2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Gossiping Girls

Some younger folks in place to enhance the immersive experience.  They were minding the store in the background.  The sign's in French, but think it must have something to do with blueberries.

Speaking of French, suppose that's what the girls are speaking since French is considered a first language in Québec and English a second...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Log-sawing Activity

As for unique experiences, the tourists were encouraged to take part in this activity and work the saw.

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Tourist Trap of Another Kind

Hmmm...what could this be?  Evidently the citizenry gets really involved in greeting the hordes pouring out from the ship to look for adventure and unique experiences.  As can be seen, the townspeople are dressed in period costumes, forming a circle that at first looks innocent enough.

Then the circle moves to wrap around the knot of unsuspecting tourists eager to take pictures:

Ah - it's a trap!  The circle soon completely envelops any tourist foolish enough to stick around long enough.  What happens next was too horrifying to imagine; I turned away so as not be be exposed to such things on our happy little vacation.  What's worse, if you'll look closely, it's obvious that some from the ship defected and decided to join those trapping the tourists...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Wider View of Town

This wider view of the town reveals some strange goings-on dockside...

2025 NE Cruise - Saguenay, Townscape with Hospital

After visiting Charlottetown the boat went over the top of New Brunswick, down the St Lawrence River, then up the Saguenay River to finally dock at Saguenay City, another small town to walk around in and look at things.  To be fair, there were loads of excursions available, but almost all of them involved a long bus ride somewhere, then a long bus ride back, so we opted to just walk around and take in the sights of this charming little Canadian town.

After docking, the first thing that caught my eye was the impressive building atop the bluff.  I thought, "Wow, what a neat place...maybe we could stay there sometime on a future visit."  Well, hopefully not, because it turned out to be a regional hospital instead of a hotel.

A closer look below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Cutest Little Tugboat in the World

Taken with the iPhone camera, could not resist capturing a pic of the cutest little tugboat in the world.  There were several of these buzzing around, attaching the ship's ropes onto dockside bollards.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Scarecrow Kites

Found these kites to be interesting, as they are supposed to serve as scarecrows to keep "other" birds away.  Another one was installed on the roof of a nearby shoreside building, per below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Mansion

Another colorful structure blending well with its surroundings.  Think this was an old house converted into a museum.

Cropped-in shot of same below:

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Colorful Houses

We saw a church, but unfortunately were unable to enter because some service was going on.  Didn't bother me too much, though, because the front steps afforded this view of some colorful houses across the street.  Wonder what rules were in place to ensure the awesome color coordination seen here and in the shot below.  Both of these places were in peaceful, out-of-the-way neighborhoods, so the colors weren't there just for the benefit of tourists offloading at the ship terminal; seems to be just part of the culture.

2025 NE Cruise - Charlottetown, Low-flying Military Plane from Below

Must've been a military base nearby, as this plane was low with flaps still configured for takeoff after the landing gear was retracted.