Down East by Rail -- Again # 4: Water Street and the Harbourwalk

If there's one must-do item on my Halifax list every time I come here, it's to spend time walking along Water Street and the adjacent Harbourwalk.  This trip, I've done some walking in that area on every day of my 3-day visit, which is why the weather in all these photos keeps changing.

Halifax has been defined by the sea and ships in many different ways for its entire lifetime, so this part of the city -- more than any other -- is where the soul of Halifax truly resides.

The narrower northerly part of the Harbour, where two bridges cross to Dartmouth, is occupied by piers, shipyards, and the Royal Canadian Navy dockyard -- the fleet's Atlantic headquarters.  The tourist's region of Water Street starts just south of there, at the Nova Scotia Casino.  Big, modern, and ugly -- nuff said.  Besides, once you get inside the Casino, you'll never see anything else -- right?  The same can be said of the modern Purdy's Wharf office complex.  Pass on that too.

South of the Casino and Purdy's Wharf is the Marriott Hotel.  Big and beautiful -- but I need to forget my Scottish ancestry to stay there.  It's a definite "big splurge."  

The south side of the hotel is the place to start your walk.  What you see in front of you is a shopping mall like no other.  The Historic Properties complex is housed in a set of seventeenth-century stone warehouses with timber roofs, or warehouses built of wood throughout, and it's worth it to wander through here just to study the heavy-duty architecture.

Some of the stores and restaurants are worth checking out, too -- including a couple of my old favourites, the Lower Deck pub in a warehouse, and Salty's in a wooden building right on the water's edge.  Lunch on the patio at Salty's is a compulsory delight for me.  This restaurant has the best lobster roll I've ever tasted in my life -- anywhere.

At this point you can detour across Water Street to the final block of Granville Street, a pedestrian walking street lined with more historic buildings housing shops and restaurants.

As you come out of the Historic Properties area, you find yourself at the Halifax Ferry Terminal.  There are two ferry routes to central Dartmouth (Alderney) and southern Dartmouth (Woodside).  There are some nice parks around Alderney including the southern end of the historic Shubenacadie Canal to the Bay of Fundy.  A short walk will also bring you into quiet streets lined with old wooden houses.

The Woodside area is mainly industrial, but just north of the Woodside terminal is a regional park where a walking path takes you along a hillside with panoramic views of the harbour.  When complete, this Dartmouth Harbourwalk will take you all the way north to Alderney, thus linking the two ferry tours for a circle tour on foot.

Here's a quick video panorama from the hill of the entire Halifax waterfront.

The ferry to Woodside gives you a grandstand view of the downtown area of Halifax.  Since the ferries are part of the municipal transit system, the one-way fare is just $2.50 -- and that makes this by far the cheapest harbour cruise on offer!  Here, I'm looking straight over the historic Cable Wharf and up Carmichael Street to the Old Town Clock and the Citadel.

Outside the terminal, this modern clock tower actually houses a historic clock which was originally installed in the naval dockyard in 1772.  It still has to be wound twice weekly.  The clock is working better than I am -- I have to be wound up daily with a couple of cups of coffee to get me going!

The next big sight is the line of old warehouse buildings stretching out along Cable Wharf.  Just south of Cable Wharf, a new apartment complex is under construction, with two wings projecting out like old-style wharves into the harbour.

Since this construction site is blocking part of the Harbourwalk, there's a temporary bypass in the form of the Seabridge, a floating pontoon bridge going across the front of the construction site from the outer end of Cable Wharf.

Coming ashore at the far end of the Seabridge, you find yourself right outside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  If the Seabridge doesn't appeal to you, or if it's temporarily closed, you can go around by land on Water Street, passing by the front of the Museum.  This is one of the finest museums devoted to the sea and ships that I have ever visited.

Just across Water Street is another historic old warehouse building, now finding new uses.

One short block uphill on Prince Street, two of my fave restaurants sit right across from each other.  The Old Triangle is a classic Irish pub, spread through three buildings up the hill, with live music on offer many nights.

Across the street is McKelvie's Delishes Fishes Dishes, an upscale but still casual eatery where I've had some of the greatest seafood meals of my life.  The house signature dish is their fish platter, which consists of three local fish from the market -- typically shrimps, scallops, and salmon -- accompanied by a half lobster.  Their chefs know how to get all four just right, and the resulting meal is worth every penny.  This unique building was constructed back in 1906 as a firehouse, hence the high-arched window openings.

Behind the museum, back on the Harbourwalk, is an unusually colourful and creative children's playground, with what has to be the most unique playground slide anywhere.

Next you come to this little "village" of colourful buildings housing food counters, tour boat ticket offices, and a couple of small shops.

Inland from this village area is another fine old stone building -- but this one isn't just an old stone building.  This is the birthplace of products enjoyed all across Canada, and farther afield too.

Nearby on Water Street is another beautiful old waterfront warehouse now housing a large restaurant called -- what else? -- The Waterfront Warehouse.  Another recommendable place with good eats, a fine selection of local beers and wines, and a spacious patio.

Moving farther south, you find the shoreline occupied by modern apartment complexes (low rise) with assorted shops and trendy restaurants.  One pier is occupied by this peculiar art installation.  The three lampposts represent a drunk passed out on the street, the drunk's friend looking on in concern, and a person urinating in public.  Hmmm.

The south end of the Harbourwalk comes at the complex of passenger terminals, used today by the many cruise ships which visit Halifax.  I was on this part of the Harbourwalk at the right time to catch this view of a ship departing.

A new memorial had appeared at the end of the Harbourwalk since my last visit.

This memorial was of particular interest to me because it lists, among others, the corvette HMCS Trentonian, sunk off Falmouth, England, in February of 1945.  My uncle Gordon (my father's younger brother) lost his life in that sinking.

Another and more cheerful monument stands nearby: a statue of a Haligonian who changed the future of international travel forever when he put into service the first-ever fleet of transatlantic steamships -- Samuel Cunard.

He's posed with his hand resting on top of the engine room telegraph, a device that signals from the bridge to tell the engineers deep down in the ship's innards to speed up, slow down, reverse, or stop.  Some time it would be great to get a photo of this statue with one of the current-day Cunard Line cruise ships passing behind it.  They do call in at Halifax.

The terminal complex includes a large farmers' market, and several cruise terminals.

Terminal 21, though, is a bit different.  It's a museum devoted to the waves of immigrants who arrived in Canada through this port at different time periods.  By bringing us face to face with the experiences of some of our ancestors, this museum does an important service in reminding us that most of us Canadians truly owe our lives here to forebears who pulled up stakes and launched out into the unknown.

One block behind the passenger terminals you find the railway station, where the vast majority of these immigrants began their journeys into this new country to reach the places which would become in time their new homes.

And that, of course, also brings me back to the point where I arrived in Halifax.  Ready to join the train back home tomorrow, as another wonderful stay in this beautiful city comes to a close.

"In my end is my beginning."

Down East by Rail -- Again # 3: A Walking Tour of Old Halifax

There are times when I feel that I should really be working as a tour guide.  Halifax is one place which often gives me that feeling.  But I'm a realist, and certainly don't have a swelled head about such matters.  I've been to this beautiful city on at least ten separate occasions, and yet I know perfectly well that there are so many parts of Halifax which I have never explored properly.

At first glance, the question of finding your way around Halifax seems easy.  Look at a map, and you'll see that downtown has a pretty rational street grid which is nearly oriented to the four cardinal compass directions of North, South, East, and West.

Once you've been here for a couple of days, you realize that you are seriously ill-adjusted to the reality of Halifax.  The directions that really matter are Up, Down, Windward, and Leeward.

This is because the east-west streets in the heart of downtown are all climbing the steep hill crowned by the Halifax Citadel.  Meanwhile, the north-south streets (actually aligned to north-northwest) are perfect wind tunnels, with the wind usually coming from the north.  So:

And let's not even talk about the confusion that ensues when you leave the downtown and the roads begin blundering about in totally random fashion, following the contours of the rugged landscape to a T.  It's not for nothing that the roads leading to the freeways out of town are all marked with signs that call the roads "102 Outbound" or "101 Inbound" rather than trying to apply geographical directions.  

You're welcome!

Halifax is a city with a lot of history, dating back into the 1700s, so almost every street has its old church, house, building, or monument.  It all means more to me than to many people simply because I spent my entire career teaching Canadian history.  Even those who don't know the background story in such depth can still appreciate the beauty of this city.

And we can all appreciate the politeness of Haligonian drivers (yes, "Haligonian" is the adjective used to describe a person from Halifax!).  After the relative insanity of Toronto, Montreal, London, Paris, Rome, and other world capitals of demented driving, Halifax comes as a blessed relief.  Half the intersections don't even have traffic signals; they just have crosswalks marked on the pavement.  The drivers always stop for pedestrians.  Hey, some drivers even stop in the middle of the block when they see a person hoping to jaywalk!

But it's helpful to remember than Halifax is still a relatively small city, with a total population in the Halifax-Dartmouth Metro area of less than half a million people.  Small it may be compared to the great conurbations of the continent, but Halifax has a lot to offer the visitor.

What follows is the summary of a day which I spent walking Up, Down, Windward, and Leeward in the historic downtown area.  You would not likely visit all these spots in a single day of walking.  Or maybe you would.

Let's start with my hotel, just because it illustrates the local geography so thoroughly.  This is the Four Points by Sheraton on Hollis Street, one block Up from the waterfront.  I moved over here after spending my arrival night at the Westin Nova Scotian.  The oddity of this hotel is that it doesn't have its own restaurant in the building.  Instead, you walk indoors into the adjacent Maritime Mall where the Niche restaurant offers all main meals, and room service, to the guests of the Four Points.

But here's the gimmick.  You go up to the second floor of the hotel, walk along the hall and through the connecting corridor into the mall, then go up one floor to the restaurant.  You are now on what would be the hotel's third floor -- but it's actually the first level below ground level in the Maritime Mall.  Yes, the hill really is that steep.

Farther Up, you come to St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica, the Roman Catholic cathedral, and the imposing bishop's residence.

Nearby is another historic church building, St. Matthew's United Church.

Both churches are located adjacent to the Old Burying Ground, which was first used by settlers and the garrison in 1749, and is now a National Historic Site.  

Just a short few blocks from the Burying Ground, going Up and then Windward, brings you to the crest of the hill, and the Halifax Citadel.  Begun in the 1740s, and finished in its current form by the 1840s, when Halifax had become one of the biggest bases of the British Navy outside of Britain, the Citadel was built to defend the naval base against the possibility of a land attack.  It has never fired a shot in anger, but still fires a signal gun every day exactly at noon -- and you can hear that gun with no trouble all over the central part of the city.

Even with the urban growth, the Citadel still offers a commanding view of the city and harbour.  The interpretive signboard shows how much the view has changed in the last century.

It's amazing how, everywhere I travel, this same guy keeps photobombing in front of my camera.  Here he is posing in front of the Citadel's main gate.

A visit inside the Citadel is a must for anyone with any interest in military history and the art of fortification.  I've done that on previous visits, and its definitely worth the entrance fee.  You need to set aside a couple of hours for even a cursory tour of the Citadel.

On the slopes of Citadel Hill, the Old Town Clock from 1803, currently undergoing restoration work, is another famous Halifax landmark.  It faces directly down Carmichael Street to Cable Wharf and the harbour.

The descent from the Citadel brought me to this long, narrow open space called the Grand Parade.  It stretches from the Halifax City Hall to Old St. Paul's Anglican Church, "The Garrison Church," and incorporates two war memorials.

Another couple of blocks in the direction of Down brought me to the austere, classic revival elegance of Province House, the seat of the Nova Scotia Legislature.  It's a surprisingly difficult building to photograph because it occupies almost all of the block on which it sits and is surrounded on all sides by other buildings right across the street.  An acute angle like this is almost the only way.

In the park next to Province House is this statue of Joseph Howe, one of the earliest Canadian specimens of that invaluable species of statesman, the Political Curmudgeon.  As a journalist, as a politician, as a public servant, and as a gadfly to the powers-that-be, Howe played significant roles in securing freedom of the press and in bringing rail connections to the Halifax region.  His stature in Nova Scotia history is legendary.

On the quirky side of Halifax, you find another local legend -- right across the street from the dignity of the Grand Parade.  This elaborate wall mural draws attention to the location of Freak Lunchbox, which may (it's been said) "just be the best little candy store in the country!"

And then there's this sidewalk sign.  The more I look at it, the more my eyes roll.  Seriously?  Moosehead beer with dim sum?  Only in Halifax....

Note, by the way, that all of these sights and sites are contained in the small area of eight short blocks Up/Down and six longer blocks Windward/Leeward between the Citadel and the Harbour.  I can easily enjoy several full days in this small area without going much farther afield, so this visit isn't the first time I've skipped renting a car and just spent my time walking around the historic district.

For those who visit Halifax with their own wheels, there are so many more places to go and things to see outside of this limited central area.

Down East by Rail -- Again # 2: The Journey From Montreal to Halifax

VIA Rail's signature train to the east coast, the Ocean, runs three times weekly between Montreal and Halifax in each direction -- always leaving either city on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.  The trip takes a total of about 22 hours, and includes crossing one time zone boundary.  The length of the ride effectively cancels out most of the ill effects of jetlag, and since the overall rail experience is far more restful than flying, the train passenger comes out ahead in all departments except sheer speed.

This service is very popular with residents of the numerous towns along the route.  Whether you want to go to Montreal for a big city weekend, or need to reach a medical appointment in Halifax, the train is the popular travel option for many residents of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.  There are many enroute stops, and plenty of people either joining or leaving the train at each one.

On the other hand, if you are planning the end-to-end trip as a leisure experience -- as I take it -- you need to think of it as a mini-cruise on the rails, not just as transportation.  Consider the similarities: it moves at a leisurely speed, it gives you a small private bedroom with private toilet facilities, the fare includes 3 meals in a restaurant, all the service staff exert themselves to ensure you have a good time, and some entertainment is provided.

With that kind of outlook, you're less likely to be thrown into a panic tizzy if the train happens to run late for some reason.  That being said, on all my half-dozen trips on the Ocean, I think the latest we've ever gotten was 25 minutes late into Montreal on one westbound journey.

It's a long train.  On a previous trip, when I took this picture from the dome car at the tail end, the train had a total of 2 locomotives and 19 cars.

Today's train was even longer, but was oddly equipped with a mixed bag of Renaissance cars and older stainless steel sleepers and coaches -- as these pictures taken at Moncton station clearly show.

The name of this train is certainly historic.  The Intercolonial Railway called its brand new deluxe train the Ocean Limited in its 1904 timetable, and the train has been operating under the same name -- now shortened to Ocean -- and along the same tracks for 115 uninterrupted years.  That makes it by far the oldest named train in North America.  Once again, here's the map which shows the lengthy roundabout route that takes the train around the state of Maine to reach the Atlantic provinces.

With my train from Toronto arriving late into Montreal, I had only 1 hour and 10 minutes left of a 2-hour stopover before the 7:00pm departure time.  I walked around for a few minutes in the art-deco concourse of the station, opened in 1943.  The concourse has some impressive original murals on the upper walls.  Ranged along the centre of the hall are the stairs and escalators leading downwards to the train platforms on the lower level.

Internet photo

I next headed for the Business Lounge, which is also available for use by Sleeper passengers.  But I took a seat near the front of the lounge so I could keep an eye on the small service counter in the concourse just outside the lounge's entrance.  At 6:10 pm, two members of the train's onboard service staff opened the counter.  You have to stop at that counter to have your sleeper ticket scanned, and to get a reservation for either the first or second sitting for dinner in the dining car.

At about 6:45 pm we were called to board.  Out the door of the lounge, tickets scanned again, down the escalator to platform 14, and the sleeping cars were right there.  Only a few steps were needed to get to car # 30, head down the very narrow interior corridor, and find cabin # 4 near the centre of the Renaissance sleeper car.

There's no nice way to say this -- it's tiny.  Now you can see why using the checked baggage service is so essential.

If both beds were in use I probably wouldn't be able to sit up in bed on the lower berth without clonking my head on the underside of the upper berth.  At least I didn't have to worry about that detail since I was travelling solo, as usual.  Here's how it looked at bedtime.

The compact washroom contains a hand basin, a toilet, and -- high up on the wall -- an honest to goodness shower head (half the compartments in the Renaissance sleepers have showers).  The hanging bags contain large bath towels, and smaller towels, washcloths, soap, and shampoo are placed ready as well.  Water bottles are provided because the tap water is not suitable for drinking.

One neat detail about these Renaissance cars: they're the only sleeping cars in Canada or the USA which have key-lock doors on the compartments.  Older cars in service on other routes have a deadbolt on the inside, but no way to lock the door from the outside when you leave the room.

Enough exploring for now, this train started to roll at 7:00pm sharp and the first call for dinner had already gone out.  Off to the dining car, two cars forward in the centre of the train.  To get there, I had to pass through a lounge area with a small bar in what is known as the "service car."  Snacks and drinks can be purchased here outside of regular meal hours, and this car is the only place on the train which has Wifi access.  This makes it a popular place with all seats filled at some times.  This internet photo was plainly taken in the winter, when the train is far less busy.

What makes the service car really important is that it contains the galley where meals for the dining car are prepared and plated.  There's another service car on the far side of the dining car, similarly equipped.  It's there to serve the passengers in the coach seats farther forward.  Each service car prepares meals for the adjacent half of the dining car.

The dining car has 4-seat and 2-seat tables arranged in two sections, each of which holds 24 diners at a time.  I was seated at a table for 2 with a gent from New Zealand making his first visit to Canada.  I was amused to learn that he was very familiar with the area around the city of Nelson, where I spent 10 days attending the Adam Chamber Music Festival a couple of years ago.  He knew all about the Festival too.

As we rolled across the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence river, the train had to go around the loop at the south end to bypass the St. Lambert Lock as a ship was entering the lock from the north end.

The dinner menu offered a choice of beef, chicken, fish, or pasta with an appetizer of soup or smoked salmon, warm bread rolls, and dessert.  The smoked salmon and chicken were both delicious.  Unlike the Business Class in the corridor, the wine here is not included in the train fare -- but the train offers a fine selection of wines, mainly from Nova Scotia, and all delicious.  Meals on this train are sent aboard already cooked, and then heated, plated and served.  Not quite as good as the cooked-to-order meals on the Canadian but the quality and variety of the meals on the Ocean has improved markedly since my first trip to the east coast over 10 years ago.

After dinner, I did some writing, and enjoyed one of the most spectacular sunsets I can recall seeing, clearly visible across the broad farm fields of the St. Lawrence Valley.

The last sight I saw before going to sleep was the view of the St. Lawrence and the adjacent highway bridge, the Pont Pierre Laporte, as the train rumbled across the majestic Pont du Quebec -- which opened 100 years ago this year.  The train crosses the river to serve the suburban station of Sainte Foy on the western edge of Quebec City.  After an extended stop of 15 minutes, the train then rolled back over the bridge and out onto the main line -- travelling backwards all the way -- before resuming its eastward journey.  VIA provides a connecting shuttle service between Sainte Foy and the Gare du Palais in downtown Quebec; seats on this shuttle must be reserved in advance.

There are two reasons why this train doesn't go right into the Gare du Palais: [1] that would involve an extra travel time of 30 minutes each way from Sainte Foy and [2] the platforms at the Gare du Palais will only handle trains of 6 cars or so -- not nearly long enough for this one!

Somewhere around 2:00 am, far down the St. Lawrence river, our train passed the westbound train from Halifax.  I have never been awake at the right time to see or hear that happening.

I had a better night's sleep than I've ever had before on a train.  Maybe I was still recovering from my birthday party in Toronto 2 nights earlier!  When I awoke, we were just rolling out of the station at Amqui, halfway across the Gaspe Peninsula.  The time was five-something o'clock in the morning but it was already broad daylight, here at the eastern end of the Eastern Time Zone.  South of Amqui, the train glided down the narrow, steep-sided valley of the Matapedia River, with some good scenic views for us early risers.

The train made another extended stop at Campbellton, New Brunswick.  At this point, we got the hour time change ahead to Atlantic time.  This is also the place where the dining car opened for breakfast, first come, first served.  I had a cheese and spinach omelette, with sausages, grilled potatoes and onions, fruit, and toast.  The alternatives were a cold continental breakfast with toast, or waffles with fruit.  The coffee was hot and delicious, the meal filling, and my day was off to a good start.

East of Campbellton, the train ran along at or near the south shore of the Baie de Chaleur.  We had a great view across the water towards the towering bulk of Mount Carleton in Quebec, and some interesting bits of shoreline scenery right in front of us.

The train also ran right through the backyards of a number of waterfront homes.  That's not as bad as it sounds because there's almost no freight traffic on this line any more, just the passenger train running 3 times a week each way.

After the stop at Bathurst, the train left the Baie de Chaleur and cut across country in a dead straight line like a ruler towards Miramichi.  Looks like an express line, but there's a speed restriction on this track and the train rolled steadily forward at just 50 km/h (30 mph).  It's second growth forest all the way, and the appearance of a gravel road alongside the track is about as exciting as the scenery gets.  I was sitting up in the tail end dome car for a while, enjoying a midmorning snack and coffee.

The dome car on the Ocean is available to all sleeping car passengers.  Free coffee, tea, cookies, and salty snack mix are on tap during all open hours, and there's also bar service after 11:00 am.  Nice alternative to the crowding in the service car.

During the time we were traversing this endless straight track, the restaurant staff came around to take lunch reservations.  On this trip, they started at the dome car, and then worked their way forward through the various sleeper cars.

The train crosses two broad channels of the Miramichi River with a sizable island in between.  Plenty of waterfront homes along the south side of the river in particular.  Following the example of my former home in Ontario, Elliot Lake, the city of Miramichi has also been reinventing itself as a retirement community.

There followed another long cross-country run on a straight track, but at better speed, from Miramichi to Moncton.  The one and only stop along the way came at Rogersville.  Despite the English name, Rogersville is largely an Acadian francophone community.  The train runs through town right alongside the main street -- as  this internet photo clearly shows.

David Morris photo via blog.traingeek.ca

Moncton is the last extended stop of the train.  That was my cue to get out and take a walk up and down the platform.  Depending on my choice of lunch time, this would either be just after or just before I eat lunch.  This time, I took the second lunch sitting at 2:00 pm so the walk came before the meal.

The lunch menu wasn't quite as diverse as the dinner the night before.  There was a good thick fish chowder for a starter, and then a choice of salmon croquettes or lasagna rolls (the first sitting crowd had eaten all the plates of the third choice, a cold lunch, which sounded suspiciously like the beef salad I had between Toronto and Montreal).  Being in a mood to be bad, I not only had another glass of wine with my lunch of chowder and salmon croquettes, but also ordered the dessert -- which I certainly should not have done!

While we were waiting for lunch to arrive at our tables, the train was rolling past an eye-popping stretch of the Memramcook River, which empties into the inner end of the Bay of Fundy.  You can always tell here what the state of the Bay's notoriously high tides happens to be.  In this case, pretty much slack low tide.

In between the loops of the river, the flat land is actually a huge salt marsh.  Here a sizable slough or pond hasn't drained out after being filled at high tide.  Most of the land between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait is made up of these marshes, and they're an essential part of the entire ecosystem of the region.  Even when the water disappears, you see patches of this salt scum all over the land as the train rolls through.

From a previous trip, here's a photo to show what the same stretch of the river and marshland looks like when the tide is all the way in.

Later on, in Nova Scotia, the train passed along the shores of several lakes, dotted with a mixture of year-round and summer homes.  It's obvious from this view of Folly Lake that this lake country is to Nova Scotia as the Muskoka region is to Toronto -- the weekend getaway for those well enough off to afford a second home.

The biggest lake of all is the aptly named Grand Lake.

Twenty minutes or so after running along Grand Lake, the train rolled down the western shore of Bedford Basin, inner end of Halifax Harbour.

The track then took us in a loop, all around the city, through a deep rock cutting -- and so to the station on the waterfront.  We arrived as close to right on time as makes no difference, pretty impressive after a 22-hour journey with so many stops on the way.

Although I've said it many times before, it can't be said too often.  I am continually impressed with the pride and extra care taken by the staff of the Ocean in making the entire trip an enjoyable experience for each one of their customers.  That's actually one of the biggest reasons I enjoy taking this train so much.

After collecting my checked bag, I made my way past the construction scaffolding (the Halifax station is having its entire roof rebuilt), through an archway, and up a carpeted ramp into the lobby of the Westin Hotel Nova Scotian.  A classic railway hotel dating back to the 1920s, the Nova Scotian makes an ideal stopping point at the end of the trip to the east coast.

In the next installment, some of my adventures in Halifax, one of my favourite cities in the world.