Travel Thursday - Halifax

At the end of May, I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with my mom and sister for a long weekend. 

It is an easy flight from Ottawa, taking between an hour and an hour and a half. We didn't get a picture of it, but the US Vice President's airplane (airforce 2????) was at the airport that day as he was in town for a visit. More impressive than his plane was the 2 huge military planes that accompanied it. 

My sister took this picture for her kids - We were looking for Care Bears:)

Our first day we spent downtown Halifax. We visited Pier 21. From 1928-1971 a million immigrants passed through the doors on their way to North America. During WWII over 500 000 Canadian soldiers (including my grandfather) left for Europe from this pier.  It is a lovely museum if you ever have a chance to get there.

One of the cool things they have done is to take the stories of specific immigrants and present them in photo books, with an accompanying suitcase to show what they packed. 

These are all the possessions this man brought to Canada. It is less than some people take on vacation. 

We walked along the water front, which was very dog friendly and had lots of places to get bags if you needed them (because we all know, sometimes you run out!)

After lunch, we went to the Art Gallery. Confession, I know nothing about Art, but I love it. I recently purchased a membership to the National Gallery of Canada and may have already been twice.

I have an extreme phobia of whales (long story for another day). I loved this painting because it shows whales and a guy running saying "I am afraid".

Even on vacation I don't always escape work! I work with individuals with autism and related disorders. The gallery had an art program for people with autism and they had an exhibition of their work. 

There was some of Dali's sketches . . .

I have chosen not to share my favourite piece here because it may be offensive to some people (there is a lot of nudity). However, I fell in love with Canadian Cree artist Kent Monkman's works. I have never had discussions about the meaning of a piece with strangers before. It is that thought provoking. His process is amazing as well. I highly recommend a Google search of his works and his process. Love or hate his paintings, the work he puts into them is amazing.

We had a very nice first day away of art and culture.