Thursday, September 5, 2013

A visit to a Port City and a wee bit of Bowie

Last Friday, the whole famn damily, including the girl friend, decided that we needed a back to school shopping trip/lunch out. 

Since food was on our mind first and foremost, Saint John became the destination of choice.

Saint John is only 50 minutes away from our little city by car and it has great sentimental value to me.  My mother was born there, my grandparents lived there, and I can remember many happy trips there to see them. 

Saint John is the first incorporated city in Canada.  It is remarkably like Portland, Maine or Boston, Massachusetts, albeit on a smaller scale.  It is sometimes confused with St, John's Newfoundland, which is also a lovely city, but trust me - they are VERY different!

Located on the Bay of Fundy, Saint John is often plagued with fog, but when the fog lifts - watch out - it is lovely!

Things you might want to check out if you go:

Irving Nature Park - trails located right on the bay, this is a great place to watch the seals or the ferocious tide.

Irving Nature Park
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The Saint John City Market



Those of you who have visited Faneuil Hall in Boston will feel right at home...

Barbours General Store is a sentimental favourite of mine...

Barbour's General Store

Located in the heart of Saint John, right down at the waterfront, this 18th century store was moved down river by barge to its current home.  And the person who oversaw the restoration and the contents was my own Grandmother, Huia Ryder (she was a kiwi, Jody and Ruth!), who was an antiques expert and an author in her own right.

Here she is in a picture for one of the first postcards for the store:


She is being served at the counter and my grandfather, Kenny, is playing checkers and wearing the vest!

Another great spot is the New Brunswick Museum.

The picture below is the original site on Douglas Avenue (where my grandmother actually worked), but years ago, the museum moved down to Market Square on the waterfront and in adjacent to the Delta.




It is a good place to visit for a couple of hours and there are always interesting exhibits.

But I must tell you, now that my grandmother is no longer alive, one of the reasons we go to Saint John is the food.  There is a vibrant foodie community there and one of our favourite spots to eat is an Indian/Thai food restaurant there called Thandi's.

Located in an old building in the heart of downtown, the restaurant has a funky vibe:


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hmmm - butter chicken...


son and girlfriend amazed that Barry still has room...

We love this place and I would eat here every night if I could!

After we are done eating, we like to do a little shopping...

For the women, this means a trip the loveliest shoe shop in New Brunswick - The Urban Shoe Myth!


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Boasting both a beautiful locale and a lovely selection, this is just the greatest shoe shop, run by women who LOVE shoes....

They will even host private shoe shopping parties!! How awesome is that????

We did buy a couple of things:


Girlfriend and Daughter both picked up the Steve Madden Troopa boots, which I can tell you are gorgeous in person:




 and I bought a pair of Steve Madden studded loafers, which were on sale for very cheap!



After that we popped in next door to the great little boutique Silver Daisy.  The girls oohed and aah-ed over everything and dropped a little money.  The store also has a lovely blog.

After that we had spent all our money and headed home, Starbucks in hands, Barry at the wheel, everyone feeling quite full and content...

It is definitely worth a visit and a lot of large cruise ships now stop in Saint John!

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As promised, I did wear my David Bowie tshirt today, which I purchased at HMV for $15 about a month ago.  I love Bowie - such an icon.  His song, Wild is the Wind, was the first waltz at our wedding.  I have only seen him in concert once, but he was amazing.  So when I saw this t-shirt, well, I knew I had to have it!



Me and David Bowie in the bathroom.  Where is the blow?  I mean, that is probably how he spent the Thin White Duke Years, right?  Too cool... sigh...

Hope you have a great day and stay safe out there!
 

35 comments:

  1. What a fun trip for the entire clan. I did not discover Bowie til The movie Cat People. Your outfit, I would definitely wear.

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    1. Oh Cat People - I forgot about that! He is the Renaissance Man! I really love his latest album - makes me think of 70s Bowie again1

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  2. St John looks lovely - I really know very little about that part of Canada.
    The Bowie shirt is fab, very cool indeed and that shoe shop looks very good indeed.
    I'm hanging out for the weekend as we're off down South to our friends' beach house.
    Can't wait!

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    1. Oh lucky you - if it is the one you have shown before, you are a lucky duck indeed!

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    2. It is the same one - we love going there and are so lucky that our friends invite us so often., fingers crossed that the weather behaves.... It was 27 today! Amazing!
      Is it feeling Autumnal in your 'hood?

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    3. very cool this morning - I broke out the boots as I am heading to a meeting and I didn't want to be all bare legs...

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  3. Love your Bowie shirt! Sounds like a great short trip! How fun the whole family went.

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  4. Very cool boots and I love the Bowie t shirt. Oh curries are my favourite treat, I don't like fancy restaurants but will never say no to a casual curry.

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    1. You would love this restaurant!

      I have actually been making a good curry chicken lately - a bit labour intensive, but amazing! I was grinding my own garam masala on Monday! I could eat Indian almost every day, interspersed with Italian!

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  5. I love your Bowie shirt, you look great!

    Sounds like a nice family outing. Love the expression on your son's face as Barry is stealing his food.

    That old postcard of your grandparents is a gem.

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    1. The postcard is neat, isn't it? The one I have is in colour, though I like this black and white version as well!

      I could not resist the Bowie - such a cool pic of him!

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  6. Oh Miss Wendy. You. Look. Cool.

    How awesome that your family helped to preserve such a great bit of Saint John history! Looks like a very fun city to visit.

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    1. MW - it is very nice. A VERY small version of Beantown. You could understand why so many Maritimers feel comfortable in the Boston States!

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  7. Lovely little city. I'm coming up! Does look a lot like the Old Port, doesn't it. We had a whole page in the Sunday Times on our food. And shoes.

    You look V. cool in that T!

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    1. Damn - I missed the Sunday Times! Will have to go back and look!

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  8. I have hard time catching up Wendy! What a lovely place, what a lovely day... We still have a bit of time here before we get back to school and as we are given some very beautiful days, we try to get something out of it :-)
    Take Care

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    1. oh so glad you are still in the throes of summer there in Belgium - that makes me so happy!

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    2. Thank you Wendy! By the way, I am in Luxembourg ;-) Very tiny country stuck between Belgium, France and Germany... less that 1/2 million people!

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    3. whoops! I knew that! We drove through there in 2008 - so lovely!

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  9. Sounds like a great trip! You made me hungry ;)
    Love Bowie, Ziggy the Stardust is one of my favorite albums ever! Cool tee!

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    1. HI AJC - I would say that album is timeless - every time I hear it still sounds fresh!

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  10. Wow you seem like such a cool super fun Mom!

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    1. Ha! you should talk to my kids! I think they would describe me as a meddling control freak with glimpses of weirdness! I will share your assessment of me with them and they will giggle! But you made my day!

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  11. Pretty awesome shirt!

    Was his girlfriend bored? Or just tired of eating. LOL

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    1. Maybe a little of both - she was waiting for the shopping!

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  12. Very cool tee Wendy!

    The food looks yummy,we used to eat a lot of indian food in walldorf,because there is a large indian community(because of SAP). Now i am all about mexican food,as it was very hard to find around Heidelberg.

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    1. We love Mexican as well and one of our goals this fall is to make truly as authentic (as we can!) Mexican food! Would love any pointers if you have them!

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  13. how lovely to be so connected to a place.

    oh, and I checked out your shoe store's site. Delicious.

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    1. Pretty nice - perhaps not a awesome as those fab shops you have there in NYC, but not bad...

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  14. Oh WMM, I can't wait for your book. I love to read your blog, and especially love the glimpse into the wonderful spots in Canada-truly on my wish list. Thank you for the the 5 minute mini break!

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  15. Thanks for the shoutout! We're glad you enjoyed our shop and we hope you come back soon!
    xo
    silver daisy

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    1. Thanks Silver Daisy! We are already planning a return trip for October!

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  16. I love the Bowie shirt! Those Steve Madden boots are great too.

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