As soon as we realized that we’d be in town when the Halifax Mooseheads Junior A ice hockey team was playing, we put it on our calendar. It’s been ages since we watched a live hockey game—probably not since the Seattle Thunderbirds Junior A team moved out of downtown Seattle in 2009. We started the day off with a tour of the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site where we watched the Noon Gun firing and toured their excellent military museum, then walked to the Halifax Forum to watch the Mooseheads that evening.
Trip highlights from September 16th in Halifax, Nova Scotia follow. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://mvdirona.com/maps
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Halifax Town Clock
Position: -63 34.63, 44 38.86
The Halifax Town Clock stands on a hillside west of the waterfront below the Halifax Citadel. The clock began keeping time in 1803 and is among the most well-known landmarks in the city.
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Citadel
Position: -63 34.80, 44 38.81
We visited the historic Halifax Citadel National Historic Site today. The British military founded the town of Halifax in 1749 and built a series of forts on Citadel Hill to protect the city and naval station. The present-day Citadel, completed in 1856, is the fourth fort on the side and has been restored to the Victorian period.
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Noon Gun
Position: -63 34.80, 44 38.81
We arrived at the Citdel in time for the traditional firing of the noon gun, a local tradition since 1857 and one of the oldest in the world. Each day (except for Christmas Day), gunners dressed in the 3rd Brigade Royal Artillery uniform of 1869 fire a cannon (a reproduction 12 pounder, smooth-bore muzzle loading gun used during the reign of King George III). This is a tribute to Halifax’s history as a major British military stronghold. The video https://youtu.be/0CYSgFSfHxM shows the tremendous boom and a big plume of smoke when the cannon fires, along with the changing of the guard and later one of the 78th Highlanders Pipe Band playing bagpipes.
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Wooden Monkey
Position: -63 34.53, 44 38.82
We took a lunch break during our Citadel visit after we’d watched the Noon Gun. At the nearby Wooden Monkey pub we had an exceptional pizza lunch with, of course, local craft beer.
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City View
Position: -63 34.73, 44 38.82
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Citadel. This is the sweeping view of Halifax Harbour from the fort wall.
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Military Museum
Position: -63 34.82, 44 38.84
The Citadel also contains an extensive military museum that details the conflicts the Canadian forces have been involved in over the years.
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Trench
Position: -63 34.85, 44 38.90
Jennifer raising a decoy head from the World War II trench reconstruction at the Citadel Military Museum.
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Unfiltered Brewing
Position: -63 35.76, 44 39.25
From the Citadel, we walked 1.5 miles northwest to the Halifax Forum. On our way we stopped for a drink in The Charm School Pub at Unfiltered Brewing. Their beer and cider were delicious, and we loved their domain name. While there we had a great conversation with outspoken co-owner Andrew Murphy, who is a professional photographer. Jennifer is looking through some of his impressive pictures while Andrew sips his beer.
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Mooseheads
Position: -63 36.25, 44 39.32
We had an excellent evening at the forum. The pre-season game was general admission and we arrived early enough to get great seats right behind the Mooshead box.
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Dunder Mifflin
Position: -63 36.25, 44 39.32
Fans of “The Office” television sitcom will recognize the name on this T-shirt. You can actually now buy a box of real Dunder Mifflin paper. The sitcom’s fictional paper product company became a real brand in 2011, as a subsidiary of Staples Inc.
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Mascot
Position: -63 36.25, 44 39.32
Jennifer and new friend at the Halifax Mooseheads ice hockey game.
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Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.
On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://mvdirona.com/maps. |
Nothing like a good old hockey game. I’m in St Pete, FL and still play (gre up in Buffalo, NY).
My snow birds hockey friends are arriving – several from Nova Scotia. Always fun to link-up every year and hear about their summers. Competitive level on the ice increases dramatically! :>)
Saw they had snow in NH this weekend…was wondering, where are you planning on wintering?
Jennifer is leaning towards wintering in Anapolis or somewhere in the Cheseapeak bay area at this point. I’m personally favoring a bit further south but we haven’t spent much time talking about it yet. Work is busy for me right now so we’ll probably just coast south as time allows and as cooler weather encourages to move along.
We are planning to stay here in Porstmouth until the start of next week.
Nice – we visited Annapolis when helping a friend bring a trawler from Long Island to FL. Great stop at the Annapolis YC but, as you may already know, it was severely damaged by an electrical fire in Dec, 2015.
The US Naval Academy is a great tour if you have not been. Safe travels.
Thanks for the Annapolis area tips Tim. Our current plan is to look at average winter temperatures in the area and figure out if we want to stop there for the winter or head further south.