The Viking Octantis spent two nights in Halifax. We took a bus tour of the city and nearby Peggy's Cove. Peggy's Cove. Back to Halifax, and story of the Acadians. This final minute of where the Acadians came from provides a satisfying conclusion to the origin of Cajuns in Louisiana. We went down the Mississippi River from Memphis to New Orleans on the American Melody, and learned about the Cajuns. The British conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. In 1755, Acadians living in Port Royal, Acadia, in the portion of Canada that is now Nova Scotia, were kicked out of their homes by the British. An estimated 10,000 to 11,500 of them began settling mostly along the Atlantic coast of the U.S., but some kept moving on, perhaps 2,500 to 3,000 ending up in southwestern Louisiana between 1764 and the 1780s. In 1863, when the Union conquered what is now Lafayette, the hub of Cajun county, Cajun was used to describe the region's inhabitants. Cajun is a rural pronunciation of Aca...
Our cruise on the Viking Octantis continues. Tomorrow, a tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia. But before my topic of the day, wines, first, some Trump news of relevance. President Donald Trump was the one who announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon . Apparently, Hezbollah, too, will be included. The Commission of Fine Arts approved designs for a 250-foot tall triumphal arch , featuring eagles, Lady Liberty and a line from the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a Trump-appointed board which also approved $400 million for Trump's White House Ballroom. Will beome the tallest trimphal arch in the world, 86 feet taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, twice as that of the Lincoln Memorial and almost as high as the Capitol. Planned for Memorial Circle on Columbia Island directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. My interest in wines keeps evolving. Our New Orleans Ritz-Carlton Hotel room had a March copy of...