Top from left:
Hacketts Cove,
St. Margarets
Bay, N.S.; the
Bluenose II
restoration in
Lunenburg.The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is
certainly a must-see and a lovely spot to stroll
through. Rob particularly enjoyed the Titan-
ic exhibit and the many brilliant ship models
throughout. My father-in-law had served on
the frigate Antigonish during World War II
and the tour of the HMCS Sackville served as
a reminder of the hard work, risk and cama-
raderie that Canadian veterans had shared
during those di cult times.
Pier 21 is an equally thought-provok-
ing site. It is easy to place yourself in the
shoes of the recently arrived immigrants
who had left their birth nations. Many ar-
rived seasick and with little money, large
families and probably oversold dreams of
the new land. The odds of ever returning
to see their parents and homes again were
remote. Rob and I discovered that my pa-
ternal grandfather had arrived in 1872 on the
steamer Quebec at the tender age of seven.
He then moved to settle in Exeter, Ont.,
where he went on to establish a newspaper
and a canning factory. Our final stop in Hali-
fax was to quench our thirst at Alexander
Keith’s Brewery. A souvenir bottle opener
continues to be operational several years on.
Next was Peggys Cove—it was much
smaller than I had envisioned. A pho-
tographic paradise of big skies, crashing
waves and iconic lighthouses, it was very
Canadian in that it was also devoid of the21