Nova Scotia 1

It was not so far to Halifax. How to kill the time until 5 in the afternoon?  I decided on a slow drive along the south coast. There is this Marine Drive that goes south to the coast and then west to Halifax.

Unfortunately I didn't notice that there was a ferry along the way. This turned out to be a ferry pulled by a cable running from bank to bank. The fee was only a measly 50 cents, but they ran only every half hour.

I was near the head of the boat. It was a slow day. A hearse drove on. Interesting to be sharing a ferry with a loaded hearse. The crossing only took five minutes, but upon reaching the other shore, the hearse was in no hurry to drive off. Well, its other occupant was in no hurry I'm sure.

There is much beautiful coastal scenery here—coves, inlets and little nooks that you would expect from a highly indented coastline.

I stopped at a seafood restaurant for lunch. I missed having lobster in PEI because I didn't have anybody to go with. I felt like I deserved some seafood. This place got good marks in somebody's travel guide. I ordered a lobster chowder and finished up with pastry. Lunch was delicious.

Halifax was larger than I expected. Did you have visions of a smelly fishing town? Halifax was a modern city, complete with skyscrapers. The harbour reminded me of Hobart. I arrived around evening rush hour but fortunately didn't have to contend with too much traffic. The hostel seemed to be in a depressed area of town. Well the maritime provinces were economically depressed, but the cracks showed more in the city. Lots of unemployed hanging around the shelter. 

I had an hour to kill so I parked the car in the yard and walked downtown. I found a Radio Shack store and replaced the old batteries in the camera.  Since it was a warm day and I felt fatigued, I treated myself to a root beer at the A&W. They didn't seem to make those foot long hot dogs anymore. Pity. Every fast food chain seemed to have gone for burgers in some form, or chicken nuggets. When I checked in the house parent asked me if I came by car. She gave me a $2 rebate so that I could park at the covered garage downtown, 10 minutes walk away. I explored a little of downtown before walking back. The old town was interesting, but as luck would have it, I didn't have my camera with me. For tomorrow then. Trust Murphy to give me good scenery when I was not prepared.

P and J from PEI were at the hostel too. They were at Seal Island but didn't like the unheated facility and went to a motel. I didn't have much food except the haddock filet which by this time was smelly. I decided to drown the fish in chicken soup. There was a good collection of free food in the kitchen and I had bread and butter as well. I was very tempted, back there in town, to go for the $1.50 dinner advertised outside a pub.

I suggested going out for a beer. They were a little concerned about the safety of the area, but by American standards, the area was benign. I was tired and gave up the idea, so we three ended up playing ping-pong in the hostel. There was a laundry in the basement but lots of people were in line and everytime I came back to check, somebody had gone ahead of me. I got my stuff washed and dried by midnight. There was a shower in the basement too, so I used that to avoid making noise upstairs.