Last Days in St. John's Area, June 24-25, 2017

 Yesterday it rained all afternoon, so indoor activities.  We visited Newfoundland's premier museum, The Rooms.  The building is as impressive as their exhibits on the natural history, people, and the arts.  We had an early lunch at their cafe, overlooking the city.  I had a late breakfast of toulons, a signature dish in Newfoundland that is fried bread dough served with molasses.  These were served with sausages and baked beans.

View of The Narrows from The Rooms Cafe

St. John's street scene

We next went to Newman's Wine Vault where Portuguese Port Wine was stored.  The building was fascinating, but we were hoping for a wine tasting, but none was offered.

Looking down at the top of our RV on the ferry leaving the terminal

Today (Sunday) is gorgeous - sunny and warm.  We drove west to Portugal Cove and took the ferry to small Bell Island - a former mining boomtown.

Portugal Cove Harbor

Views of the Coast from the Ferry

Approaching Bell Island

They had an excellent tour of an iron ore mine led by a woman whose family all worked in the mines until it closed in the 1960s.  The mines were spread for miles underground the island and additional miles under Conception Bay.  Lots of family stories, mining history and lore, and artifacts. The mine was never automated and the heavy iron ore was shoveled by hand.

At one point, she turned off the lights so we could experience the total blackness of a mine and in the dark, she sang a mining folk song.  She had a fabulous voice.  Great experience.

Walking down, down, down.  

They left large stands of iron ore as columns to hold up the ceiling of the mines

The guy on the scaffold was pulling on the loose rocks after blasting, one of the most dangerous jobs

Brrrrrrrr, steady 42 degrees year-round

Rocks that had to be picked from the iron ore - in the old days boys as young as 9 worked long days separating the rock from the ore

We drove around the whole island, taking time for lunch and a short nap at Lance Cove.  We had ducks for company and visited the memorial for the folks who died in WWII submarine attacks.  Those iron ore boats were prime targets.

ATV guys leading us to the beach - Newfoundlers are super nice folks

On the northern end of the island, I had read about a beautiful secret beach and after asking multiple people for directions, a couple of guys on an ATV actually led us there (later, we saw a local who led another couple here in his car) .

The road in was a total mess, so I walked in and then clambored down over rocks to Grebe's Nest Beach.

Jack wasn't sure the RV would survive these potholes as we could not see how deep they were

Clamboring down the rocks - maybe I will take up rock climbing next trip

Grebe's Nest Beach

Cave entrance to secret Beach

Emerging from the cave onto Secret Beach

A beautiful black sand beach and some of the warmest water in all Newfoundland

On one side of the beach is a mine shaft opening which I walked through to get to the secret black beach on the other side.  Beautiful!

We got take-out dinner from Dick's at the ferry terminal - a landmark restaurant here, known for their fish and chips.  We got our dinner just in time as the ferry was getting ready to leave, so we drove aboard and ate our dinner on the ferry crossing.  Then back to our campground in St. John's.

Tomorrow we will take a tour of the coastline on the little peninsula north of St. John's and then start heading west.  Below is a map of the eastern Avalon area of Newfoundland where we have spent the last ten days.

St. John's, Newfoundland June 23, 2017

Today we attempted to drive down to a picturesque village called Quidi Vidi (Kiddie Viddie).  The name is of unknown origin, but has been the site of a settlement since the 1500's.  I wanted to visit the craft center and a brewery that makes beer with water from icebergs.  Water from the oldest part of icebergs is some of the purist water on earth because it is thousands of years old, before major pollution.

The "Gut", entrance to Quidi Vidi Harbor

Anyway......we tried.  We actually did drive the one-lane twisty streets, but could not find a place to park - should have just taken a taxi from the campground.  Although we did not visit the craft center, we can buy the beer anywhere in the area and I did get a few photos of the quaint harbor.

We drove around the city viewing some of the historic buildings, including Government houses and churches.

The afternoon was spent trying to find a laundromat.  Our garmin is not very familiar with Newfoundland, and sent us to two places that either never existed or moved.  We ended up returning to the campground and using their washers and dryers.

For my book group, if you liked "Mr. Splitfoot" you will also like "Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult.

St. John's, Newfoundland June 21-22, 2017

We are spending a few days here in St. John's - one of the oldest cities in North America.  Has a wonderful natural harbor and when driving down Water Street, the huge ships are docked all along the street!

Monday, we drove through the narrow, very hilly streets of downtown.  San Franciscans would feel right at home here.  The roads are confusing because way back when wagons had to be pulled up and down these hills, they curved the roads to make it easier on the horses.

City feels much larger than the 100,000 population my AAA book says and it is spread out all over the surrounding hillsides.  Colorful homes are popular here - sort of like Charleston's Rainbow Row.

We drove southeast of the city to visit Cape Spear - the eastern-most point in North America.  I visited the original lighthouse which was replaced with a new one that is still working.  Lighthouses are now officially known as lightstations.

Original Lighthouse

New Lightstation

The flags used for signaling in the lighthouse

Remnants of WWII gun emplacements.  A Newfoundland ferry had been torpedoed by a U-Boat.

View from the lighthouse - furthest East you can go in North America

Tuesday, we drove northeast to Signal Hill, home of Cabot Tower.  This towering hill at the entrance to the St. John's narrows (entrance to the harbor) was used to signal the city when ships were approaching - both commercial and military.  The National Park Service had a nice museum explaining the military history of the area - the French invaded and burned the settlements in the 1700's multiple times.

We were treated to some highschoolers practicing for the tattoo they will present daily starting in July.  We walked around the hill that afforded fantastic views of the city.

After lunch, we toured the Johnson GEO Centre whose building is cut underground into the rocks of Signal Hill.  The museum had excellent displays about the Planet, Provincial natural history, energy exploration, and Space.  They also had a very informative display about the complicated reasons for the Titanic that sank less than 300 miles off the coast.

A wall of exposed rock in the museum

Busy day and were glad to get back to our campground in a large park right at the edge of the city.  We have full hookups and internet.