Halifax Happiness!

A top notch Marriott hotel with a classy location on Halifax Harbour a few steps from all sorts of entertainment, restaurants, museums and pubs. You really will enjoy this hotel. My room was large and even had windows that opened for fresh air. Our meeting facilities were wonderful and the food above average for large banquets. The hospitality is incredible. I really felt at home.

Why book a Marriott? You get a reliable product at a fair price. My room included a very comfortable bed, executive computer desk and chair, a large flat screen television and more.

The staff is kind and helpful. I was able to get all my questions answered. Maps and other visitor information was easily obtained. My room even had a magazine rack loaded with information.

We had beautiful rooms for our meetings and receptions including a beautiful ballroom with a fantastic harbour view suitable for a wedding.

This hotel accepts the typical list of American credit cards including American Express at a reasonable rate of exchange. Although there is a cash machine in the hotel and another one a few steps down the street for easy access to Canadian dollars, you could get along on your credit cards in the hotel.

This hotel pours Starbucks coffee. As I prefer the milder and cheaper Tim Horton's coffee, I was able to trot out of the hotel and get my Tim Horton's coffee in about 10 minutes.

Indoor pool and full gym equipment for guests and parking at rates typical of Halifax for cars. Public transportation near by including the Harbour ferries. This hotel is connected to the weatherproof pedway system. You can get to the casino, shopping and many restaurants without risking the weather. Maps available for the asking.

This hotel is now my first choice for a return visit to Halifax!

Salty's wins for best win and great food on Halifax Harbour. I make a visit there every time I am in Halifax. I prefer to dine upstairs where the view is more open and the atmosphere a little more comfortable. Speciality of the house is seafood, but vegetarian and meat options are always on the menu.

So we like to trot up the stairs to the dining room (sorry no elevator but the downstairs restaurant is easy access) and sit at a window table with a white tablecloth and full table setting of silverware. The hospitality is genuine. Is it some secret signal that we give off as we always get the same window table?

My partner who adores fried clams says Salty's makes the best....ever. I enjoyed a pasta dish seasonable with maple (this is Canada) and a lovely assortment of vegetables.

Salty's is right on the Harbour with outdoor dining and drinks service in fair weather. Not far from the ferry terminal, the Marriott Hotel and other Harbourfront attractions. Price range moderate and the typical credit cards accepted.

They don't charge for the smiles!

The Keg restaurants began in Vancouver Canada and it wasn't long before I had one in my home area of Fort Worth Texas. I was surprised and pleased to be taken out for dinner at The Keg on Market Street in Halifax Canada. Dare I say the steaks were better than in Texas? Well, we did have a fine time in this casual restaurant and bar. The food was top class and the service was wonderful.

I didn't want the biggest steak on the menu but was very happy with my filet as my crowd of friends did serious damage to huge plates of New York style cuts and prime ribs of beef.

On a cold and cheerless night we climbed up Halifax to Market Street taking a few short cuts through buildings to warm up along the way. This restaurant warmed and cheered us. Was it the greeting by the beautiful hostesses or the quality of the bar drinks? Hard to say, but this is a place to warm your heart and fill your stomach. Seek it out. Reservations strongly advised as this place is very popular.

Tired of burned and over priced Starbuck's coffee? Check out Timothy's World of Coffee in the Harbourfront, Market on the Harbour in Halifax.

Friendly service without the need of remembering the key words to order at the famous coffee place. Want coffee? Small, medium or large? What sort and what add ins. That is all you need to say. No fuss! They also have fine teas and hot chocolate. Try the Sugar Bush Maple! Very good muffins and other things to munch while you sit by a wood fired stove (going when it is cold outside) and enjoy and eat door seating area in winter or outside in fine weather. Great harbour views and people watching.

My top choice for a sit down cup of coffee in Halifax. Gosh these folks are so nice!

www.timothys.com

Do I eat so I can travel or do I travel to eat? Well, I don't have a quick answer to that, but I must eat when traveling. On a cold and very windy day I wanted to do a little shopping (seeking yarn made in Canada) and found Sam Macchiatos Cafe) at street level in the Barrington Shops. Not far from Duke St. this little restaurant has a long menu with choices from egg dishes and sandwiches to salads and many types of tea and coffee. The food is tasty, the prices fair but warning to those who live on credit cards, Sam's doesn't taken credit cards or US based debit cards, but only Canadian cash and Canadian based debit cards.

From the time I made my order to the serving of my eggs took less than 10 minutes. I was entertained as I watched a movie crew filming out on the Barrington St. pedestrian mall.

This restaurant gets very busy at peak hours as it is a stone's toss from many offices and all sorts of university classrooms.

On fair and fine days you can eat your meal outside.

This is the Theodore Tugboat made famous in the popular children's television programs. On view and doing tours during the summer, find Theodore Too next to Murphy's on the Water and the Ferry Terminal on Lower Water Street. You can hire him for private tours and also for cruise ship meetings and greetings. He was built in nearby Lunnenberg Nova Scotia and weighs in at 105 tons.

Telephone: (902) 492-TUGS
www.theodoretugboat.ca

There are family plans for tours as well as single ticket prices. Near to Theodore Too is his own store that sells Big Harbour tour tickets and Theodore Tugboat books and merchandise.

Serious grandparent alert!

The real working tug boats of Halifax Harbour (known as the Big Harbour to Theodore Tugboat fans) sport Theodore Too's color scheme and have their own dock nearby.

I enjoy Theodore Tugboat's television programs, his books and most of all seeing him on the waters of the Big Harbour. Thanks Theodore. Your smile always makes us feel so good.

This museum is so good that I would give up part of a sunny day to make a visit. Is that plain enough? Designed to fit into the historic natural of the waterfront area of Halifax Nova Scotia, this wonderful museum is a real treasure chest of things to see and to photograph. The brochure says "10 minutes or 2 hours, we have something for you.' Well, I've never spent as little as 2 hours in this museum.

To begin there are outdoor exhibits that you can see without buying a ticket to the museum. These exhibits are on view for the thousands of tourists who walk up and down the Halifax boardwalk. They are a little taste of what is to come when you enter the old buildings that make up this museum. Long ago rescued from decay and loss in a once run down area of Halifax, the museum is a show place that has given pleasure to millions of people.

I always start with a visit to the Theodore the Tug Boat exhibit that is steps from the ticket counter. I find it fascinating to see the actual models of the various boats that were used in this popular television series. Although the model of Halifax Harbour is a couple of decades old now, you can still pick out familiar buildings including the museum.

Stop by and see the newly arrived parot that has his home near Theodore (the only animal in the museum) and then make a decision: upstairs or down to start your tour. The Titanic exhibit is upstairs (both stairs and elevator available). That is very popular. Titanic is next to Days of Sail and other exhibits. There is a large viewing deck outside from the upstairs level with great Harbour views.

Downstairs is the ever popular Small Craft Gallery which is visible from both levels. There are also the changing exhibits and the gift shop. Ever popular with grandparents looking for gifts.

There is much more to this museum, but you need to see it for yourself. Please do so! There is plenty to amuse children while not boring adults.

http://maritime.museum.gov.ns.ca

I adore Halifax. There is something about this wonderful city on the beautiful, big Harbour that brings me joy. Something? Well, many things and not the least of which is this fine museum which is dedicated to both education and research. This museum offers up the stories of the arrivals of so many people who came to Canada via this very building over a very long time. As with many visitors I had a purpose in visiting this museum. Not only did this museum meet my hopes and expectations, but gave me so much more that I made 2 visits in one week.

I wanted to know two different stories. Firstly the stories of the immigrants who arrived at this building on ships from all over the world, but secondly the stories of the soldiers and sailors who departed from this building to go to Europe and win the great battles of World War II.

You come to this museum down the Boardwalk from the restaurant and ferry building end of the Harbour. This museum is next to the place where modern cruise ships dock. Arrive by ship to this day and you are at Pier 21. You step across the railroad tracks where the immigrant trains used to wait for passengers and where the troop trains unloaded on the last few yards of Canadian soil these soldiers and sailers might ever walk on. You go up a few steps and go through a set of doors to the long ramp, yes the original ramp where the soldiers and sailers walked. (The immigrants descended to the trains from the upper floor of this building.)

Just past the Scotiabank Research Centre which is free for the use of all interested persons, you enter the lobby and find the ticket counter and gift shop. After buying your ticket (ask for the senior discount if you are a senior) you go upstairs to begin your guided tour. You will not be rushed, but you will have a highed trained guide. The guides are wonderful.

Out the windows you can see the Harbour and an old ship that is an example of the sort of ships that often docked here. What is now glass used to be great doors that opened to the ships. Yes this is where the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth docked during the convoy days of World War II. The very same place!

There are all sorts of photos, relics, maps, ships models and architectural models of the buildings of the Harbour. Much to see. Photograph as you please. There is also a 4-D IMAX movie. However, the best of it all are the stories told by the guides. Do listen! I will admit that I shed a few tears as the stories were some of the ones I'd heard in my own family.

You can also record your own story and that of your family. This place is just wonderful. I will return someday. Both the Scotiabank Research Centre and the Museum were very helpful to me.

www.pier21.ca