Day 1 (March 16, 2021): Tourists in our own town

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, sell them and buy a pineapple.  When it comes to March Break and a year of pent-up desire to go somewhere, the lemons are the inability to leave Nova Scotia.  The pineapple represents an attempt to salvage a few days' change of pace and scenery within this small province.

We were supposed to be in Seychelles right now (a rebooked version of the trip we were supposed to take the day after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic on March 11, 2020).  Instead, we have organized a four-day visit to Halifax > Stellarton > Cape Breton.

It was a year ago today that David had to convene the staff of his four Atlantic offices and ask them to work from home.  To mark the one-year anniversary of the Great Telework Experiment, a special virtual staff gathering was held today to lightheartedly commemorate the trying year that has been.  Once that was over, we headed to the Residence Inn by Marriott in the heart of Halifax's downtown.  

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Halifax, but the wind was biting when we set out from the hotel, which is located next to the massive new and highly underused Convention Centre.  We walked to Baton Rouge for a pre-dinner appetizer.  We had last spoken to our waiter there on Friday, March 13, 2020, as we dined to drown our cancelled vacation sorrows.  He shared how the restaurant had shut down for 10 weeks just a few days after we had talked to him that day.

We stopped by Historic Properties (David's workplace) and Parade Square enroute back to the hotel, and we marveled at how truly beautiful and historic Halifax is.  One tends to see things differently as a tourist!

At 6:30PM we headed downhill towards the harbour for our dinner reservation at McKelvie's Restaurant, known for its seafood.  A wonderful dinner under our belts, we enjoyed the historic aura of Bedford Row and stopped by the Nova Scotia Legislature on our way back up the hill to the hotel.

Okay, so it's not quite a 30C beach in the Seychelles, but it was a very enjoyable day one of our mini March Break, all the same!

The historic beams and old charm of Baton Rouge, in the former Morse Tea Building, made for a great start to our mini holiday.

The always-stunning stonework of Historic Properties!


Built in 1750, when Halifax was in its infancy, St. Paul's Church is located at the southern end of the Grand Parade, an open square in downtown Halifax with Halifax City Hall at the northern end. 


McKelvie's tag-line is "Delicious Fishes Dishes".  And for good reason!  You cannot beat its fresh halibut!



The tree-trunk lights add a late-winter festive air to historic Bedford Row.

A nighttime view of Province House, which is home to the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly.  Having first sat in 1758, in 1848 it was the site of the first responsible government in the British Empire.  Province House is Canada's oldest and smallest legislative building and opened in1819. The building was also originally home to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, and the location of the "Freedom of the Press" trial of Joseph Howe.