So onwards, to my first experience of waking up in Canada- and it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. Was up early, but I wasn’t surprised given the 4 hours gained yesterday. Checked my email in the TV room (old habits die hard) and reserached things to do with my day. Went to Atlantic Superstore for some breakfast, and discovered that the bakery is both decent and surprisingly cheap. Came back with a Cheese Twist and a litre of milk, which I promptly demolished in the hostel kitchen, before dropping my bag in my room and heading out.
My first stop was the Immigration Museum at Pier 21, which is where everyone who arrived from Europe via the Atlantic between the 1920s and 1970s would have passed through. The museum cost $8.25 for entry, and in all truth it was pretty reasonable, seeing as I got a guided tour for that price, which was both informative and fun. There was also a 20-minute presentation about what it was like to arrive at Pier 21 through the years when coming to Canada from Europe, which was really well done- despite the fact I had my audio in French for half of it due to a headphones mix-up! It was a fascinating look at the past, and I left wondering how different my life would have been if my ancestors had passed through that very building.
Following the museum, I headed next door to the market at Pavilion 22, which was full of souvenirs and things- I did notice some things that I intended to buy at some point… But I didn’t and kinda wish I had, they were a good price! Left there and headed down the boardwalk to soak up some of the sea air and summer sunshine, then headed for an explore of most of downtown, before heading back to the hostel for some lunch. Chilled out and made a couple of calls through Skype during the afternoon, before heading down to the kitchen around dinnertime to see if there was anything going on- bumped into Christine and Tanja, and we decided to head down to the Garrison Brewery to fill up a Growler (64 fl oz/1.9 litre bottle) of beer or two, for $8.50, which in Canada is a mental good price. I plumped for the Tall Ships Amber Ale, which, whilst not overwhelming, managed to be pretty flavoursome. Came back to the hostel and got through two growlers between three of us before deciding we wanted more, Unfortunately, by this time (9.30pm!) the brewery was closed, so we were left to go to the NSLC (Nova Scotia Liquor Commission) to get some bottled beer, which was less economical, but at the time, necessary. I went for the Propeller Brewery London Porter, which was dark, strong, and yet not very flavoursome. Had a couple of those, some food, then turned in for the night at a fairly respectable hour.
Good grief! A blog! Yes, I’ve finally decided to write up what is essentially my diary on my blog. This one for now will only have my Canadian adventure (eh!) on it, until I figure out jow to back-date entries, at which point I may write up the previous year’s adventures. So here goes- Canada 2012, Day one:
Day one, Wednesday 13th June: Depature from UK, arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Well, I was going to say there’s not much to say, but that’s a blatant lie. I’ve got basically half a page in my notebook to write up, but it starts with a rather uninspiring “Up early at Nan’s, got to Gatwick with few dramas”. In all fairness, that is entirely accurate, if boring, but it was hardly a gripping period in my life. I was panicking when the 162 to Beckenham was 5 minutes late, and trying to concoct a contingency plan, but the bus arrived, and lo and behold, the trip had begun. Gatwick has changed since last time I was there, and the Air Transat counters are tucked away at the back, like a shirt that’s fallen out of favour and gets tucked behind the door of the wardrobe. Check in was ike every other check-in I’ve ever had, and as such was routine, fortunately, so was the flight over the Atlantic to Nova Scotia. Watched Inception (finally!) on my netbook because the film on the plane was Gulliver’s Travels, which looked, well, shit. Inception, on the other hand, has firmly cemented itself as one of my favourites, certainly recently. Cracking film, superbly acted and directed, Leo DiCaprio, you are forgiven for doing Titanic.
Landed in Halifax, greeted by a beautiful 25C day with a light breeze and bathed in sunshine… Well, for the 3 minutes we could see outside before we joined the passport queue. Once that queue was cleared, I was instructed to go and see Immigration, whereupon I was asked (by a very nice official, I might add) to explain basically the last year of travelling I had done, and also various questions pertaining to whether I had even “been in trouble with the law” and how I intended to fund my 6 weeks in Canada. Ok, so I was in a hoodie and jeans, and slightly unshaven, but come on? Did I really look like a criminal? I was about to find out! Once Immigration had given me back my customs slip, I was told to give it to the nice man at the exit to baggage claim- I did so, and was directed to yet another queue, this time for a thorough baggage inspection- including Narcotics swabbing. In all fairness, the officials were nice as pie, and pretty talkative too, made the experience merely an inconvenience as opposed to bloody annoying. Eventually got the all-clear, and proceeded onto Canadian soil for the first time ever!
Found an ATM, and got myself a drink at a kiosk before getting the local bus (for CA $3.75) into town, as opposed to the airport shuttle (costing CA $19). This was my first taste of Canadian awesomeness- buses in Canada, as you may or may not know, require exact change- I only had a $5 note- so I decided to just take a hit and chucked it into the machine- then I took a seat- and, unlike usual, decided to not put my headphones in. Turned out, a local couple were the next on the bus, with exact change for the both of them, and the bus driver intervened- telling them to only put the difference in the machine, and to give me the change. Legend. The couple were really nice, we ended up striking up a conversation about my trip, and their recently completed trip to the UK, and they afforded me lovely insight into how locals think of Halifax and the surrounding area- Also learnt that the $1 coins are called “Loonies” after the Loon bird that appears on them, and when the $2 coins were introduced they were dubbed “Toonies”, as expected. Apparently there are to be $5 coins introduced, to be dubbed “Foonies”. What a crap name, might as well call them “Spoonies”. Anyhow, got into Halifax proper, got dropped off on Albemarle St. and headed for the hostel. I noticed there was a girl with a backpack headed in the same direction, so I asked (in true backpacker fashion) if she happened to be headed for the HI. Turned out the answer was yes, and so I met Tanja (Hamburg, Germany) for the first time. Got to the hostel, and checked in, and because of the time difference, it was still pretty early. Got my stuff put in the room, then headed down to the kitchen and bumped into Tanja, and met a nice older woman from Yorkshire called Christine, and the three of us (making an odd group, in all truth!) just clicked, and we hung out and decided to try and go on a bar crawl, but the time difference (-4 hrs) caught upo with me, so I came back pretty early and got some sleep.
So there you are! Any questions/comments are appreciated!
keithinmanyplaces 