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

Last Day in Newfoundland!

So today was our last day in Newfoundland. I’m kinda sad to be leaving. We had beautiful weather again today (which Kristin insists is a complete anomaly) and Julie and I decided to explore the downtown core a little more. Plus, we were on a mission to find a nice bumper sticker to put on Cloud 9 upon our return tomorrow. We woke up late again – I swear we’re still functioning on Ottawa time because we wake up at 10am, but in Ottawa, it’s only 8:30am, so though we feel like we’re sleeping in, we really aren’t. That’s my excuse anyway.

We took our time getting ready this morning, hoping we’d hear from Amy about a day trip outside of St. John’s. An email from her never came though, so we lathered on the sunscreen, and headed out for our final day of exploration.

The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful, with lovely clear blue skies overhead, and a nice cool breeze filtering by us everywhere we went. Our first stop ended up being a Newfoundland Historical site that we simply happened to stumble upon – the Newman Wine Vaults (Yes Nick, we did think of you, even though Newman isn’t spelled the same way). Cost us $3 to get in, and we happened to come right at the start of a tour, so we actually had someone telling us all about the history of the site. According to the guide, the Newman Wine Vaults were built to hold a shipment of port that was en route from Portugal to London, but that was redirected by French Privateers and bad weather to the coasts of Newfoundland. Since the sailing couldn’t be completed during the winter months, the port was wintered in St. John’s, and when it finally made it to England, the connoisseurs discovered that it had gained a smoother, and fuller flavour than it had had before. From that point on, port was aged in Newfoundland. Neat story huh? The other thing the Newman Wine Vaults are known for is their ghosts. Apparently there was a wedding there recently during which a photographer got a picture of a man’s ghostly torso. Julie and I took a couple pictures of this room where the ghost had been, but I don’t think we were as lucky to catch a ghostly image on camera.

Can you see the ghostly image?

After emerging from the Newman Wine Vaults, Julie and I slipped in and out of a few souvenir shops in search of bakeapple jam – jam made from cloudberries, only available here in Newfoundland, or so we’ve been told. We found it in the place we ended up finding our Newfie bumper sticker as well. The lady who owned the shop was very nice, giving us all sorts of recommendations on where to explore and what to see and do. Once we had our bakeapple jam though, we were on our way to another of Newfoundland’s historical sites. En route, we came across the Newfoundland Chocolate factory. Julie has been craving chocolate recently, so we popped in for a gander. We ended up coming out with a bag-full of truffles of sorts. They all ended up being delicious, but the best one, surprisingly enough, was the chocolate made with screech in it! Who knew? (For a more detailed assessment of all the chocolates we tried, please visit Julie’s “Chocolate Testing in the Park” blog)

Julie and I ended our day by meeting up with Kristin for a beer at the Yellow Belly pub located at 1 George Street. Though the waiter was a better-looking version of Will Farrell, he was certainly on-par with Will Farrell’s normal dunce characters, charging us for food we didn’t ask for but ate because we were under the impression we got what we ordered. Anyway, we enjoyed chatting about parenting styles and our siblings (sorry guys!).

We bussed back home, well not all the way back home. We ended up getting off the bus at the bottom of an extremely steep hill, up which we had to walk to get to Kristin’s. Walking downtown was no issue because it was all downhill, but walking back, now that was another story. The hill literally went straight up. No word of a lie. Kristin will corroborate my story I’m sure. She was telling us that her mother is so nervous about driving up the hill that she’ll take the long way around to avoid it. THAT’s how steep it was.

At the top, Julie and I were huffing and puffing – clearly we’re on our way to being in better shape. When we made it to Kristin’s we were exhausted. Julie even took a mini-nap while I worked on emails and University stuff (Queen’s course registration process is really confusing and complicated. So far, neither Julie nor I have been able to figure things out!). Once Julie was up and about, we spent the rest of our evening packing and watching a couple movies. Overall, the Newfoundland experience has been awesome. Tomorrow morning we’ll be departing at 7:50am. All I have to say is, Nova Scotia, here we come!

-Nicole

Chocolate Testing in the Park

Approx. 2191 Km in the trip
Location: Bannerman Park, St. John’s, NFLD

Oh People of the Blogosphere, how lucky you are that we are so committed to our documentation of this trip. We have even taken it upon ourselves to taste some of the chocolates of the Newfoundland Chocolate factory, so that you may avoid similar hardships. Our verdict is featured below. You’re welcome…

The Danny: Caramel and sea salt covered in dark and milk chocolate
Verdict: Good. Nothing too spectacular, but was a nice treat.

Rigourous and Thorough Data Collection 

Portugal Cove Road: Milk chocolate with dark chocolate ganache and strawberry inside.
Verdict: Meh.

Military Road: Dark and Milk Chocolate with macadamia nuts
Verdict: Yummm. Simple, but delicious!

Valid and Precise Methodology

George St: Dark chocolate with screech/chocolate ganache in the middle.
Verdict: The best! The taste of screech is nice and light, but adds a right nice flavour to the chocolate.

**Please note that the beginning paragraph was sarcasm. Nicole and I had lots of fun testing each chocolate, obviously…


-- Julie

I am (an honourary) Newfoundlander!

Approx. 2191 Km into the trip
Location: Trapper John’s, St. John’s, NFLD

See? We used to have to try so hard to be proper Newfies

For this trip, I have decided to go through it with little to no expectations or plans. As Nicole and I are discovering, crossing the country really calls for a more fluid and flexible approach to travelling. However, there was one thing that I had to accomplish in Newfoundland – get screeched in.

To be screeched in means you become an honourary Newfoundlander with all the rights and privileges that go along with it. Not to mention, it’s just a hilarious and unique activity to take part in. Being extremely gung-ho about doing it right, we did some research into where the best places were to take part in the ceremony.

After checking Wikipedia and having Kristin ask some co-workers, we concluded that two places were well recommended: Christian’s Pub and Trapper John’s. Looking further into these two locations, we finally decided upon Trapper John’s. Not only was the ceremony cheaper, but it was performed several times a night – this gave us the chance to fit it into our schedule.

We decided that Tuesday night was best – based solely on the fact that we weren’t flying the next day. Because hangovers are much better on terra firma.  And while it was perfect for this purpose, it also gave us an extra day to ask about the ceremony. I really wish I wasn’t so curious…

Since Tuesday was a rainy day, Nicole and I decided it would be the perfect day to go on a “Legend Tour”, a company that takes you to the sight-seeing locations in and around St. John’s. On this tour we had an awesome guide named Gord – the coolest “more than 70” year old around.  Since Gord was so friendly, I decided to ask him how a screeching in ceremony took place.  His description was not one Nicole and I wanted to hear.

As he described it, we would need to take three shots of screech. Nicole and I looked at each other with shock and fear on our faces. We would need to kiss a cod, or worse, a puffin’s arse. Nicole and I looked at each other with disgust. Finally, we would need to say a dirty Newfie saying. This didn’t phase us so much.

Jumping ahead to the evening, we had prepared ourselves for the worst. We knew there’d be screech – but three shots? And we prayed they had a cod. Kissing a puffin’s butt is far less appetizing, especially with my personal aversion to birds. In the end, we were worried for nothing.

Upon entering the bar, we signed ourselves up for the ceremony – along half a dozen others from Saskatchewan, the UK and Africa. To our happy surprise, there was only one shot presented before us, the puffin was a stuffed animal, and the saying was far more tame than expected. Having psyched ourselves for much worse, we were slightly disappointed by the anticlimactic process.

But, we are honourary Newfoundlanders nonetheless. And that, at least, it a great and exciting feeling!


--Julie

CBC Bag: Bringing Canadians Together

Approx. 2191 Km in the trip
Location: Trapper John’s, St. John’s, NFLD

“Where’d you get your bag?” asked Amy as she came up to us.

We were in Trapper John’s, the bar on George St where we had just been screeched in not twenty minutes before.

“Umm, my roommate got it for me. But I think you can get it at any CBC location. Why?” I answered.

“Oh, I work for the CBC and wondered if you did, too.”

After mentioning that, no, I didn’t work for the CBC and hearing about how awesome her own experiences as a reporter were, her journalistic instincts kicked in and she began interviewing us about our trip across the country. However, conversation didn’t stay on the topic long.

“I say I am from Newfoundland I mean Newfoundland, not Canada. I am a Newfoundlander before I am a Canadian,” said Amy.

This is something that really piqued my interest. Not only because it is a very interesting comment to make, but concepts of identity and culture have always fascinated me. It was also pretty coincidental because Nicole, Kristin and I were just talking about how certain provinces (eg. Quebec and Newfoundland) have a lot of pride while others, such as Ontario, don’t appear to have much provincial pride at all.

For about half an hour, Amy, Nicole and I sat around and talked about our different ideas as to why some people have more pride. It was all a very interesting conversation to have had in a bar, with a stranger, in Newfoundland. But these are the kinds of experiences that I was hoping to encounter during this trip – Canada is such a big country that different communities experience it in radically different ways. Can’t wait to hear what others will tell us!

-- Julie

Officially a Newfie (Honourary)

So Julie and I just got back from being screeched in...

Shooting the screech!

Official honourary Newfies! wOOt!

...but what’s more interesting, is that we just got back from a very deep conversation with a local named Amy. After our screeching in, Julie and I ordered a locally-brewed beer and sat at a booth to talk about the experience (and also to simply enjoy our first beer as official honourary Newfoundlanders). We were just discussing how shocked we were that Newfoundlanders weren’t as friendly as we’d been lead to believe, but that perhaps it was just because we were in a large city, when out of the blue, a blonde sat beside us. Not even introducing herself, she asked Julie where she bought her CBC bag (as Julie says…CBC brings Canadians together!). This simple question launched us into a very interesting conversation about cultural pride.

Being a journalist for the CBC, Amy asked very pointed questions. Julie and I were both under the impression that she was assessing us for a potential interview on the St. John’s CBC radio station. She asked normal questions such as “where are you guys from? What are you doing here? Is this your first time in St. John’s?” but she also asked other less common questions that strangers would not normally ask, such as “do you guys have boyfriends? What do they think about your trip? And what about your parents? Where are they from? What do they do?” etc.  This could just have been the journalist in Amy creeping out…

One thing Amy was very disappointed to discover was that we weren’t driving across Newfoundland, which lead to a discussion about pride, and the ability to understand a true cultural experience. Sure, Julie and I had both been screeched in, albeit, we kissed a puffin’s butt instead of kissing a cod (a disappointing discovery I must admit), but in no way could we understand the true Newfoundlander’s experience of life in this province – a province, we discovered, that was the be all and end all for Newfoundlanders such as Amy. “When I say I’m from Newfoundland,” Amy stated, “I mean I’m from Newfoundland. Not Canada.” This statement was a huge shock to me, leading me to realize how ignorant of my own country I really am. I never realized Newfoundlanders, or at least some of them, have such a strong pride in their province that they are akin to Quebecers in a lot of ways. As Amy explianed, she has visited many provinces, and lived in many places, but where she felt most at home was Quebec, because there, she could identify with others who had a deep pride in their culture, and a desire to help others understand it.

Black Horse, our first beer as Newfies!

Julie and I were intrigued by it. Only the day before we’d been discussing whether or not we felt ashamed of being Ontarians. I had never thought of being ashamed of being an Ontarian before, but it triggered some interesting thoughts on the subject. For some reason, I cannot point to any one thing in which Ontarians, as a province, take pride. Neither Julie nor I could think of a single thing that a) identified us solely as Ontarians, or b) made Ontarians proud to be from Ontario. Yet, people in places like Quebec and Newfoundland have such pride in their provinces that they make a point of announcing they are from their respective provinces. It’s really intriguing, and also very inspiring. If only our province felt the same way. 

Part of the purpose of this whole trip is to understand my own country before I embark on the exploration of others. Of course, it’s about self-discovery and witnessing the beauty and diversity of Canada as well, but one of the main things I wanted to get out of this trip was a better “understanding” of my own country as a whole, but also in different parts. I put the word understanding in quotations because the reality is, we can never truly understand someone or their situation due to the fact that everyone is different and often, as is the case with Julie and I, we have never experienced the same situations as those such as the Newfoundlanders living in the rural areas. As I mentioned to Amy, who was really passionate about making sure Julie and I understood that St. John’s was an anomaly to the rest of the province, even if Julie and I were to see what most people would call the poverty that exists in rural areas, we would have a better idea of what it looks like, but we would still never be able to understand it completely. As Julie mentioned, we would never know the need of having to go out and catch fish or hunt in order to be able to eat that evening, unless we were in a similar situation.

But one hope is that, by meeting people like Amy, Julie and I will at least be made aware of the situation, or brought closer to it in some way to it. Amy told us she'd try to find a way for us to visit a rural community tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, we'll be able to go. It would be great to see more than just St. John's. But if not, we will leave the province knowing that we will be back in the future, to experience everything Newfoundland has to offer.

-Nicole

Newfoundland!

Julie and I arrived safe and sound, if not exhausted, to Newfoundland today. Getting downtown from the airport was fairly easy – the Newfies have this city-wide taxi system where you basically take a taxi wherever you need to go. From the airport, a lot of the taxis have fixed rates. So we only paid $25.00 to get downtown.

Newfoundland from the airplane window

We got off at Water Street, the main drag here in St. John’s. We were both carrying really heavy backpacks, due to our computers, so we weren’t entirely interested in passing through a lot of the shops, of which Water Street is mainly comprised. We searched out a pharmacy, and then the nearest post office, and while there we asked the postal lady if she could recommend a restaurant at which we could find good Newfoundland cuisine. The answer was Velma’s.

Lugging our backpacks a couple more blocks down Water Street, we eventually found our destination. The place was quaint, looking more like a run-down family owned business than a place with excellent dishes. But the appearance was certainly deceiving! We asked the server to recommend some tasty Newfie food, and we were extremely pleased with the results:

Julie ordered the seafood chowder and I got the cod au gratin. Both were equally delicious, a perfect first taste of Newfoundland.

After stuffing ourselves full on fresh seafood, Julie and I ventured out on Water Street yet again. We ended up as far as the habour, where we proceeded to spend the remaining hours of our day just lounging in the sun and watching the boats go by. We were both exhausted, for no real reason, but as Julie reminded me, lounging and relaxing is what vacations are all about.

In amidst the lounging, I also learned a few cool things that I never knew today. For example, the Labrador dog is a cousin of sorts to the giant Newfoundland dog and do you know what makes both unique? They have webbed feet! Apparently they love water, but I don’t remember Jakie plunging into our pool willingly very often. I also learned that clouds in St. John’s aren’t individuals, and that they just come together into a giant conglomeration that then covers the sunny weather right quick. Lol And finally, I learned that the houses that are always painted so brightly in pictures of Newfoundland landscapes are actually true to the colours of the actual houses. Everything is so bright and cheery here. That’s the part I love best so far!

At about 5:30pm we met up with Chantal’s friend Kristin at Coffee Matters. She directed us to her beautiful home here in Newfoundland. Kristin is a really interesting person. She has a really cool job with a consulting company here in St. John’s and she is involved in a big project right now that has her working crazy overtime. She seems to really enjoy her job though, so I think the overtime is probably worth it.

Kristin’s apartment is gorgeous. It’s a basement apartment, but the only way you can tell is that it’s much cooler than a regular apartment would likely be. But there are very bright windows in pretty much every room, and she has the place painted with very sophisticated, but playful colours (like lime green with brown accents). It’s awesome.

As a returning the favour-type thing, Julie and I decided we would cook Kristin dinner our first night here. So we hiked to the grocery store and purchased enough food to feed the three of us for dinner for the next three days. We also bought some food for lunches and breakfasts. Boy was food expensive! For three days-worth, it cost us just over $50.00. We couldn’t believe it. Thank goodness we don’t live on an island back home!

Julie and I also purchased a bottle of crowberry wine, a Newfie product. Kristin, Julie and I all decided it wasn’t a bad wine, but it was certainly not something we’d purchase again. 

Over wine we made plans for the screeching in ceremony we plan to take part in tomorrow. Kristin is coming too because, even though both her parents are from here, she herself has never been screeched in. So it should be a fun time. I’m nervous though! I don’t even know what screech is, but I’m thinking it’s something like moonshine. Guess I’ll find out tomorrow!

-Nicole