Hotels

For accommodations in Saint John nothing beats the Delta Brunswick, with a pool, a hot tub, a fitness center, flat-screen TVs in each room, connection by pedway to Brunswick Square with 3 levels of shops linked by escalators and elevators including a cool glass elevator, a restaurant with lots of great menu items, and a massive parking garage.

If you love seafood, try the hotel restaurant’s Fish and Chips. If you love pancakes, nothing beats a hotel restaurant’s pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or syrup. Rain Man would be impressed with the timing if Charlie Babbitt would order pancakes for them because as Rain Man says, “Maple syrup’s s’posed to be on the table before the pancakes.”

Another great accommodation is the Hilton Saint John. The rooms have a view of the harbour or the city. From some rooms, on Wednesday in summer, you can see Saint John Idol from the room. It is the same thing on Thursdays for Alpine Country Star.

There is a pool, a fitness centre, flat-screen TVs in each room, luxury suites, and a restaurant with great meals. There is a pedway link to Market Square, another mall with 2 levels lined by escalators and elevators with a library, a museum with historical and neat artifacts, some stores, a food court, and a nice fountain that gives it a park-like feel. Again fish and chips are a favorite here among seafood lovers and pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or maple syrup is a hit with breakfast lovers.

Cruise Ships

In summer cruise ships visit Saint John. The Cruise Terminals, the Marco Polo, and the brand new Diamond Jubilee, named after Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, are awesome to see, especially when cruise ships are in, because down the escalators at these places come visitors when the ships dock, and up they go when they are about to take off. These ships are fun to watch too. At take off time these ships slowly, in the same speed as the alien ships in Independence Day, turn around to prepare for takeoff, blare their loud, low horn, then take off, and you can wave goodbye to these ships’ passengers. These cruise terminals also host things like charity barbecues, dances, parties, and also conventions for organizations.

Digby Ferry

The Digby Ferry, also known as the Princess of Acadia is another fun thing. Although pretty soon this boat will be replaced with a new one in a year, this is fun To Do activity. The Digby Ferry will take off at a certain time, and prior to take off, foot passengers can board, while passengers with vehicles also board. The sailing will take approximately 3 hours. During the sailing the vessel’s Sea Breeze Lounge will play a movie on its huge LED flat-screen TV, while the Fundy Grill will serve great cuisine, like Fish and Chips, famous Digby scallops, and famous Digby clams. On the upper level there is an LED flat-screen TV and a Starbucks coffee shop. Sometimes if the weather and things are right, during the sailing there are whale-watching opportunities. After approximately 3 hours this vessel will dock at the Digby terminal. There is also a gift shop with books and lots of souvenirs. The best time to come back, if it sails at this time, is at night when it is dark, as the lights of Saint John are beautiful.

McKim House

L’Arche Saint John, also known as McKim House, is home to residents with and without disabilities. Visit here and you get a tour, you may get a hot chocolate or tea, and you may be serenaded by someone with music. That someone is me. The people in this house travel, celebrate, and have had assistants from all across the globe, including Germany, India, Kenya, the Philippines, and other places.

L’Arche Saint John, AKA McKim House is not only welcoming, but also has friendly residents, tours, music by residents, and often tours around the neighborhood. Some residents can play the piano and guitar, some love traveling, some love dogs, cats, and children, and others love to talk about their family and past events. The house also has a lending library.

From some rooms or the fire escape you can see the buildings of uptown, cruise ships arriving and leaving, and fireworks for Canada Day and New Year’s Eve. This house is about to celebrate 50 Years of L’Arche International.

Martello Tower

Across from McKim House, just a short walk, is Martello Tower, what CN Tower is to Toronto, Chateau Frontenac is to Quebec City and Cinderella’s Castle is to Disney World Orlando: skyline domination. You do not have to go into the tower or to the top of the tower if afraid of heights, just walk around, to get a good view of the city. You can see McKim House, its neighboring church Our Lady Of The Assumption, cruise ships if in or during cruise ship season, The Delta Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Square, Market Square, The Hilton Hotel, The Howard Johnson Hotel (formerly Fort Howe Hotel), The Harbour Bridge, St. Luke’s Church, The Digby Ferry and its terminal, St. Rose Of Lima Church, The Irving Pulp And Paper Mill, The Irving Oil Refinery, and Partridge Island. There is also a museum with audio narrations in English and French. Just take the phone receivers, put it to your ear, and press the buttons that read English and French, and a voice will come on the receiver telling you history behind the tower and the figures that made this spectacular attraction such a wonderful historical site. On Canada Day, tours of the tower and the museum are free.

O’Leary’s

Nothing beats pub life in Saint John. Its only Irish pub, O’Leary’s, does not serve lunch or dinner, but hosts concerts by well know artists and on Tuesday evenings, be sure to go there, order a club soda, Pepsi, Ginger Ale, or any kind of beer and a bag of chips, and go to the back area, and listen in as a group of Irish musicians sit in a circle and go around the circle, singing well known Irish tunes and reciting Irish poems and stories. On St. Patrick’s Week this pub hosts a breakfast to support L’Arche Saint John, so if you are here at this time, purchase a ticket, present it, get a nice breakfast of sausages, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and orange juice, go into the back area, and listen in while you enjoy your breakfast as Irish musicians play and sing well known Irish songs. Sometimes the main area where you were just served breakfast plays CDs of well known folk tunes like the Great Big Sea albums Play and Up, The Chieftains, and The Irish Descendents. The main area also has flat-screen TVs tuned to the important sporting events like C.I.S. basketball, CHL, NHL, NBA, soccer, and football.

Harbour Station

Harbour Station is THE place to be for things like sporting events. The well known hockey team - the Saint John Sea Dogs, who were Memorial Cup champions in 2011 and Memorial Cup Runner Up in 2012 - play here. The city’s first professional basketball team, the Saint John Millrats, formerly from Manchester, also plays here. In winter 2014 the Ford World Women’s Curling tournament was hosted here and played on TSN.

Sports are not the only things hosted here. Well known musicians have concerts, like country sensations Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, and pop sensations Rihanna and Fredericton’s own David Myles. Musicals come up as well. In October 2010 this fabulous facility hosted a wonderful musical in which the Saint John Chorale, the Saint John Theatre Club, and the Harbour View chorus, and a well known orchestra, all joined forces to create a wonderful musical, called Marco Polo: The Musical, about the world’s fastest ship (sorry, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow fans, not The Interceptor or The Black Pearl but it was savvy, and, to quote a repeated Commodore Norrington line with my own version, it was, without doubt, the best musical I had ever seen)The Marco Polo, after which our first Cruise Terminal had been named after. It was wonderful and spectacular. It outshined The Lion King. The Saint John Theatre Club also did comedy plays at the nearby Imperial Theatre, like The Importance of Being Earnest.

Chapter 1: Grade 1

I had just been adopted by the McGrath family, my first family and my first time living in a house with dogs, cats, and a piano, and a family that traveled frequently.

We went to the bus stop, which was around the corner from the house, and halfway between the house and Sandy McWilliams’ house. We walked together, Nicky right behind me, and my lunchbox in hand. Later a school bus pulled up, and Mack, my bus driver, was friendly and funny. I boarded the bus, which made a few stops and minutes later finally reached Hillsborough School. When I got into the school, I had never seen so many pianos in a building. I met a teacher’s assistant who would help me named Mr. Flynn. I then met my Grade 1 teacher and the students, some of which, I must admit, were not so friendly, but some were. My grade 1 room and another room, also a grade 1, were connected to each other, and the adjacent room had a piano, which was a whole step flat and twangy. We started lessons in math, science, social studies, and Phys. Ed. At the end of the day, we gathered in the adjacent room and the room’s Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Weldon, got us to sing songs like a choir, the teacher accompanying on us on piano. We started with O Canada, and moved on to other kids’ nursery rhyme songs.

The days that followed were alike. When we finally had music class, I met the music teacher, Mrs. Schiller, the Mrs. Schiller who was known for directing the famous Hillsborough Choir, which Jennifer and Melody were singing in, which had a record of famous songs. The music room had a piano, and we sang some songs together, and one of them we sang frequently: the nursery rhyme Fish And Chips And Vinegar. She had a record we listened to called The Beady Glass Eye. My speech pathologist Dr. Rubell helped me not only at his office, but also in the school.

There was a nerve-racking time when the fire alarm went off after my gym class, and they said I pulled the alarm, when I didn’t. They must have thought my hands hit the wall running from one side of the gym to the other, and when I turned around, my index finger accidentally pulled the red pull station!

One day I went to school…and came home to a surprise: We had just gotten a brand new piano on the middle floor: a brand new Tadashi with 3 pedals, that looked like the piano in the school music room, except ours was mahogany and the music room piano was black, and a Yamaha with 2 pedals. We now had 2 pianos: the brand new Tadashi on the middle floor, and the Mason & Risch on the bottom floor.

Celebrations, of course, came, and one of them was Thanksgiving, another was Hallowe’en, and another was Christmas, my first Christmas with the McGrath family, and the Grade 1 teacher and our Music teacher all got us to sing some beautiful Christmas carols. Christmas, of course, came, and we all got some cool gifts, and one of my gifts I got for several Christmases: a small jigsaw puzzle with a picture of a car. Then came Easter.

I should mention this detail that I did not mention in the Adoption Story, which I realize now I should have. In the Adoption Story, like the Frozen song lyrics go, I Let it go, Let it go. From my adoption day to half of Grade 1, I used to say silly things that I wonder now if come with autism. I used to say things like “It’s a Kraft Dinner”, “It’s a Garbage Bag”, “It’s a Funny/Happy Face”, and other silly things that drove the others crazy at the time, but are fun to look back on and I think about whenever I pull up pictures of the Blessed Hillsborough Years, like me and Mom learning shapes, me sitting next to Nicky, us camping, us traveling, me playing the ukulele, me waiting for Mack, me with the dogs, the Volvo 240 Wagon that picked me up on my adoption day, and me going to my mini toy kitchen in the attic. Some of the schoolmates were friends and neighbors from our neighbor. I must mention that sometimes Dad and I would take our red Datsun King Cab truck to the dump and on the way we would sing High Hopes, I Had a Dog, and Swingin’ on a Star. On the truck’s American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player we would listen to CBC and one of its programs back then was called Swingin’ on a Star. A famous Dad phrase was: “Thank you, thank you, thank you…so much!” The Volvo 240 wagon also had an American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player. I also had fears: Sometimes Mom would make frozen orange juice, using the blender to mix the water with the orange juice, and it made a loud noise which frightened me. Whenever we were in a hotel and in a pool, there were water jets underwater, which made a tickling feel when it hit the skin, and I was scared of that. The vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment made a loud squealing sound and I was scared of that. My Dad’s office had photocopiers and the moving light reminded me of space shows my foster brothers used to watch that were scary, and that frightened me, but I overcame this and all the above fears soon.

The spring that followed I had an ordeal: I got a new bike and had I had training wheels, this would have not happened. I was driving my bike around the house, pretending my bike was the Volvo, which for a time I saw myself driving myself, and the barn was the Co-Op where we went grocery shopping, and apparently I was driving and I suddenly fell over, breaking my collar bone, which was nerve-racking, because I went to the hospital, and I was to get x-rays, and little did I know that x-ray moved and made noises, and I was afraid.

The summer that followed was wonderful. We took our van, which we got before Grade 1: a brown Ford Econoline van, on trips to cities and campsites. First we went to Halifax and stayed at the Holiday Inn Select hotel, and I enjoyed the pool. During the drive for this trip we listened to James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the soundtrack to The Big Chill. For camping trips we went to Fundy Park and Cabot Park in P.E.I. in our van all of us, and all 3 of our dogs (When I started Grade 2, we had 2 dogs: a Lassie sable mongrel named Nicky and a dark red Golden Retriever named Katie. Later that year we got a Golden Retriever puppy named Simon on one of our Sunday road trips.) During the camping trips we listened to Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie and The Chieftains. There was a time we drove to Boston to stay at a hotel with a pool and glass elevator through which you can see a piano, to enjoy things like subways, shopping, and lots of fun things. We also had Barbecues and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

.... Coming soon: Grade 2!

Saint John New Brunswick Tour Guide: 2014

Remembering My School Years

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