VanRamblings has finally arrived home from our Nova Scotia vacation.
As is our wont, we did not sleep much the early morning hours prior to our departure from Halifax Stanfield Airport. Quite honestly, VanRamblings is surprised that we made it on to the plane on time, and left behind only our Vancouver Canadians baseball cap somewhere in greater Halifax (we’re prone to losing things), and had our 100+ ml Vichy sunscreen confiscated at the airport (whoops, guess we should have packed it in the suitcase … oh well). Otherwise, all went well, and we were Toronto bound by noon (you’ll notice from the video above that Airbus seat 18a’s window was just a tad streaky), finding ourselves in the air for about an hour and a half.
Landing and taking off in Toronto went fine. As we were rushing from one plane to another, we stopped off at Starbucks for a coffee and date square, shortly thereafter finding ourselves in seat 12f (with a non-streaky window). The five hour jaunt from Toronto to Vancouver was a bit much, but we did manage to watch The Losers, which provided everything it promised: an action-packed comic strip adaptation, a hot, tough-as-nails ‘girl’ (Zoe Saldana), big explosions, and gleaming bad-ass cinematography.
The flight was uneventful, but a tad jealousy-inducing for VanRamblings. Why? Seems that everyone around us had an iPad. iPads with external keyboards, and in leather ‘cases’ that would act as a stand, causing the device to look like a screen. VanRamblings wants an iPad, but we’ll wait for an iPad-versary, a faster, leaner, sleeker, less expensive mobile device with front-and-back facing cameras, USB and HDMI ports, an HD 16:9 widescreen, built-in flash (so we can watch YouTube videos), GPS, the ability to multitask, a longer battery life, and … so we’ll just wait for now.

Continue reading VanRamblings Arrives Home From Our Maritime Adventure →

A rainy day in Halifax; photo taken at the corner of Coburg Road & Robie Street. iPhone photo

VanRamblings’ Maritimes vacation ended as it began: with blustery winds and rain, although not the torrential downpour with which we were greeted a couple of weeks back. In fact, as the day progressed the sun did emerge, along with a most appreciated cooling breeze to temper the heat of the day, allowing us (and many tourists) to once again appreciate Halifax in all its glory, from the Public Gardens to a rejuvenated Harbour Waterfront, where we saw Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas leaving harbour.
VanRamblings’ Air Canada flight departs at 11:55 a.m. on Wednesday morning. We are almost all packed, and ready to go. Upon arising we will visit Anna’s Café, on Hollis Street, which is reputed to prepare the best breakfast in town; as we will not be eating again until 9 p.m. Atlantic time, we want to fortify ourselves for the long trek home to our place of birth.
We feel ourselves fortunate for having secured our preferred window seats for the return journey to our west coast home, seat 18a from Halifax to Toronto (the same seat we had on the way out), and when we switch planes in Canada’s hub city, another window seat - this time 12f, which ‘Net research suggests is one of the best seats on the Airbus 320.
VanRamblings very much enjoyed our sojourn to the Maritimes, and we will miss the east coast more than words can express. Still, the time has come for us to return to the ‘big city‘, and the many joys of our life in Vancouver.

Well, folks, here we are back in Halifax, and writing this post from our cozy ‘dorm room’ at Dalhousie University’s Howe Hall on Coburg Road.
Now, just in case you’re wondering, the picture above was taken at 8:17 a.m. this Monday morning, while VanRamblings was waiting outside the Annapolis Royal Inn, a bit south of town (on the road to Digby), for our Acadian (Acadien?) Lines coach to pick us up for transport to Halifax.
Once the fog lifted, the weather was great all the way to Halifax, and stayed sunny and warm in the province’s capital throughout the day. By about 2:30 p.m. we got ourselves squared away at our university residence, and headed into town to continue our exploration of the city. By late afternoon, the humidity became a bit wearing, so we snuck into a cinema to see Salt, about which we were unthrilled (we would tend to agree, then, with the critics: ‘basically, a thrill-less thriller’), although the film did provide a couple of hours diversion, not to mention relief from the humid conditions outside.
Truth be told, dear and constant reader, VanRamblings is feeling a bit verklempt about the prospect of returning to our west coast home. As we looked out across the Annapolis River each morning this past couple of weeks, enjoying the pastoral view and the tranquil setting, the thought now of returning to the busy-ness of the ‘big city’ seems to us kind of daunting.
Still, we have the Vancouver International Film Festival to look forward to (we love the annual Film Festival), and walks along Spanish Banks and on the Pacific Spirit Park trails, riding our bike through Kitsilano towards Granville Island, going out to dinner with friends at our favourite Ethiopian (or other ethnic) restaurant — a ‘gift’ denied to our Annapolis Royal neighbours, Corinne points out — or even returning to our work on the Downtown Eastside, where we hope we ‘make a difference’ (as we all wish to engage in meaningful endeavour), not to mention our regular forays to Vancouver Canadians baseball games … well, upon reflection, there are aspects of our life in Vancouver that inexorably pull us back to our home.