Day 5 New England Fall Colors Cruise

Canada!  🇨🇦. Our port today is St. John, New Brunswick.  Another chilly dreary day but at least it is not raining.  We were in St. John 29 years ago; fun to come back. We chose to get around the city with the Pink hop on hop off buses.  Our first guide was quite knowledgeable about the history of Canada and the USA.  She pointed out that she was a direct descendant of the Loyalists that originally settled in St. John and she has not quite gotten over what America did to her relatives. That set a tone for the side she took in our history lessons - George Washington, Benedict Arnold, etc.

St. John is known for the Reversing Rapids, a phenomenon caused by bay tides of the Bay of Fundy colliding with the St. John River.  We were here for the low tides but the waters were still filled with whirlpools and rapids.  It was just mesmerizing to stand and watch the rushing water.

St. John is not a bright or modern city but still has its hidden beauty.  The downtown area is filled with brick and stone buildings with all the charm of the past.  As you look around you can see charred memories on the facades of the building from a great fire from years ago.

Just like many New England cities, churches were build near the city centers as soon as the towns began to grow.  Some of the churches are the most beautiful of all the old structures.

We toured through Rockwood Park and Lilly Lake Pavilion.  This is a wonderful sprawling park full of walking paths, multiple lakes and beautiful drives.  This was our first glimpse of the fall colors.  Maples were showing colors of bright red, orange and rust.

Fish, fish and more fish.  Dotted all around the downtown streets of St. John you can find Art Deco fish painted by area artists.  Some of my favorites:

Named:  Our Roots in Agriculture - Holly McKay

Named:  Gratitude - Fabiola Martinez Rodriguez

Named:  In the Meadow and Through the Woods - Tammy Capstick

After touring the city and surrounding parks we went to the old City Market built in the 1870’s.  This was like going back in time.  This market is a very only long building with miscellaneous groceries, fresh meats, produce and a few hand made crafts.  Just quite interesting.

Tonight The Effy jewelry store had a live auction.  This is the same store that I tried on $2000 earrings the night before.  No the earrings were not on the auction but a girl can dream.  The first item up for auction was a $239,000 Canary diamond ring.  Beautiful but it received no bids.  There were many more affordable pieces.  My husband did bid on a Tanzanite tennis bracelet.

Back on the ship, we chose to dine in the Symphony room.  This time we were seated with 3 other couples.  One couple from Manhattan, one from Albany and the third was from Cincinnati.  Being seated with other couples is an option and we were so glad we did so tonight.  It was great to meet some of our shipmates and learn a little about them.

Normally at this point you get food pics.  Not that dinner was not delicious but I will only include the dessert.  This was called the Love Boat - Brownie with chocolate mousse.  The food is always delicious and the presentation is artistic.

After dinner we went to the Princess Theater to enjoy the late presentation of Fiera.  This was beyond amazing all ways, singing/dancing, costumes, set and special effects.  It takes more than 8 hours to set up the stage and props for this performance.  Fiera is a musical journey through an enchanting late 19th century European fairground and the love story between the Master of Ceremonie’s daughter and a circus performer.  Sorry - no pictures allowed.

#PrincessCruise #Fiera #BayofFundy #ILoveChocolate