Day 1: Sunday September 8th ~  Gather in Halifax, NS

Since I last wrote, the crew has assembled in Halifax in preparation for venturing to Cape Breton Isle at first light tomorrow. For those of you as clueless as we, a shocking discovery is that the Canadian Maritime Provinces are one time zone AHEAD of Eastern Standard time. So, the day was almost done before we were all assembled. In fact it was over for Tim, whose plane from Cleveland was delayed, thus missing his connection to Halifax. He arrived after midnight.

The Kurts as we call them (Curt and  Kirt) had rolled into town with Vanna and Bennie on Saturday afternoon.

 They greeted the rest of us with the air of seasoned Haligonians (as natives of Halifax are called). They had spent the day touring all of Halifax's places  of interest. Most of which, it seems, were in the Keith's Brewery.

 Richard and I arrived from the airport arround four and at 6 PM we headed downtown for some genuine Canadian cooking, whatever that turned out to be. 

It turned out pretty well. A local had recommended the Wooden Monkey, an intriguing  local vegan/vegetarian/pescetarian brew pub. So that's the new Canadian cuisine? Not a shred of bacon to be seen. I tried Sesame Encrusted Haddock - delicious, Others tried the local Digby Bay Scallops  or the Hearty Chowder. All  were washed down with the local Brew.

Richard after sampling the local product

To end our Canadian feast we  felt the need to get in touch with our vegetarian natures. So  we went for their sinature dish - wait for it - Chocolate Tofu pie. This concotion featured " Non-dairy chocolate & organic silken tofu from Acadian Soy with an almond walnut crust and whipped cream". Suffice it to say, I have never had better tofu.