Two Days in St. John, New Brunswick

Days 63 & 64 of trip, Monday and Tuesday, July 11 and 12, 2014

What a great 2 days we've had in this historical industrial/harbour city! It has really been fun and different with our campsite overlooking the city, trains, and businesses, and hearing the sounds all day and night as the heartbeat of industry goes on. In contrast, Rockwood Municipal Park is simply gorgeous, with every view carefully designed to provide rest and beauty for the eyes. 

Yesterday we had a chance to get to know our camp neighbors briefly, before they headed for home to Quebec City after their month-long trip. Denis and Judith both retired as journalists in the television industry. Their first Language is French, but thank goodness they both do quite well with English...because my high school and college French classes were a long time ago!

Curt and I took a little time to explore Rockwood Park. I'll show you some of the beautiful sights we found:

I could show you photo after photo. There are so many lovely views in this park!

Then we headed into town. Back when we were at Fundy National Park a few weeks ago, I posted a photo of Cliff and Carolyn, a couple we met there. They own and operate an auto service and repair shop, so Curt told them that when we returned to St. John, he would contact them for an oil change for the truck. We found them...Charlotte Street Auto...and they did a wonderful job with the truck. Here's Carolyn in front of the shop:

While the truck was in the shop, Curt and I headed through the uptown area, through the parks, 

and we found the City Market, the oldest continually operating market in Canada (dates back to the 1870's). It was a wonderful place!

We had lunch and checked out all the booths and vendors. What a riot of color and texture!

As we walked around town more after the market, we saw many examples of an architectural feature that we first learned about in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The "Lunenburg Bump" is a dormer that's part of an octagon that protrudes from the facade of the house. Not only in Lunenburg, though, the Bump has been incorporated into houses we've since seen in Digby, Nova Scotia, and now in St. John, New Brunswick. I'm sure the Lunenburg Bump is seen all over the Maritime Provinces. here are a few examples:

 Now when you see this characteristic dormer, you can point it out and impress your friends with your knowledge of maritime architecture!

Today, Tuesday, we stayed in the park all day. After all, what prettier place could we be? Relaxed around camp, visited the Interpretive Center, took a hike through the arboretum, enjoyed the  Fisher Lakes some more (which made us homesick for our friends Dean and Judy Fisher), and all in all, had a lovely day! Curt swam in Lily Lake while I worked on some music (writing a new song).

Then tonight after work, Cliff and Carolyn met us here at our campsite, and together we went out for dinner at Lily's Garden, a delightful restaurant here in the park overlooking Lily Lake. We talked and laughed and shared stories until the restaurant closed, then came back to the pop-up and continued the party. What a wonderful evening with new friends. Since they both love to travel, I'm sure the four of us will meet again somewhere!

This is our last night at St. John. Tomorrow we start in the direction of Lubec, Maine again. But we'll make an overnight stop in the historic town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, north of Eastport, Maine. We realized a few days ago that we had planned to intersperse the occasional B&B among our camping days, yet we haven't stayed in a B&B since our first night out, June 10! So we'll be treating ourselves to a REAL bed and a gourmet breakfast...and I'm really looking forward to soaking in the claw foot tub!