Catching Up With the Group

The weather forecast for Halifax was cloudy and 17' which actually meant thick fog one foot above the ground - as we saw when the plane made an instrument landing. The bus picked us up and took us to join the group who were visiting a garden and I wasn't one bit sorry to have missed it as they and their umbrellas dripped onto the bus and gave us cold wet handshakes.

It was great to see Anne, Bill and Sue again from the trip we did in France, and of course Merryle who does such a wonderful job of organizing and researching. As we drive along she tells us the history of what we are seeing and her enthusiasm spills over to us the captive audience.

Lunch was at Grand Pre (don't know how to do accents on the phone so you'll just have to imagine it) which is a top restaurant attached to a winery which specializes in ice wine. Big story about how the grapes freeze on the vine and are picked frozen at night thus contributing to the intense flavor. (American spelling forced on me by iPhone - but never mind I love it!) Bill and David are not convinced and think it's due to botrytis : I can see they're going to be the bad boys on the bus.

Lunch is typically Canadian - either fish stew or smoked and cured beef brisket which is like corned beef, followed by tiny blueberries shortcake and ice wine. Now we're off to Annapolis Royal for three nights and can UNPACK.

We drove down the Annapolis Valley which is ridged on either side by low mountain ranges which protect it from the howling north winds: combined with fertile soils it makes a micro-climate perfect for fruit and vegetable growing so it's known as the bread basket of Nova Scotia. The apple orchards are loaded and we all want to stop the bus and pinch some. Signs in a village announce early season Honeycrisps which sound nice. Maybe tomorrow...

Half an hour for settling in and then we get to meet Durline, our local tour guide, who is a Texan married to a native Acadian (ten generations of his family have lived here). Wow! She is full on and totally committed to portraying the history of Annapolis. Here she is dressed as a 1600s Acadian woman complete with wooden sabots which look awfully like Crocs with curly toes.

We had a tour of heritage trees in the village and the bus got stuck in the Historical Garden: for a while there I thought we would demolish a 200 year old linden tree but I think Durline made it move over.

Halloween is month away and many houses are decorated for it: I like the one on this page.