Lunch and a Good Walk on the Hills of Halifax

 We had decided against taking a tour in Halifax, mainly because we'd already done a number of the more interesting options. Instead, we wanted to get a good seafood lunch and then walk around to see places we, or at least I, had not visited before. Larry came to Halifax a number of times while with Inspection Division at TD Bank.

We asked our friend Kathy to join us, and we took the tender in to the pier. The tender? In Halifax? Yes, we had to tender. There were two other ships, larger than us, at Piers 21 and 22, so li'l ol' Serenity with our 600 or so guests had to anchor off the pier. No more than a 10 minute ride, and we left after all of the excursions had gone.

Pier 21 also houses the Canadian Immigration Museum and Archive. The records are made public 75 years after the original event so anyone can use them to research family history. My father arrived at Pier 21 in May of 1952, so in a couple of years I'll be able to do the same thing. I think that the records of people landing in other cities are also available through the archive here and online.

There are some sculptures outside of the Pier Buildings commemorating women volunteers as well as one called 'The Immigrant'.

This one is 'The Immigrant'. Very
poignant.

We had made a reservation for lunch, even though we would be arriving at the restaurant, The Bicycle Thief, right when it opened. It was a good thing we had, because it didn't take more than a half hour before there was barely a seat left anywhere, inside or outside!

Just after we sat down, but it didn't stay that
way for long!

Our plate of fresh oysters on the half shell. They
were amazing and gone in about 15 minutes!

I had the Mussels sauteed in white wine and tomato
sauce. I'm going to make them like this at home!

Kathy had a lobster roll. Considering she's from
Boston, this was the first one she had this year,
and she really enjoyed it.

Larry had the Clam and Corn Chowder for
his 'main'.

Here we are. We had a great server who
kindly took a photo for us. See how busy
the restaurant is now?

After all of that, we needed to walk off lunch before we had dinner on the ship. Larry had been to the Halifax Citadel, but neither Kathy nor I had, so we walked up....and up....and up some more, to reach the top of the hill. Then we purchased the tickets to get us into the garrison, and had to climb a few more steps. But that got us to the top of Halifax. The only things higher were the downtown office buildings.

And this isn't even all the way to the top!

Kathy took this one of us

One last photo of Serenity at anchor

As we walked back along the waterfront,
which is quite large and lively, we
saw this view of the lighthouse on George Island

We headed back to the ship and prepared for the sailaway and dinner. It was still a little cool and breezy, but the weather forecast seemed to be improving. We were hoping for a nice sea day to Boston, but - spoiler alert - it started out fogged in and rainy. Things did improve in the afternoon, but it still wasn't warm enough to sit out on our balcony.

Fast forward to Saturday, September 27. We're in Boston and have spent the day on board. I finally got to put my bathing suit on and get into the pool this morning. We went to Beefbar for lunch, and then I started working on the blog. At least it's up to date!

We will be leaving for New York at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so we effectively have a final sea day on this voyage. We're arriving in NYC on Monday morning - we're expecting to pass the Statue of Liberty around 7:30...if she's still there😟. 

We'll update you on all of that in the final post, which most likely won't be published until we get home.

The Food Post

 Everyone's favourite! And this time a little different as we could try the new menu at the Osteria d'Ovidio and have a longer look at Beefbar. 

Osteria d'Ovidio

The changes made here since the partnership with the Alajmo Brothers have been nothing short of spectacular. There were people who absolutely despised the original Osteria after Crystal's relaunch, but then it wasn't anything like the American Italian style of the old Prego. The new menus are authentic Italian, reflecting both northern and southern cuisines, and even offer a tasting menu that pulls from both regions.

On our first visit, we tried the tasting menu and couldn't even get to the end of it. On our second dinner, we each chose a couple of courses and left room for the Tiramisu prepared tableside.

Fettucine alla carbonara

Lasagnetta, mini lasagne with a little more
crunch from the homemade pasta

Parmigiana de Melanzana - my favourite egglplant
parmigiana. It was so tasty, too!

Beef Tartare with Black Truffles - sort of
deconstructed, and the truffle shavings are immense

The Venetian Fish Fry - shrimp, fish, a little beer
and salad all at once

Branzino - sea bass. One of my all-time favourites
on a lemon potato puree

A special of the evening - homemade fettucine
with bolognese

Preparation of the tiramisu at the table includes
ladyfingers made on board, a dip in fresh pressed coffee,
mascarpone layers and a good sprinkle of cocoa on top!

As I look back over the menu while writing this post, I'm already looking forward to our next cruise, where we will have unlimited access to the specialty restaurants....I think we'll be here more than just twice!

Beefbar

We had a couple of opportunities to check out Beefbar on our previous cruise, but it was so short that I think we only had one lunch and one dinner. We've been there about three times for lunch and once for dinner so far. Our second meal will be with our friends Jim and Steve when they visit on the 29th.

The menu here isn't huge, and it varies between lunch and dinner. The servings are a good size but, unless you buy the extra cost large Wagyu steaks, not so much that you walk away stuffed. The special touch is that everything on the menu will have some amount of beef in it, sometimes very subtle, but always there. Vegans and vegetarians beware!

Super Kale Salad - delicious with avocado, tomatoes,
anchovies and parmesan cheese. A sort of Caesar
Salad without the Romaine

Beef Tartare and Tartine

The Iconic pizza - personal size with a very
light crust. This one has arugula, truffles
and parmesan cheese. There's a touch
 of beef in there somewhere!

Bao Buns - with Jasmine tea smoked
Wagyu beef

The Beefy Pepperoni Pizza made with
Wagyu Beef Pepperoni

Umami Caesar Salad, very tasty with the
crunch Kobe karasumi on top

I also ordered the Ginger Sea Bream beside the salad but forgot
to take a photo of it. Here's a shot of the
restaurant instead!

Again, we're looking forward to trying more of the options, although we still have that one more dinner before we leave the ship on Tuesday.

We had Beefbar dinner on Monday night, but unfortunately our friends couldn't join us. I think it was the first time either of us actually had dessert there. They were just as delicious as our main courses.

The Pavlova was light and tasty

A gelato lover's delight - vanilla gelato and your
very own selection of toppings.

Waterside, Umi Uma and the Trident Grill haven't changed much since last time, and there were no special meals served like the Omakase Dinner in July.

One thing that is great about Crystal is that if you have a special request, everyone does their best to bring it to you. I only drink sparkling water after dinner, and I ask for it in a Gin and Tonic bowl glass with whatever garnishes the barkeeps have at hand. They now try to outdo each other, and the drinks look so good that I have people asking what is in my glass!

One of the offerings at the Crystal Cove.

That's a good look at the specialty restaurant food we had on this cruise. Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, I may have to update this post with a couple of photos from Scoops. It used to be the ice cream bar, but now that Crystal has a partnership with an Italian family gelateria, it serves the best gelato!

Later ---  as promised, I managed to grab a couple of photos of the amazing gelato at Scoops.

Licking my lips for November!

Sydney Pub Tour

 Just like in Corner Brook, when we were here last we took a tour outside of town, to the Fortress at Louisbourg. This time we thought we'd get a taste of Sydney and booked a walking tour that took us to a couple of pubs in town.

Fortunately our tour went out in the early afternoon. Not only was it quite windy, but there were three other ships in port and only room for two on the pier. The two smaller ones, us and Holland America's Volendam, had to anchor out and use tenders to get to shore. We could already see just by the water conditions that it would be a bumpy ride; because of that and the route we had to take, the tender ride was about 25 minutes long.

Our first stop on the pub tour was actually at a cidery rather than a beer brewer. Island Folk was established in 2020 and specializes in apple ciders made from apples grown in the Annapolis Valley. They also make other fruit wines using the same process, and they blend these with the apple cider to make some very interesting flavours. The head cider maker explained the process, and then we headed off to try some.

We were given a tasting of 3 ciders, ranging from the basic apple cider to a semi-sweet rosé flavoured with rose petal and a sweet cider that's called 'Sweater Weather' that has hints of cinnamon.

The head cider maker explaining how
they make and blend their product

The owner of Island Folk, Jill, leading
our tasting

The 3 ciders we tried, along with a keychain/bottle
opener I won for guessing the secret ingredient in the
one of the ciders.

We really enjoyed the ciders. They're almost like wines but with less alcohol and a little fizz when they hit your tongue. Even better, although they aren't available at the LCBO, we can order direct from the cidery for delivery at home.

As we left the cidery, we passed a local food truck set up just outside. It's too bad we didn't know about it, or we would have come here for lunch before the tour:

This food truck gets rave reviews online and wasn't busy when we got there. Too bad we couldn't pick something up.

Our next stop was at a Daniel's, a pub that offers a large variety of beers, mostly locally brewed, ranging from ales to lagers, IPAs and stouts. They even had a Weizen, or wheat beer, which is the only kind I drink. Our guide regaled us with a maritime song and some historical information about the area while we all had a glass of our choice.

Me and my once-every-five-years beer!

Our final stop was at an Irish Pub called The Old Triangle.  It is a good size and was quite busy when we got there, so we figured it was one of the better places in town. They put us in 'the Snug', a private room to the side. They had already poured a tasting of beers, but we had no information on what they were, and the fellow who gave the explanation only talked to the larger table at the other end of the room. We couldn't hear a thing. Needless to say it wasn't our favourite stop, and the beers weren't favourites either. 

We didn't stay that long. Six of us decided we'd rather get back to the ship and walked back on our own. We even found the TD Bank's old, and new, locations on Charlotte Street. Larry had inspected the Charlotte and Pitt branch a couple of times when he worked at the bank.

We came across a couple of interesting things during our walk. We were glad the sun was out, because it was still very windy. We knew that the tender ride would be bumpier on the way back than it was coming in.

I finally got a photo of the Big Fiddle! It
took a little work to keep the Holland America
Zuiderdam out of the picture!

A sculpture at the end of the pier

We were right about the tender ride! It was very bumpy, even though we could take the inside route, between the Volendam and shore, back to the ship. Fortunately the ship gave enough protection for the tender platform so we could get off easily.

The rest of our tour group must have been on the last tender....I wonder how well they did with the waves and bumps after all that beer! We did, however, leave on time, so they must all have got back.

The Volendam went out ahead of us and
we watched the pilot boat pick the pilot up. Then he 
came for our pilot as well.

One of the Nova Scotia ferries, probably heading
for Newfoundland given the direction it took.

Next stop, Halifax.....and yet one more tender ride!