28 September 2025
We are ending our trip with four nights in Halifax. The city is a bit under 1.5 hours from Mahone Bay, so we headed out early on a Sunday morning to drop our bags at the hotel and return our car to the airport, riding the bus back to Halifax. Everything went as planned and we returned to town just before 1:00, on the look-out for a brunch or breakfast place.
We walked up Barrington Street from the bus stop. To our delight, the first restaurant we passed open for breakfast was proudly queer. “The Stardust Café” waiter was super kind and chatty, recommending several party venues to enliven our stay, but alas we are not night owls and are likely to spend more time in gardens than in nightclubs. I learned that “Stardust” serves as an informal community center, and they also host drag performances, parties, dances and events as well as having a full bar and restaurant. We settled on their brunch menu. I had waffles, and Kitty got a breakfast sandwich. It ended up being much more food than either of us could manage, but all very delicious and served up with a most welcoming vibe. Highly recommended!
From there we walked on to our hotel, which was located adjacent to the Public Gardens, just off Spring Garden Street. “The Lord Nelson” ended up suiting our needs just fine. It was one of the more affordable places in town and their staff was very helpful and kind. And I loved the proximity to the Public Gardens! I headed out regularly to walk up the street and take a quick turn around the garden. It felt ideal to have a nearby natural space in a city, even in one as laid-back as Halifax, and between the plants, birds, trees and people, there was always a lot to photograph.
One of the first things I noted about Halifax was the comparative diversity it had relative to the largely white rural areas we’d been in. Here there were Asian, South Asian, Ukrainian/Slavic, Middle-Eastern and African people. This is all of course reflected in the food scene, which is wonderfully diverse and unpretentious. But tonight, we stay in, dining on food we brought from Mahone Bay, and enjoying our space in this friendly hotel.
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