Ken's Journal
No. 6 - Summer 2007

St Martins, New Brunswick
July 26-30, 2007 - Days 11-15 on the road. Part I.
I packed up and left Bar Harbor on Wednesday, July 25 and took the coastal road, SR 182 and US 1 to Calais, ME for the crossing to Canada. On the way, I found Wild Blueberry Land and just had to stop!

I'd seen this place a couple years ago but it wasn't open for business. The guy on the roof is starting a new paint job - I suppose blue fades fast.

Along the road these large "Bluberries" had sprouted since the last time I'd been by - as well as had the sign in the background.
 

Apparently the people who own this place have way too much time on their hands (during the winter for sure).
I think these were supposed to be berry pickers. Looked like they'd been waylaid on the trail and bushwacked.

In spite of the kitsch, this was well worth the stop!! Their Wild Blueberry muffins and Wild Blueberry cookies - think raisin oatmeal with blueberries instead of rasins - were outstanding!!

Anyhow, after crossing the border easily with no incident, I stopped for the night just outside St Stephen, NB. The next day I moved on to St Martins, NB on the other side of St Johns. It's not that hard to find on a map - you can find St Stephen, St John and St Martin along the coast of NB just to the east of Maine. Through St Stephen and St John the roads were great - from St John to St Martin, the road went downhill . . . and uphill . . . and narrow . . . and no shoulder. In Canada, once you get off the main routes, the roads can go to hell in a heartbeat.
Once in St Martin, the weather decided not to cooperate - typical coastal weather and typical Bay of Fundy. The first full day, I decided on mostly indoor activities and took a trip back to St John which is the largest city in New Brunswick. St John is situated on the mouth of the St John river on the Bay of Fundy. A map of Uptown St John where I visited can be found here. General location maps can be found here.

Here's downtown St John - a nice cosmopolitan city, with an industrial waterfront. Cruise ships dock here for the sights in town. Here you can see the poor weather - the tops of the cargo cranes across the bay are hidden in fog.

For some reason, this reconstructed General Store is located right in the heart of St John next to the waterfront. Right next to it is a reconstructed one-room schoolhouse.

A little sculpture on the square. The people are a little better than lifesize.

More people on the other side.In the background youcan just make out a bronze Moose.  

The downtown City Market was first opened in 1876 and is a full city block in length. The Market runs downhill from Charlotte Street to Germain street, a drop of about 20 feet. From what I saw, I'd say it's a center of city activity.

More market.
And more on the market can be found here.
 
 

You can get 'em right here. You can even pick 'em out yourself.

More market. I did stock up on fresh veggies here!

Even more market.

And if you really want to know what a "Winkle" is, go here.

There were a number of "non-traditional" food stands. I counted this one claiming to be Kurdish, two Indian, a Korean and one I wasn't sure of. For lunch I had a couple Samosas from an Indian vendor and a little Kimchi from the Korean stand.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."  -- St. Augustine
Page 9