Meanwhile, back at the New Brunswick Road Trip…

Saint John Leg~

Saint John is New Brunswick’s largest city based on area and pop. (Pop. 70,000+). Let’s put that in perspective. The population of New Brunswick is 751,171, according to the 2011 Census. Moncton is close on Saint John’s heels at just over 69,000. And Fredericton (Pop. 56,224) is the capital of New B.

If you live in a densely populated country like the U.S. (Pop. 318.9 million – 2014), the population of Canada (Pop. 35.16 million – 2013) and New Brunswick, one of her smallest provinces (Pop. 751,171 – 2011) seems paltry. We have 1.6% more total area than the U.S.

We’re living the wilderness dream. Just sayin’.

New Brunswick is about the size of Ireland (Pop. 4.595 million – 2013) or Scotland (Pop. 5.295 million – 2011).

We’re inhabited by moose, bear, and wildlife here in Canadaland, and a wild boar is roaming a golf course in Ontario.

And now that we’ve sorted that out. Moving right along.

Saint John ~

Tucked up on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River.

When you arrive, it feels like you are traversing a series of highways and bridges looping up, over, around, and through the city. The Irving Pulp and Paper Mill, near the Reversing Rapids, sits side by side with commerce and residences and entertainment. I couldn’t get any sense of a grid.

Our first stop was at the Saint John City Market. Steeped in history, its roof is built in the shape of an inverted ship’s hull — a nod to the city’s shipbuilding past.

An abundance of color and texture. What fun!

This is the oldest continuing farmer’s market in Canada and designated a National Historic Site. It was named Canada’s Great Public Space in 2013. It’s where I would be buying local produce, meats, a cup of decaffeine, some lunch, or maybe a treat if I were a Saint Johner. It sits across from Kings’s Square. Pardon the blur. It’s the only click I got.

We cruised down King Street next, passed City Hall, to Market Square at North Market Wharf. It was late afternoon and bustling.

Bustling, I say.

I met a moose.

This is the only kind of moose I want to meet. Cast in bronze!

Inside Market Square…

Swing from the ceiling or sit in that plane. It was a tough call.

The New Brunswick Museum. Here be whale bones.

The girl with the balloons is killing me!

Best place ever for a public library.

Hightailing it over to the Reversing Rapids, which you approach by a precarious grey stair. And by precarious, I mean bordering on rickety. If there is another approach, tell me, Saint Johner. Tell me here. Tell me now.

Reversing Rapids!

You can have a little zipline adventure at this location. I am not the little zipline type. Shakes head vehemently. But you could. If you wanted to. Do you want to?

They have the twirlies!

I went down the precarious grey stairs instead.

Hm.

But this was on the grey stair so…. redeemed itself.

Sadly, we weren’t in Saint John long enough to do it justice. We missed Rockwood Park for one thing. We didn’t get to sample enough food. We didn’t get an opportunity to embrace our wild side — Hello, Seadoo!

Do I even have a wild side?

Don’t answer that, G-Man!

Since we missed St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, I see another New Brunswick coastal jaunt in our future.

Saint John, the oldest incorporated city in Canada (1785).

Aka — Fundy City.

It has a quality.

I’m still trying to sort out Downtown and Uptown.

To be continued…

Here be Friday.

You know what to do. Meet you in the bar in 3…2…1…

Elen

Note: Guest shots were provided by the G-Man. Thank you, Mr. G, honey.