With Valentine’s Day coming up, we’ve been test-driving some romantic date ideas. Be warned, this post is going to make you hungry. It’s also going to give you photographic evidence that Drew and I should never feed each other. Ever.
Last week, The Westin Nova Scotian sent us an email to invite us to ‘eat, laugh and stay’ with them on Valentine’s Day. We asked if we could come a few weeks early, so, this weekend, they gave us a sneak peek at their V-Day plans.
We checked in at 3 pm, keen to take in every last minute of romance. Our standard King room was right on the corner of the building. The staff at the front desk had ‘warned’ us about the view. Dual picture windows flooded the space with afternoon light. We had a view of the harbour and one of our favourite spots in the whole city, the Farmers Market.
We usually travel with our dog. Dog friendly accommodations (I mean truly dog friendly, not just ones that allow a dog to stay in the room) are hard to come by. So, while I was really happy about an amazing view and a comfy bed, nothing compared to my excitement over this…
Side note: Like most hotels, make sure to ask in advance about pets.
I squealed for a good three minutes. Oh, and those treats… yeah, they’re local!
We didn’t spend a lot of time in the room – that would come later. First, it was off to the gym for a pre-romance workout.
The gym at The Westin Nova Scotian was one of the cleanest and newest I’ve used in Nova Scotia, and maybe ever. The equipment looked new, new, new (turns out it is – just updated in 2013!). Each workout machine came with its own screen where you can track your workout, watch TV, surf the internet, and play games. And I thought running and keeping a straight train of thought was multi-tasking…
I have to mention two cool fitness features before I move on to the really good stuff. If you’re anything like us, we try to take as little as possible on the road. Extra weight = more gas, whether you’re in a car or a plane. We brought our own gear, but for $5 we could have had New Balance workout clothes and sneakers delivered to our room. The Westin Nova Scotian have also taken the time to map out 3 mile and 5 mile (5 – 8 km) outdoor walking/running routes for those who would rather do a little sightseeing while breaking a sweat.
By the time we finished at the gym I was pretty much ready to eat my hand. I’ve been hearing a lot about Elements Restaurant. A little while ago, they switched to a predominantly local menu. I follow them on Twitter (@ElementsHollis), and love watching them chat back and forth with @HfxSeaportMrkt. It’s equal parts adorable and exciting to see biz big and small work together for a better Nova Scotia.
I get really excited when big hotels make a big effort to support small producers. Elements aims to source as much of their menu as possible from local producers. We savoured every moment of our meal, spending a good two hours oooh-ing, ahh-ing and yummm-ing our way through the V-day menu. And all the while, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop…
I asked a staff member where the beef was from. He said “Oh, yes. This one’s a real treat! We flew it all the way from Chin…No I’m just kidding, it’s from Oultons!”
We finished dinner with just enough time to get to YukYuks, get settled, and play “guess which audience members are going to get razzed by the comedians”.
Not one, but five comedians took the stage (two from the Maritimes!). Andrew Black hosted the show. He was hilarious. He made several appearances throughout the night and made sure there was zero opportunity for me to take a full breath.
And while the headliner had me in stitches, my favourite of the night was Adam Christie (@TheAdamChristie). I was laughing so hard that I could not breathe. I seriously had to consider leaving the room to keep from passing out. It was great. And while Drew called it with the ‘Paisley Shirt Guy’, he didn’t escape a few comedic jabs at his beard.
We laughed all the way back to the 5th floor. When we got to our room, there was one more Valentine’s Day surprise – local chocolates from Rhubarb Restaurant in Peggy’s Cove. In Valentine’s Day style, I grabbed one to feed to Drew. That was a mistake…
The chocolate was delicious but the centre was hard. Not break your teeth hard, but ‘I think I can chew it because it’s almost soft enough, oh, no, wait this actually takes my whole mouth to break apart while trying to keep a romantic look on my face’ hard. It could also just be that Drew and I are bad at feeding each other in a romantic fashion. Like when we tried to feed each other chocolate covered strawberries for the first time…
It helps to look…
We finished off our romantic stay with some ‘serious pool time’. We spent the morning lounging, writing and reading The Weekend Globe (Travel section for me, everything else for Drew). Our one disappointment was that the hot tub was more of a luke-warm tub.
If you want to repeat our romantic adventure, they’ll be offering the V-Day version of their Eat, Laugh and Stay package on February 14th and February 15th. The package starts at $269 and includes the three course meal we talked about above, a glass of bubbly, two tickets to the 8:30 YukYuk’s show, room night and chocolate turn-down service. You can add additional wine pairings to your dinner for an extra fee.
Looking for more romantic adventures? Check out our growing ‘No-Fail Guide to Romance in the Maritimes’ HERE.
Note: As you can probably tell from our bio, title, and blog content, we are fierce supporters of the Maritime provinces. We love our little corner of the world dearly, and we want to show you as many amazing things to see and do here as we can. Thanks to The Westin Nova Scotian for inviting us, and letting us pre-experience their Valentine’s Day package for free. It’s a huge help in enabling us to continue providing posts on amazing places close to home. The opinions in this post are, as always, our own.
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