A Roadtrip to New Brunswick and the Women's World Cup

When I found out that this year's women's World Cup tournament was being held in Canada I got so excited! We purchased tickets as soon as they went on sale and planned a weekend getaway with our friends Jake and Rosie, who are also big soccer fans, and got tickets to watch a couple of matches that were being played in Moncton, New Brunswick. The idea of visiting eastern Canada was so exciting! We drove part of the way up on a thursday evening, stopping in Augusta Maine for the night, and the next morning we woke up bright and early so we could make it to the Bay of Fundy in time to see the Hopewell Rocks during low tide. 

Pulled over at the Mount Katahdin Scenic Overlook before crossing from Maine into New Brunswick

We made it to The Rocks Provincial Park just in time to see park rangers putting up a giant CLOSED sign. We were totally disappointed at first, thinking we would not get to see the national park area or the famous Hopewell Rocks. But we were surprised to find out from a smiling Canadian park ranger that we were allowed to guide ourselves through the park “at our own risk”, and as bonus we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee! 

Jake and Rose walking through the national park

We meandered through some beautiful wooded paths and made our way down to a place called the Flower Pots – rock formations that over time have been formed into cool shapes because of tidal erosion. The Hopewell rocks have the highest rising tides on the planet, rising up to 50 feet twice a day. It was really cool, because we arrived in time to see it at low tide and were able to walk on the ocean floor and get the best view of the rock formations. There were a few other tourist groups mulling around when got to the ground level, but it wasn’t crowded at all and we got some nice pictures.

That evening we ate a vegetarian restaurant called Calactus which turned out to be incredibly delicious, and we had a very friendly waitress with a thick Canadian accent who actually said things like, “aboot”. I thought that was an exaggerated stereotype, but apparently it’s real! She was excited to find out that we had come from Boston to support the world cup and was happy to share her knowledge of Moncton with us. The Women’s US National team was playing Sweden that evening, in a different city so we found a bar near the airbnb we were staying in and asked them to put the match on for us. We were treated to some Canadian hospitality once again as the bar tender let us in without charging us a cover fee (which was expected since a band was playing that night). We bought a couple of sodas and enjoyed the intense though scoreless match on a big screen, at a random bar in eastern Canada, while a couple of old gals danced to the band’s music in the background.

The next day we went into Downtown Moncton to explore a bit and came across a Saturday market where I was excited to see Canadian art (mostly hockey scenes, which totally reminded me of the book, The Hockey Sweater) and treats like maple cones - an ice cream cone filled with maple icing. We also stopped at a Tim Hortons which is the Canadian version of Dunkin Donuts where we got a box of Timbits, which are arguably better than the Dunkin’ munchkins. 

There was a big skate park near the city center, just off a beautiful river greenway, and Jeff, ever prepared for an impromptu skate, got his board out of the car and did a few loops around the park. It was actually a really cool park, and the scenery was great. 

After grabbing some lunch we made our way to the Universite de Moncton where the soccer matches were being played. We had tickets to a doubleheader: France vs. Columbia and England vs. Mexico. We witnessed Columbia’s first ever Women’s World Cup victory, a big upset for France, and met some England fans who had flow across the Atlantic to follow their team through the World Cup. It was really fun to be in that atmosphere and to experience a new part of the world. 

Of course we are really rooting for the US to win the whole thing : )

Sporting our France and England jerseys

Our only regret from this trip is that we didn't make it to Prince Edward Island. We were so close, but just ran out of time. But that gives us something to dream about and plan for at a later date. It was a short trip, but so worth it. The drive was beautiful and we already have plans to visit again! Au revoir Canada!