Halifax run ...
Well you know what they say: When the going gets tough, the tough go East ...
My mother is officially the Queen of the Internet Deals, and she worships at the Air Canada website. When I headed out to Hali in February for my Dalhousie interview she managed to smuggle me an extra round-trip to New Scotland for free. I had to use it before May 3rd and it couldn't be at Easter or March Break, so looking for fun and excitement (and to take a break from the mind-numbling horror that is waiting for an exam that is still five weeks away) I snuck a day off into my anesthesia rotation and ran East for the weekend.
Had a fabulous time in Halifax and have the pictures to prove it!
The weekend started at the lovely hour of 5:30 am when I awoke to do my last hurried packing. Having been warned, I left copious amounts of room in my brilliant orange suitcase for Frenchie's loot. My flight left from K-town at 8:00am and I was wandering the now-familiar halls of the Toronto Airport by 9:15am. After a minimal wait-time I caught my cross-Canada connection and had the fortune to sit next to a cute retired couple. They were from Moncton and I tried to describe where Bridesmaid #2 is from, to (initially) no avail. The "begins with a D ..." and "sandpiper statue?" didn't help much. But at the end of the two-hour flight the woman sat up straight and said "Dorchester!" and I laughed "Yes!" and thus the mystery was solved.
When I landed in Halifax A was there to meet me and a joyous reunion was had. I haven't seen her since before Christmas and we probably won't get together again until my wedding, unless she manages to sneak herself back to Ontario for grad. My luggage was (gasp!) one of the first off the rotator and she had managed to navigate the expertly confusing Halifax Airport parking lot, so before long we were on the road again.
It was rather dreary and bleary all weekend, but in her 1996 Airplaner (I swear the thing sounded like a jumbo-jet taxing down the runway) we made good time. First we ran to a Dartmouth Guy's Frenchie's and pursued fashion in the true Maritimer style (A found several lovely dresses and I found diddly squat, but it was certainly not for lack of trying!) After that we found Woodland street, lost Woodland street, found Victoria street, went the wrong way on Victoria street, and eventually crossed the MacDonald bridge. A had booked us a room at the lovely Waverly Inn, and we made it there eventually :D.
While checking in we mentioned to the gentleman that we understood Oscar Wilde himself had stayed there almost a hundred years ago, and Anna from Anna and the King as well, and being a wonderful man obviously proud of his establishment he offered to move us to Oscar's old room.
!!!
So of course we said yes, and it was the same cost, and we got to sit and thumb through a lovely book on his life that was left so kindly in the room. I hadn't known he died of tuberculosis in jail after being arrested for being gay. The things you learn in Halifax!
The room was a thing of awesomeness and comfort - the bed, omg the bed - but we didn't dally long. Instead we googled some nearby restaurants and headed out to the Five Fishermen. But while the all-you-can-eat mussel bar was awesome, the food itself was disappointingly bland. To fix our evening we stumbling out into the rain to find some quality Nova Scotian beer and (after several wrong turns, two disappointments, and a questionable lane) we found the Henry House and its lovely, tasty beer.
The next day we walked all over downtown Halifax and did some shopping. A mentioned walking the Citadel and that's when I (very much belatedly) remembered that Hali was lamardeuse's city. I ran her off a quick email and we planned out our afternoon. We decided to hop in the car and check out southern part of the city as A had some house-shopping to do. We made time to hit another Frenchie's on the way, and here I found two skirts and a funky belt while A found me some jogging pants. She found this sexy red leather skirt that mostly fit, and said it would be a good $4.50 inspiration.
We also swung by A's new place, met the cute Indian girl whose living there now and found an awesome bakery that's literally fifteen steps away. They have these really spicy gingerbread cookies and something called "elephant ears" that are full of sugar and honey and yumminess. We took measurements of her new place and I got to indulge my contractor-daughter's heritage by holding the bright orange measuring tape.
Her new place was steps from our hotel, and when we got back lamardeuse had replied. She graciously invited us over for after-dinner drinks and initially we happily accepted. But then we decided to do the truly Nova Scotian thing and do the Keith's Brewery tour.
And - oh dear.
It was fun! Really! There was beer, at least, and it was pretty cheap considering we got in for $14 each with our student cards. But it was like being stuck in a (bad) hour-long beer commercial. I swear if that guy said "Proper thing" one more time I was going to scream.
They should have given us the beer at the beginning of the tour and not at the end, is all I'm saying.
Yet! We got to worship a little at the statue of Father Keith:
And take many more pictures of the cute "period" bar maids, which I shall spare you all here.
Still after two pints of slammed beer on an empty stomach we were in no position to try the bridges again. We regretfully called lamardeuse and had to cancel, which sucked because A has just finished season three of SGA and finds Ronon lickable, and has also seen the first half (-ish) of Merlin. I'm sure an awesome time would have been had by all, and it would have been fun to have seen the continuously awesome J again.
But maybe next time I come down it'll be actually warm and summer and the Citadel will be open. :D:D:D And I will definitely bring my camera back down again.
We had dinner that night at the fantabulous Press Gang, which was so incredibly delicious it took us two hours to finish our meal. By the time we finally staggered out it was clear we had made the right decision not to drive.
After that we stumbled down the hill to the Old Triangle and drank more of the ever-present Keith's Beer.
The next day we checked out marginally early and drove down to the Eastern Passage, where A's grandmother's people hail from, and checked out the lobster nets.
It's a very Nova Scotian looking place and we wandered for a while. A found the most hilarious boat, that's apparently been at the warf for forever.
Obviously, pictures were needed of this baby:
We ate lunch on the warf and I had the classic $10 Maritimer's meal - a heaping plate of deepfried Haddock and more french fries than one could possibly eat.
Even with A to help me we couldn't finish it, though her mashed potatoes were beautiful things of creation and couldn't exactly be ignored :D
To waste a few hours we got hopelessly lost in a new mall-creation-division and finally stumbled our way to the evil walmart. I got Arrested Development first season for fifteen bucks and cheap running gear for fun. A found a two dollar shirt that was even cheaper than something we could find at Frenchie's.
After that we made the sorry trip back to the Halifax International Airport and A dropped me off. It was a sad goodbye as neither of us is sure when we're going to meet up again, but she's certainly coming home for my wedding. I'm trying to seduce her back to Ontario for grad, but we shall see.
The trip back to K-town was pleasant but uneventful. Ontario welcomed me back with open arms, though, and as we flew towards my home-for-the-next-five-weeks I couldn't help but love it again here. The Nova Scotian country-side is beautiful, and the ocean is wonderous always, but nothing says home like fresh water bodies too wide to see across and pine trees so green they make my fingertips ache. The moon - gibbous and almost full - reflected off the river as we passed overhead, and it was good.
So that was my whirl-wind weekend trip out East! Awesome fun with fantastic food, delicious drinks, and unbeatable company :) Next time I'll bring Himself (yes, A, I'm so stealing that!) and hopefully will have a chance to see some more blue sky along my favourite harbour city!
But for now, I have to say, its good to be home.
Edit: Humble apologies, all, for the horrid mis-use of the picture-posting. My frakking linux operating system refuses to open my camera, so I had to download the pictures straight to ripway. Which I have no idea how to edit. There must be a way to edit picture sizes in lj, right? Right? .. anyone know how to do that?
My mother is officially the Queen of the Internet Deals, and she worships at the Air Canada website. When I headed out to Hali in February for my Dalhousie interview she managed to smuggle me an extra round-trip to New Scotland for free. I had to use it before May 3rd and it couldn't be at Easter or March Break, so looking for fun and excitement (and to take a break from the mind-numbling horror that is waiting for an exam that is still five weeks away) I snuck a day off into my anesthesia rotation and ran East for the weekend.
Had a fabulous time in Halifax and have the pictures to prove it!
The weekend started at the lovely hour of 5:30 am when I awoke to do my last hurried packing. Having been warned, I left copious amounts of room in my brilliant orange suitcase for Frenchie's loot. My flight left from K-town at 8:00am and I was wandering the now-familiar halls of the Toronto Airport by 9:15am. After a minimal wait-time I caught my cross-Canada connection and had the fortune to sit next to a cute retired couple. They were from Moncton and I tried to describe where Bridesmaid #2 is from, to (initially) no avail. The "begins with a D ..." and "sandpiper statue?" didn't help much. But at the end of the two-hour flight the woman sat up straight and said "Dorchester!" and I laughed "Yes!" and thus the mystery was solved.
When I landed in Halifax A was there to meet me and a joyous reunion was had. I haven't seen her since before Christmas and we probably won't get together again until my wedding, unless she manages to sneak herself back to Ontario for grad. My luggage was (gasp!) one of the first off the rotator and she had managed to navigate the expertly confusing Halifax Airport parking lot, so before long we were on the road again.
It was rather dreary and bleary all weekend, but in her 1996 Airplaner (I swear the thing sounded like a jumbo-jet taxing down the runway) we made good time. First we ran to a Dartmouth Guy's Frenchie's and pursued fashion in the true Maritimer style (A found several lovely dresses and I found diddly squat, but it was certainly not for lack of trying!) After that we found Woodland street, lost Woodland street, found Victoria street, went the wrong way on Victoria street, and eventually crossed the MacDonald bridge. A had booked us a room at the lovely Waverly Inn, and we made it there eventually :D.
While checking in we mentioned to the gentleman that we understood Oscar Wilde himself had stayed there almost a hundred years ago, and Anna from Anna and the King as well, and being a wonderful man obviously proud of his establishment he offered to move us to Oscar's old room.
!!!
So of course we said yes, and it was the same cost, and we got to sit and thumb through a lovely book on his life that was left so kindly in the room. I hadn't known he died of tuberculosis in jail after being arrested for being gay. The things you learn in Halifax!
The room was a thing of awesomeness and comfort - the bed, omg the bed - but we didn't dally long. Instead we googled some nearby restaurants and headed out to the Five Fishermen. But while the all-you-can-eat mussel bar was awesome, the food itself was disappointingly bland. To fix our evening we stumbling out into the rain to find some quality Nova Scotian beer and (after several wrong turns, two disappointments, and a questionable lane) we found the Henry House and its lovely, tasty beer.
The next day we walked all over downtown Halifax and did some shopping. A mentioned walking the Citadel and that's when I (very much belatedly) remembered that Hali was lamardeuse's city. I ran her off a quick email and we planned out our afternoon. We decided to hop in the car and check out southern part of the city as A had some house-shopping to do. We made time to hit another Frenchie's on the way, and here I found two skirts and a funky belt while A found me some jogging pants. She found this sexy red leather skirt that mostly fit, and said it would be a good $4.50 inspiration.
We also swung by A's new place, met the cute Indian girl whose living there now and found an awesome bakery that's literally fifteen steps away. They have these really spicy gingerbread cookies and something called "elephant ears" that are full of sugar and honey and yumminess. We took measurements of her new place and I got to indulge my contractor-daughter's heritage by holding the bright orange measuring tape.
Her new place was steps from our hotel, and when we got back lamardeuse had replied. She graciously invited us over for after-dinner drinks and initially we happily accepted. But then we decided to do the truly Nova Scotian thing and do the Keith's Brewery tour.
And - oh dear.
It was fun! Really! There was beer, at least, and it was pretty cheap considering we got in for $14 each with our student cards. But it was like being stuck in a (bad) hour-long beer commercial. I swear if that guy said "Proper thing" one more time I was going to scream.
They should have given us the beer at the beginning of the tour and not at the end, is all I'm saying.
Yet! We got to worship a little at the statue of Father Keith:
And take many more pictures of the cute "period" bar maids, which I shall spare you all here.
Still after two pints of slammed beer on an empty stomach we were in no position to try the bridges again. We regretfully called lamardeuse and had to cancel, which sucked because A has just finished season three of SGA and finds Ronon lickable, and has also seen the first half (-ish) of Merlin. I'm sure an awesome time would have been had by all, and it would have been fun to have seen the continuously awesome J again.
But maybe next time I come down it'll be actually warm and summer and the Citadel will be open. :D:D:D And I will definitely bring my camera back down again.
We had dinner that night at the fantabulous Press Gang, which was so incredibly delicious it took us two hours to finish our meal. By the time we finally staggered out it was clear we had made the right decision not to drive.
After that we stumbled down the hill to the Old Triangle and drank more of the ever-present Keith's Beer.
The next day we checked out marginally early and drove down to the Eastern Passage, where A's grandmother's people hail from, and checked out the lobster nets.
It's a very Nova Scotian looking place and we wandered for a while. A found the most hilarious boat, that's apparently been at the warf for forever.
Obviously, pictures were needed of this baby:
We ate lunch on the warf and I had the classic $10 Maritimer's meal - a heaping plate of deepfried Haddock and more french fries than one could possibly eat.
Even with A to help me we couldn't finish it, though her mashed potatoes were beautiful things of creation and couldn't exactly be ignored :D
To waste a few hours we got hopelessly lost in a new mall-creation-division and finally stumbled our way to the evil walmart. I got Arrested Development first season for fifteen bucks and cheap running gear for fun. A found a two dollar shirt that was even cheaper than something we could find at Frenchie's.
After that we made the sorry trip back to the Halifax International Airport and A dropped me off. It was a sad goodbye as neither of us is sure when we're going to meet up again, but she's certainly coming home for my wedding. I'm trying to seduce her back to Ontario for grad, but we shall see.
The trip back to K-town was pleasant but uneventful. Ontario welcomed me back with open arms, though, and as we flew towards my home-for-the-next-five-weeks I couldn't help but love it again here. The Nova Scotian country-side is beautiful, and the ocean is wonderous always, but nothing says home like fresh water bodies too wide to see across and pine trees so green they make my fingertips ache. The moon - gibbous and almost full - reflected off the river as we passed overhead, and it was good.
So that was my whirl-wind weekend trip out East! Awesome fun with fantastic food, delicious drinks, and unbeatable company :) Next time I'll bring Himself (yes, A, I'm so stealing that!) and hopefully will have a chance to see some more blue sky along my favourite harbour city!
But for now, I have to say, its good to be home.
Edit: Humble apologies, all, for the horrid mis-use of the picture-posting. My frakking linux operating system refuses to open my camera, so I had to download the pictures straight to ripway. Which I have no idea how to edit. There must be a way to edit picture sizes in lj, right? Right? .. anyone know how to do that?