Saint John, NB

 Saint John is in the Bay of Fundy, area know for some amazing natural sites, including a great many miles hiking trail, and an area where you can walk on the ocean floor when the tide goes out, the tide here fluctuates more here than anywhere in the world. Both of these top sites were more than 2 hours each way by bus tour, no thank you! So we decided to go to Reversing Falls which we could walk to. We got off the ship and walked the 2 1/2 miles to the falls. The falls are actually an area where the water reverses directions due to the changes in the tide, water rushing out from the ocean and water from the river trying to rush in.

Along the way we encountered a dedication ceremony for a new monument along the bay, which included a parade of bagpipes, so fun. 

We arrived at almost the perfect time to see the action of the water, when the tide is the lowest. 

We walked back to town, stopping for a lunch of amazing lobster rolls. I have never been served 2 big lobster rolls for a serving! We could have split if we would have known, but here in Canada they are almost half the price than they were in the US, and discount for us with US dollar so it was really a good deal at 29.00 Canadian per dish. 

We then explored the town, seeing a couple of churches, traditional style houses, and a container village shopping/restaurant/brewery area. It is a lovely city. The drivers actually ALL stop for pedestrians at cross walks! They even stop if you are just nearing a crosswalk, sometimes we are just looking around or at a map trying to decide where to go and they are stopped patiently waiting! Canadians truly are so nice! 

Dinner tonight was in a specialty casual restaurant on the ship. The package I booked for this cruise included 2 each for us, so I made reservations at both of them. Tonight was Planks, a bbq style restaurant and it was delicious! 

As I write this on day 8 of the cruise we have been enjoying the live music, a couple comedians, a couple game type shows, we have skipped the 3 big production shows, the theatre fills up way before the show starts, we are not interested enough in them to go sit and wait in a crowded theater for 40 minutes before the show starts. I’m surprised that so many others do! 

Portland Maine

 Our plan for today was to go on a mail boat run and have a lobster roll for lunch. 

We got off the boat and walked to the ferry terminal and bought our ticket for the 10:00 mail boat. We had an hour before we needed to be back for the boat so we walk around the wharf, stopping into a fish market, Fun to see the tanks of live lobsters and people purchasing them. We chatted with a man who was buying several to take to his son's house for dinner, He explained how the pricing worked depending on size. 

We boarded the mail boat with a lot of other people. It was obvious to us now that locals use it as a ferry. People were getting on with carts of groceries, suitcases,  their pets. The staff had loaded on boxes of produce, paper products, ice chests of probably seafood and meat, along with mail and amazon boxes. We stop at the various islands unloading boxes and passengers and more getting on. We sat between 2 groups who have cottages on the islands. Interestingly both groups were just going for the day and staying in Portland. Both parties said they do not have heat in their places so too cold to stay now, they were going to go to do work for the day, and one was going to a neighborhood meeting. 

The boat then stopped at the same islands on the return trip to pick up new passengers. There was some commentary along the way, and we got some of the fun and interesting information chatting with the cottage owners who were sitting by us. We really enjoyed the boat ride, beautiful area and some trees are just barely starting to turn. On the way back we passed by our cruise ship.

It was about 1:00 pm when we got off and walked along the cute wharf area looking for somewhere for a lobster roll. All the places were packed, so we went back to the ship for lunch then we got back off to walk around the area some more before we had to be back on board. 

Setting up for the champagne fountain.

Tonight was the first formal night. I had made dinner reservations at the restaurants ahead of time while we were still home, it has worked beautifully as we have never had to wait for a table. I booked a table for 2 each night. 

Boston

 Since we have been here many times we just wanted to walk the Freedom trail taking in sights along the way and get cannoli in the North End. 

Our ship didn’t arrive until 11:00 so no one was allowed off until 11:30, we knew that we would need lunch before we made it to our favorite places to eat on the North End, so we decided to have lunch on board in the dining room before heading off. We had excellent fish tacos in  the dining room. And enjoyed some sun and a beverage before heading off.

We decided to walk to Boston Commons from the cruise ship. Probably most people won’t choose to do this, but we like to walk and see things! The whole water front areas between the cruise port and down town has been/ and is being redone. It now has more shopping, dining, music venues and fun outdoor breweries with games like corn hole and areas for bands to play and food trucks. 

We walked the freedom trail stopping at Mikes for their famous cannoli which we saved until we got to the end of the trail where we bought some coffees and enjoyed them at an outside table. 

We walked by a couple of our favorite restaurants but we will have to enjoy them on another visit.

We caught a water taxi back towards the cruise ship, it stopped at the aquarium, where we then walked back to our ship. We passed a fun area set up with food, beverages and outdoor games along the way.

We are walking many miles a day!