38 Halifax

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

32 Off to Nova Scotia
33 Whales, Digby Neck
34 Yarmouth and beyond
35 Through to Lunenburg
36 Lunenburg
37 To Halifax
38 Halifax
39 Halifax and Bluenose II
40 Halifax
41 Halifax Citadel
42 Fixing Morty
43 Greenwich & Stanhope
44 Charlottetown
45 Canadian Confederation
46 Whisky and Ceilidh
47 On to Broad Cove
48 Glace Bay and Marconi
49 Arriving in Newfndlnd
50 To St John's
51 St John's
52 St John's
53 Avalon Peninsula
54 To Twillingate
55 Rain to Rocky Harbour
56 Gros Morne
57 Vikings up north
58 Wind and ferries
59 Labrador

Canada

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Saturday 10 September 2005 (day 111)

Yacht in Halifax

Aboard Bluenose II

Today we had a day catching up on laundry and getting ready for another web upload session. It is hot and sunny until the wind blows and then you get reminded that winter is just around the corner. Late in the afternoon we headed into town timing it beautifully to catch the hourly bus from the main road down to Dartmouth bus station. From here we walked down to the ferry terminal and hopped on the ferry across the bay to downtown Halifax.

The harbour front where the ferry stops is total tourist-ville with boat tours, restaurants and tourist shops. It reminded me of Pier 39 in San Francisco. We were in search of tickets for a trip on Bluenose II, a replica of the original, which was built in the 1960's. Tickets can only be bought ninety minutes before sailing so we will come back tomorrow but we did go on board for a shufty around. It is a beautiful ship and well looked after, all gleaming brass and varnish. The crew live on board which means that you cannot go below, a shame because for the peeks we got through the open hatches it looks luxurious.

We stopped off at Tourist Information and I thought Stef was going to blow a fuse. The man who helped us was friendly and helpful but he was like a very camp Danny Kaye. I got the feeling that the people he worked with found him hard going for a full day. We left with the usual stock of leaflets, one of which was a map showing where the seventy pubs in central Halifax were located. My request for a typically Canadian one was laughed at as they are all (or most of them at least) Irish pubs.

Thirsty we decided to go for an early drink before finding somewhere to eat. A fatal mistake. We went to the Old Triangle Irish Ale House, which I thought was more American than Irish. It reminded me of the Cheers bar on Regent Street in London. In the main bar they had a small corner stage with a band playing Irish music. The next room along was a dining room, and in the back was a not very cosy looking snug. It somehow seemed to neat and tidy to be a pub. The band were pretty good led by a middle aged guy playing the violin, another guy on guitar, three more girls on violins and another girl with a small guitar. One of the girls looked really nervous, she could only have been about fifteen. As well as playing three of the girls also did some Irish dancing. Their fingers and their feet moved incredibly fast.

The band stopped at eight, another one plays from ten to the early hours, so the pub is catering to the early tourist trade as well as the hardened night time revellers. I am sad to say we had fallen into the earlier group. With a few pints of Guiness inside him, Stef needed food. Our attempt to find the local Indian failed (bad eh - Irish bar and a curry) so instead we went to the Wooden Monkey, a bistro with a tasty menu. The only problem was that as Stef had the taste for curry it took him a while to stop complaining that we were not in a curry house and to switch into a different food mode.

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