Wednesday-Thursday, June 15 & 16, 2010

Wednesday was a 'drive' day from Baddeck to Halifax. Before we left, we drove into town to visit the Alexander G. Bell Museum. I would think that it would focus of the telephone. It did, but most of the museum was about 'flight.' Bell was involved in the first flight in Canada which took place in 1909. Bell worked also to build the hydrofoil boat. That's what I'm standing beside.

Thursday, we drove downtown and went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The focus of the museum was on the Halifax Explosion of 1917, The Titanic Tragedy of 1912, Boats, Ships, and the Jewish Immigration attempt of 1939.

There were 2 beautiful yachts docked at the Halifax wharf - one from England and one from Bermuda. I forgot to include those pictures.

The Halifax Explosion was the largest man-made explosion before the atomic bomb. A large ship that was loaded with munitions for WWI was accidentally rammed in the harbor, caught on fire, and exploded. There were thousands of tons of explosives that blew-up. Hundreds of people on shore were killed because of the size of the explosion.

The Jewish Immigration story is about a full ship of German Jews that were trying to flee Hitler's German. They were originally going to Cuba, but while in transit Cuba changed its laws, and they were refused entry. They were refused in Florida also, and tried to immigrate to Nova Scotia and were denied there also. They had to go back to Germany and many were sent to concentration camps and died. On the list was a 'Levin' and a 'Finkelstein', Connie's maiden name and her grandmother's maiden' name.

The Titanic Tragedy is familiar to most and there are many artifacts in the museum. We went to the cemetery where over 300 casualties are buried. The little child's grave is a focal point in the cemetery. Many of the graves have only a number, no name. Many of those lost were never positively identified.

The local park had some beautiful flowers, and I couldn't resist putting four in today's blog. It rained off and on today and the poppies and iris's were still wet. I thought that made them especially photographic.

We have a couple of other downtown places to go, but didn't have time today.