Monday, September 15, 2008

Foggy Old Saint John

We are not having great luck in St (Saint) John ('s)! Today turned out just the same as the day we did the city tour in St John's, Newfoundland, so foggy the tour bus driver was telling us to "imagine" what the view was like!We met the city transit tour bus in the campground at 10:00AM and traveled about the city seeing old homes and hearing a brief history of the city and its primary employer and benefactor, the Irving family. KC Irving started in the oil delivery business here in the 1920's and expanded into automobiles, refining, retailing, trucking, forestry, paper mills, and just about any other business that supported his other endeavors.We revisited the Reversing Falls but decided to pass on the boat rides that are available over the rapids. After a few minutes of watching harbor seals catching fish we climbed up to Marcello Tower and saw less than we did last night, nothing but a dim outline in the fog!Our stop at the City Market was a chance to see the roof that is designed as an upside down hull of a boat to carry the winter snow loads. It was a chance to sample the foods and coffee offered by the many local vendors. Brad our tour bus driver also arranged for us to tour the Imperial Theatre, a local theater that had deteriorated over the years as it passed from live shows, to a movie theater, to a church, and then was saved and restored by local citizens led by a cab driver.

We were back in the campground by 12:30PM and had lunch at home. The weather was still dreary so Sue decided to stay in and Jeff headed downtown for the NB Museum a tour of the natural history and industrial-ship building sections of the museum. No photos we allowed even though he skipped the art portions of the 3 story complex.
We headed over to the east side of town for dinner and a movie, two movies actually, "The Woman" for Sue and "A Righteous Kill" for Jeff. We find only a few movies that we both enjoy. We did climb back to the Carleton Marcello Tower for the 3rd time as the sun finally broke through around 4:30PM and allowed a view of the city.
We decided we have seen enough of Saint John through the fog so we are moving down the coast to St Andrews By-The-Sea in the morning before crossing back into Maine Wednesday.