All True New Scotsman (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

[SignalHillHiker]

I went to Newscotland. This was my first visit there in either just over or just under two DECADES, depending which of my recollections you choose to believe.

Its capital, Halifax, is the nearest larger city to my own... but it's not near. It's a couple day's drive/ferry or a two-hour flight. I chose flight, mostly because I didn't book anything and a friend handled the works because we were going there for a wedding.

This is where I started, and ended...



So, I absolutely HATED every brick and soul in Halifax the last time I was there (under or over two decades ago, as we discussed). It was the most unjustifiably cruel city I had ever been in. It was... like an incel complaining about a hot girl's knobby knees.

The locals acted like it was London or Paris, and at that time it was barely Mississauga. And they were especially, specifically cruel to people from Newfoundland (we've traditionally been the Paddy Irishmen or Poles to those boring, horribly-accented mainland Canadians).

I had bosses tell me not to have Screech (Jamaican rum) with my lunch; cabbies ask if I was excited to be on a four-lane divided road because we surely don't have those "ON DA RAWK HAHAHAHA!". Just absolutely nauseating, provincial, backwood worldview. I cannot say enough about how hilariously shit the people were. My face is red just typing this, and not just from the booze.

So I went there this time with a chip (whole chunk?) on my shoulder. Don't get me wrong, I tried to have an open mind, but I was still carrying around a magnifying glass looking for any of their backwater traits to show. Spoiler alert: they're all cool now (maybe because the city is bigger, more diverse, and few who I met are actually from there - kidding. I met long-time locals too, also almost entirely nice.) I loved it. LOTS of it.

I was a little bit shocked, to be honest... for example, sitting at a laundromat on a Monday morning before 8 a.m. watching HUNDREDS of people bike/scooter/walk by with their kids and coffee. People really can live their best urban life there already, even before it gets LRT and the rest. It was... fun. And as if that wasn't enough, they said good morning to me!? They're coming for our gig.

So, to start... one caveat. If you took 1,000 people per year over 1,000 years and sent them from St. John's to Halifax in late June, all but me would've had slightly better weather in Halifax. I managed to leave a heat wave in St. John's for (mostly) fog and rain in Halifax. It's a skill I have. Halifax's karma for the shit it put me through in the early 2000s.

Starting with the song I had on repeat for the flight there.

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Spent the day before we left furiously cleaning my house, doing laundry.

Later, there's a picture of Halifax's version of exactly this building lol





















And then off to the airport. You just follow this helpful sign (there's this one sign on the 15-minute drive).



Luckily, we found it. Or, rather, the mother of one of my companions who got up early to drive us did.





I got nervous when I saw the plane. Smallest one I've ever been on for a flight this long.



Good news: not as loud as feared, WAY more legroom than RyanAir. Porter isn't so bad. And it operates basically like a bus. Touches down in every major city between us and Toronto, with people getting on/off at each stop.

As our beloved Joan Morrissey, God rest her soul, famously sang, "I'll tell you a tale about Newfoundland dear, We haven't got money or riches to spare; But we can be thankful for one small affair, Thank God we're surrounded by water. The sea, oh the sea, the wonderful sea, Long may she roll between all ye and me; And everyone here should get down on one knee, and thank God we're surrounded by water."



But, then, land.



And, on that land, Nova Scocia.









It was at this point my two buddies in the back seat had an exchange that would encapsulate this trip quite succinctly.

C: "Ryan would never take a picture of a part of St. John's that looked like this."
J (positively): "There are no parts of St. John's that look like this."



And then, in the pouring rain, we checked into our hilariously-designed hotel at the EXTREME edge of downtown. It's basically in the middle of a highway interchange they're removing, right on the border between the downtown and the North End.

It was genuinely pouring, but we wouldn't let that stop us from getting out and exploring. Absolutely ruined a pair of good running shoes, but... honestly, genuinely, completely... WORTH IT. Just you wait (for the next post because I took all these pictures on my phone so I'm sending them to myself 20 at a time. Shhh I don't know technology and I have no cords).

And there are like 300, even after I got rid of all the ones I didn't like. Argh. And one whole *SPEC*TAC*U*LAR* weather day.

[SignalHillHiker]

And so, the rest of DAY 1 - FLOOD. Set to Yatra because he is mandatory when there is no sun in the sky, you need it in your ears.

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I cannot stress enough (because you cannot see it in pictures) how much rain was falling lol. We were SO fucked. But... you can't go somewhere and stay in a hotel, no matter what.



We walked past City Hall (we now know) while my companion read the Wikipedia entry of their Province House that we thought it was.



The Halifax Citadel. We actually know this building well in St. John's because it is why our Supreme Court and Basilica of St. John the Baptist both have clocktowers. We were under the impression that a Cathedral made the City, Halifax built the Citadel and then decided clocktowers make the City, so we had to have one, no, TWO. Not even joking. That's why we have two of our finest buildings.



Nice.



A bit of residential St. John's in Halifax, but here it's commercial. And their poles are somehow even MORE aggressive.





This was the first moment where I stopped and thought... oh fuck, I'm really going to like it here, aren't I?







We had to go to Shoppers because my companions took all of their liquids (hairsprays, soaps, toothpaste, etc.) out of their carry-on bags and were forced to toss them. I just had all of mine in my bag, didn't declare, didn't even get a second look (there or back lol).





Little St. John's house overtaken by Halifax. This is what I was starting to feel like.



I cannot say in words how much I love keeping a few cobbles while turning the rest of the shit modern. St. John's replaced downtown cobbles with asphalt and downtown brick pavers with Costco parking lot sidewalks.



A lot more Protestants here than I'm used to. Even some of the Catholic churches have that asymmetrical look.



A building like this will always be my fave building in any city I visit.





Halifax is uniquely obsessed with pizza. There must be more pizzerias in this city than the rest of North America combined. It's like when they're planning the city, they choose the pizzeria and then decide what else should go on the street. Truly... insanity. I have never seen so many different restaurants of the same type anywhere, ever.





The new library. It's super cute.

[SignalHillHiker]

This is one of those buildings where the reality surely looks as good as the render did.



This block is perfection.





This is one handsome man of a building.





I'm a lover of old stones. It's the most important thing to me when it comes to urbanity. Countless towns of a few tens of thousands in Europe feel larger to me than half the cities in North America. So this... yep. I had to stop myself from scooting arse-first around it like a cat.





Haligonians use umbrellas, unlike us...



But half of them hold them fucking weird. Double-fisting that umbrella, man, c'mon.





What a delightful mess.











We went back to the narrow building from a post above to dry off, because where else would I go? I NEEDED TO KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE. Clearly an old booze warehouse.



This is where we waited out the worst of the rain.

[Driver8]

I don't really have any opinion of Halifax, but I like what I've seen so far in this thread! Looking forward to more pics and commentary

[SignalHillHiker]

As you can guess by the beer pictured above, I'm getting a little foggy about exactly where the first day ended and the second began. But I have made a decision and will proceed as though I am correct.





A George Street building downtown.



We ran into some mall thing to use the washroom, and this phrasing cracked us up...



I thought the thing up ahead was construction scaffolding. It's a patio. Nice!



Then we went to Durty Nelly's. So this was a fun/funny time. It's closer to a restaurant than a pub, and their gravy is clearly from a can, but they have actual Irish staff and the right food.



The funny part... there was live music playing over the speakers, you could hear people laughing and clapping. And I'm looking around at this restaurant with people eating, and I thought to myself... surely they're not just PLAYING a recording of a concert? Who the fuck does that? I had myself so worked up at the offense of it all that I quietly got up and walked around to check. Sure enough, live band around the corner hidden behind restaurant structures. I very nearly made an entirely thread here That would've been an unforgivable sin lol



Then back to our hotel. It's cracking me up anew just uploading these pictures. How they built a rural motel on top of a parking garage, legally, I'll never know.

[SignalHillHiker]

And now, as previously discussed, some pictures definitely from the next day and not the same day.

Set to Maluma (you'll notice I love Colombian singers, every time I hear a Spanish song, IF I like the accent, it's *always* Colombian - which is fitting for the wedding we're in Halifax to attend, more on that later).

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They have the shells of St. John's-style buildings here:



We had to Google this guy, assuming it was their Prime Minister, then remembering they joined Canada from the start and didn't have one. Turns out, some journalist/writer. Respectable, like Scotland with all its artists on everything.

[SignalHillHiker]

This is DEFINITELY the morning of a new day... either the same as above, or the next. Presented without comment... just enjoy the beauty of this city with its building and public art illuminated on my early-morning run.

[OhioGuy]

Looks a little more lively than when I visited in January 2007, haha. I need to visit in a warmer month.

And now that I've looked through these photos I just want to chow down on some poutine!

[SignalHillHiker]

When the sun rose, the fog cleared, and we had our first glimpse at several things:

1. Sun.
2. Dartmouth.

When I was here last, Dartmouth was a strip mall on the other side of a bridge that took two hours to get to by bus and was absolutely awful in every respect.

I THINK it still is. We never went. I'm all for authentic tourism, but... there's a line. That said, Dartmouth is actually something to look at from Halifax these days. Lots of midrises peppered throughout.







I watched a whole documentary about how Amsterdam residents get their furniture into condos in buildings like these, so I was especially keen.













St. John's 2056.



So, I mentioned in the SSP Canada section that I would be going to HFX. The local forumers there surely mostly know the shoulder chip I was bringing with me. Literally half a dozen reached out to me in some way with recommendations. This was one of them. Brunch at Bliss. And it was great. Cilantro in the breakfast tacos (obviously), which tastes like soap to me so I couldn't have it. But my salad was delicious, and the coffee... OMG the coffee... I had the extra caffeine dark, and the normal medium. Both black. Both exceptionally good. And smooth.









As Bliss was relatively close to the Public Gardens, and we were running out of clothes (we didn't check any bags, just took our little laptop bag-sized carry-ons lol), we decided to walk from there through the Public Gardens to the Halifax Shopping Centre out at the edge of the core. It was long in the super-sticky heat of a sun emerging from days of rain and fog, but well worth it.

[SignalHillHiker]

And now, the Public Gardens.

So... symbolism. Average Spanish girl, absolutely obsessed with Italy, has released full albums in Italian and is debatably more popular in Italy than Spain. She's perfect for the Halifax's Public Gardens. Because, holy shit, they think they're in Mexico. And it's working.

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So, we had to investigate all the tropical plants in this garden. One of my travel buddies is absolutely obsessed with tropical plants. In his home, his garden, his businesses. He's researched every possible way to keep them alive here. And the Public Gardens didn't fool him.

"Those cannot grow outside here. If the temperature even gets CLOSE to freezing, which Halifax more than does, the water-rich stems rupture and the plant dies. It simply can't grow here. Are they planting one every year and killing it? Moving it here from a greenhouse? Even in a greenhouse they would need to spend a fortune on lighting. It'll quickly die after equinox."

And I'm like... kk.

But anyhow, we asked around. They do grow them in greenhouses, and store them there most of the year (so they're not just dying or anything). But they go through the time and expense of putting them in the public gardens. It's a nice symbol of the benefits of being a city that thinks it's important. While we were touring this tropical treat in Halifax, one of the top headlines back home in St. John's was suburban famlies pissed off the city (in a heat wave) wouldn't turn the splash pads on because they only paid $165,000/summer for the security guards MANDATED by insurance beginning July 1.

As you can tell by this intro, this tour of the public gardens elicited some existential angst among us Townies. Jealousy isn't the right word. I don't want what Halifax has, I don't begrudge them having that, but the ease with which they achieve it rubs raw the hurt of trying to do ANYTHING in St. John's, which is a city accustomed to treading water. Perception is reality. And Halifax's perception that it deserves everything it possibly can do is a devastating contrast to what we're dealing with.

So here's the works, enjoy all these gorgeous plants, and the mall, and a couple snippets throughout of the bus ride home. I insisted because I love trams and was on this Halifax high and expected to get some satisfaction from buses. I didn't. Looks and smells the same as home.



























































The "E" cracks me up. It's like a bunch of other letters fell off lol

[SignalHillHiker]

It's 1:30 a.m. here and I'm not even half through these pictures. But I'm not even at the good stuff yet FFS lol Bear with me...

[SignalHillHiker]

So, then the sun REALLY came out. In Halifax, the done thing is brunch. It's a whole thing here, and it's basically a light lunch menu. In St. John's, it's early afternoon patio beers. Occupies the same social niche. So that's what we went to do on the sunny day.









(Oh, for no particular reason, I just remembered the name of this place was The Decks).

And after that, we decided we were going to go look for a gay bar.











Hilariously, shockingly, there wasn't one. It's apparently a pandemic-related thing. Every drunk girl/bouncer we asked was apologetic and friendly.











Eventually, they recommended we try this place (telling us it was especially gay-friendly, despite the fact they said everywhere clearly was, and at least for us, that night, everything literally was lol).







After we left there, we walked back through the city just chatting and one the bouncers asked if we found a gay bar. We said no, and so despite having a block-long line of hot girls and desperate guys waiting to get in, he let us go right in. It's apparently HFX's equivalent of our Martini Bar, where the teenage girls go lol

But, gotta say... one of the most fun nights out in a long time. We felt like royalty.









But we did go a LITTLE too hard. Next day was the wedding, beginning 5 p.m. I woke up with a hangover... *dramatic music.*

[SignalHillHiker]

So, wedding day. I tried being vertical for a bit in the morning...



That quickly ended. Back in bed. Didn't get up until afternoon and we walked to check out a beer garden (obviously, I did not partake) and an adjacent ice cream place.

Halifax looks fucking good with the sun in her hair.





































I mean, the scenery just didn't end. If I was willing to be creepier, I could have 300 pics of just hot guys I saw from that seat for that lunch lol

[SignalHillHiker]

And then... the wedding... oh my God.

So, the bride's family is from Colombia and arrived in St. John's as refugees when she was a young girl. She's still VERY Colombian - speaks English with an accent, can't do an English R, etc. My best friend went to high school with her and I met her through him like 10 years ago. She's got a wicked case of wanderlust, and met the perfect husband.

His family was presumably South Asian (they rocked out to songs that to, my uninformed ears, sounded Bollywood-worthy), but they've been in Canada forever. I think even his grandparents were born here. Gives me hope for Newfoundlanders holding on to the most crucial bits of our pre-Confederation culture, watching them folk dance at the wedding. Anyhow, Kitchener, Ontario is the most recent home. Father could be a model. Mother was like a vulgar, hilarious Real Housewife. I was either laughing or holding in a laugh the entire time we spent together (we sat with them beside the head table, pays to attend with one of the bride's besties haha!).



















And then the dancing...

One treat to start. One of the guests is a friend of ours from Belize, has lived in St. John's for years. She teaches us salsa to impress on Latin nights at bars downtown. One of her students also happened to be invited and they spent half the night tearing it up while the bride (hilariously) tried to teach the groom's family to do it.

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Funny aside... Throughout the course of the night, probably 30 people individually walked down to the "lake" and wondered what the salt smell was. That's just not how ocean looks in Newfoundland. None of us expected it to be salt water.

[SignalHillHiker]

So, next morning... I mentioned before we had very limited luggage . So, laundry day. I had to Google the nearest one and when it opened, so after 7 a.m. I set out.

Set to Chucho Rivas. He's Mexican, not Colombian, but his voice... it goes so deep it reverberates through you.

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I got a text from Mom in the morning, "How was the wedding?"

So I said it was good, asked how my cat/house was (Dad is checking in).

"Cat's dead. House is sold."

Hilarious. So I'm telling her all about the wedding.

"Why did they go up to Canada for it?"

I didn't grow out of the ground. There's a reason I am the way I am lol















So after I was done having my aforementioned existential crisis about the benefits of nodal urbanity... I went back the hotel, roused the b'ys, and we did our walk through the North End.

We walked up Gottingen (and had to ask people how to pronounce it, I WON!).



























Just sayin'...

Later, there's a picture of Halifax's version of exactly this building lol

[Nouvellecosse]

It's nice that you took the time to document your adventures. I found it quite interesting.

[SignalHillHiker]

At Hydrostone, we crossed over to Agricola to walk back and stop for brunch at Luke's, recommended by a friend.

[SignalHillHiker]

And then we waddled the rest of the way to the Citadel. Set to duele.

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From the Citadel is St. John's only saving grace left in my mind. We haven't lost as much, and the Before from this duo is exponentially better to me. The current is great, as you've seen, once you're down into it, but it's not me.



And then back to the hotel to get changed for a WAY warmer evening out once the skies cleared.

[SignalHillHiker]

We went out to a beer pub on Gottingen. Met up with two local friends who were dressed for a funeral compared to our norms. I'm still giggling at it. I have a friend from home who lives in HFX and wears heels with his men's suits to work, so they do it too.

[SignalHillHiker]

And, just like that, it's over. Last morning. Set to the Newfoundland band my mother named me after, singing a Nova Scotian song.

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Nova Scotia mentions us a few times around town. It was really nice. I'd like to see St. John's do that for other places too. I think our only reference to anywhere else is a distance arrow lol













Time to head home...





We passed over some interesting/pretty parts of Nova Scotia once we cleared the clouds.









And then, almost to St. John's, we passed over St. Pierre et Miquelon, France.



The towns of Fortune (left; where the ferry to France departs) and Grand Bank (right).



The town of Grand Beach.



Marystown/Burin/Creston area.



Landing in St. John's.



















Yep, definitely home.























And that was it, b'y. A lovely vacation in a lovely city. I might be one of the last to know but, hey... We're here.