Rendezvous@NanoMakia

A video of the Carleton Martello Tower in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

It’s still in a very good condition after all the years compared to the other Martello Towers all over the world. It is still in such a condition all thanks to the fact that it was finished towards the end of the war and therefore it wasn’t really in that kind of danger zone though… heh heh. Guys, you should go and visit this place in St. John… see it with your own eyes. It’s a cool thing that they have this video made that explains the history of this particular Martello Tower in a creative way! You would certainly enjoy their 10 minutes video recording. I’ve seen it and I actually had fun watching and understanding the history and facts at the same time! No kidding!

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That how the guard/soldier would wear their bright red uniforms.

That’s how the soldiers back then would bundle themselves up for the winter season. Can you imagine doing that at those times? I bet it must have been even colder than now as we now have clothes that could keep us warmer compare to that piece of thin material. My, people back then must be really strong in facing that kind of harsh weather conditions. If it were me, I think I would have been frozen to death on the very first night I had to spend the night there… .

This mini demo shows the way the tower was engineered to be built in such round shape from the walls and the ceiling of the Martello Tower. Civil engineers and building constructors, I think you should know very well the reason for this kind of built rather than the usual 4-walls building eh… yes, it is for the strength that could protect the building later on from the impact of cannon-balls used at that period of time which is around late 19th century if I am not mistaken.

You can’t see the difference this particular door has compared to other doors – yet.

A very helpful and pretty tourist guide that explains part of the history of the tower to those visiting the historical tower. She’s explaining the curve of the ceiling inside the tower to us – the importance of it and bla.. bla.. bla. Wanna know more? Go there yourself and have 1st hand experience listening to them explaining. You could ask them more questions for those who are really curious passionate about the tower.

A look from the inside of the tower. Neat, eh?

The uber-narrow steps to the top of the tower. A word of caution to the claustrophobic though, it’s really narrow and small. Even for a small sized  person like I am I felt a bit uncomfortable walking up and down these stairs. Imagine the men who had to go through all these? And you know how men could be so much larger in size than I am… hehehe.

That is the way the soldiers sleep while they were on duty at the tower. It’s not wood. It’s steel. Can you imagine sleeping on one of those ‘beds’ during winter time when a slight touch upon the steel could make you feel so cold to the core?

A miniature model depicting a moment the military at that time would be busy at their own respective posts.

Barrels and barrels and barrels of gunpowder stored inside the tower itself for the convenience of the soldiers holding guard at the tower for the sake of the town.

What’s so great about this particular lamp? Aah… here is the reason why. If you have noticed carefully, the lamp and and gunpowder barrels are there? But, the lamp is not in the room itself as it is separated by a piece of glass. This is a step taken as a precaution to avoid any possibilities for the ignition of any sparks in the gunpowder storeroom. What would have happened if… just if…? I know that we might think that the gunpowder is in the barrels, but prevention is always better than cure mah.

Some of the dinnerware the soldiers would be using to feed themselves with.

We just came back from a weekend trip to Grand Bay and Saint John. Thanks Adeline and Miles for the invitation. We had a great time. This is about the 5th or 6th time I had been to Saint John though it is a first for Marie. We visited a few places where I had never been to before and we managed to get some nice food on the way… hahaha. I’ll start off with some pictures of the Reversing Falls in Saint John. Due to the shape of the river… the flow of the river actually changes every six hours. High tide will cause the river to flow backwards while low tide will cause the river to flow back to the sea. We tried to catch both the tides to get an idea of the conditions.

Reversing Falls is one of the tourists attraction of Saint John. Tourists from throughout Canada and the United States tend to visit this spot. Far away you will see the cruise ship stopping by Saint John for the day. Saint John is the industrial city of New Brunswick in Canada.

Here is another view of the reversing falls with Saint John city in the background. The cruise ship does seem to look big compared to the buildings around.

Above is a favorite attraction in the Reversing Falls; a Jet boat ride. Be prepared to get wet if you plan to participate in this exciting activity. You will see them driving the boat into the strong currents and whirlpools.

Above we see an example of what a strong current creates… a whirlpool. This one is actually quite big… for me at least… it was around the size of the Jet boat.

A view of the bridge crossing the reversing falls. The green bridge on the far side is for rail transport while the grey one is for traffic.

The high tide in front of the Irving Paper Plant… the water current certainly looks calmer… though within the waves… it might be different.

A view of the Irving Paper Plant… when the sky is clear… it looks like a normal factory… when the fog comes in… totally different…

Here we see the Irving Paper Plant in the fog and some nice flower across… somehow the plant looks like a big alien contraption… haha

See the water line on the rocks… this is a view of the low tide… the water is well below the water line.

Come high tide… it rises up significantly on the water line.

Canada Day… this is my first time celebrating Canada Day as part of the society that lives here. I got hyped up  all because I just want to get my face painted with the infamous Canadian red maple leaf on my face. Kiddy-ish? Nah, I don’t think so. There’s a lot of people who actually anticipated the day – well, yes, most are with families. Little children just like to join in the crowd and have fun just like you and me for some wrong or all the right occasions. We’re still little kids deep down underneath our hearts.

A lot of people are wearing red and white. It really was a sight to see. Canadian colours, I’d say. Just like the Union Jacks the Brits would have worn on their day too. Daring and catchy colours. Just the right colours to get you in the mood for celebration and anticipation where there are lots of people around with events and fun stuffs here and there. Not to mention with lots of stuffs to get your camera go flashing away and that vigorous mini exercise for your little fingers to get workin’ on.

Everyone, young and old are always welcome to pick up the challenge to ride on this 180 degrees spinning wheel. You should have seen the line for it. These were set up just next to the river. With a view that awesome, I bet it certainly heightens the challenge to the visual impact challengers as well as onlookers that day. Forget me. I’d never ride on one of those. I’m way too old for the 180 degrees machine that have the possibility to wreck my confidence with just the first motion of it. Hehehe… but I don’t mind getting on a roller coaster.

Citizens of Fredericton are occupying the Officer’s Square. See, I told you that there are lots of people wearing red. That’s the spirit! Woo-hoo~ It was a lil’ pity that the weather that day was not on the pretty side a wee lil’ bit though. But, it doesn’t really affect the passion of these people! This is one day where we all should go out and see what the City of Fredericton has to offer on Canada Day! So wear something red/white and let’s paint the town red (literally)!

A monster truck! I was only a head taller than the wheels. It really made me felt as if I’m a dwarf when I stood next too it. Since that monster is belittling me, after a very quick shot with it, I ran away from it as far as I could. C’mon, you can’t blame it on me though… I’m not blessed with the height of more than 175 cm. ;p

Roger’s camera under their Roger’s tent. I wish that I was the cameras… being a human so complicated! (Uh-oh… here I go again…. skip!) We’ll deal with existentialism theory later on. Not here in this post now… hahahaha.

Maple stickers for free~ Those of you who wanted to have it paste any part of you please feel free to line up and take the stickers and paste it on! It’s Canada Day and it’s the day you could paste it all over without people vying you as a weirdo. This is the day to get maple leaves all over you! Yeah~!!!! Volunteers are helping out with the temporary tattoos. Cool~ It was a fun task though as I stood there observing them doing it to some of them, especially the little children. Their faces brighten up when their maple leaf tattoo got right and they would be giving you their precious money-couldn’t-even-buy smiles spontaneously! It really makes your volunteering job worthwhile.

This is the Laser-Tag game. There was a looonngg line of people lining up to pay and to play the game.

Trinitea.

The start of the parade with a police car making the headstart.

I was freaked out with this dragon head. I tell you, my heart stopped beating for a moment. Yeah, yeah… I’m a scardy cat. But I can’t shake of that feeling at that moment. That sudden motion just makes you feel as if it’s gonna hit you for being too close. Hahahaha….

Above are some of the pictures taken during the commencement of the Canada Parade. Thank goodness that I got a spot to take the pictures… which is after I mislead a couple of very young and innocent children that I am taking pictures of the newspaper. Well, they asked me whether I was from the papers and I just nodded my head. A white lie doesn’t hurt right? Cos they moved over a bit to give me space to take pictures. Which in the end I did take a couple of their pictures , too.