Our last day at sea was busy with several one-time events. First, we had our disemarkation talk, followed by the crew farewell. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it brings tears to my eyes when the cast sings their farewell song, “Love in Any Language”. I managed to buck up, though, knowing that we’d be on another cruise in the not-too-distant future. Lunch brought one of their famous specialty buffets. Most of the buffets on this trip haven’t appealed to me because I’m not a lover of seafood (at least the kind they served – mussels, scallops, clams, various kinds of fish, etc.), but this one was delicious! In addition to the above seafood, they also had shrimp cocktail, and they also had flank steak, pork, and chicken. And I found a new dessert that was yummy – a meringue “sandwich” with peanut butter filling! Mm-mm-good!
I worked off the bigger lunch than usual by participating in On Deck for the Cure. Several years ago Holland America teamed with Susan G Komen to raise funds for breast cancer research. I participated a few times (pre-knee replacements), but haven’t done it for quite awhile. After my surgery last October, I decided that I was going to make the effort to try to finish the 5K walk this time. They always give us a pep talk before-hand, and ask survivors to step forward to start the walk off. There were five of us, and one was my friend Jean that I’d met on the 2009 Grand Voyage (we sat next to each other in the HAL Chorale). She’d just had her surgery three months ago, and other than her, my surgery was the most recent. We set off to do the lucky 13 laps around the deck. I’d been doing some walking at the beginning of the cruise but backed off when I developed a sinus infection at the beginning of August. I started walking again after Scotland (the 15th of August), but hadn’t done that many laps at any stretch. Neither Jean nor I wanted to walk fast, so after we started the walk, we fell to the back of the pack, walking at our own pace. Cruise Director Bruce (who had been the director of the HAL Chorale) walked a lap or two with us before walking with some other participants. Walking at the slow pace made it possible for me to keep going. Jean dropped out after 10 laps, but I managed to make it the whole 13 laps. Despite finishing second- or third-to-last, I felt a great sense of accomplishment at having completed the entire walk, and I welcomed the complimentary neck massage they were offering to the participants. Now I have to keep it up so I can participate again on my next cruise!
After a lovely day at sea, we arrived early on Thursday morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We were scheduled to meet on shore for an excursion that would take us to Peggy’s Cove and the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where many of the victims of the Titanic were buried. The day was warm and sunny – the warmest we’ve had since setting sail from Boston on July 23rd. Our kilted tour guide, Alex, was a wealth of information on the history of the area. Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland, and large percentage of the inhabitants are of Scottish descent. Alex explained about his attire, saying that all the guides wore kilts, but he wasn’t being traditional. Traditional dress requires that men do not wear underwear, and he said that the Scottish guards had to march across a mirrored area to prove that they were dressed appropriately. He commented that with the winters they have in Nova Scotia, he was not interested in being traditional. The Scottish guard did not used to wear brooches on their kilts until the time of Queen Victoria. Apparently on a windy day, the queen got more of a view than she had bargained for, so she offered her brooch to the kilt-clad soldier. Since then it has been tradition to wear a brooch or pin to hold the kilt closed.
We were very fortunate to visit Peggy’s Cove on a picture-perfect day as well as at a time when there weren’t yet many tourists in the town. It is a very picturesque fishing village with the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. He gave us a brief lobster demonstration, explaining how to tell whether a lobster was a male or a female, but since it had to do with measuring tentacles on the underside, I would need to have one of each to tell which one had the shorter tentacles (which I think was the female). Male lobsters are smaller than females, and you can tell their age by knowing their weight. He told us that they’d found an 87-pounder recently which would be way too tough to eat so they tossed it back.
We had time to walk over to the beautiful lighthouse overlooking the harbor and take many pictures, as well as walking through the small village (supposedly only 35 people live there, but it sure looked like there were at least 35 buildings)! Since it isn’t currently lobster season, the lobster traps and the fishing boats were in the harbor, affording us many excellent photo opportunities.
Our other stop on this tour was the Fairview Lawn Cemetery. The guide explained how Halifax came to be the final resting place for the victims of the Titanic. Even though St. Anthony, Newfoundland was much closer, it wasn’t equipped for something like that, so they didn’t attempt to go out to try and recover the bodies. So Halifax stepped up and sent recovery ships out to the site to recover as many bodies as they could. They had a very methodical way of doing this. They numbered each victim, as well as any belongings (clothes) that they might have had, numbered the body bags, and then made sure they matched all numbers. Families of victims who were identified were notified, and they were given the option of getting the belongings back. The White Star Line asked families if they would like to have the bodies shipped home, if they said yes, then the White Star Line told them how much it would cost. Since most of the recovered victims were traveling 3rd class, the families could not afford the expense of transporting the bodies home, so they were buried in Halifax. Graves were numbered with the same number as appeared on the victim. Some of the interesting graves were that of the Italian chef who had brought 21 of his family members on board to help him run the 1st class dining room, all of whom perished, the Swedish woman who went down with four children (who was portrayed in James Cameron’s movie Titanic with two small children as the ship was sinking), one of the members of the stringed quartet, and J Dawson, a coal shoveler on board who became the inspiration for Jack Dawson in the movie. The guide said that he’d had people come and cry over the grave thinking that Leonardo di Caprio was buried there. (Sometimes you have to wonder about people!!!)
After a quick lunch on the ship, we went back out and took the Hop On, Hop Off tour that included stops at the Citadel and the lovely Public Gardens. The Citadel is a fortress that overlooks the city. We timed it perfectly (for a change) and were able to see the changing of the guard. We were quite surprised to find that the guard coming on duty was a woman! We enjoyed walking through the Public Garden, and were particularly interested in watching photos taken of a new bride and groom, as well as someone who looked like death personified (face painted white). We would have loved to find out if it was some kind of tradition or just something they were doing for fun. Guess we’ll never know.
It hardly seems possible that our 35-day trip is almost over. Just the port of Bar Harbor remains before we fly home to Chicago on Saturday. Because of the timing of the tour and the need to pack, it isn’t likely that we’ll post the final blog entry until after we get home.
Barb
P.S. Soon after we got home I saw a segment on TV about people having "zombie weddings". When I checked it online, I realized that this was something that some couples are opting to do nowadays. Not my choice of wedding guests, but to each his own. (Sigh - whatever!)
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