We are staying in the Chipman Hill Suites at 76 Union Street. They have the distinction of being one of the few buildings that predate the fire that destroyed Saint John in 1877. They were built in 1869 and were at the boundary of the area that was destroyed.

There are 3 such neo-classical buildings that were saved from fire but later were slated for destruction in order to urbanize the city. They were saved by Chipman Hill Suites and are now designated as a Local Historic Place for their architecture.

We had a pretty bad breakfast with service to match at York Bistro and Pub which is associated with the Hilton Hotel in Saint John. The odd thing is, we had had a late lunch here yesterday and the food and service were excellent.

Next we set off to find the rest of the 10 Salmon Run 2018 sculptures  and 5 covered bridges we had scoped out earlier.

First we went over to the Sculpture Saint John New Brunswick to walk around and look at the sculptures now that everything was cleaned up and ready for touching and viewing.

Such an amazing idea, I really hope it is mimicked across Canada, the U.S. and the world.

After enjoying all of the sculptures we went off in search of the rest of the salmon sculptures. We found them all and here they are.

Off we went to find covered bridges and enjoy the countryside around New Brunswick, as always we wished we had more time.

It took awhile but we finally amassed 5 covered bridges.

Next we headed back to Saint John and our room at the Chipman Inn. By now we had finally stopped having indigestion from breakfast and were starting to think about lunch. As it was close to 3:30 PM we made a decision to have an early dinner at Gahan House Port City, what a great decision that was!

They brew their own beer based in Prince Edward Island and also run a very good restaurant here in Saint John.

We had the stout which was quite good along with Focaccia Chicken Sandwiches which were amazing. Dessert was an ESB which we split that was also quite good.

All in all a very fine ending for our last day in Canada. Tomorrow we leave for Portland, ME and then home to California.

Got up this morning, made coffee and Chris started looking for a place to have breakfast while I showered. Another surprise, there are very few places that serve breakfast here in old town Saint John.

We finally ended up in a place called Chez Cora, which is a chain here in Canada. Both food and service were pretty good so yay! They even have turkey sausage.

After breakfast we decided to just spend the day walking around Saint John.

First we took a walk through the Marketplace, which is really wonderful! I wish we had something like this near us.

Next we headed on through the old town and into The King’s Square which is quite a nice park in the center of town.

Then we wandered around just taking photos and looking for Salmon Sculptures.

The people of Saint John have installed 10 different Salmon Run sculptures throughout the city, each one designed and painted by a different local artist.

Below are the 5 we’ve found so far.

At that point we headed off to see the Reversing Falls which is accessed by walking along a beautiful red concrete path with branches that go off to other places and beautiful planting’s and art installations along the way. The walk amounts to a 4 mile out and back from the city.

Reversing Falls is an area where the water reverses direction with the tides. We thought it was very pretty. The link above goes to a YouTube video that shows the tide when it reverses, it’s pretty dramatic.

We were too early to see the tides cause a reversal but you can see where the water seems to meet from different directions.

Some of the sculptures along the path were quite lovely. They are carved out of the natural stone available in New Brunswick.

While we were out we went to where 8 sculptures were being carved by 8 artists who had been chosen from 175 international applicants, to participate in the fourth New Brunswick International Sculpture Symposium in Saint John.

The idea for this event began in Maine in 2007 where the first event was held at Acadia National Park. This resulted in 7 sculptures that were placed along coastal towns in Maine. There were 4 more symposia ending in 2014 which produced a trail system of 34 sculptures that spanned nearly 300 miles.

Then came Sculpture Saint John in 2012 with 6 sculptures placed around New Brunswick. It has continued every 2 years since then.

The artists have 6 weeks to produce their sculptures from stone found in New Brunswick.

Tomorrow everything will be cleaned up and the sculptures will be on display for all to touch, look at and enjoy. The sculptures are meant to be climbed on by children and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

I took some photos of the old buildings in town and of “Theodore Too” a tugboat on loan for the summer from Halifax. He’s a character from a Canadian television series called “Theodore Tugboat” very popular with the children and they get to take rides on him.

This was our last morning in Digby, Nova Scotia and look what we got! This is from our window at the Bayside Inn B&B.

Now we are packing up and getting ready for our ferry ride to St. John, New Brunswick.

Most of today was taken up with a ferry crossing and then searching for a parking spot in order to have lunch once we got here.

We finally found a parking garage and got rid of the car. I would say that St. John is more a walking town then a driving town.

We went to lunch at the Saint John Ale House and ordered a couple of beers and salads. They have a bandstand right across the lane from the pub and a young man came, set up and began singing and playing the guitar. He was extremely talented and I can’t believe he doesn’t have a recording contract.

There are a number of pubs and eateries along the lane where our pub was.

After lunch we went in search of our Chipman Hill Suites building which it turned out was about 0.3 mile from where we were at the pub. Awesome, that had been my plan when I booked it but they have several buildings. When you book with them you get access to a private parking garage for a nominal fee.

We relaxed in our room for awhile and then began the (arduous) search for a place to have dinner. I had no idea that in a place like St. John finding a decent place for dinner with a wine and beer list would be so difficult.

The first place we phoned was out of business for the foreseeable future. We looked at another that served only Port. What restaurant serves only Port??? The next was Indian and they had a nice wine and beer selection but their prices were through the roof; $25 per dish, for example. We are used to getting several dishes and sharing…

We finally decided on a place called Britts and it was an excellent choice. Great friendly service, good beer and wine and very good food. We may go there tomorrow night as well.

St. John seems to be a very art friendly city, we love that and I took a few pictures while we were out.