United Airlines: Hell in a Very Small Space

We'd booked First Class flights from Halifax to Newark, and then from Newark to Phoenix.
Several weeks before we left home, I got an email saying the flight from Halifax had been changed, and was now a tourist class flight.  I called United Airlines to find out what was going on, and spoke to a representative (who of course, did not possess a surname) who assured me that I would get a refund for the First Class flight I no longer had, and that I still had my bulkhead seat.
Not true.  None of it.
Xingxing and I were crammed into a space so small that if I put both of my feet on the floor in front of the seat there was no room for Xingxing.  There was barely room for me.  They knew I was traveling with a service dog -- suppose he'd been a Labrador?  Where would they have put him?  In an overhead locker?
The airplane wasn't full. I could have been given two adjacent seats -- but a young man (clearly a friend or relative of one of the snotty cabin attendants) carrying one of those huge backpacks -- no way that would fit in an overhead locker -- was given those two seats to himself.  He and his illegal backpack were given every consideration.  I was treated like a piece of dirt.  One of the cabin attendants did her best to step on Xingxing's tail every time she passed.  Xingxing was a really good sport.  Xingxing is always a good sport.
I'm not going to dwell on the Dantean horrors of Newark Airport, or the hostility and unhelpfulness of each and every United Airlines employee we encountered during our very long stay there.  United Airlines employees are not happy people, and they take it out on United Airlines customers.  
Hours and hours and hours later, we were finally in our First Class (but not bulkhead) seats on our United Airlines flight from Newark to Phoenix.  Did I want dinner?  Absolutely.  All that's left is pasta, I was told.  We go by priority.  The other passengers have priority, so they got first choice.  You get what's left.
I always thought a First Class ticket was a First Class ticket.  Silly me! But there is nothing on the United Airlines website explaining that there are different priorities of First Class service.  I didn't realize that I'd paid top dollar for a low priority First Class ticket.
United Airlines doesn't have a Vice President for Customer service.  Instead, they've got a Vice President for Customer Experience.  And he doesn't answer his mail.  He passes it on to underlings, who are as snotty and unhelpful as everyone else.
If you want a "customer experience" fly United Airlines.
As for me, one "customer experience" was enough to last a lifetime.  I will never fly United Airlines again.  If you're smart, you won't either.  Especially if you're traveling with a service dog!

Wet Rocks and an Amazing Work of Art

It's raining, now.
We have the same driver as yesterday.  His name is Mike, and today he's wearing a kilt.  On the way to Peggy's Cove, he tells us how lobster traps are constructed -- with two sections -- and other interesting things about lobsters.  Here, lobster is cheap and common.  Lobster is what you eat when you can't afford anything else.
By the time we get to Peggy's Cove, it is pouring.
Peggy's Cove is a straggle of little wooden houses scattered around a road that winds down to the waterfront where it ends at an enormous restaurant-cum-souvenir-shop surrounded by a parking lot.
Nobody actually knows why it is called Peggy's Cove, or who Peggy was, or even if there ever was a Peggy.
Unlike most of the surrounding area -- which was carved out by the retreating glaciers -- Peggy's Cove sits on a solid granite base, as does the lighthouse for which it is famous.  The red and white lighthouse, the massive granite cliffs and the beach below must be very picturesque when the sun is shining.  Mike tries valiantly to put a good slant on the rain, saying that it adds mystery and atmosphere to the scene.
Xingxing is intrigued by the rain.  He has never seen rain.  He keeps looking up at the sky, and trying to catch raindrops on his tongue.
There are half a dozen tour busses, and a large number of intrepid Japanese tourists with umbrellas swarming over the wet rocks that lead to the lighthouse and stopping every few steps to take photographs of one another.  There's a path down to the base of the cliffs, where there are tidal pools full of sea creatures.  But it's too wet and too crowded to tempt me.
Amazingly, there is absolutely nobody at William Degarthe's house, an unprepossessing wooden structure set down in front of a 100-foot long granite outcrop.  Degarthe was born in Finland, but came to Canada as a young man and became an important artist and sculptor.  He owned an advertising agency in Halifax, but spent summers here at Peggy's Cove.  When he was 70 years old, he decided to "do something" with the granite outcrop in back of his house.  His plan was to create a monument to Canadian fishermen and their wives and children.  Using hammers and chisels, he set to work.  Although he died before he could complete the work, its larger than life-size figures and depictions of fishermen at work and their families presents a poignant and incredibly moving picture of life here at the edge of the sea.  Under Degarthe's hands, the granite comes to life.  I find it much more impressive than the lighthouse.
When you've seen one lighthouse, you've more or less seen them all.  But Degarthe's sculpted masterpiece is utterly unique.  I linger for quite a while before making my way down the road to the restaurant and parking lot.
The time has gone so quickly.  I can't believe this is our last day!

The Halifax Explosion

Our last day in Halifax, and it's cool and overcast.  We've got one, last tour this afternoon.  But our morning is free, so we head for the waterfront and the Maritime Museum.
This is a fascinating museum.  Anchors and mastheads and models -- I was intrigued by the equipment they used to step the masts.  One nice touch is that the museum floors are made of wood, and the wood creaks underfoot, as if you're walking on the deck of a ship.  Xingxing was happy to ride in his stroller, and we ambled happily through the exhibits, ropes as thick as my legs (and that's saying something!) and wonderful, hand-carved bowsprits.
Everyone knows about the Titanic -- although I didn't realize the men who rescued the survivors and brought back the bodies of those who didn't survive for burial sailed out of Halifax harbor.  Or that it was the Halifax cemetery where they were laid to rest that inspired James Cameron's film.  The Maritime Museum features a huge display about the Titanic.  But we didn't get to see it because we got waylaid by the Halifax Explosion.
I have to admit, I have never heard of the Halifax Explosion.  Have you?
It happened in December, 1917.  And it was the largest, man-made explosion to occur on the face of the earth until the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, nearly 30 years later.  Large portions of the city of Halifax were totally wiped out, and thousands died in the conflagration.  It was one of the great disasters of the twentieth century -- and I'd never heard a word about it.  But when I went to school, we mostly studied American history and European history.  I don't recall ever hearing much about Canada. We knew it was there, but that was about it.

It was during the first World War. Halifax harbor was where the convoys gathered to set out across the Atlantic. What happened was that two ships collided in the narrowest part of the harbor.  One of them was a munitions ship, heavily loaded with explosives and waiting to join a convoy across the Atlantic. The other was a merchant ship.  When the ships collided, the crew of the munitions ship clambered into life boats and rowed furiously for Dartmouth, the settlement across the harbor from Halifax.  They were terrified, because they knew what was about to happen.
The ships caught fire, and burned spectacularly.  It was early morning -- people were going to work, kids were going to school.  Half of Halifax ran down to the waterfront to gape at the spectacle.  The two burning ships drifted slowly towards the Halifax shore. And then the munitions ship exploded.
It was as if an earthquake had hit the city.  The shock wave knocked down row upon row of the little wooden houses that lined the shore and fires from stoves and fireplaces swept through the wreckage.  It was total, utter disaster.  The desperate city officials sent out a plea for help and one of the first respondents was the city of Boston, which sent a trainload of supplies and personnel, includig doctors and nurses.  And every Christmas -- to this day -- the city of Halifax presents Boston with a huge Christmas tree, a token of the city's gratitude and appreciation.
By the time we've worked our way through the series of rooms documenting the explosion and its aftermath -- including recorded accounts from the survivors -- it's time for lunch.  We find a waterfront restaurant -- Murphy's -- and I decide I've had enough lobster, so I order a Fisherman's Platter.  It is the best Fisherman's Platter I have ever eaten anywhere, ever in my whole life.  Fish doesn't turn Xingxing on, but he enjoys the bread and butter.
Now, it's time for our tour to Peggy's Cove.

The King George Hotel in Halifax is Super Dog-Friendly

The description of a hotel as "dog friendly" can mean anything from "dogs allowed" to "dogs welcome".  Many hotels and motels that say they're "dog friendly" will put you in a room where the frayed carpets stink of tobacco.  That's not exactly what I call friendly. And if you arrive at some places without reservations, you're likely to be told that the rooms "where dogs are permitted" are already taken.

At the King George Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, dogs are definitely welcome.  When you check in, you are presented with a "goody bag" that contains a brace of dog dishes (one for food, one for water) a fluffy flannel blanket, dog treats and poop bags tied up with a gold ribbon.  There's also a sign you can personalize with your dog's name and hang on the door of your room if you have to go out and leave your dog behind.  (Most places won't even allow you to leave your dog in the room)
But what's really special are the travel tips that focus on natural remedies.  Is your dog stressed out from travel?  Try a pinch of ground valerian root mixed in with food.  Or soak a doggie treat in chamomile tea.There are suggestions for the kinds of minor ailments that might occur during a trip, as well.  Yellow dock treatment kills ear mites.  And echinacea tea is good for minor cuts on a paw.  Urinary tract problems can be warded off with dandelion root. (I never knew that) Sprinkle several drops of the tincture or a teaspoon of ground root on your dog's food several times a week.  And you can boost your dog's immune system with a pinch of antioxidant herbs, which include oregano, dill, thyme, peppermint, sage, lemon balm and cinnamon.
Xingxing loves cinnamon.  I use it at home, to control ants.  If you sprinkle a bit of cinnamon where you see ants, the ants disappear -- unless your dog gets to the cinnamon first!  But I never knew it was an antioxidant.  Did you?