Bich's Canadian adventures: Friday

Rich got his history fix on Friday.

Halifax has a primo maritime location, prompting the building of Citadel Hill at around 1750. Multiple walls were built over the years, eventually resulting in the current star-shaped fortress. It was never actually attacked or used during war.

Coffee in hand, going up the hill

Inside the grounds

Every day features the ceremonial firing of the noon cannon.

Overlooking the city

Drum corps

Between two of the outer walls
(we arrived during a reenactment)

Gunpowder room

Reenactors!

After spending a couple of hours at the citadel, we headed back to the harbor for some fish, chips and beer.

And we continued our history tour at the Halifax Maritime Museum.

Lighthouse light

The Titanic exhibit is extensive. Halifax was the nearest
city to the disaster, so many of the survivors (and many,
many bodies) were brought to Halifax.

Until we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the largest manmade explosion happened in Halifax in 1917 when a munitions ship collided with a supply ship in Halifax Harbour's "Narrows." It devastated the city, killing more than 2,000 people, injuring more than 9,000 and destroying all buildings within two kilometers. We learned a lot about that, too.

Once the museum closed, it was time for more food. (Obviously.) Across the street, we hit the best-named joint in the city: McKelvie's Delishes Fishes Dishes. Seriously -- I'm a copy editor and was endlessly delighted by that!

Crab bisque at McKelvie's

Seafood chowder

Then it was off to Alexander Keith's Brewery. The tour is crazy -- it's a dramatization of the start of the brewery using costumed performers as they take you throughout the grounds. (It was one of the few buildings not destroyed by the explosion in 1917.)

Two full beers with price of admission.

Learning 19th-century games.

We wandered the city before hitting an awesome wine bar. We could have spent hours there, but that could have been more dangerous than it was.

Tasting flight of Canadian whites.

Bread, cheese, rabbit rillettes.

We walked some more ... and went back to the Plum for $3.99 mussels.

We then hit Argyle Street -- literally just one bar or restaurant after another crammed into one block (though it was just one block in a city full of great bars, pubs, wine bars and eateries). We found a seat at ... one of them. I really can't remember.

But we met up with a couple of people who had actually just met about an hour before. She was upset because her boyfriend wanted to go to bed -- they were on vacation from Boston -- and she wanted to go out, so she went out. She decided it was time to end the relationship anyway, and this was the icing on the cake.

Her new friend, who had just moved to Halifax the week before from somewhere in the sticks of Ontario -- was keen on her. We all kept drinking.

Honoring the kittehs.

Later, our foursome ended up at the Carleton, home to some excellent music and a nice, big cover charge, thanks to the Halifax blues fest going on that weekend. But we sneaked in and caught the end of the headliner.

It was time to say goodbye to our friends (so he could finally make his move, if you will). So at this point, we're hungry -- it's nearly 2 a.m., we're on vacation, we didn't technically eat dinner, and we've been drinking. I demanded food. (I would do that sober.) We were pointed toward a "very college" area of town, and sure enough, we discovered a few clubs crammed into one block that were open until 4 a.m., with the requisite pizza joint next door. A fight broke out, of course, which Rich watched while I exasperatedly went inside and ordered my pizza.

I felt old.

But we enjoyed our pizza, walked back to our hotel after dodging a few more skirmishes, and hit the sack.