St John

St. John, New Brunswick
We spent the day touring St. John today and after our night of a lobster feast at the Lobster Steamer Restaurant last night it was a late day for a start for both of us.
First off St John was first discovered by Samuel du Champlain on June 24th 1604 ( you may remember him from Quebec City) the man really got around. Given the name St. John because that was the saints day that he discovered the place. It had a reversing tide and the crew of the ship did not want to go further ou the river because of this. The French were here but not in great numbers and then in 1785 British Loyalists who did not want to stay in the US after the Revolutionary War settled here in great numbers as they were promised free land in exchange for their loyalty to the British Crown. St. John became the fist and therefore the oldest incorporated city in Canada in 1785.
We took a walking tour of the old town and saw many of the brick buildings that dated back to the early 1800’s ( yes this city also had its Great Fire and had to be rebuilt). It seems that almost all of the great old cities we have see have had fires which destroyed them at one time or another.
Of particular note in the city was Trinity Church where the caretaker showed us around and the 500 year old stained glass windows which were brought in molasses barrels form England to the church. The woodwork was fantastic being done by shipbuilders of the time as this was a great shipbuilding center for wooden sailing ships. The church also contains a Royal Coat of Arms of George III which was smuggled out of the Boston State House by the Loyalists.
Even the City Market )which is a sort of farmers market was one of the first and longest open farmers markets in North America ) has its ceiling and roof shaped like the upturned hull of a ship.
One of our last stops was the Reversing Falls which is where water from the St. John River meets the Bay of Fundy. There is a narrow gorge where in low tide the water from the river flows over rocks making a falls going out to sea and in high tide the water forms a falls going in the other direction. You must remember that the tides here in comparison to California are huge with water rising and falling 30-40 feet.
Well the sun shone today and all was well with the world except that now we have wind (and I mean WIND). So tomorrow the plan was to leave here and take the Fundy Costal Drive to St. Stephen but we shall see what mother nature has in store for us.
Lorne

1 Trinity Church
2 Stained glass in the church (some of it)
3 Street in St Hohn
4 Reversing falls
5 St John from the lookout point