are very diverse... even though we have only seen a small handful of other nationalities.

Our dinner tonight was at the much touted "Five Fishermen" restaurant. I had scallops and Dad had monkfish (after a mussel/salad bar, and before dessert, which was three tiny pots of different kinds of Creme Brulee.) Our young waiter, Leland, told us "genuine" ghost stories from the restaurant. As everyone is, he was friendly and informative; and the food was outstanding.

We did a lot of walking indoors and out, mostly along the wharf. Lots of touristy things are closed for the season but enough open to keep us busy. One thing we did was go through the immigration museum, the equivalent of USA Ellis Island, where all immigrants entered Canada up until 30 years ago. Folks got off the ships, were processed, then went a half mile to the train depot to begin their treck to a new home somewhere in Canada. Even children came alone from World War II, etc.

Cruise ships come here all summer to here, right into the wharf! That is all gone now for the winter...which will be at bit milder than ours. But for now the weather is much like home.

I took a nasty fall (forward onto mostly both forearms, but clear down, so to speak), from which I am recovering with only bruises; but I was not too sure about that for a couple of minutes, since I could hardly move for a short time... gathered quite a crowd of well wishers. But I did not hit my head, and all is well that ends well. I think I will bruise fairly well...

That's all for now. Going home tomorrow so will write the last day's events at home.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Long day today what with the time change and all. We don't leave Halifax till 4:30 this afternoon, and arrive Minneapolis at 9:00 which is really 11:00 Halifax time.

All caught up on sleep, so we only slept in till 8. Dad went jogging first thing. Then we packed and we packed and we packed. Seems like re-packing is worse than when we came.

After checking out at the hotel, we visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Had a lot of info on ocean going ships, on oceanic industries, and on the Titanic tragedy. Then we took a bus to the airport and spent the rest of the day getting on and off planes and going through security checks and customs.

Weather in Newark was marginal, so we got held up for about an hour on the ground in Halifax. And then when we finally got to the Newark airport, we had to go through customs, get our luggage, take it through customs, recheck the luggage, go through security (complete with removing our shoes), and run from one end of that huge terminal to the other. Suffice it to say we were the last ones on the plane, but we made it... winded!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip to a beautiful part of the continent. We would sure like to come back during the "season" in order to see more and have more services available.

But thank you Harmony, Inc. for having us.

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