Moncton & Dieppe, N.B. & More Pics from The Hopewell Rocks

So, I was saying in that last post about the Maritimes and the Hopewell Rocks that it was this time ten years ago that I last was able to take a major trip to the region.

It is a beautiful region, and one of my very favorite places that I've seen there, or anywhere, for that matter, was the Hopewell Rocks. So, I added some more pictures of them here, in this blog.

Also, a pleasant surprise back in 2004 was how strong the French presence was in Moncton & Dieppe, the two fairly sizable cities near the Hopewell Rocks (roughly forty minutes or so of driving).

For a city of it's size, Moncton has a lively downtown area, with a good amount of restaurants and bars and such to choose from. Each time that I was there, the nightlife seemed very rich. This time around, there was some kind of a rare car show or something going on, and it provided us with something extra and interesting to look at. My son was particularly taken and appreciative of all the unique cars, old and new, that we saw on the Moncton streets on that evening!

Plus, it was a nice way to enjoy our first real night out during the trip, after seeing the amazing Hopewell Rocks! And it was ten years ago exactly, on this very evening, that I first got a taste of Moncton's rich nightlife, and it's surprisingly strong Francophone presence. I had always assumed that the concentration of French-speakers in New Bruunswick was up north, close to the border with Québec. But after seeing the few Acadian fishing villages scattered throughout the Maritimes, and then seeing a bona fide city like Moncton, in southern New Brunswick, with a true French-speaking presence, I was pleasantly surprised, and it rather made my night back then! It seems roughly half and half, English and French.