Hannah and Gord Hit the Road: Day 19 - Tuesday July 18 - Saint John, NB

Another Ferry - Now to Picturesque Saint John, NB

So today is our last day in Canada, so let's spend it in a car and on a boat?! We have loved Nova Scotia and today cemented that - driving south to Digby we passed through the Annapolis Valley, which was absolutely lovely. But we were headed for Digby, and a ferry.

The drive to Digby was a nice one.

We got to the ferry terminal just as it was arriving and we were able to watch it unload while we used the bathroom at the ferry terminal. Hannah tried out the driver's seat - terrifying! Before we knew it we were rolling onto the large vessel and taking directions from the crew. It was like a small, floating, parking garage - with tight turns and ramps up and down. But nevertheless we parked, grabbed our necessities, and headed in for the comforts of a largish ferry.

Eyes on the road!

Approaching the hold - it was like a parking garage inside!

On board the TV lounge caught Gord's attention, but they were only playing The Great Wall, so it didn't last.

It was foggy as we crossed the Bay of Fundy. The whales, if there were any, were uninterrupted by prying eyes.

After getting settled Gord wanted to watch some 'show' so we left T and H in the comfy lounge area to head to the TV theatre. They were playing Matt Damin's The Great Wall - it held his interest for about 20 minutes. Then he caught sight of the Scooby Doo playing in the kids area. We headed over there until he got sick of that too. Soon we were back with Hannah and Theresa digging into apple slices and crackers. The trip was across the Bay of Fundy and some of the literature suggested that whales can be seen from the deck, but the fog never cleared enough to make it a possibility, and so we stayed inside for the 135 minute crossing.

After disembarking from the ship we found ourselves face-to-face with a familiar sight - we were back in Saint John NB! Last time was rushed, frustrating and ultimately disappointing, so I had higher hopes for today's visit. We were staying at the University of New Brunswick at Saint John summer hotel - which is basically a dorm room. We found our way there, 5 minutes away from downtown Saint John, and got settled. It was a suite, and just as you would expect. Basic. Nothing awful, and it was generally clean, but nothing fancy. In any event, we unpacked, changed and headed back to see if we could find some good times in Saint John - maybe a beaver tail? At least a bank for some US dough.

The kids first taste of University life. Hopefully we didn't scare them off.

Downtown Saint John is small, so we easily found a parking spot central to all we wanted to do and began exploring the oldest incorporated city in Canada. We parked acros from the centrally located King's Square park and headed for the famous City Market and waterfront.

Not really impressed with King's Square.

I had great memories of Saint John's City Market...let's see how good my memory is.

The market was festive - lots of 150 stuff!

In truth, the market wasn't as great as I remember. It was nice to see the decorations and the unique roof (meant to look like a boats hull) but it wasn't the bounty of fresh fruit and veg I recalled, and we were heading to the US tomorrow, so we shouldn't stock up anyway. The art was pedestrian so we didn't buy anything for the house, and after a quick memento for G (ask to see his sun catcher bird) we headed to the water for dinner.

Hannah thought it was just ok.

In reading up on dining in Saint John we settled on the Saint John Ale House. It was supposed to have the best patio, the best food and the most broad drink selection. It is located right down by the water at Market Square along a strip of other similar establishments. We sat down and ordered our dinner, simple fair, and they did well by Gordon to bring him a plate of cucumber, French fries and edible flowers. Dinner was fine, the service was good, the drinks were pretty good (T and I split a flight, and we each found something to our tastes) but it wasn't cheap and it wasn't memorable. Thank goodness it's on the water.

The patio at the Saint John Ale House was pleasant enough, but you pay significant premium for the view.

Afterwards we decided to stroll around the harbour for a short while before nature called us away. It's not the nicest waterfront as it is still essentially a working port, but the ocean is the ocean, so we take what we can get. We found bathrooms in the downtown mall but little else. The town is simply quite small, and after filling our bellies we headed back to the room(s) for bed. Tomorrow we were leaving Canada until we came home to Hamilton, so we could use some rest.