October 2: Our Thursday in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

We slept in and didn’t go to breakfast until 9:00 for a rainy introduction to Saint John. During breakfast, we agreed that if the wind and rain didn’t diminish that we might not go out for our tour. We had until 12:00 noon to make that definite decision.

The rain did lighten up so we laid our clothes and set out to catch the tour bus at noon for our "SAINT JOHN HIGHLIGHTS" tour. Saint John’s history began in 1604 when Champlain landed dear the present-day city on the feast day of Saint John the Baptist. On this tour we were to explore the historic city, visit the oldest farmer’s market in Canada, and watch the tides of the Bay of Fundy actually make the St. John River flow upstream.

Visits scheduled on our tour were: Carleton Martello Tower National Historic Site: The circular stone fortification was one of 16 built in North America and used by the British for coastal defense against the Americans in the War of 1812. During WW II, the tower saw new life as a fire command post for harbor defense. Old City Market: Located in the heart of Saint John, the oldest working farmer’s market in Canada is still a popular meeting place for local residents. The shipwrights who built the market gave it a crowning touch: a roof in the shape of a ship’s hull. Reversing River Rapids: The fierce tides of the Bay of Fundy actually force the longest river in Atlantic Canada to reverse direction and flow upstream.

We boarded the bus and set out on our tour. It was lightly raining so a lot of the small top windows of the bus were open, which afforded us some nice ventilation with some 50 folks on the bus. In just a bit, however, the rain got really heavy again with the wind blowing in the windows so everyone but us closed our window. The couple in front of us wanted it left open and we did as well (we were in the middle of the bus and there was an opening behind us with a door instead of seats so no one behind us was affected.) We did get some drips and drops of rain, but the cool fresh air far outweighed the potential problem of the water coming in. In a matter of minutes after everyone else closing their windows, the condensation set in, and we were totally fogged in. We couldn’t see a thing without constantly wiping off the windows. The tour guide suggested that a few more people open their top windows, which they did which helped the problem greatly.

The guide pointed out lots of homes and churches that had lots of history and then our first top was at the Farmer’s Market. We had a fun time looking around and it was while we were in there that the rain really got heavy again so we got quite damp walking across the street to get back on the bus.

We saw more buildings and heard more history as we rode along and then stopped at the Carleton Martello Tower. It was raining but a lot of folks got off (including Richard) to view it and make pictures. I did get off to avail myself of the restrooms nearby.

Our last stop was at the Reversing River Rapids. It was raining and blowing but Richard got off with the others who braved the elements to see this phenomenon. I could see the flow of the river from the bus just fine, thank you!!

We got back to the ship and came aboard at about 3:00 p.m. We came back to our stateroom to put away our coats and backpack and then went to a late lunch and/or early dinner ("lupper") and had a delicious meal. Afterwards, we came back to our room and have been here all evening. We have watched some news. CNN in our only news channel on the ship, and it is HORRIBLE to have to watch their liberal biased reporting. We saw a bit of an old LOVE BOAT show and realized that it was the Princess Pacific ship they were on and that the Princess logo was everywhere. It had been years since I had seen that show but found it quite intriguing that it was a huge advertisement for the Princess cruise line way back then. I had started a Lauraine Snelling novel this morning so read some more of it this afternoon. The reading lulled me into a delicious nap. We are now watching the VP Debate on this terrible CNN channel. Sarah is holding her own ~~ so far so good. Of course, we won’t hear one good thing about her in the post-debate commentary on CNN. Oh how I miss Fox News right now!!!

Speaking of TV, we hope the BAMA game will be broadcast on ESPN as that is our only possibility of being able to watch it from here on the ship come Saturday. ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are now sailing up to Nova Scotia and BOY HOWDY is the boat pitching quite a bit. I just took my evening Dramamine. We have done real well and certainly don’t want to get sick here at the end. We do pray for a better day of weather tomorrow as we are turned loose in Nova Scotia. Time will tell.