Bienvenue a Nouveau Brunswick!

We really didn't spend much time in Quebec, So I figure I should start with New Brunswick. First point of interest, there's a surprisingly large French population here. For those of you out there interested in learning/practicing French, the North-West region is a good place to try, without the pressure that comes with a majority French population. My French couldn't even stand up to "Yes, I'd like fries with that". Still, I got two sentences in before my ignorance became apparent. I feel justified in earning a B in French class... Was it ten years ago? Damn, that's old.

Still, today's all about New Brunswick, probably one of the lesser-known provinces of the country. Countryside is pretty beautiful. Lots of deep rivers, lots of forested hills and fairly good roads. Also, it's not a very large distance between cities. We stopped at Grand Falls, when we pretty much stumbled upon the falls. After a good photo session (I got to use the big kid's camera for a while!), we hopped the highway to Fredericton, and were there in around two hours.

Not all is rosy in this province however, and the main problem I've encountered is a big one. None of the cities here are well planned. Between waterfalls and their feeding rivers going through the middle of town, or the ridiculous hills that prevent straight and proper planning, getting around in any of cities in the area is a nuisance. Grand Falls wasn't too much of a problem, though there were only two bridges (one of which was out of town) to navigate around. Fredericton has pretty much the same problem, except complicated by a highway system that plows through the town and skews even satellite-guided navigation.

But feet and knees below all else is Saint John. Not only is there few bridges over the bay it's built around, the hills around the city are also very rugged. There is no way to go straight from one place to another, without going around a few bends, and one or two steep grades. In one case, while trying to find a place to eat, on Lancaster street, we found out that the address apparently doesn't exist, although there are TWO Lancaster Streets, running parallel to each other, only two or three streets apart. Even locals appear exasperated with the confusing streets in the city. In addition, all the construction is causing even more headaches, though I expect that'll be gone by the time any readers will visit.

If you can stay out of the cities, however, the natural environment is right keen. If you can find the right beach, you could probably enjoy a couple days of relaxation (the first beach we found was rocky and had lots of sticky clay under the sand, one we found later was much better). We're going to find a place to stick it out in the wilderness of a park soon, and we'll see how that turns out. I'm willing to bet that a day out of the cities will leave me with a very favorable impression of the province before we move on.