The Crossing - Day 15 - Re-enactors, Poutine, Beaver Tail, and theRedcoats, Eh?

September 19

It was a beautiful day today!

We got an early start and walked to the Citadel. The Citadel is a star-shaped fortress on top of a hill overlooking the harbour. It was built by the British in 17___. This is one of the better forts we have visited in terms of state of preservation and what there is to do and see. Part of this is because a non-profit group is dedicated to preserving and operating the fort. Inside there is a military museum, a shop, a cafe, and a number of exhibits related to the fort. Uniformed Highland soldiers stand guard at the gate. Apparently it is also possible to rent out a room for parties. I saw a mother come in with two children and presents and she told the guard they were there for the birthday parties. At noon every day a cannon is fired and it can be heard all over Halifax.

There are guided tours every hour. We arrived just in time for an English guided tour. Our guide was "Private Hall." She was a college student and she did a terrific job.

Our first stop was the guard room. Guards had shifts of two hours on and 4 hours off, but they hd to stay in the guard room for 24 hours in order to be ready to respond immediately.

The fort was very well fortified. There were two walls around the perimeter. In between was "The Trench". Guns and cannons could easily be aimed at the Trench to eliminate any invaders. Inside the outer wall ws a narrow passage way that led to several gun embrasures. 

A gun embrasure

This happened to be a really good day to visit the Citadel. An encampment was taking place and there were re-enactors everywhere. They were happy to show off for tourists. They were going to have a battle at 1 pm, but that didn't fit with our schedule. I'm not sure whether there were ever any actual battles here.

Tents in the Trench

That is NOT Ken, but it really looks like him.

We got some humorous phtos of re-enactors - unintentionally:

Excuse me, the back of your plaid is caught on your sword

These small re-enactors were having lots of fun

After the Citadel we were supposed to take a Segway tour. We walked down to the Harbourwalk and found the Segway trailer. The owner showed us an instructional and safety video and explained that we would be practicing nearby and then take a trial run on the boardwalk. The instructions were a lot more complicated than I as expecting. In every case when the person in the video did not follow the directins, he ended up falling and cracking his head on the sidewalk. I might have been willing to try this in an empty parking lot, but the boardwalk was very crowded with people and dogs. I had already spent 14 days with some of these people, and they do not know how to get out of your way. I told the owner I really didn't feel comfortable with the Segway and he was very, very nice about it.

All that worryig about falling off a Segway made hungry, so we walked back down the Harbourwalk to a little collection of food stands. We stopped at Smoke's Poutinerie and tried out some "standard" poutine; french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. It was a lot better than it looked.

 

We washed the poutine down with a cinnamon Beaver Tail.

   

I would definitely go back to both of these places.  Mmmmmm hmmmmm.

The sunshine felt so good we dawdled on the Harbourwalk just to soak it in. we eventually returned to the ship via the Farmer's Market.

Right before we sailed, the ship had a real treat for us - the RCMP Pipe and Drum Band.

It was everything you would hope for from a show of this type.

Highland Dancers

The RCMP's own tartan

Shortly after the show ended the Caribean Princess sailed off into the sunset . . . er, there was sun here a little while ago. I hope they put the foghorn on  . . . soon.

Would I look good in red?

Finally, a show by Tony Tillman, Princess' 2nd annual Entertainer of the Year. He entertained The Greatest Generation, not the Baby Boomers. I am just not into the Rat Pack.

The Crossing - Day 14 - Landfall!

September 18

We did another "art tour" today. This time we did the midship stairwell.

Still Life with Lillies I & II, by Ellen Gunn (USA)

A Holiday's Tale, by Renzo Andreon (Italy)

Afternoon Etude, Sonata, & Apres L'Etude, by Yunessi (Iran)

Sometimes I like pictures better when there are two or three of them together, as is the case with the three above.

Lunch with friends

In the afternoon we sat on our balcony in our shorts. It was so pleasant that we didn't want to move.

We were about an hour late arriving at Halifax. saailing in in the evening is quite different. Often we are asleep for a morning sail in. This time we were able to enjoy the whole experience. AAfter days of seeing no other ships and only one airplane and a few birds, things changed very suddenly. We saw land, we approached the harbour (in Canada it's a harbour), we began to see buildings on the land, and a lighthouse. Suddenly the water around us was filled with small boats, sailboats, a sloop, a schooner, a small tanker.

The Celebrity Summit leaves as we arrive

Although it was after 7 pm, it was still light. The sky was startng to turn a pretty color. The air was very warm. As we neared the dock we went back out to our balcony to see what we could see. So did everyone else. There was a party atmosphere. 

Some people were really ready to set foot on land again. I could have easily spent another week or two at sea.

As we got closer we realized that our ship was being piped in. Halifax has a very strong Scottish heritage. A lone piper and a drummer stood on the dock as the ship arrived. When they finished each song they received enthusiastic applause from all the people on the balconies. It made our arrival in Halifax very special.

The ship's officers and the pilot can be seen in the bridge as we dock

A lot of people went ashore after clearance was received around 8 pm. I think most of them wanted to use the free wi-fi in the terminal. 

We stayed onboard and went to the comedy show starring Steve Bruner. He was supposed to get on the ship in Newfoundland. He had to fly to Halifax, taking an indirect route. He couldn't get on the ship until some time after 8 and his first show was at 8:45. 

We really enjoyed his show. It was based on his observations of people. He was very funny and he showed that it is possible to put on a great show without demeaning any individual or group and without being offensive.

The Crossing - Day 13 - Sea Day Art Tour: Aft

September 17

One of the things we like to do on a cruise is take a self-guided tour of the art on the ship. Each ship has a permanent collection of art that hangs in the public spaces.

Each ship also has an Art Auction department which is unrelated. This department incessantly markets "art" to passengers like it is a commodity. Their marketing strategy is relentless, seductive, and cynical. I think they are separate from Princess and they pay Princess a fee to be able to operate on their ships.  The art auction program must have begun over 20 years ago. When it first started I went to one of their presentations to see what it was all about. I naively thought I might learn something about "art." I learned something about marketing. I thought their "art" was schlock and I thought their program was ridiculous and would not last very long. Was I wrong. They now have a gallery on each ship, in addition to their use of one of the lounges for the auctions. They sell art by the likes of Thomas Kinkade, Peter Max, and the guy who paints olives with arms and legs in martini glasses. They have huge pictures of women "getting ready for bed." They have real boxing shorts from famous fighters and real basketball jerseys framed in shadowboxes.  They have insipid paintings that look like they were stolen from a room at the Holiday Inn. If I had to choose the ugliest thing from the art auction, I would have a 50-way tie. The art auctions are run by a bunch of self-important supercilious types who remind me of the kind of people who work in high-end jewelry stores. I wonder if this is what happens to art history majors.

Some of the Princess art collection is also painfully ugly. IMHO, anyway. They really go in for collages and paintings that look like they were mass-produced and paintings that look like they were stolen from a Holiday Inn. But they also have some paintings I like.

I really don't know much about art. I don't know what makes something "art." I don't know how to judge a picture's artistic merit. But I do know what I like, and I'd like to think I know when the wool is being pulled over my eyes. I also realize that art is different things to different people and we all don't have to like the same stuff. Touring the ship's art is just a fun thing to do to pass the time and I don't take it very seriously.

Here is an example of something I find really ugly.

Here are some pieces I like. These can all be found in the aft stairwell.

I like pictures that do interesting things with light.

Here is a waitress who saw us photographing the art and wanted us to take her photograph.

The weather has changed dramatically. In the afternoon it was sunny and calm. It was so warm we were able to sit on our balcony in our shirtsleeves. We had a beautiful sunset.

Before we went to dinner we watched the champagne waterfall, which had been rescheduled from earlier when the water was rough.

We had dinner at Sabatini's, the Italian specialty restaurant. It was very nice. here are the desserts we had - espresso tiramisu and lemon tart.

After dinner we went to see a production show called Caribbean Caliente. It had some good parts, and it had some weird parts. In the first set the costumes did not seem to go along with the theme. It looked like they had taken random leftover costumes from a number of other shows and used them in this show. he dancing was kind of like that too. But the music definitely fit in with the theme and was very enjoyable.