Arrgh, unfortunately, no in-room internet service at UNB-St. John which is where I'm staying. I'm typing this on a public internet terminal in the Student Center (with music from the on-campus radio station blaring at me). I won't be able to do a full update today (and no pictures either). I'll just have to edit this posting tomorrow night when I'm at UPEI.
First went to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in the morning. You may have heard of it in the news in the past year: the family of Lord Beaverbrook is suing the Gallery and trying to reclaim the works while the Gallery is insisting that Lord Beaverbrook donated them to the Gallery in perpetuity. It's a small enough gallery that I was able to see all the works in 2-3 hours. In addition to a Canadian (and more specifically Atlantic Canada) section, it also houses some major works including 2 Boticellis and some Salvador Dali's. Interestingly, the Beaverbrooks knew Dali personally which is why they were able to obtain some of Dali's masterpieces. "Santiago El Grande" hangs in the Foyer of the Gallery and I must say it is very impressive -- it towers about 15 feet tall on the wall.
After lunch I drove to St. Andrews -- an important Loyalist settlement cum resort town. I should have known that "resort town" = "tourist trap". Unfortunately, as a single traveller with limited time, I wasn't able to enjoy the town as much as I could have in a group with tons of time. The town has an interesting history: when the war of 1812 broke out the town was worried since Maine happened to be just across the bay. Britain was more concerned about battles elsewhere so the town was left to fend for itself. The town spent money to build some defences against an American invasion which never came (in fact, the town happily continued to truck, barter, and trade with the American town on the other side of the Bay as the war raged on elsewhere).
I went to Kingsbrae Garden and took some photos of the various flowers and plants they had on display. It wasn't as visually impressive as some of the other botanical gardens I've visited but there is one very important difference -- the Garden staff are everywhere and I saw avid gardeners chatting these people up and asking questions. If I ever get around to owning a house I can see myself developing a green thumb as a hobby.
I visited a few of the historical sites in St. Andrews, thought about staying for dinner, but then decided against it after I saw some of the prices.
Next it was on to St. John. Unfortunately, St. John will get the short end of the stick on this trip -- I only had 1 hour to wander around downtown after dinner and I'm leaving early tomorrow morning. It's quite a hilly city with a byzantine system of roads and bridges that provide access to the downtown core. St. John used to be the 3rd busiest shipbuilding port in the world when wood was the main material. After steel hulled ships were introduced St. John went into decline. After snapping a few pictures of the harbour and some 18th century architecture along Prince William and Germain streets I had to leave.
There's one other thing I should talk about -- my GPS system lead me astray again and this time it almost resulted in something most unfortunate! Don't worry, I'm okay, it's my car I'm worried about. I was driving along and the GPS recommended a turn onto a "Local Road". Now, a "Local Road" is a road for which the software does not know the name (first warning). Well, I thought the software was trying to detour around another town so I decided to take it. It was paved and it was good driving at first. After 5 minutes, I noticed that there was a small hill coming up...and the top of the hill was covered in dirt. Hmm, that was strange but at the time I thought it was just from the adjacent (and very dirt-y) property. So, I was in 4th gear and I accelerated up and over the top.....You know how time freezes when something really scary happens? Well, it certainly felt like time froze for a split second when I crested that hill -- the pavement suddenly ended and the road turned into an undeveloped dirt road! I'm not sure if I was airborne or not but when I came down the other side, I could hear and feel the car rumbling down the other side. I slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop. I had the presence of mind to hit the clutch to avoid stalling the engine. Well, after I got my bearings, I checked the GPS again...okay, this road continues on. Since it was a little too narrow to turn around, I decided to follow it for 50m. Urk, bad idea. While I drove ahead I found a clearing to turn around in. But, for a brief section I could hear the undercarriage rub against the road (yikes!) and in another section I heard a tree branch scrape along the side of the car. Ugh.
When I got away from that road, I checked the car -- no obivous damage and it wasn't leaking any oily fluids. There's a small new dent above the right wheel well (not sure where that came from).
Moral of the story? When MS Streets and Trips tells you turn onto a "Local Road" -- STAY ON THE HIGHWAY!. Well, I was going to stop off at the Suzuki Dealership in St. John's for the 1st scheduled maintenance -- I'm also going to ask them to check the undercarriage for damage.
Gotta run -- my time limit's almost up. I'll polish this post up tomorrow night. Tomorrow: Leaving NB for PEI!
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