Halifax is a beautiful city and our hotel is right in its heart… with many sites nearby, places to eat, and only steps away from the Atlantic ocean.
We were in Halifax in 2023 on a Viking cruise, but we didn’t have the opportunity to walk around the city. At that time, we opted to take an onshore excursion, that featured the sites we saw on our bus tour today.
The Fairlawn cemetery, our first stop, is the final resting place of over 100 victims of the Titanic disaster. What I didn’t know from our previous visit, is that the graves are arranged in the shape of a ship, tapering towards the “bow” and wider at the “stern”.
The coroner, who was tasked with the job of trying to identify the victims that were pulled from the icy waters, had an almost hopeless undertaking. Most of the victims did not have any identification on them. In order to attempt identification, he numbered the bodies as they came to the morgue, and then wrote down eye color, hair color, and tried to guess at ethnicity. Sometimes though, he made assumptions. A person with red hair was assumed to be Irish, but of course, that wasn’t always the case.
There are also graves from the 1917 Halifax explosion, the largest manmade explosion in history before the atomic bomb. It was caused by the collision of the French explosives-laden ship SS Mont-Blanc and the Norwegian ship SS Imo in Halifax Harbour, resulting in about 2,000 deaths, thousands injured, and widespread destruction of the city’s north end.
We boarded our bus again and enjoyed seeing the beautiful neighborhoods, as we passed through them on the way to the Citadel, a former British and Canadian military site.
At the Citadel, the Royal Artillery at noon each day, fires a cannon. We arrived just in time to hear the cannon fire, and even though we knew it was happening, we all jumped out of our skin. Wow… It was loud!!!
We enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant, dining on haddock which was delicious. We enjoyed talking with some of the folks on the tour and we had a lovely time.
After the tour, Allan and I walked the boardwalk and then went to the Alexander Keith brewery. Alexander immigrated from Scotland to Nova Scotia in 1817 and founded the brewery in 1820. He served as Mayor of Halifax from 1843–1844 and again from 1852–1853.
Unfortunately, all the tours for the brewery for today were sold out, but the man gave us two tickets to enjoy free beers at a restaurant around the corner from the brewery. The beers were very good… Nice and dark.
Allan and I went to dinner at a local restaurant and had the lobster dinner and then it was off to bed.
If you would like to know more about Halifax and what we saw today, please go to my 2023 Canada, Greenland, and Iceland blog post as I go into much more detail about the sites we saw today.
Our plane ride was great… We were only 7 minutes late landing, and given we sat on the tarmack before takeoff for over 30 minutes, that was pretty good.
We Ubered to the hotel and met our guide Greg. Then we checked into our hotel room, which is very spacious, and met some of the group for an orientation walk
We’ve been to Halifax before, so we were familiar with the layout of the city. It is a lovely city and it was a beautiful day, and we are right by the water and the boardwalk, which we will walk tomorrow afternoon.
After the orientation, Allan and I went for dinner at the Wooden Monkey. Farm fresh offerings and our food was very tasty. Allan had the meatballs and pasta and I had Nova Scotia salmon.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and we were amazed to see the natives wearing shorts sans jackets! It was chilly tonight and I was happy I had my raincoat on to block the wind.
Some of the folks we’ve met so far on the trip seen very nice and it looks like it will be a good group.
Our friends in Florida all have porches that they call lanais (pronounced la-ni with a long i sound on the “ni”)
It is such a lovely sounding exotic word, even though it just means a porch…either enclosed or open air.
We have a glass and screen enclosed back porch here in Bethlehem, and I told Allan I was going to start using the word lanai when referring to it.
“Sweetheart, please show the guests to the lanai”. “Be a dear and put the martinis out on the lanai”. “I think I’ll take my lemonade and magazines out to the lanai”. “If anyone calls, I will be napping on the lanai”.
Allan retorted “She was found strangled…on the lanai”.
I’m beginning to realize “Porch” is a delightful word as well.
We’re off on another adventure – this time to Canada to see Halifax, Baddeck, Peggy’s Cove, and lots of sites on the way. It is a land tour and we will be covering a lot of ground with the 37 other folks who will be with us. We leave on September 12…so stay tuned.
I was having a glass of wine while reading a friend’s blog and one article on it that was brought to my attention… “Does Happiness Come With Age?”
According to the article…”people start out at age 18 feeling pretty good about themselves, and then, apparently, life begins to throw curve balls. They feel worse and worse until they hit 50. At that point, there is a sharp reversal, and people keep getting happier as they age. By the time they are 85, they are even more satisfied with themselves than they were at 18.”
In the survey, people over the age of 50 were asked whether they experienced the following emotions during a large part of the day yesterday: Enjoyment, happiness, stress, worry, anger, sadness. And apparently, those of us over the age of 50 shouted “Yes, by God! Enjoyment and happiness! Yesterday was a great day!” But, we conveniently leave off the “I think so at least…from what I can remember.”
Well…it’s good to know that it’s all uphill from here. All delirious delight and enchanting elation. All euphoric excitement and blissful beatitude.
But then again, that just might be the wine talking.
As a former New Yorker I have to say, when someone rings your doorbell and you are alone in the house, you usually:
a. Pretend you don’t hear the bell
b. Go to the window and peek out and see who’s there just in case you have to identify them later in a lineup
c. Request that the person shows twenty forms of ID…from their driver’s license and passport to their baby hospital pics and their 9th grade junior high school graduation photo, produce a list of all the medicines they are currently taking, a document of any previous surgery experiences and an assurance validated and signed by their doctor that they have not spent more than a year in a mental facility. It is also helpful to check out their DinersClub Card, cause, hey you never know.
Needless to say, you didn’t open the door to a stranger if you were home alone. You always would read about the good Samaritan who opened the front door to the stranger who claimed their car broke down while on their way to the Mayo Clinic to donate a kidney and half their liver to their dying cousin and they therefore needed to use the phone to call the hospital and explain the delay. While the kind homeowner was fetching the phone for the visitor, the stranger’s “partners in crime” would be sneaking into the back door and carting out the plasma TVs.
Well, we lived in the mountains of Connestee and it had been raining there. Allan was out at a meeting and my doorbell rang. I looked out to see a little elderly lady standing at the door totally drenched and holding three books and a board game in her hands.
“May I come in and use your phone?” she queried, seeing me through the screen door. (Mental note #1: Remember to close inside door when Allan isn’t here!) . “I was walking home from the clubhouse library and got caught in the rain and need to call someone to pick me up. My grandchildren are visiting and I stopped at the library to pick up some things to keep them amused and on my way home, all of a sudden, it started to downpour!”
Now, being a New Yorker, I am embarrassed to admit, I looked her up and down as various scenarios played through my brain. Hmmm…she says she was walking home from the clubhouse. That in and of itself is a feat since the mountain roads were quite strenuous to navigate on foot. I don’t recognize her, so that tells me she didn’t live on my road. It also tells me that this little lady is no doubt in good physical condition as she is quite a distance from her home if, in fact, she actually lived in Connestee. Will she tackle me the minute I turn my back to procure the phone for her?
And those books that were in her hands. Was she carrying them to use as weapons if I didn’t move fast enough when she demanded my jewelry and my aunt Audrey’s Rice Charlotte recipe? Had there been any reports of break ins in the neighborhood as of late? (Actually, in all the years we’d lived there…we’d only heard of one!!) And wait…forget the books. Maybe she actually HAD a weapon…perhaps a knife or a gun hidden underneath those book decoys. (I’d been watching too much CSI).
And what about that board game she was toting. Clue? I mean really. Was she playing that in her spare time to hone in on her skills? I could just see the headlines…The murder was committed by Mrs. Elderly Lady, with a book, in the parlor near the telephone!
I decided I could take her if need be, no matter what, even if she did walk the roads of Connestee, since I had been working out myself and heck, I walked those roads too. Okay, I’m huffing and puffing after the first two miles, but nonetheless. (Allan later said when I told him the story, that I’m so buff, had she tried to shoot me I could have probably grabbed the bullet in my teeth and yelled…”Yeah??? What else have ya got?!!”)
So, I let her in and not only offered her the phone, but offered her a cup of coffee and a towel to dry off with. After a phone call to her home with no one answering, I told her I would drive her home myself. We dashed into the car in the pouring rain and off we went.
Anyway, I came home and thought to myself…it’s so nice that we lived in a community where all you have to do is walk up and ring someone’s bell…and you know you’ve got a friend.
And since I was a New Yorker (and probably always will be in my heart), Mental note #2: Now I know where she lives!!
After breakfast we traveled by train and bus to Roskilde, the one-time capital city of Denmark.
We visited the Roskilde Cathedral, the first Gothic-style cathedral to be built of brick. More than 40 kings and queens have been buried in the cathedral over the past 1,000 years, which is the most royal cathedral burials in the world. Roskilde Cathedral has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.
The cathedral is beautiful, with unique royal chapels along the sides of the main cathedral, each containing the remains of royal families. Each chapel is unique and each reflect the changing architecture across 800 years, from the Viking kings, to Gothic architecture, across the Reformation, and up until the finished funeral monument for Denmark’s current queen, Queen Margrethe 2.
We had lunch in a quaint restaurant and the food and wine – outstanding!
We then visited the Roskilde’s Viking Ship Museum, dedicated to studying and preserving the boat-building and seafaring techniques of Denmark’s ancient and medieval people.
Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk in Roskilde fjord, in order to block the most important fairway and to protect Roskilde from an enemy attack from the sea. The five ships were found and excavated in 1962 and are on display at the museum.
We took the bus and train back to our hotel and then went to the Farewell Dinner, as tomorrow we all leave for home. It was a wonderful adventure and we loved seeing the gorgeous scenery, eating the food, and marveling at the sites. Till next time…Ha det.
Roskilde
Beautiful garden for the bees
The Roskilde cathedral
One of the chapels
And another chapel
And yet another chapel
And another chapel
Healing waters. We all washed our hands in the water.
This morning after breakfast, we took the bus to explore Freetown Christiania. Christiania was founded in 1971, when a group of people – hippies, artists, and activists – cut a hole in the fence to an abandoned military barracks, and declared the area a free town, independent of Danish government laws and regulations. While it has since accepted some adherence to Danish law, it is still semi-autonomous today, and is a haven for artists, musicians, and those seeking an alternative lifestyle.
We met with a local resident of the town, who said to Heidi, not realizing she had on a hot mike, “I’m kinda nursing a two day hangover!” That was what we heard in our ear pieces. Too funny!
There are about 900 people in Freetown, and most of the people have built their own primitive housing. The houses do have electricity and water and the residents do pay taxes to the Danish government. There is a doctor in residence, but most of the people prefer to be treated with alternative methods first, before seeking medical care. They do get vaccines.
The people can buy things they need in the shops and there are organic restaurants, art galleries, and gardens. I have never seen so many gorgeous shades of roses that are growing all over the place. Cameras are prohibited in certain areas to protect the alternative nature of the community.
Christiania is run by its residents, who collectively make decisions through a consensus-based democratic process.
Since its opening, Christiania has been famous for its open cannabis trade, which took place on Pusher Street in the community. When local residents removed the Pusher Street stalls, it was estimated that the cannabis sale dropped by about 75%. As of June 2023, there were numerous cannabis sellers on Pusher Street openly selling their wares from makeshift stalls with spray painted signs advertising the strain of cannabis for sale. In August 2023, residents had had enough and they blocked the entrances to Pusher Street with concrete barriers and bars, but it is still sold on the quiet. Cannabis is illegal in Denmark, so if the police catch you buying it, you will be arrested.
In 2012, the Danish government offered to sell most of the land that Christiania was on to the residents at below the market rate, and offered guaranteed loans. In exchange, the Christianians promised to upgrade and maintain water, sewage, and electrical services, and preserve rights of way and “rural” areas.
It was a very unique and kind of crazy learning experience. I think Rick Steves, the travel guru, sums it up when he writes:
“A few years ago I received an email from some readers who’d visited. They said: ‘We’re not prudes, but Christiania was creepy. Don’t take kids here or go after dark.’ A free city is not pretty; I agree. But watching parents raise their children with Christiania values, I came to believe more strongly than ever in this social experiment. Giving alternative-type people a place to be alternative is a kind of alternative beauty that deserves a place.” Amen!
After chatting with our guide, we all boarded the bus to go to Tivoli Gardens, the second-oldest amusement park in the world, that opened in 1843. We enjoyed lunch there, but Allan and I weren’t interested in going on any of the 30 rides they have, so instead we went to the Glyptotek museum. We toured the Degas exhibit, the Egyptian exhibits, as well as the numerous works by Norwegian-Danish sculptor Stephan Sinding that were on display.
After the museum, we went back to Tivoli Gardens to see the ballet performance of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale Clumsy Hans, in the open air theater. It was very good. Then we went to another open air theater to see conductor Phillip Faber and hear his orchestra play classical selections, alongside soprano Louise McClelland. We were treated to music by Mozart, Vivaldi, and Strauss and Ms. McClelland sang Summertime and finished with O Mio Bambino Caro, one of my all time favorite arias.
And then…Allan and I finished the day with McDonald’s. It was really delicious, but we didn’t have ketchup for our fries, because we didn’t realize… they charge extra for it and we had already paid for our meal.
Our guide in Christiania
One of the buildings
The residents build their homes and on-site is a warehouse with recycled material from previous homes, that the people can purchase and use to build with.
The Kingdom of Denmark, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland, has roughly 1,400 islands and Denmark itself is characterized by sandy coasts, low elevation, and a temperate climate.
Denmark remained neutral during WWI, but its neutrality was violated in WWII by the rapid German invasion. It was finally liberated at the end of the war in 1945. In 1973, Denmark, together with Greenland, became a member of what is now the EU, however, it negotiated certain stipulations such as retaining its own currency, the krone. Denmark is also a founding member of NATO.
Denmark has the highest tax rate of the countries in the EU – 55.9%. Danish taxes are put towards an extensive social security network so that every resident is well-provided for at all times of life – services from education right through to retirement.
Denmark is very ecologically aware. Most everyone rides bicycles to and from work, and 4 out of 10 Danes owns a car. Denmark is the leader in wind energy. Wind turbines are a major source of energy and the country is actively working to further expand its wind energy capacity.
Denmark was the first country to allow same-sex couples to enter into partnerships, granting them the same rights as heterosexual married couples and in 2012, same-sex marriage was legalized.
After breakfast, we activated our Copenhagen card that OAT provided for us, which gives us free entry to 80+ attractions as well as free transport in the Copenhagen region! We will have it for the next three days – a great perk!
We then boarded our bus for a discovery ride around Copenhagen, stopping first to see the iconic Little Mermaid statue.
Based on the 1837 fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small statue, posing nude on a rock, has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling in 1913. It has been the target of defacement by political activists and vandals, but it has always been restored.
The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the bronze statue. The statue’s head was modeled after Ellen Price, a ballerina in the Royal Danish Ballet of 1909, but she refused to pose nude for the statue rendering. Eline Eriksen, the sculptor’s wife, modeled instead.
When I was a little girl, my mom gave me a leather bound, gold trimmed book of Andersen’s fairy tales. As I read each story, I became more and more frightened. The Little Match Girl freezes to death as her last match blows out. Thumbelina, a loathsome mole, and the other unsavory characters that she encounters, had me worrying about monsters in the closets. The Red Shoes that were on a little girl’s feet, wouldn’t stop dancing, so an executioner had to cut off her feet. What???? (And, her red shoes continued to dance away on their own. Yikes!!) The Tinderbox with the three monstrous dogs. And… The Little Mermaid?? Don’t get me started. Suffice it to say, the Disney version has a happier plot. To me as a child, the book was pages of horror! So I decided not to read it again. I ripped the pages out of the book and tore each page into tiny pieces. To say my mother was displeased when she saw the pile of shredded fairy tales is an understatement. I, on the other hand, was relieved that I’d never have to read those fairy tales again. So, seeing the iconic Little Mermaid? Meh! (At least the Brothers Grimm had the courtesy to give a heads up about the scariness of their tales, by using their last name on the covers of their books! LOL!!)
Denmark happens to be a very flat country as I mentioned before, with no mountains to ski on. A Danish architect decided to change that. Bjarke Ingels gotthe idea to create a man-made mountain for skiing, built on…
Wait for it…
…the roof of a huge incinerator!!! This incinerator burns waste to produce heat and electricity!! An unbelievable innovation and creative use of a building that would otherwise only have one purpose: to burn garbage.
Next we visited Amalienborg Palace and museum. The Amalienborg Museum is located at Christian VIII’s Palace, one of the four palaces where the Royal Family resides when they are in Copenhagen. The Royal family were not in residence today. We witnessed the changing of the guard in the palace square and then we toured the museum. The museum houses the Royal family’s historic offices. We also saw the Gala Hall which is still used by the royal family on special occasions.
After the tour, we took a leisurely hour-long canal boat ride to see the beautiful sites of Copenhagen. It was such a sunny, warm day, and the ride was absolutely wonderful.
After the canal boat ride, we had lunch at Nyhavn Færgekro and enjoyed Danish smørrebrød! We all were given plates filled with roast beef, cheese, herring, shrimp, and salmon, as well as some delicious spreads. The bread was placed on the table and we were able to make our sandwiches. I enjoyed everything except the herring. Very fishy! Yuck! But I did have wine as well as a small shot of some liquor that was very potent! Wowser!!!
Perhaps it’s because it’s a weekend, but Copenhagen is very crowded. There are hoards of people walking the streets and it’s hard to get around. Allan may be starting with a head cold, so we decided to forego any more touring and just went back to the hotel for a nap. We weren’t hungry for dinner so we read some and then it was off to bed.
Lots of fun things are scheduled for tomorrow.
The Little Mermaid
St Alban’s Church
Gefion Fountain, depicting the Norse goddess Gefion transforming her four sons into powerful oxen. She uses them to plow the island of Zealand out of Sweden, according to the legend. (Transforming her sons into bulls? This mom could have starred in one of good old Han’s fairy tales!)
Changing of the guard
The Royal palace
One of the offices in the museum
Frederik’s Church, commonly known as The Marble Church, is renown for its rococo architecture.
Believe it or not, people leave their sleeping babies outside while they go in and either eat or shop. Kidnapping is unheard of and the Danes believe children are healthiest when outside, even in the freezing cold. Today was a warm day, and this little one was sound asleep.
The canal boat ride.
Our lunch.
“Wonderful, wonderful, Copenhagen”, so the lyrics of the song go, however, ‘Copenhagen’ is pronounced incorrectly in the song sung by Danny Kaye in the movie Hans Christian Andersen. It actually should be pronounced “kow·puhn·hay·gn” and not ”cow-pen-hah-gen”. Danny Kaye pronounced it in the movie with a German-influenced accent.
We left Bergen this morning and amazingly, even though it rains almost every day in Bergen, we had no rain at all for the three days we were there. We have been so lucky on this trip…it only rained one day so far.
We didn’t have to leave for our flight until noon, so we had a leisurely breakfast, packed our things together, and boarded the bus to the airport.
The flight was very nice and we arrived at our hotel, got settled in, and then we took a half hour walk with Heidi and the group for dinner. Copenhagen is very, very crowded! It is a Friday night and people are allowed to drink liquor outside (it’s not allowed in Norway) and people were partying everywhere. We walked down the main drag and saw Prada, Gucci, and all the big expensive stores as well as a huge Lego store. This IS the place for Legos!
Dinner was outstanding. Delicious steak and French fries. We also had a lemon mousse for dessert, but Allan and I didn’t eat it.
It was very late when we left the restaurant and even later by the time we got back to the hotel. It was a beautiful evening and the walk was lovely, mainly because the crowds had thinned out a bit. We have a very busy day tomorrow, so here’s to a good night’s sleep.
