St John, NB to Annapolis Royal, NS

In St. John we stayed in Rockland Park which is an extremely large city park on a hill overlooking  the Bay of Fundy, some of the industrial (think railroad ) areas and what is called uptown (as opposed to downtown), that area with the tall buildings. Farther to the left there is a paper mill, an oil refinery and some other industrial properties.

Rockwood Park is Canada's largest urban park. It was designed by Downing Vaux, the son of the partner of Frederick Law who designed Central Park in NYC. The park offers a 213 site campground,    an Interpretive Centre, lakes for swimming and fishing, an 18 hole golf course, a zoo and a playground plus over 20 miles of hiking trails.

This monument dedicated to the memory of workers who have been killed or injured on the job was unveiled in April, 2011. Canada was the first country to formally recognize a Worker's Memorial Day and since that time more than 80 other other countries have followed suit.

We took the noon ferry from St John to Digby, NS which is a 3 hour trip. Not knowing exactly where we were going or how long it would take we left the park early and arrived at the terminal very early. Shadow had to stay in the RV on the auto level and survived the noise and vibration but it took a long time for him afterwards to stop shaking. On the way we had a cup of coffee and a snack of something which was somewhat less tasty than stadium food. So afterwards we stopped in Digby for a late lunch. Now, Digby is known for their scallops so we had an order of scallops and two pounds of mussels. Some kind of good! That was our dinner, too.

We're staying in Annapolis Royal which is the smallest incorporated town in NS, but with over 130 registered heritage properties, it is one of the largest National Historic Districts in Canada. In 1605 the area was settled by a small group of French explorers led by Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Mons. The French named the new land Port-Royal and built the Habitation as a centre for their operations in Acadie. This lighthouse is built just off of Water Street which is also known as "Canada's Oldest Thoroughfare".  In 1710 the British captured the area and renamed the town Annapolis Royal in honor of Queen Anne.

 

It started raining last night - rained through out the night and there has been a steady drizzle all day long so we didn't do a lot of sight seeing. We did drive through the Fort Anne National Historic Site, walked on the riverfront board walk and then had a tasty lunch at a great German Restaurant and Bakery. Susan had Goulash with Spatzle and I had a Schnitzel sandwich and a bowl of seafood chowder, their soup of the day. And yes, we brought pastries home with us.

This fort has always protected the town of Annapolis Royal.  It was the focal point between the French and the British as they tried to gain control of Acadia. It served as head of the government as the original capital of Acadia and Nova Scotia.

Our last stop was at this strange looking building situated on the Annapolis River. This is the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station, one of the very few tidal generating stations in the world. This station was built in 1984 as a demonstration plant and is the only one in North America. The station generates up to 20 megawatts of electricity at peak output, enough to power up to 4,500 homes. The predictable 12 hour and 25 minute tide cycle allows Annapolis to operate twice a day with each cycle lasting approximately five hours.