St. John’s, Newfoundland (08-09-13)

   I’m not sure how we managed to only plan to spend 3 nights in St. John’s, but there you go.  We had 2.5 days to explore this area, so we prioritized our “must see”s.  Having rain and fog in the forecast helps us decide what we want to do.

We first drove out to Cape Spear Lighthouse.  This is the eastern most point in North America, so we had to get a picture taken here, right?  We were hoping to hike along the coastline but the wind and cold were a bit too much for us. 

It was beautiful though, and we did watch  a few Minke whales meander by.  We didn't get to see any Humpbacks though.

The lighthouse has been here since the early 1800s and we found out that most of the windows are fake, but they are put there so that the house would conform to the standard neo-classical style of house typical in England at the time. That way, anyone seeing it from a ship would know that it was an English settlement that they were approaching.

I was excited to find out that the George Street Festival would be taking place while we were in town.  George St. is where a lot of the pubs, and live music venues are.  Once a year they close off the street and have a festival, with lots of outdoor music.  We rested in the afternoon so we would be able to stay out past 7 pm, then made our way to George Street.

Well, this is an outdoor festival, right?  So, who knew that they would sell out?? So, not only could we not go to the festival, we couldn't even go to George Street, since it was all closed off.  And most of the surrounding restaurants were overloaded with people, so we had to walk a bit to find one with a reasonable wait time.

  

We finally found The Keg, where I was able to sample the local beer, made here in St. John’s with actual water from icebergs.  (once we got the bill, $$, we knew why the wait wasn't as long!)  The food was delicious though, and we got to eat outside on the heated patio.

view of St. John's from Signal Hill

One of the other things St. John’s is known for is Signal Hill.  Sitting on the coast, overlooking the city, this fortification has been used to protect the city of St. John’s since the 1600s. 

  
For many years, the English and the French fought back and forth for control of St. John’s, both countries wishing to control the lucrative fisheries in the area.  Nowadays, several times a week, a 40 minute “Tattoo” is held that showcases the military history of the area.

Back in the day, the signalmen would use several types of signals,  including cannon fire and flag raising, to alert the townspeople to anything they needed alerting to- from the approach of an enemy to the arrival of a merchant ship.

One important signal was the 12 noon cannon shot.  Being seafaring folk, knowing  the correct time was essential to the inhabitants, since when navigating ocean waters, using the incorrect time could put a vessel way off course. The 12 O’clock cannon shot still takes place (although, according to our cell phones, they were off by a full two minutes!)

In December of 1901, a different but equally important, kind of signal took place at Signal Hill.  It was here that Guglielmo Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic signal, sent from Cornwall, England.

There are actually quite a few hiking trails in the area of Signal Hill,  and Paul and I spent one afternoon exploring them.  Our progress was somewhat  hindered by the fact that the trail was bordered by thousands of ripe blueberries!









Oh, and I lied.  I said we’d stop in Central Newfoundland and explore other areas on our way back and after spending one day in Terra Nova National Park, we elected to continue all the way back to Gros Morne National Park, where we really hope to hike to the top of the mountain. 

Terra Nova NP is mostly wilderness and although we did hike one interesting trail, the weather forecast called for rain again so we decide to spend the rainy day driving.