Bich's Canadian adventures: Saturday

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables. Perhaps the story of a spunky orphan girl (who had none of the fear that I did) who was smart, funny, loved to read and write, and didn't know how beautiful her red hair really was resonated with an insecure kid with strawberry-blonde hair who just wanted to stay in her room all day and read.

Nearly 30 years later, that little girl got very excited when her husband said, "You know, I'd like to go to Nova Scotia someday." (I thank TripAdvisor, which named Canada's Maritime Provinces one of 2012's top 10 Places to Visit.) And Nova Scotia is nice and close to Prince Edward Island, home to Anne Shirley.

Well, I hear the words "I wanna go ... " and you can pretty much bet your trip is booked.

So Bich flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a weeklong trip -- one I didn't plan the hell out of, with to-the-minute schedules. I called it the "anti-Paris trip," as it was definitely more ... in nature.

If you've met me, you know I don't do nature.

But Anne does.

Anyway. We reached Halifax and, after a way-too-long visit to FedEx*, checked into our hostel (yes, hostel) and got some area suggestions from our hostess. We headed down to the harbor and hit the Waterfront Warehouse for our first taste of Garrison and some grub.

First stop: Waterfront Warehouse.

Garrison: killer craft beers you can't get outside Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island. (Nut Brown Ale and an Irish Red.)

Rich's snack: pickled herring.

My snack: seafood chowder with massive chunks of fish.

Then we got to walking. Halifax (fun fact: they're called "Haligonians") is a beautiful city on the bay with a rich maritime history. While I wouldn't call the city "diverse," it's great for all ages, and with a big university in town, it's vibrant in the way college towns are. And the water is the star.

City on the water.

Next stop: Salty's, with a table on the bay.

"Where's the beer?"

Rich makes another bird friend

Not our best picture, but ...

Halifax's wharf and harbor areas are pretty awesome.
And empty at that moment.

We hit the Spring Garden section next, near the university,
and these are what greeted us as we walked in the door of a sports bar
called Bubba Ray's. (Sidney Crosby is a native Haligonian.)

Your Father's Moustache: great rooftop patio.

Rich dug the urinals at the Moustache ...

In the basement of the Moustache was an upscale bar called
Rockbottom, and this was their tasting flight -- itty-bitty beer glasses!

On the campus of Dalhousie University
(it's not Winston Churchill)

Awesome place called The Maxwell's Plum.
For $5, you get a pound and a half of steamed mussels
with garlic and butter. We later found coupons that brought that price to $3.99.
We went again. And their beer selection was amazing.

We hit a few more fantastic places, just hopping around the city, and making one surprise stop for Rich: I picked up camping gear at Mountain Equipment Co-Op for our trip to Prince Edward Island the next day.

*We discovered one day before we left that Rich's passport was expiring in the middle of our trip. You can no longer fly to Canada without one ... so a new, expidited passport sort of threw our budget for a loop. But he had to FedEx his passport from Canada (so he could get into Canada) to the service, which meant we had to delay the fun a bit. Lessons learned.