Hello Halifax!

Remember in our last blog entry, when we were joking about the ‘Wheel’ pizza shop’s pot-hole ridded parking lot, being a likely place to get a flat? Well, sure enough, we woke up the next morning with a flat tire! We filled it with air at the gas station, then drove to Halifax. It must have been a slow leak, because the next morning we again woke up with a flat tire…so, off to the car rental agency we went (thankfully it was only 250 metres away) and our Ford Edge was replaced with another Ford Edge. This new vehicle had a sunroof and some other fancy upgrades - so, off we went in our “Edgier” ride! It’s a shame that most of our driving, for this part of our adventure, was behind us.


Halifax is a beautiful city. It is a university town and the people here are laid back, young and vibrant. It is also a harbour town where a fair percentage of the population is made up of cruise ship passengers, who have arrived just for the day. The restaurant scene is superb, and we enjoyed meals at the ‘Henry House’ pub and ‘Two Doors Down’. Argyle street, aptly painted with an argyle pattern (what else?) caters to pedestrians who may explore their culinary cravings.


Wanting to explore outside the city, we drove to the lovely nearby town of Lunenburg, which is situated along a picturesque harbour. Lunenberg is home to the famous tall ship, ‘Bluenose II’. If you’re not familiar with this ship, take a look at a Canadian dime - this is the schooner that is featured prominently on this coin. The town itself was delightful. We were lucky enough to visit on a sunny, relatively warm day and it felt like the middle of summer instead of autumn. So warm and sunny, in fact, that we had a wonderful lunch out on the patio of the ‘Salt Shaker Deli’, overlooking the waterfront below.


After lunch and exploring the village, we drove out to Peggy’s Cove - the veritable Canadian lighthouse mecca. Along the way, we passed through yet another picturesque, sleepy, seaside village known as Mahone Bay, where their annual scarecrow festival was in full swing. Almost all of the shops and homes were adorned with one, or more, scarecrows. While this was quaint and cute, if someone arrived in town late at night and had no idea about there being such a tradition, they would end up completely terrified out of their mind by the silent, grinning statues lurking in the dark!


In Peggy’s Cove, we walked around the town and visited the famous lighthouse, perched on granite rocks against the sea. Melissa had previously visited Peggy’s Cove when she was a teenager and remembered there being a working post office inside the base of the lighthouse. Sadly, due to the lighthouse being damaged by a storm a few years ago, along with cutbacks at Canada Post, the post office is no longer there.


Back in Halifax, we went to the ‘Bubba Ray’ sports bar to cheer on the Blue Jays, who were playing in their first post-season game in 22 years. Although they lost, this was a lot of fun, and it really warmed our cold, Torontonian hearts to see all the support for the Toronto Blue Jays outside their home city. The Jays are, after all, Canada’s baseball team! One thing that we did find amusing, was that our server was wearing a Montreal Canadiens shirt. This is something we would definitely NOT see in Toronto.  Alas, when in Rome….


We noticed that there were a lot of board game cafe’s in Halifax. In fact, there was one next to our hotel. As we’ve spent time at one while in Toronto, we fully intended to drop in - alas, time got away from us and we will have to leave this item unchecked on our to-visit list.


Next up:  Great Big Sea in St. John’s (no, not the band… the actual SEA!).