to market, to market...

our next stop was the Old City Market in St John NB- well it is kinda sorta a market- there is some produce for sale and some seafood etc. but it is about 40% touristy stuff and about 20% food stalls and then the other 40% is what I would call a market... but it was a fun stop regardless because we learned what Dulse was and bought some to try (more on that later as well- LOL) and we did have some excellent gelato!

from the above view it actually looks like a market - but go just a few stalls in and this is what they are selling-

of course - there is the possibility of hybrid function - like the candy which could be sold to locals and to tourists alike...

here - the more touristy edges out the locals with the ever present FUDGE shop- LOL (are you thinking Wisconsin Dells? - I usually do, but then I recently read that Mackinac Island is the biggest seller of fudge - so I guess I should change my stereotype for fudge meccas - LOL)

so yes - here is another variety of Dulse on sale (Dark Harbor in St Andrews and Grand Manan here in St John...we later learn that Grand Manan is supposed to be the best)

and here is an explanation of what it is- I will cut to the chase and you can enlarge the photo to read more details- dried seaweed - or as we are now supposed to say- sea vegetables LOL....and despite the fact that it was a plant - it tasted like dried fish to me and it was chewy not crispy- I will take a pass next time around... I can say been there - done that- LOL

another example of the bilingual labeling in New Brunswick- sea salt- sel de mer...

a final view of the market - with its butterfly filled ceiling (photos in the tourism materials show it without the butterflies so it may have been a temporary exhibition)

After a walk through the nearby park we head back to the hotel and then later out to dinner at Decimal 81...

a really good bottle of Ontario pinot noir from Pelee Island-

a nice amuse from the chef- a scallop- on a potato pancake-

for starter I had the broccoli risotto and Phil had the mussels (PEI is just next door after all!)

we split the Caesar salad

then I had the halibut and Phil had the lamb-

desserts - well we were going to pass until I heard he had made sticky date pudding (one of my faves from all the years I did business in London) and Phil of course was looking for the chocolate dessert!

they may not look like much but they tasted totally yummy!

the next day before we ventured up to St Martin for our week long class we had lunch in St John overlooking the reversing falls and got some information from the tourist bureau on where to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia (for the end of the week when we complete our New Brunswick time) at the Falls Restaurant we had our first "seafood chowder" - a local specialty - which we came to love... and after tasting at least five more in the two weeks we were in NB and NS we would call this one the best (so we can highly recommend the Falls Restaurant despite its location (in the back of the tourist information building) and its decor (quite in need of refurbishing)-

this was a photo we took at lunch of the reversing falls (basically at high tide the falls are hidden by the incoming tide) - see the postcard above for the view of the falls when the tide is out-

so we headed on to St Martin (about 45 minutes away) for our class on "Epicurean New Brunswick" which will be recounted in later posts- so as always - stay tuned!