Oh, Canada, da da da da da...

Well, yesterday was Canada Day, the 1st of July and these PEIers do like a good night out. We are spending a couple days in Charlottetown, the capitol of PEI, so needless to say we dug right into the celebrations. The harborfront was full of carnival and state-fair like spectacle, but the big build up was for the fireworks display. It is billed as the biggest fireworks display in Canada, so we couldn't miss it.

Mid-day we explored the happenings on a very hungry stomach, and made the dreadfully unforgivable mistake of trying to grab a slice of Pizza from a stand called Pizza Delight. Now everyone knows that both Cara and I are indiscriminate lovers of pizza, but without a solid baseline in Canadian pizza joints, I can soundly say that Pizza Delight is not the answer for a food craving, much less a pizza craving. We could fill a page with just why it was so bad, but it's not even worth the effort spending any more words on it. At least it didn't make us violently ill.

After that culinary disaster, we righted our honeymoon ship at a nice little greasy spoon diner called Linda's. Then we got our plans together for the grand Canada Day evening. We started off at the brewpub, "Gahan Brewery" which brews up PEI's best beer. It is also PEI's only brewery, so that title doesn't take much to earn. Unlike our earlier brewpub experience in NB, Gahan's was just about average - maybe even a bit sub-par. They seemed to be trying too hard to make their restaurant classy and fancy, and their beers were on the weak side. Their stout was reasonably tasty as was their cream ale, but that's about it. Their other beers were really lacking and their red tasted like the first beer to emerge from my beer machine toy brew kit in high school. No surprise when you look at the website (www.gahan.ca) it's flashy but lacking character; just like their beer labels, and just like their beer. They charge $8 for tours of the brewery (which are generally free on demand at most brewpubs) and they do it in period costume. Strange. (Need we say more?) They're definitely putting lots of effort into the place, but it doesn't taste like much of it makes it into the beer. Then again, maybe our taste buds are tainted by big beer expectations...

On to the firework display - did I mention that it is the biggest in all of Canada? We earned ourselves a coveted spot in Peake's Quay, a big party pub/bar with a massive deck overlooking the water where the fireworks were to take place. It was jammed, not unlike the IB on a saturday evening, but we managed to grab a couple Canadians (beers that is) and secure a spot on the deck to take in the fireworks. A girl behind us grew very keen on singing the national anthem as soon as the fireworks started, and despite the fact that none of her friends were into it, they went along with it to pacify her. She asked us if we'd join in getting it started, so I told her that we'd be glad to help... with the first line or so... Needless to say the whole endeavor amounted to about 8 people singing "O, Canada..." and then mumering the next few lines before it petered out. The song-starter was unimpressed, but the fireworks went on. That is, the BIGGEST FIREWORK DISPLAY IN CANADA continued. It was about on par with what Alex Bay or Clayton put up any given 4th of July.

Back inside the bar, Cara and I became engulfed in teenagers partying their heads off. Never before had I admired the drinking age of 21... Lowering the bar to 19 sure means you've gotta choose the right place to drink. All in all, it was a good evening, despite the teeny-boppers and their gallons of alco-pop.

We decided to stay another night in Ch'Town, and we're currently investigating opportunities to rent a bike or two and hit these famous bike trails.

Adios.