Halifax is...

...BEAUTIFUL. That’s the first word that came to mind as we drove into Halifax. Friendly turned out to be the second. A first impression: it was a lot like Ottawa and both Julie and I were convinced we’d love to live here.

It could be the beautiful harbor, much nicer, and much more open than the one in St. John’s. It could be the boardwalk, which stretched from one end of the harbour to the other, a giant “yellow-brick road” for the common tourist. Or it could be the extremely diverse and friendly people, who were willing to chat with us whether we talked to them first or not.

Our first contact with the open and warm people here in Halifax occurred pretty much right after we disembarked from the beast. We went into the Walmart (where we’d parked the van for the evening) and we asked the cashier if she had any suggestions for things to do and see in Halifax while we were here. She listed off a bunch of options, and she also added some Cape Breton suggestions as well.

Then, we found this openness in a girl at the bus stop, who we asked for directions to the harbour-front. She suggested we take a bus since it was too far to walk from where we were. She also told us which bus to take, and where to get off.

Once downtown, we walked down the boardwalk, our tongues tied by the beauty of the ocean before us, the smell of the salt water, the majestic tall ships floating peacefully on the gently rolling water. We clamboured aboard one of the museum ships moored in the harbour. It happened to be a navy ship, with several officers of sorts hanging around on the deck. The museum part was rather tame…would have been better with interpreters on board, but I personally wouldn’t want to be below deck all the time. Just being down there for 10 minutes while the boat rocked gently back and forth was enough to make my stomach irritable and longing for the surface air again.

Back above deck, we started chatting with the officers on board (don’t get jealous Doug or John, but they were definitely hitting on us. It was kinda flattering to be surrounded by four men in uniform all vying for our attention! Hahaha…but don’t worry boyfriends, we were only thinking of you two!). Anyway, they were so enamoured by our presence that they offered to let us ring the bell marking the naval time aboard the ship. Then they took a picture for us to mark the occasion.

After that, Julie and I disembarked from the ship and walked over to the information kiosk on the boardwalk. There we met a very helpful lady who was thrilled to point out all the sites and attractions to be seen in Halifax. We were overwhelmed at how many things there were to do and see! We planned right then and there to spend an extra day in Halifax…so much for our schedule!

By the time we figured out all the things we wanted to do and see in Halifax, it was already something like 5:30pm, so a lot of the attractions were closed. Tired and hungry, we decided we’d visit the Public Gardens to kill time, and then go to Your Father’s Moustache for our East coast lobster dinner.

The Public Gardens were lovely, full of sculpted flowerbeds, a miniature of the titanic in a little pond, and an evil looking goose.

After lazing about in the gardens for a good hour or so, we ventured to Your Father’s Moustache. Neither Julie nor I was very talkative, so we pretty much sat across from each other just staring out into space. The people in the restaurant – for it was packed – must have thought we were disgruntled with each other. That really wasn’t the case, but we were tired, and more than that, we were in a bit of a weird place, having returned from St. John’s earlier that morning. Usually when you get off a plane the second time, you’re going home. To realize that we were still at the very start of our trip was a little unsettling for both of us I think. Not that we weren’t ready for the adventure, but the strain of being around each other constantly for the past 5 days, including the stresses of spending money, driving, and trying to plan our time wisely, was all taking a bit of a toll.

But when the waitress brought out two bright red lobsters, our mood changed from homesick to apprehensive. It’s one thing to think about the popularity of a seafood dish like lobster, it’s quite another to have a bright red creature staring up at you from your plate – and it’s entirely yet another thing to think that the poor animal was boiled alive so that it could come to sit in front of you and stare at you with cold black eyes as you tear it apart and pull out it’s insides. I hope there’s no PETA fans reading this. Hahaha

Anyway, we had to get a little lesson from the waitress so that we knew how to properly tackle the lobster. My first taste was a little gross. It was the fishiness of the lobster that really got to me. But when I dipped the flesh of the crustacean into the garlic butter, my opinion changed. Mmmm! It was quite good! I managed to eat the tail without remorse. The claws were next. They were interesting because pulling the flesh out revealed how the claws worked, with this cartilage lever of sorts that allowed the lobster to move the lower claw up and down. Pulling the legs off to get the meat inside made me sad again. I didn’t have the stomach to eat the green, goopy, musky digested stuff from the lobster’s innards.

Julie and I talked about the experience after, while we nursed our beers. Julie decided she probably wouldn’t eat a lobster again…it was too traumatizing for her. I am not so sure myself. It was hard to eat, and really rich by the end of it, but at the same time, I have since found myself craving it. Perhaps it’s a weird craving where, if I were to eat it again, I wouldn’t like it. But who knows?

We ended our first day in Halifax with a ghost tour. We met up at the old clock-tower at Signal Hill and walked from there to George Street, listening to historical and anecdotal accounts of hauntings in the various parts of downtown Halifax. The tour was really haunting, especially because the tour guide had some stories relating to the devil – those kinds of stories scare me much more than ghost hauntings. I don’t know why…perhaps it’s because I don’t like to think about the possibility of the existence of something so evil and all-powerful as the devil, but who knows. Julie was creeped out by the tales of hauntings, especially the one about the repeated hauntings in the used-to-be-morgue-now-popular-restaurant. Several people have encountered the same ghost at this one restaurant, which used to be a temporary morgue during the days of the Halifax explosion, according to our tour guide.

After the tour, Julie and I headed back to the Walmart parking lot where we slept until 10am the next morning!

-Nicole