McLobsters - July 22

Every year the Halifax Waterfront area hosts the Tall Ships Festival.  We had planned our trip – both the original and the amended – to make sure we were in the city for this renowned festival.  At the festival you can buy wristbands that allow you access onto the tall ships.  Not to go on a ride but to tour the ships, ask questions and see how impressive these massive ships are.  And impressive they were.  Using thousands of meters of rope and pure muscle to raise and lower the sails, these ships race in the waters every July.  Definitely a sight to see if you are in the area.

The Festival was also host to Taste of Nova Scotia.  A chance to try some local cuisine.  They also featured a culinary stage with their special guest Anna Olson.  We had to stop!  The kids love watching her shows on the FoodNetwork and were so excited to hear her share a recipe and some baking tips.  The autograph session was quite thrilling.  I knew my kids were foodies but Dad was a little weirded out at how interested the kids were in watching a cooking show.

The waterfront area is also home to Pier 21 or the Immigration Museum.  This is where millions of new immigrants entered the country, where thousands of soldiers left to go war, where lives were changed forever.  It was neat to see what a role this area played to so many new immigrants and it was a good conversation starter for the kids to ask Dad about his immigration experience.  While not as scary as some of the experiences discussed in these rooms, it was good for the kids to hear about our personal history as well.

By the time we closed Pier 21 it was already 530 and we had walked the length of the waterfront.  We still had to go back to the ferry terminal so we could head home.  On the way we decided to stop for a famous Sugah confection.  Hand churned ice cream with our favourite mixin' really how can you go wrong?

Then, we figured we may as well try the last delicacy we had heard about in the Maritimes - the McLobster.  This treat is only available in the Maritimes during a short period of time and the kids (especially Navras) really wanted to try it! 

As you can see he was NOT impressed.  After all the amazing lobster dinners we have been having the McLobster was a poor cousin and one that will not be invited back to our table again!