Irish Pubs 10 - Starbucks 1

Halifax is indisputably the Irish pub capital of Canada and could easily rival Manhattan based on an Irish pub to population ratio. Downtown Old Halifax covers an area of approximately 6 blocks by six blocks. On one block alone there were three Irish pubs. My favorite had over 60 different types of beer on tap and a three hour O'happy hour. One of the pubs, Dirty Nelly's was actually shipped over in pieces from Ireland and lovingly reconstructed in Halifax. The menu however was pure East Coast. Cod tongues, fiddleheads and 1.5 pound lobster dinners for $18.00. They did have something called O'Tacos but I am pretty sure that it wasn't traditional Irish pub food. Sadly only one Starbucks in the Downtown.

The highlight of our stay in Halifax was a visit to the Citadel. A fort that has existed on a hill overlooking Halifax in one form or other since the 1700's. The fort is currently populated with soldiers and townspeople from the mid 1800's when the fort was at is peak. Spent the better part of a day, that is the part that we did not spend in an Irish pub wandering the site with Nonie making google eyes with the young, strapping military lads in what I would consider non-military issue kilts. Way to much thigh showing.

Over the next few days, we visited the Maritime Marine Museum, Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg. Except for the cold and windy weather, everything was picture postcard perfect. We took in a showing of the musical Peter Pan and were suitably impressed. Captain Hook was a blast.


Heading to Ottawa next, for some grandchildren time.

Seen One Irish Pub, Seen Them All

What St. John,s lacks in Starbuck locations, it more than makes up with Irish Pubs. Our first night, saw us eat traditional Irish pub grub in one place and drink traditional Irish beer and listen to traditional Irish music in another. I had the cod fish and chips while Nonie had the traditional O'Quesedia. I drank a couple of Guinesses and Nonie had a glass of O'Merlot. Feeling very Irish by the time we got home. They have a saying in St. John's' "Throw the Blarney Stone and you can hit an Irish pub."

Our home was a lovely 120 year old bed and breakfast. It had received a beautiful renovation and while retaining all the old features (flooring, molding,sconces,trim) had modern plumbing and wireless Internet. Our place backed on to another B&B that was home to Prince Charles and Camilla when he visited Canada last year. Our Russian hosts treated us with the standard Russian stoicism and customer service that we had grown used to in our travels last year. Not a smile to be had.

St. John's has been around since the 17th Century. It's convenient location off the Grand Banks made it a cod fishing mecca for Europeans. Most of the homes are made of wood. A fire in 1897 virtually destroyed the entire city with only rock walls left standing. From our experience, St. John's can sometimes be a cold and dreary place so the citizens have painted their homes in bright colours to offset the greyness of the weather. It has been cold and windy since we arrived. A little less wind and some sun would be nice.

As St. Johns is the closest city in North America to Europe, Marconi came here in 1917 and accomplished the first trans-Atlantic communication. Flying a kite for an antenna from the highest point of land in the city he successfully heard a Morse Code signal from Great Britain. The hill has been a landmark in St. John's since the City was first inhabited. We spent a day climbing up to and back down into to St. Johns.

Moving on to Nova Scotia next. Hopefully the weather improves.

Back to the Rock for the first time

Our 8 hour flight turned into a 12 hour flight thanks to typhoon like conditions we experienced trying to land in St. John's. We were not able to land the first time so the plane was redirected to the airport at Deer Lake, Newfoundland. We topped up with gas and tried again facing a return to Ottawa if we were not successful. It was a hell of a ride but we managed to land in a torrential downpour and pretty foggy conditions. Instead of 10:30 PM, it was now 2:00 AM.

Our plan was to drive a few hours to the next major centre and check into a hotel. We hit the highway in the rain only to find fog as thick as pea soup. Reassessing our options, we backtracked into St. Johns and found a hotel to spend the night. Waking the next day, we faced a longer drive than we planned. We are to spend the next few days in Moreton Harbour, the birth place of my grandmother on my Dad's side.


An 8 hour drive found us in Moreton Harbour. Not sure what I expected to find there as my grandmother left there sometime after the First World War. I had checked the on line phone listings for Brett's living in Moreton Harbor but found none. While scouting out one of the local cemeteries we were lucky to meet Iann Small, born, raised and still living in the Harbour.

Iann invited us to his home for tea. When he found out what we were up to, he dug out the local phone book and found two local listings for Brett. He called the first one and before we knew it we had set up a meeting with Reginald Brett for the next day. To shorten this story, it turns out that Reg's father was my grandmother's brother. We were cousins. Too cool! We spent three hours finding out more about Moreton Harbour but not much about my grandmother as she did not stay in contact with her family.

On to St. John's and our flight to Halifax.

LazeeBoy Lust

Back in Penticton for less than a week and the LazeeBoy has it hooks into me. What is it about a simple chair that can cause a grown man to become an inert lump of clay in just one week. To be fair to the chair, I was ready for some serious downtime and I have not disappointed myself. The chair simply makes it easier, putting the "down" into downtime. Sadly, I must struggle with a 27" TV that has seen better days. For those of you who are puzzling over LazeeBoy. It is a chair but not just any chair. It RECLINES! The act of reclining is what sets this bad boy apart from mere mortal chairs. It makes "spontaneous napping" so easy and enjoyable.

Sadly, our time in Penticton and our LazeeBoy reclining will be short. We leave for the "Rock" (Province of Newfoundland) next week. Nfld is an island located at the extreme east end of Canada. It contains the furthest most Eastern point of land in the North American continent. As I pen this blog, we are currently in Victoria BC which is an island on the Western edge of Canada. In the space of an 8 hour flight we will have touched the Pacific ocean and the Atlantic ocean.