A chocolate reindeer can still beckon a little boy 2 months after Christmas. Food in every form and all its glory, whether to eat on the spot or buy and prepare, is the mainstay of the market. Crowds are friendly and continuous every Saturday morning. http://www.halifaxfarmersmarket.com/

Like it a lot! The phrase bellowed by colonial soldiers and sailors clamouring for Alexander Keith’s ale stands up remarkably well as a description of the brewery’s public tours. This isn’t your normal tour. A trio of professional actors leads a lively historic recounting and tasting, with jokes, stories and songs inside one of the country’s earliest breweries. Annie O’Hara served up a tankard and sang a ballad, while Sarah Mackey toasted visitors in a recreation of an old pub. An itinerant timeline showed the Queensbury Rules were introduced into Canada in the year of Confederation -- how apropos. One flight up from the tour entrance, the Atlantic Beer Institute educates the mind and palette with beer and food pairings. http://www.keiths.ca/

While sorting ourselves into groups for the evening’s ‘Dine Around Halifax’, two showgirls from Casino Nova Scotia displayed their plumage in the hotel lobby.

The bus stopped outside a handsome Palladian building dating from the early 1800’s. A secret until then, our evening ‘Dine Around’ in Halifax was to be at the most important public building in Halifax --- historic Province House. As the year’s celebrations begin, 2008 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of parliamentary democracy in Canada --- and it started here. This is the oldest provincial legislature in the country and was the first ‘responsible government in the Empire outside of Britain’.

We began with a tour of the
Legislative Assembly Chamber.

The Legislative Library was originally the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia before a confederation of regional governments gave birth to a fledgling Canada in 1867. The most celebrated trial within these walls was that of Joseph Howe, accused of libeling the government, and delivering a 6 ½ hour defense resulting in a 10 minute acquittal. The year was 1835, and this marked the beginning of freedom of the press for Canada. Ironically, Mr. Howe went on to fervently oppose Nova Scotia’s entry into the Canadian union --- a losing battle. The library is a Georgian room within a Victorian building, full of old Hansards and other government tomes. The oldest book is one on astronomy, dating from the 1400’s and written in latin. http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/

A Wee Taste of Nova Scotia

While dinner was served in an elegant dining room to the accompaniment of period music, table conversation was an animated exchange of experiences from what was certainly a diverse gathering of individuals. Our hosts included former premiers the Hon. Dr. John Hamm and Hon. Russell MacLellan, joined by character actor Michael Bawtree in the role of Joseph Howe. More than just desserts, as the final course was served Michael assumed Howe’s persona with an eloquent delivery on democracy. A delightful evening --- very Nova Scotian.