Saint John, New Brunswick

Hello from Saint John, New Brunswick! We docked about 8:00 AM today and the clouds and mist from yesterday have moved on for the time being.

My last post was from the Apple Store so I can do a quick update of our last couple of days. We had another exciting taxi ride from our NYC hotel to the pier where our Carnival ship (Victory) was waiting. The embarkation process was fairly easy and straight forward and we found our way to our cabin (7431) by 1:40 PM. When I booked this cruise, I didn't book a specific cabin, but rather a grade of a cabin, a stateroom with a balcony. Our cabin is along the very back of the ship and is very comfortable for the 2 of us. Our balcony is delightful and much larger than I expected. We have sat out there several times and have enjoyed the quiet of that space. The first night we were out there we saw a fireworks show from the distant Long Island! We couldn't hear the fireworks but the visual show was a treat.

Yesterday was a day at sea and we just relaxed. We walked around the ship a lot and did some reading (Jim) and knitting (me). The day was cloudy with some light rain or mist all day, so it was not a "sit by the pool" day. The afternoon included a workout in the fitness center (me) and a run on the track (Jim), followed by naps! It was the first of 2 formal nights in the dining room so we got dressed up and had some photos taken before going to dinner. Our table companions are a couple from Bucks County, PA, very pleasant people. We went to the singing and dancing show last night and were thoroughly entertained for an hour. I haven't had any luck in the casino yet, but may try again.

Today we are doing our own walking tour of the town of Saint John. Shortly after we got off the ship, a taxi driver, who was waiting for a paying customer, asked if we were walking on our own and then gave us a great map with 3 different walking tours laid out. We've already completed the Loyalist Historical Walk and have now stopped in the public library for free Internet access.

We have seen peeks of the sun so far this morning and will do some more walking when I am finished here at the library. Jim hopes to get a run in on land this afternoon, as the track on the ship is OK, but at 10 laps to the mile, it gets pretty boring since he never runs less than 5 miles!

This computer has a keyboard that is designed for users who communicate in other languages. Here are some of the keys I have hit because they are located on keys I use on my English only keyboard: è, à,ù,é ç

Tomorrow we are in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have a couple of yarns stores that I would like to check out and we are on a mission to find a bottle of 18 year old Canadian whiskey for my brother! We have a couple of bikes rented for tomorrow and will do our touring on 2 wheels.

The Olympics are over-what will we do with our time now! I didn' t get to see as much of the Olympics as I would have liked, but that is because I was doing other fun things. Leave me a comment about what you liked best during the Olympics.

Time to walk some more! Eh?

Hope all is well.