Saturday, June 30, 2012

Graveyard Madness







Climax of our last night in Annapolis Royal was a 9PM tour of the graveyard outside Fort Anne. This was originally an Acadian graveyard, dating from the early 1600's, subsequently used by the British. The fort changed hands seven times between the French and the British, with the Acadians civilians caught in the middle. Lots of history here. Our guide, a 10th generation Acadian, took us to historical stones and told us of the people buried here. Over 2000 graves, but only 150 or so gravestones remain. The earliest were wooden crosses, which have long since rotted, but the oldest headstone dates from more than a decade before the settlers landed in Jamestown!

Annapolis Royal Historic Garden






















OK, had to share some of these beautiful pictures, hope you enjoy. If you're not a flower person, skip this post!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Annapolis Royal










Today we caravanned further into Nova Scotia, and camped at Cove Oceanfront Campground. A private camp, on the hillside overlooking the Bay of Fundy. Check out our campsite! Gorgeous. On the way to the campground, we visited a memorial center for the Acadians who were deported from Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in 1755 when France and Great Britain were battling it out. Many ended up in Louisiana, then French territory, and we call them Cajuns. We drove to the town of Digby, walked around, and had dinner at the Captain's Cabin, a dockside restaurant that specializes in scallops, Digby's claim to fame. 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Cape Enrage


















New Brunswick is the Province that keeps on topping the last place...and finally, Cape Enrage. This cape culminates with a slim slice of sedimentary rock turned on edge by geologic forces, and worn down by erosion. The tip is marked by a lighthouse which warns ships to avoid the sharp rocks under the water with light, and a 140 decibel foghorn. To one side of the cape is a unique beach. First, the chocolate water of the Bay of Fundy laps on a fine brown silt. Further up the beach are rounded rocks, smoothed as the tide rolls them up and down twice a day. At the top of the beach, the larger rocks, and a line of seaweed that marks high tide. What kind of tide? 53 feet! Amazing. See www.capeenrage.ca. Not for the faint of heart is a zip line running 600 feet out to the lighthouse. Afterwards, dodging deluges from rainstorms, we headed to Alma for some seafood. Two places: one, a fish shop. They sell fresh lobster, scallops, and fish caught daily. You can buy the lobster live or cooked. We chose cooked, and took a 2 and a quarter one home to make our own lobster rolls :-). Then, to our second stop, a lovely restaurant right on the bay. Nancy had fish and chips, I had the delicious scallops.