Halifax
“Is that lobster for carry-on, sir?” We knew we’d made it to the right airport when we saw the live lobster. Founded in 1749 by Edward Cornwallis, Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia; home to St. Paul’s, the first Anglican cathedral outside the UK; and known for the Halifax Explosion in December 1917, when a munitions ship crashed in Halifax Harbour and caused the world’s largest man-made blast before the atomic bomb. But mainly its reputation is a bustling maritime hub, so having yearned for a more temperate climate and an Atlantic breeze, there we were for a typically soggy Canada Day weekend. Halifax has a long military history – just the fact that it was founded at all started a war with the Acadians (French settlers) and the Indigenous Mi’kmaq – and Canada Day itself was marked with a 21-gun salute from the Citadel in the centre of the old town. There was also a parade through the streets from the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo – an extraordinary array of soldier