Lashed by Ophelia!

The tail of the hurricane turned nasty this morning and we left Annapolis Royal in pouring rain and low dark clouds that felt like evening. Merryle tried hard with her stories of Evangeline, the Acadian heroine immortalized by Longfellow, but we were a sombre lot including me who realized I had left my iPhone charger and adaptor in the bathroom at the motel. Curses! But Vanessa said cheerfully "no problem" and arranged for it to be sent to Halifax and collected tomorrow. By Wolfville it was still raining as we disembarked at a sea captain's mansion for morning tea and a gift shop (groans from the men - but what a magnificent shop, two floors of unusual gifts to tempt anyone). Then at Bedford, a suburb of Halifax, we went to a private garden on the water front - a wonderful garden - but last night they had three inches of rain and it showed. The lawn was like a sponge and every step felt as if your shoes were being sucked off. More wonderful hydrangeas and huge clumps of hostas ( no deer would dare show its face in this beautifully manicured garden).

Lunch was provided by the local Horticultural Society in a community hall - salad and chicken salad followed by apple crumble and served by a cohort of lovely friendly Horties who seemed thrilled to meet us.

Our Halifax hotel is the Marriott and five stars, quite a change from the country motel in AR. But we still need our Aussie water heater for a nice cup of tea so I'm glad I brought it and a supply of tea bags and chai latte.

Blair joined us on the bus for a tour of Halifax and a potted history: I am ashamed I had never heard of the Great Explosion of 1917 when a munitions ship blew up in the harbor killing 2000 people. But I did know that some of the Titanic victims are buried here and we visited their graves, including that of Jock Hume, whose story I had read before coming. He was in the band that played on as the ship sank: his pay ceased at 2 am when the ship sank and his family received an account for his lost uniform (they didn't pay.) It was brass monkey land in that cemetery, even worse in the pretty botanic gardens where you had to jump from tussock to tussock to avoid puddles.

Free night tonight so for my birthday we went in search of a nice restaurant , and chanced upon Salty's with harbor view and a pleasant friendly waiter who helped us choose a superb wine, The Four Graces Pinot Gris from Deer Creek Oregon. Fabulous! Intense , floral but not sweet and tingling aftertaste which went well with the local scallops. I haven't said much about dinners so far because they haven't been good - Annapolis Royal needs to lift its game re food, which could be a job for Durline. This meal was excellent and I wrote an ecstatic review for TripAdvisor. (yes Jon I do love my iPhone.)

Thank you everyone who sent birthday emails - it has been a great day and the weather looks to be improving.