Halifax, Nova Scotia - May 10-13, 2018

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I traveled to Halifax to attend the Canadian Association of Labour Media conference from May 10-12, 2018. I stayed at The Lord Nelson, a fancy, old hotel immediately across from the beautiful Public Gardens. When I arrived, it was raining and not very conducive to roaming around the city. I did walk around a bit the next day and came across the impressive Common Roots Urban Farm. I would love to have seen the urban farm during the growing season. There was a couple social nights at bars down on Lower Water Street during the conference. One was particularly fun because there was a live local band.

My partner joined me for the weekend once the conference ended. The Lord Nelson was too expensive for us to stay at once my employer wasn't fitting the bill, so we moved to the Garden South Park Inn, a renovated Victorian house just down the road from the Lord Nelson. We arrived there before check in time, when it wasn't possible to enter the hotel at all so we had to kill some time at the Holy Cross Cemetery nearby. Later on a friend of mine from Halifax was kind enough to drive us around some sights out of town. She took us to Peggy's Cove, which was wickedly windy but oh so picturesque, especially on the sunny day we had. She drove us around where she grew up in and around Mahone Bay. It was a really nice drive that allowed us to take in the beautiful Nova Scotia landscape.

On Saturday night we walked from our hotel to Chain Yard Cider, an urban cidery where we tried some delicious local ciders. If we ever return, I'd like to rent a car and do a wine and cider tour of the Annapolis region. The next morning our friend took us for brunch on the roof patio at Your Father's Moustache . We figured it'd be low key given it was Mother's Day and most nice restaurants were likely booked solid. After trying some local ciders, I was anxious to try to local beer, and Your Father's Moustache had lots. Their eggs benedict was pretty tasty too. Next our friend took us to the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market, and then we had some more brews at Garrison Brewing. After that we walked along the waterfront for a bit before doing the Alexander Keith's Brewery tour, which was great fun - even if I'm not a big fan of their beer.

Halifax is a great city to be a pedestrian in, mostly because drivers are so chill. Nobody is in a hurry, and if the cars have the right of way, they will wait for pedestrians to go first. It was a nice change of pace from busy Toronto.

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