Halifax

Instead of leaving Maine today, my mum and I left early yesterday morning, catching the ferry from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. After a couple hours of driving as well as a couple of hours on the ferry, we arrived to Nova Scotia in the mid afternoon. Then, we drove from Digby to Halifax and checked into our first hotel (since our plans had changed, and we were arriving Friday, we needed to get another room because the Westin was already completely booked). We were exhuasted from a day of traveling but decided to go to a wonderful restaurant called Il Mercato...slightly upscale, but great food (northern italian cuisine). This morning we got an early start and decided to explore downtown Halifax. Walking along Lower and Upper Water Street, we looked through several shops and visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It was a tad disappointing and in my opinion, not worth the $9. It was basically filled with ship models and random remnants from shipwrecks. On the other hand, if you are a Titanic buff like myself (and who isn't after the film??), you will appreciate the section of the museum dedicated to the ship (for example, they have a rescued panel of the grand staircase...the one everyone knows from the movie). After the museum, we found some greek food near the Historic Properties and then proceeded to check in at the Westin. Once we got there, we found that we couldn't check in for another hour, so we parked the car and went to do some further exploring. We found an American Apparel on Queen Street and because of me, spent quite some time buying clothes (I barely brought any with me for the trip). Then we walked up the very cute Clyde Street, filled with fun shops and restaurants and continued on to the Public Gardens. Definitely visit the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site..it's beautiful!
After exploring for about an hour and a half, we walked back to check into the Westin, where I currently am now. My mom just returned from the parents' reception on the ship...so jealous she got to see it before me! Well, the next time I update it will be aboard the MV Explorer...can't wait!