The Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (Canada)

The Fortress of Louisbourg (French: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a tourist attraction and a National Historic Site [1] located on Cape Breton Island. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Cape Breton is accented on "bre" and is an island, or rather, was an island, if you want to be really precise [2]. Otherwise, Sylt in Germany wouldn't be an island either. Cape Breton Island has been connected to the Nova Scotia peninsula by a causeway in the Strait of Canso since 1955. Conveniently, we could take a bus to the island. The shortest route is about 170 km; but we took a completely different route, by the way. In French, the island is called Île du Cap-Breton, in Canadian Gaelic it's Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, and in the Mi'kmaw language, it's U'namakika [3]. But let's quickly forget footnote [3], because the Mi'kmaw toponym means Land of Fog. The English toponym refers to the town of Capbreton, a fishing port in Gascony.

Now let's consider what might be so special about the Fortress of Louisbourg. It's the reenacted history, because on the grounds you encounter people in historical costumes whom you can talk to about their roles. This gives you a glimpse into the past. I'm familiar with this from the area where I live, because the Kommern Open Air Museum does something similar; there are about 67 historical buildings on the grounds [4]. I even once offered the combined chicken and pigsty, but they've stopped accepting donations.

Back to Louisbourg. At the beginning of the 18th century, the cod fishing grounds off Cape Breton were particularly productive, and the catch and processing made the small town wealthy. This made Louisbourg an important part of the French overseas possessions. Unfortunately, the French provided insufficient support to Louisbourg, so that in 1745, after a siege and attack from the landward side, it had to be abandoned [5]. Interestingly, Louisbourg was much better protected from the sea than from the landward side. Three years later, Louisbourg was returned to France under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle [6]. Had they learned from the mistakes of the past? A silly question, of course not. The siege of 1758 [7] ended in the same way. An additional factor, however, was the blockade of the relief fleet that had set sail from Toulon and the Battle of Cartagena [8], which made it impossible for France to come to Louisbourg's aid. The British then demolished the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1860 to eliminate any further threat to their possessions

From 1961 onwards, reconstruction of the historic buildings began, combining archaeological finds with "millions of artifacts" and "750,000 pages of documents and 500 maps and plans" from archives in France [9] to rebuild a quarter of the fortress. This created jobs, then as now.

Entering the site from the parking lot, the hill immediately catches the eye. There stands The King's Bastion, which features a very austere architecture. I would interpret this as reflecting military rigor and necessity. The Governor's Apartments and the King's Bastion Barracks, which housed approximately 500 men, were also located there. We also find the Military Chapel there. The French were Roman Catholic, and there was a priest who, however, never received his own church for the parish, so the faithful had to attend Mass in the Military Chapel.

Let us now enter the site via the road that leads to the large gate in the defensive wall. To the right is the De Gannes Property, and a little further on is the Le Neuf de la Vallière Property. Louis Le Neuf de la Vallière (1708-1787) was a descendant of a governor of Acadia. The Mi'kmaw Interpretive Centre is also located there. At the Mi'kmaw Interpretive Centre, you can get all sorts of information about Mi'kmaw culture. I was particularly interested in the apostrophe, which is used to lengthen the preceding vowel. Thanks, Mi'kmaw Interpretive Centre!

Opposite is the Rodrigue Property. Michel Rodrigue (1710-1777) lived there with his wife Marguerite (Mi'kmaw), their five children, siblings, and Catherine and Laurent, two enslaved people. I had a chat with Catherine.

I won't attempt to describe Louisbourg now, but there are storerooms, an artillery forge and storehouse, taverns, the King's Bakery, the icehouse, stables, animal enclosures, and gardens to explore. The rustic bread was delicious.

Just before the fortress closes, the gunners march through the main street to music (flutes and drums), climb onto the ramparts, and finally fire the cannon.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and the cannon firing was definitely better staged than the one in Halifax.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_of_Louisbourg
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Breton_Island
[3] That sounds Japanese, and 宇う生木か could be translated as "Is it a living tree?"
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommern_Open_Air_Museum
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Louisbourg_(1745)
[6] Aachen isn't very far from my home either.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Louisbourg_(1758)
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cartagena_(1758)
[9] https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/decouvrir-discover/visite-tour 
 
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Lunenburg - UNESCO World Heritage Site

I've already written about Lunenburg, and some information will be repeated, as the history explains why Lunenburg received UNESCO World Heritage status. Since 1995, UNESCO has considered Lunenburg (old town) "the best example of planned British colonial settlement in North America, as it retains its original layout and appearance from the 1800s, including local wooden vernacular architecture" [1]. The town had approximately 2,400 inhabitants in 2021. The toponym Lunenburg could be an Anglicized version of Lüneburg, a city in northern Germany, about 40 km from Hamburg. The name of the Mi'kmaq First Nation, which is unknown, had been frenchified into "Mirliguèche", but then has been changed to the current name, when almost exclusively Germans came to Lunenburg. Who actually gave the town its name remains unclear; possibly in honor of King George II of Great Britain, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (called Hanover) and nominally Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg [2].

Let's take a closer look at the history. In 1753, Germans from the Black Forest region and Swiss people arrived there, having been recruited. Approximately 400 families, totaling about 1600 people, arrived in the promised land. Previously, the French had already cultivated the land there, but the British in Halifax couldn't find enough people willing to move there, or rather, they refrained from doing so because they were considered too lazy. However, it turned out that the hired farmers couldn't practice agriculture there at all, or at least not sufficiently, as the soil wasn't suitable. The new inhabitants quickly adapted, and the farmers became fishermen and boat builders... and they became very good boat builders, which is why the houses were also built of wood. "The first houses were log cabins, but later a form of wooden construction developed, so that later the Castle on the Hill and churches were also built this way."

Bosa, Sardinia, Italy

The oldest surviving building is located at 57 York Street, not far from the Castle on the Hill. The house was originally much smaller and had been later extended. According to the description on site: about half to two-fifths on the right side of the house. Previously, the paintwork wasn't colored, but a little color simply looks better. The gray houses of London in the 19th century [3] certainly looked less appealing than the colorful houses of the Amalfi Coast or like the ones in the picture I took in Sardinia and show here. In any case, the place invites you to stroll through it slowly. Enjoy your visit too!

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunenburg,_Nova_Scotia
[2] Lunenburg - Castle on the Hill (Nova Scotia, Canada)
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2025/09/lunenburg-castle-on-hill-nova-scotia.html
[3] www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/the-rookery-a-notorious-slum-in-st-giles-london-circa-nachrichtenfoto/52982396?adppopup=true 


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A Visit to the Halifax Public Gardens

 

I particularly enjoyed the Halifax Public Gardens. I have been intrigued by the tropical flower beds, even though we were significantly further south than the part of Germany where I live, namely 6° of latitude; from Kall, that would be in northern Spain.

The Halifax Public Gardens were founded in the Victorian era, to be exact in 1867. It has therefore existed for over 150 years and has witnessed a great deal of history, but it's best to consult the Wikipedia article for more information [1]. The garden originated from earlier gardens, such as the Nova Scotia Horticultural Society Garden founded in 1837. Since 1984, the park has been a National Historic Site. Two notable incidents of damage in recent decades include the destruction caused by Hurricane Juan in 2003 and, in 2022, the deliberate destruction of trees up to 200 years old by unknown perpetrators using a technique called girdling, which damages the bark in such a way that the trees die. A few months later, historical buildings were set on fire, but there is no longer any visible evidence of that; yes it's the 3rd of the two notable incidents.

The Public Gardens are approximately 16 acres in size, which is about the size of 10-12 football fields. Plenty of space for many visitors. There are many beautifully designed areas that invite people to have their pictures taken against such a backdrop, wedding couples for inszance. Let's explore some of these places in more detail!

Main Gates
The ornate wrought iron gates measure almost five impressive meters (16') in height. The entrance was located in a different place in 1890, and the gates were only moved to their current location in 1907. I was told that only Royals were allowed to enter through the middle gate. Why not a little applied nostalgia? The gate bears the coat of arms of Halifax with the motto “E Mari Merces,” which has nothing to do with the grace or mercy of Mary but means "wealth from the sea" [2]. 

Tropical Display Bed
Since we entered the park through a side entrance, that's where we arrived first. And now I have to solve a mystery, which I created above. Although Halifax is significantly further south than the Eifel or Cologne, it's not so warm  in winter that you could leave all the plants outside. It's actually considerably colder than in Cologne; in January, the average minimum temperature is +1.7°C in Cologne and -10.7°C in Halifax. So most of the tropical plants have to be overwintered in greenhouses. But in the summer, in the bright sunshine, it looks wonderful. A little further north is a bed with cultivated plants such as beans, watercress, dill, turnips, kohlrabi, etc., which also offers much to admire.

Upper and Lower Bridges
The Upper Bridge in particular is a rewarding subject for a photograph, but you have to find the best spot for your camera and then be patient if you don't want other people in the picture, especially since there might be problems with publishing such images. The bridges date back to 1911, when they replaced wooden bridges. "The upper bridge bears a plaque commemorating the bravery of Inspector Francis Fitzgerald, a native Haligonian and member of the ‘RNWMP’ The Royal North West Mounted Police." I will now refrain from any associations that could detract from the memory of Francis Fitzgerald; it's nice that ways are found to commemorate a "Mountie" par excellence even after a long time. And now - visit this beautiful place of landscape gardening!

Bandstand and Geometric Beds
I must confess that this bandstand captivated me, because I wanted to find out whether this gazebo was a little oblique like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or whether it was perhaps an optical illusion. I also didn't find anything about it being slanting on the internet [3]. Anyone reading this now and visiting the bandstand, please take a look and see if you can confirm this. Is it askew? It was built in 1887 (the birth year of one of my grandfathers, Franz Kirsch) to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee (50 years). It was renovated in 2011. Around this gazebo there are 32 geometric flowerbeds, a common element of Victorian gardens, which I almost didn't even look at because I was preoccupied with the possible structural peculiarity.

Victoria Jubilee Fountain
And it continues with Queen Victoria! Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897, and for this occasion, a "classical-style fountain with a Corinthian column rising from a heavy formal basin to support the nymph Egeria" was erected in the garden in the park. You might know Egeria densa, a waterweed, but that's not what's meant here. Egeria "was a nymph attributed a legendary role..." [4] According to Plutarch: "A spring and a grove once sacred to Egeria stand close to a gate of Rome, the Porta Capena. Its waters were dedicated to the exclusive use of the Vestals." Yes, keep going, here you have to think of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum (1967) [5]. But all this doesn't clarify why Egeria should be associated with Queen Victoria. In 2012, the fountain was restored – which, incidentally, was the Diamond Jubilee year of Queen Elizabeth II. God save the queens!

So please visit Halifax Public Gardens! And before you step through the ornate  wrought iron gates, remember the statue of Robert Burns south of the entrance across the street (be careful!) and please don't feed the pigeons, there are already enough of them.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Public_Gardens#
[2] https://www.halifaxpublicgardens.ca/garden-features With more information, also for the following points.
[3] https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/recreation/parks-trails-gardens/PublicGardensbrochure2016_online.pdf Here you can also find a nice map!
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egeria_(mythology)
[5] “And could not let her be, no / One of 16 vestal virgins / Who was leaving for the coast”.

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The Bluenose in Lunenburg (Nova Scotia, Canada)

 

I can't even remember anymore whether my fascination with sailing ships came before or after I read the books about Horatio Hornblower [1] and Richard Bolitho [2] in my youth. Both protagonists belonged to the British Royal Navy, and the books were set around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. I saw the Bluenose II returning to the pier when we arrived in Lunenburg, and when we came back from our city tour, it was just set to sail out again. It now offers tourist trips, but it was originally designed for fishing and also competed in certain regattas, often winning. It's a beautiful ship, and it's a shame that it had to be sold prematurely, only to run aground on a reef off Haiti. The Bluenose I is depicted on the Canadian dime. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

The Bluenose I [3] was built in Lunenburg in 1921 by the company Smith and Rhuland. It was a fishing and racing gaff-rigged schooner. The ship was used for fishing for as long as technological progress allowed, as motorized fishing trawlers soon became the norm, if you downsize the term trawler. It also competed in races, and it's quite interesting just to read the Wikipedia entry about it. During World War II, the Bluenose I remained docked in Lunenburg. In 1942, the ship was sold to the West Indies Trading Company because it was no longer profitable to operate. In 1946, the Bluenose I, loaded with bananas, ran aground on a coral reef near Île à Vache (Haiti). The ship was beyond salvage and eventually broke apart.

In addition to the depiction of the "Queen of the North Atlantic" on the dime, there are also various postage stamps featuring the Bluenose. I just checked my father's collection, but unfortunately, none of the Canadian stamps he had collected include the Bluenose. What a pity! 

“In 1963, a replica of Bluenose was built in Lunenburg using the original Bluenose plans and named Bluenose II” [4]. Sidney Culverwell Oland commissioned this as a promotional yacht for Oland Brewery, but donated the schooner to Nova Scotia in 1971. “In the summer of 2016, Bluenose II renovations were completed, two years behind schedule with the final cost reaching $24 million.” It was similar with the Gorch Fock. Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy. Initially, €10 million were budgeted for the repair work in 2012, but it was returned to the Navy at the end of September 2021, and the renovation had cost a total of €135 million. [5]

If you visit Nova Scotia in the height of summer, you will be offered whale watching tours, but the whales are usually somewhere else entirely. Consider instead taking a trip on the Bluenose II. I missed that opportunity this summer!

Links and Annotations:
[1] “Horatio Hornblower [1a] is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester [1b].”
[1a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower
[1b] C.S. (Cecil Scott) Forester is the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (1899-1966). 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Forester
[2] "The Bolitho novels [2a] are a series of nautical war novels by Alexander Kent, the pseudonym of British author Douglas Reeman.[2b]
[2a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bolitho_novels
[2b] Douglas Edward Reeman (1924-2017)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Reeman
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluenose
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluenose_II
[5] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorch_Fock_(Schiff,_1958)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_training_ship_Gorch_Fock_(1958)

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The Titanic and Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax

 

The sinking of the Titanic [1] in 1912 still fascinates us today. We drove to the cemetery where, among others, victims of the Titanic are buried who were recovered but initially could not be identified. Those who were identified were mostly poor people whose burials in Great Britain no one could afford (transportation costs). The name is Fairview Lawn Cemetery. We could see the Jewish section from the outside on the way there, but it was too far away for us to visit. Maya, the local guide, told stories about some of the Titanic victims. "J. Dawn" was not the Jack Dawn from the movie Titanic, which I own but still haven't seen. There were still devotional objects there, but it was particularly bad after the film came out. Ultimately, however, tourism in Halifax benefits from the film about the fate of the Titanic and some of its passengers, because only since then there has been an increased interest in this cemetery. J. Dawn was Joseph Dawn, and he was a stoker on the Titanic. The grave of a child was now particularly adorned with offerings. The child's identity was determined about 20 years ago using DNA from other relatives, decades after the disaster. The gravestones are arranged like a ship's hull.
Celine Dion and her song My Heart Will Go On [3] -: I think I heard the story of how the song has been recorded. The tremor in her voice is said to be due to excessive coffee consumption. But I think that's completely irrelevant to the result.

But the other parts of the cemetery, which have nothing to do with the Titanic, are also interesting, such as the Chinese graves. I read Fong (方); the same reason as with Wong (王), because with an American pronunciation, the "a" would sound like an "ä".
The victims of the explosion disaster of December 6, 1917 (Halifax Explosion – there's a very detailed Wikipedia article [4]) were also commemorated; it was a naval ship that had exploded, and there was a shockwave that had seismic effects even 300 km away (Sydney), as well as a tsunami [5]. The force of the explosion was calculated to be 1/7 of that of the Hiroshima bomb of 1945 and was the largest human-made explosion until 1945. “Yet another cruel blow was to come the next day when a blizzard blanketed the area, hampering relief efforts as snow covered the dead and dying.” [6]
Then, in this area of the cemetery, another gravestone deeply moved me: "Mother" was inscribed on a very small gravestone, of which only a semicircle protruded from the earth.

Links and Annotations:
[1] “RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, approximately 1,500 died (estimates vary), making the incident one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a single ship.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic
[2] “Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film written and directed by James Cameron. ... The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's maiden voyage.” 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)
[3] Céline Dion - My Heart Will Go On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFHsd3o1w0
[4] “On the morning of December 6, 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, caught fire and detonated, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. At least 1,782 people, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, were killed by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion
[5] A very detailed article with a narrated text can be found here:
https://canadaehx.com/2021/11/27/the-halifax-explosion/
[6] https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2017/11/30/great-halifax-explosion/

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St. John's Church in Lunenburg (Nova Scotia, Canada)

 

At first, I didn't intend to write about St. John's Church in Lunenburg at all, because the church is very new, but then I heard the sad story, and on top of that, I happened to be able to visit the interior because an event had just ended. That immediately changed my mind. The sad story could be "St. John's Tears", and we'll come back to that in a moment. Stephen King [2] could have written a horror story about the "Castle on the Hill" [1]; perhaps "Charred Promises." A story like "The Scarlet Letter" [3] could have been set in the town itself, which used to be black and white and not as beautifully colorful as it is now. But let's get to the sad story. The church burned down in 2001, but I've already told you too much.

St. John's Anglican Church (correct name) has been established in 1753 and is “the second Church of England built in Nova Scotia, and is the second oldest continuous Protestant church in present-day Canada” [4]. The church building has been completed in 1754. The parish is part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in the Anglican Church of Canada.

On 1 November 2001, St. John's church suffered significant damage by fire and hasn't been completely destroyed as I had been told on the spot; though about 50% is significant. There's a remarkable article about the reconstruction by Joe O'Connor [5], who interviewed Terry Conrad, the former chief of the fire department. They couldn't get into the burning church via doors or roof and had to break windows – brokenhearted, though. All in all it took 147 volunteer firefighters from nearby towns and 15 hours to put out the fire. There hadn't been enough fresh water, so sea water had to be used. The tears of St. John's refer to the salt water saturated with ashes flowing downhill Lunenburg.

I'm very interested in stained-glass windows and have written intensely about church windows around where I live. The stained-glass artisans (Helga and Norbert Sattler), who helped to restore the windows, were originally from Germany. “Using photographs of the original windows as a guide, the couple spent 18 months piecing 27 jigsaw puzzles back together again.”

There is a remarkable star scene above the apse, which has been reconstructed with the help of a computer and software to picture the night sky on the first Christmas (some 2 millennia ago) as seen from Lunenburg. I remember how impressed I've been as a boy seeing this done in a planetarium. A mystery still remains -: how did the original artist do so without the help of a computer.

If you visit Lunenburg, be sure to try to come to St. John's Anglican Church, it's worth it.

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] Lunenburg - Castle on the Hill (Nova Scotia, Canada) / More on Lunenburg!
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2025/09/lunenburg-castle-on-hill-nova-scotia.html
[2] Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947, and Maine borders Nova Scotia, apart from the sea. I particularly like his commitment against Donald Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King
[3] The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Anglican_Church_(Lunenburg)
[5] By Joe O'Connor: Holy jigsaw puzzle: After a fire gutted a historic church, N.S. town began an incredible reconstruction. 
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/holy-jigsaw-puzzle-after-a-fire-gutted-a-historic-church-n-s-town-began-an-incredible-reconstruction

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Citadel Hill in Halifax and the 78th Highland Regiment (Canada)

The citadel sits on a hill above the city of Halifax. Already at the beginning of the city's founding in 1749, a wooden fortification had been built there. The citadel, which was later built in various phases, was never captured. It was so well-protected that US-American generals were allowed to visit it to show them the futility of an attack on this citadel. I have now decided on reporting on the citadel in a brief outline, but then I will focus more on the 78th Highland Regiment to make it more comprehensive. There is always far too much material to render an attractive brevity almost impossible. Hence this splitting up.

Citadel Hill is a National Historic Site in Halifax [1]. The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line that had been raised in 1793 [2]. The current citadel is the fourth fortification since the city's foundation and was built in 1856, reflecting 19th-century military architecture. Like many other places, life from the past is presented here, keeping history alive. Of course, you can also visit the military museum in the citadel, but I found the drill much more interesting because it depicts something completely foreign to me. I did my compulsory military service in Germany 50 years ago – as a medic – and there wasn't much drill.

The Wikipedia article on the 78th Highland Regiment shows the regiment's history and many other details. The following sentence was the deciding factor for me to write this blogpost: "The regiment's legacy is retained through Nova Scotian institutions such as Citadel Hill, which features a living history program with animators portraying the 78th Highland Regiment and controls the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band, a grade one pipe band formed in 1983." I was interested in learning more about the position of "Military Interpreter - Private," because they drilled in the courtyard of the Citadel; and I was surprised at how detailed the description is, right down to the hourly wage (C$16.70) [3]. The job posting, with the sections Duties & Responsibilities, Requirements for Education, Experience, Language, Skills & Abilities, Required Competencies, and Working Conditions, is about 880 words long.

“Military interpreters work at the Halifax Citadel and Georges Island National Historic Sites, and portray both a British army soldier and gunner, circa 1869-71, as well as a Canadian army gunner, circa 1939-1945.” The first description applied to my observations. During the visit, I was convinced that these were members of the military, similar to those at Buckingham Palace or other places in London, who have taken on representative tasks. And it was only when I returned home that I found out that it is more like we recognize it from museum villages: a representation of how things used to be, so that we can see it from today’s perspective. One could make fun of these drill exercises. I am also glad that I did not have to take part in it myself. Let's not forget that it led to the citadel not being taken. 

What you can see in my pictures are a group of privates (both male and  female) exercising with a female drill sergeant and two officers (or senior non-commissioned officers) critizing if someone stepped out of line.

In any case, I really enjoyed the visit, not just because of this performance, but also because of the view, the cannon shots, and the museum. I can only advise everyone not to miss the walk up to the Citadel.

 

 

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_Hill_(Fort_George)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/78th_(Highlanders)_Regiment_of_Foot
[3] https://halifaxcitadel.ca/employment-opportunities/military-interpreter-78th-private-royal-artillery-gunner.html Unexpectedly detailed!

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