St. John & happy Canada Day!

When we pulled into St. John after a very long drive I thought to myself "wow, I didn't realize that Canadians were so into patriotism."  I mean, there were flags _everywhere_. And then I realized "oh, it's Canada Day!" And not just Canada Day, it was Canada's 150th birthday, so a very big deal. Combine that with the fact that it was a Saturday and people were ready to party, Canada style. The children took advantage by eating huge pieces of cake put out in the hotel lobby. 

After a quick shower we set out to see St John's sights. Our first stop we're the famous reversing falls, where it looks as though water is going the wrong way due to the confluence of a river and the tide. We pulled up and looked out and Did Not Get It. It looked like we were looking at: a bridge. With water going under it. We thought maybe we'd be wowed by the impressive sight if we went closer. So down the many wet steps we went. And there we found: water. Yes, a little swirly, but basically just water.

Making our best "this is it?" Faces

 I think that St. John should win a award for "Best Tourist Attraction, Emperors New Clothes Edition."  The good news is that we didn't have far to go to get there, and now we have a good joke about every other stop having to struggle to beat the majesty of the Reversing Falls. 

So we decided to check out downtown St. John. In spite of Canada day festivities we got a great parking spot right in the thick of things and right outside a fantastic candy store. Canada definitely has better candy than home. 

We took a very circuitous route to St. John's Ale House, where we had a great dinner, and then returned to the hotel and the kids did some swimming.

The mascot of St. John's Ale House. This better not be the only moose I see. 

Discovering Canadian money. 

Wooden statues in downtown St John. 

We then hit the hay because we had to get up early to catch the ferry to Digby, so we could continue onward to Halifax. 

More about Halifax tomorrow, but so far, so good.