Bubbles on Halifax

Attended the Civitas conference this past weekend in Halifax.

As usual, it was a terrific event where I met many old friends, made new friends and had a chance to hear some fascinating discussions on domestic and international issues.

Unfortunately, such discussions are off the record, but what I can tell you about is the wonderful tour I and a couple of friends took of the city.

Our tour guide's name was Bubbles, a Quebecker who had lived in Nova Scotia for 39 years.

Anyway, Bubbles drove us around the city in his cab for two hours pointing out Halifax's sites and filling us in on the local history.

For one thing, he drove us through what he called the city's most "dangerous neighborhood", which turned out to be about half a block long, and actually seemed kind of nice to me.

Bubbles also noted pedestrians have a short life expectancy in Halifax due to the fact that Haligonians seem to wander into traffic with a reckless nonchalance. Indeed, Bubbles himself nearly got run over when we got out of the cab to check the famous Citadel.

The highlight of the tour, however, was our visit to the cemetary containing the graves of 150 poor souls who died on the Titanic.

Bubbles says the site became something of a tourist attraction after the James Cameron movie came out in 1997.

I just hope nobody got hit by a car walking to the cemetary.