After our bus dropped us off inside the Halifax Citadel, our guide gave a briefing on the key landmarks we should explore. He gestured toward one building, explaining that it used to serve as a school for soldiers’ children. Next, he pointed to a structure with a slanted roof.
“That’s the powder room,” he said.
Assuming it was a place where mothers would wait for their children, perhaps touching up their makeup before collecting them, I quickly blurted out, “That’s for the ladies!”
The guide paused and gave me a puzzled look. A fellow visitor standing next to me tapped me on the shoulder and, with a grin, whispered, “Not that kind of powder. That’s for gunpowder.”