Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Quebec to Florida, by Sea (2019)
Foodies' Walking Tour in Saint John, NB - sweet!
It was a beautiful morning for our arrival into Saint John, New Brunswick. The clear skies brought a combination of lovely sunshine and cold temperatures. We decided to have breakfast in the room again and as a result were able to observe our arrival into this latest destination.
| A few facts about Saint John, New Brunswick | |
| 1. | Saint John is the southernmost city in New Brunswick. |
| 2. | The city lies on the northern shoreline of the Bay of Fundy, and is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the peninsula that makes up the greater part of Nova Scotia. |
| 3. | The Bay of Fundy has the world's largest tidal range, exceeding that of the Bristol Channel in the UK. |
| 4. | The ciy is named in honour of St John the Baptist. |
| 5. | The established convention is to write the first word of the city's name in full (probably to lessen the risk of confusion with St John's, Newfoundland). |
| 6. | The population of Saint John is approximately 68,000. |
| 7. | While Saint John has historically been New Brunswick's largest city, it was overtaken by Moncton in 2016. |
| 8. | Saint John is not the provincial capital; that honour goes to Fredericton. |
Once docked, it was a fairly leisurely start to proceedings: we were
booked on a Foodies' Walking Tour and the group assembled in a large
quayside tent. With the weather being so clear, we had good views of
the ship basking in the morning sun as we walked round to the main
part of town. The first stop, in Market Square, was an open-air
venue that went by the strange-sounding name Beaver Tails;
however it quickly became apparent that we were there to sample ...
well ... a beaver tail! This was a deep-fried pastry topped with
maple cream and chocolate - or as at least one person commented, "a
heart attack in a bag". This initial stop also set the tone for the
rest of the tour, as sweetness seemed to be - by some considerable
way - the dominant theme.
The next stop was for a coffee, following which we moved on to City
Market, the oldest continuously operated farmers market in Canada.
We made several stops inside the venue, the most memorable
highlights being the smoked salmon and the lobster rolls. After
that, the group moved on to a pizzeria called Pomodori.
Even this had sweet elements in the pizza toppings, including maple
syrup and maple pecans!
The final stop was at a bar called Five & Dime. Everyone
had a glass of beer and - because we really needed more sweetness
- a huge cupcake. Despite the prominent mention of cannabis on the
serviettes, we were assured that the cakes had no controversial
ingredients! The tour finished here, but we decided to stay on for
another beer and an enjoyable chat with a couple of shipmates. We
then decided to have a further walk before returning to the ship,
during which we found the historic Trinity Church and had another
look around the market.
Back on board, we ordered a room-service pizza and watched the 2018 movie On the Basis of Sex, which tells the story of American Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, noted for her advocacy of gender equality and women's rights. Departure from Saint John was at 9pm and before turning in for the night, we moved our watches back an hour to revert to Eastern Time.
