Saint John - New Brunswick

Society Travel & Tourism
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A beautiful small town(/city?), located in beautiful New Brunswick.

We arrive in Fredericton, and luckily there is lots to do. (Canadian Forces were strutting their stuff). We spent an hour or two mingling with them, strolled downtown Fredericton, and finally headed back to Saint John.
Canadian Forces :
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Art Gallery Opposite to Legislative Building :
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Back to Saint John (The roads in New Brunswick are amazing! No wonder Albertans and Ontarians are mad.):

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A scene. The water levels were so low we had to skip eating fresh lobster.:
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In Saint John, we went to see the Reversing Falls. Nothing visual, but there's some science behind it.

He was our captain, he looks grumpy in this photo but he was hilarious. Too bad there were only 7 people in a boat that could hold 50 :D :
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If you look hard enough you'll see the "reversing" falls :
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Saint John's "Skyline" :D. That dots you see on the water are'nt fishes. Its rain pouring down on the stupid boat/water/camera lens.:
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Don Cherry? In Saint John??
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After a hearty meal of fish and chips we headed home (temporary atleast) :

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The View from the room :
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After days of lousy french tv, It was a relief to see Seinfeld :
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The Mall was located under the hotel. It was a holiday so it was closed. :
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In the morning we went to the market (for breakfast) right outside our window( you can see it in the view above) :
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OH, YES: For about 20 minutes on route from Montreal to Fredricton we saw this. This photo was taken right before we entered the "dark zone". It was pitch black. Half the cars had pulled over to the shoulder, but we continued : (It was 1pm)
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looks so european.
thanks for sharing the pictures.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by hskhan: *
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These two pictures are so "typically" reminiscent of eastern Canada. Kia yaad kara dia, HSKhan. uff. You didn't mention how you found the people there, in general - were they friendly? Maritimers have a reputation of being some of the friendliest & hospitable folks in Canada, moreso than central or western Canadians;~) It's been a few years now since i've been to NB, so don't know whether times have changed in that regard. i loved seeing your pictures, especially the downtown buildings. That's SOO similar to Halifax, in a weird way....even the Delta Hotel - that reminds me of Barrington street in Halifax. sigh Aur wo ATV wala building bhi... gosh. Thanks for rekindling some memories:D

Great pictures. Was it your first trip to NB? Have you been to Halifax? Have you visited PEI? Just out of my weird curiosity, if you had a choice, where would you like to visit next in Canada?

Great thread. Thanks.

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^ Nadia, it was the best trip ever! Even better than Quebec City. And i'm saying this because your presence is actually cherished. In Quebec City your just another tourist that creates traffic. It's different in Saint John. The economy of the Maritimes is so bashed that they'll do anything to grab a tourist. For instance, for that boat trip. We went 2 hours before it was to depart (we just arrived at the place as a friend told us about it). The poor crew grabbed the 5 of us, and took us for a 1 hour spin of Saint John via boat. And, 1 hour because my parents couldnt handle the pouring rain and waves. All this for about $35. The captain was hilarious too. He tried initiating a conversation, but being typical desis we just laughed and thats all. I wish I recorded the tour. It was obvious he was putting on a show though. When he tourned around you could see his sorrow. My dad asked him why, and he almost cried(i think). Apparently there is a person with the last name Irving. The economy rides on his several businesses. Being a business man, Mr. Irving has decided to relocate several of his businesses to Asia or South America, or atleast minimize operations at a few. The town is dirt poor already, and now they have their major employer moving away. He himself no longer lives in New Brunswick. He probably has a few islands he owns, but he rarely visits.

he hotel we lived in was in the rich block (you know how small maritime towns are-there's only 1 block of wealth), and other than this block the entire population of Saint John lived in scanty little houses with doors falling off and broken windows.

The people were also superb. Any help you need, they'll help. The only nuisance I found was the desi university students roaming drunk.

I've never been to New Brunswick before. But I would be great to revist. We initially planned to tour the entire maritime (Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Foundland), but the drive was too much to handle, so we turned around after a few days in Saint John.

Oh well. I have some photos lying around. I'll post some more If I get the time.

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aw. Thanks for that long reply, HSKhan. i was smiling the whole time reading it...except for the part about the captain.

The Irvings are a family of millionaires, the type of hold/influence they have over the Maritime economy is difficult to underestimate. i think one of them started buying shares in some of the offshore oil rigs, back in the '70s perhaps... uss kai baad, their wealth just took off. They're involved in a LOT of companies now (mostly offshore oil wealth i think), gas/heating companies, etc. i think they MAY have stocks in Sobeys, IGA's etc. When i used to live in NS, almost every other month you would read about some or the other company that "Irving" (that's also the company's name) has taken over or amalgamated. They're a huge bunch of rich family members. They've created lots of employment for many Maritimers... tau it's a bit of a love-hate relationship with them.

Yeah you are absolutely right about cherishing tourists. Believe it or not, PEI gets a lot of tourists from Japan - Japanese tourists are apparently crazy about the "Anne of Green Gables" books, (which were written by, and based upon the surroundings of, an islander from PEI). Maritimers, in general, are like that - there are some that i found to be deeply racist, but the majority - they were really really generous people. As for poverty, you should see some of Halifax's slum areas - they are REALLY bad. And then of course, there's the 'posh' strip - $300,000+ houses/mansions.

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by hskhan: *
**I've never been to New Brunswick before. But I would be great to revist. We initially planned to tour the entire maritime (Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Foundland), but the drive was too much to handle, so we turned around after a few days in Saint John.*
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Acha, i see.

By any chance, if you ever plan on visiting Nova Scotia, do visit it during the summer and coordinate it so that you are there during their Multicultural Festival and Buskers. You DON'T want to miss those two events - they're superb. i used to attend the Multicultural festival every year with my friends & family, we never missed it. The festival venue is located literally at the shores of the Atlantic ocean, and there is no more beautiful spot for it in the entire province. The "Buskers" (on the opposite side of the bridge, on the Halifax side) ki tau koi aur hi baat hai - it's close to the Atlantic Museum of Natural History (which has some authentic Titanic relics, the only museum in the world to have a deckchair salvaged from the wreck); there's the Halifax Citadel. There's SOO much there. You would really enjoy it. i could go on and on:D

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*Oh well. I have some photos lying around. I'll post some more If I get the time.
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That'd be great. i'll try to dig up some of my old Halifax pictures as well.

Thanks, HSKhan. In this thread i feel like i am talking to an old friend from Nova Scotia:~) Brings back some nice memories.

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NY - Any way to avoid toll at bridges and tunnels?

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