Scenes of Saint John

Saint John – the oldest incorporated city in Canada – was the very last place I would ever imagine to find myself in.  I have actually driven through the area a couple of times as a child en route to Nova Scotia to visit family friends.  But, I have no memories whatsoever of those earlier trips.  And to make matters even more interesting, I wasn’t initially scheduled to be here for a work conference.  I was asked last minute to attend in lieu of one of my colleagues who had a conflict they could not resolve in time.  So, here I am instead.

Saint John Airport/Aeroport de Saint John

With only a few hours to spare this afternoon before I had to report to the conference, I decided it would be great to just roam around the city and get a feel for what this place was all about.  It’s not a large city by any means with a population just shy of 70,000, so I assumed it was just an extremely walkable city with a few good pubs and restaurants worth checking out.  But my first order of business was to check into my hotel first – the Chateau Saint John.

Saint John Airport/Aeroport de Saint John

After landing at Saint John Airport, it didn’t much time for our luggage to arrive on the carousel.  What I didn’t anticipate was the lack of taxi cabs available to take passengers downtown.  There was a lineup of about 7 – 10 people deep waiting on a couple of taxis that were doing round trips every 20 minutes or so.  While chatting with some of the people ahead of me in line, it sounded like the cab company wasn’t anticipating so many people to arrive all at once for this conference and were actually short on drivers for the day.  As I got to the front of the line nearly an hour later I agreed to share a cab with another guy who was actually passing through Saint John to a small town nearby where he is from.

Chateau Saint John

It turns out that he was arriving from Western Canada where he made a living in natural resources.  It is quite common for people from the Atlantic Region of Canada to routinely fly out west to work either in the oil fields of Northern Alberta or the diamond mines of the Northwest Territories.  When it comes to these industries, it is very common for employees to work two weeks solid before getting one week off to compensate.  With the cost of living and housing prices being extremely high in this part of Canada, it makes far more sense for these employees to fly back home to Atlantic Canada on their days off instead just like this guy was doing.

Saint John, New Brunswick

During our drive into town, I tried my best to be positive and relatable to both my fellow passenger and the cabbie.  I’m sure they run into a lot of city slickers like me who come into town for a few days and just want to leave as soon as possible.  That’s kind of a horrible attitude to have, so I didn’t want to be part of the problem.  However, our conversation was so drab that they began to comment on how Saint John had the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Canada, petty crime was a major issue, and too many people “get involved in your business.”  Geez, talk about getting a warm reception in a town I know so little about.

The hilly streets of Saint John, New Brunswick

We finally arrived at the Chateau Saint John where I wished my fellow passenger best wishes and thanked the cabbie for the ride.  Located on the outskirts of downtown, Chateau Saint John seemed like a quiet, relaxing place to get some rest over the next few days.  Once checked in, I asked the front desk agent how long of a drive is it to get downtown.  When told that it was only about 5 – 10 minutes, I decided to walk instead figuring it would only take double that time and also factoring how tough it was to hail a cab ride today.

Row Houses along Water Street

My first impressions of Saint John was that it was extremely hilly just like San Francisco.  I don’t know what it is about this port cities, but it always seems like a hilly landscape is a perquisite for them.  Five minutes into my walk and I already started second guessing my decision to do this.  However, I kept trucking along only to stop periodically to take photos of some of the heritage homes nearby, as well as to admire the bilingual street signs that displayed both French and English.  New Brunswick is home to a significant French-Canadian demographic – one of the largest in Canada outside of Quebec.

Saint John High School - Canada's oldest high school

I tried to figure out how close I really was to the downtown core, but my phone finally died on me.  Through the distance I could catch a glimpse of the Bay of Fundy.  For some reason I just assumed that there might be a pub or restaurant near there where I could grab something to eat while also charging my phone.  The closer I got towards the Bay of Fundy, the sketchier this section of Saint John became.  Beautiful heritage homes suddenly turned into ugly, dilapidated buildings that probably hadn’t been lived in for years.  My mind was puzzled trying to figure out exactly where I was at this point.

Facing north along Water Street - Downtown Saint John

Fortunately, there was a convenience store nearby where I could stop in to ask for directions and briefly charge my cell phone a bit.  The owner of the store was French-Canadian, probably in his mid-to-late forties, and super friendly despite the language barrier between us.  He had pointed me towards Water Street as I managed to make my way to the South End.  To put it succinctly, I spent thirty minutes walking from my hotel just off the Trans-Canada Highway all the way to the South End – a main residential area of Old Saint John.  I completely bypassed the touristy downtown core altogether.  But as I would soon find out, this accidental detour would make me appreciate the downtown core a little bit more as a result.

Theodore Tugboat - Port Saint John

Making my up North on Water Street, I finally got to see the Bay of Fundy in its entirety.  The closer I got towards downtown, the more I saw contrasts between Saint John’s past and present.  Out in the distance, cargo ships dotted the horizon of the Bay of Fundy as they carried their next shipment to their next port of call while massive cruise ships dropped off passengers at the Port of Saint John to enjoy the remaining few days of the peak tourism season here in New Brunswick.  On one side of Water Street, old heritage homes were kept meticulously neat and tidy while on the other side, waterfront condos added a dose of modernity.  I even took a few minutes to stand back and admire Saint John High School – the oldest school in Canada.

Cruise ship docked at Port Saint John

Of course, I also sampled some of the local beers while I had the time.  Big Tide Brewing was my first foray into the local craft beer scene in New Brunswick.  I spent a couple of hours here sampling a few of their offerings.  I also made my way over to Callahan’s Pub nearby the port where I had a couple of beers from Fredericton’s Picaroons Traditional Ales – Yippee IPA and Dooryard Summer Ale.  Overall, I wasn’t really impressed with any of these beers.  But at least there was more than just Moosehead available here in Saint John.  Moosehead is Saint John’s most famous brewery with its flagship beer – Moosehead Lager – being available throughout most of Canada, particularly in Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic Region.

Sunset over Bay of Fundy

By now the sun began to set, so I made my way to the port to take it all in.  The golden yellow hues shone brightly on the Bay of Fundy’s surface as the sky gradually turned into a purplish-blue hue.  It was also starting to get a little bit nippy at this point with the chill of the autumn air.  Soon I would have to meet up with my colleague so that we could make our way to over to the convention center for our event.  And just like that, my afternoon in Saint John had come to an end.  Although I didn’t get to see everything that I would like to on this particular day, what I did see was sufficient enough.  It was a good taster of Atlantic Canada and made me want to explore more of this region in the future.  But for now, I am in no rush.