Friday, June 22, 2012

Who is the prettiest in the Country?

 Am I thinking of a girl?  Nope, it’s a town claiming that it was named the prettiest in Canada. I won’t argue it, but can’t confirm it either as I have not seen all towns in the country.
But pretty it is, otherwise it wouldn’t have attracted so many tourists. I’m talking about ST.ANDREWS BY-THE-SEA.


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St Andrews was the first town in New Brunswick we landed in back in 2009.
And after a long time of absence we got back there today – with our friends from Norway.

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We drove through the States and our first stop was the St.Croix Island National Historic Site. It was the first place white settlers came to meet with the Passamaquoddy Indians in 1604. The site is not a big one but very nicely equipped with informational tableaus telling the tale of an unfortunate settlement which finally was taken away again, because of the harsh winters the French settlers had to endure. They relocated to a different place but lost many of their group to scurvy and final death.

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DSC_0083-miWe crossed the border at Calais/St.Stephen and made way along the old highway 1 along the coast until we reached St.Andrews by-the-sea. The main attraction of this town is the Water Street with its beautiful restored house facades. Of course you find a lot of shopping opportunities in town, cafes and restaurants as well. We were sitting in one of them right on the water front when I glanced at my watch. It was 4:30 and I realized that we had to start on our way home as we intended to take the ferry via Deer Island to Campobello.
I did not know the ferry schedule for the government ferry to Deer Island, but I did know that the last ferry to Campobello would leave Deer Island at 6:30 and that if we missed it we would have to return all the way through the U.S.

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So we hurried away, hitting the highway.
Finally being at the ferry terminal there were vehicle waiting for the ferry. It was 5:30pm and it was departure time for the ferry. Trouble was that there was no ferry in sight. I walked up to the first vehicle, a white pickup, asking the two guys inside about what was going on. It turned out that the ferry had left early as it had a full load and we’d had to wait until 6:00pm. Dxxxxx  I thought, we wouldn’t be able to reach the Campobello ferry after all.

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But the guys I had asked knew what to do. They whipped out their cell and called the ferry company. They asked to wait about 10 minutes until the green Jeep was onboard. (us)

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The ferry did arrive at 5:50pm and started loading 5 minutes later. We had a great ride across very quiet waters in between the many beautiful islands.

20 minutes later we had arrived on Deer Island and the pedal went to the metal.
We had a white Ford Escape in front of us who showed all signs of wanting to leave us in the dust – which it didn’t manage. With my eyes glued on the many curves and narrow island road I followed suit. Rallye Deer Island was on!
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Rounding the last bend we saw the Campobello ferry down at the beach. A girl waved both vehicles onboard and gave the signal for departure. We had made it and could now enjoy the second ferry ride of the day. Just south of Deer Island is the World’s biggest whirlpool. The sky was overcast now and a fresh wind came up. The temperature, which had been most wonderful all day dropped rapidly and after being outside on deck for a while we retreated to the warm car from where we watched the approach to Campobello. Bea had spotted the yellow gable of our house from far out and pointed it out for our friends.

Coming ashore, we went straight to our neighbours to pick up Molly who hopefully had spent a nice day watching squirrels going by.

Thanks for stopping by!

                

5 comments:

  1. Love the water, love the flowers and love the unique little towns. You're in an absolutely gorgeous area so it's exciting to follow and enjoy some of the photos you pass along our way.

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  2. What an absolutely wonderful place and such beautiful photos. Glad you made the ferry okay.

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  3. what a pretty little town!..thanks for exploring it!!..

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  4. Two ferries! Really nice of the gentlemen in the vehicle to call ahead for you like that.
    Nice pictures of St. Andrews.
    We've only ever passed through St. Stephens of course, since we're usually on our way to Nova Scotia. I think we need to take a couple detours on any future trips. You've certainly piqued my interest.

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  5. The last time I was in St. Andrews by the sea was 1971 it was wonderful then, thanks for the revisit. You did get pretty luck with the connecting ferries too.

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