Out on the Town-Still in fog

July 22, 2015 – Day 37

It was another overcast, foggy, chilly day, but we made the best of it by exploring the downtown area.  St. Johns is one of the oldest cities in Canada, and there are a lot of historical buildings and a lot of steep and winding streets. We took a self-guided walking tour, and by the time we found a place to park, we ended up having to do the tour backwards, so instead of going downhill most of the time, we were walking uphill.  Oh well, we got our steps in, and registered 38 flights of stairs!      There were several big ships sitting in the harbor which is right along the downtown streets. 

The Court House is a 19th century design, built with stone from the Signal Hill quarry.  It is a huge building sitting in the center of town at the top of one of the steep streets near the water.

We visited two beautiful churches…both named St. John the Baptist! (kind of odd to have two churches of different denominations with the same name within a few blocks of each other). One was St. John the Baptist Anglican Cathedral built in the mid 1800’s,  It had large striking stained glass windows and a huge pipe organ--it would have been nice to stay for a concert! 

We also visited the Catholic Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, built in 1855, which sat high on the hill overlooking the city.  It had a beautiful altar, and several side altars, and a massive seating area. I chuckled when I saw the collection baskets which are the ones I remember having back when we were kids! Again, there was not enough time for Jim to go to confession!  This too was built with stone from the Signal Hill quarry.

The old houses along the street were brightly-colored--they call them jelly bean row houses, kind of a signature of St. Johns. Even the mailboxes were painted like jelly bean row.

 You could tell how many fireplaces were in the house by the number of chimneys on the roof! Check out the one with about 12 chimneys! 

We were able to visit the Newfoundland Chocolate Factory and watch them make candy bars.  Of course we got a few samples, and had to buy some to take home.

The War Memorial reminded me of the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Indianapolis, but not nearly as tall.  It had a soldier, a sailor, and a fisherman representing the merchant marines.  Another very interesting and unusual landmark (and a little strange) was a periscope from a German U-boat that has been mounted on top of a building.  They say you can still look through the periscope and see outside! 

On the way back to the parking lot, we stopped at Tim Horton’s for lunch and a quick wi-fi fix.  Timmy was out of soup, chicken and turkey…I guess they do better with donuts and coffee than lunch! 

In the afternoon, we headed to the Johnson Geo-Centre, at the bottom of Signal Hill.  It is built mostly underground, with the reception area above ground tilted to give the impression of an iceberg on the side of a hill. It was full of education about geologic history and the geology of Newfoundland, with films, rock samples and exhibits.  One of the most fascinating things to see was one entire wall of natural rock…the building was embedded in this basin of rock that is millions of years old.  You could even see water seeping through the rock—just amazing.  Some of the rock formations in this area the oldest in the world. Now we have a much better appreciation for Newfoundland and Labrador’s “The Rock”.   I wish our friend Dave, (the geologist who had to leave this trip early) could have been here to enlighten us even more.  

We tried to drive up to Signal Hill, but the fog came in and shrouded the area so much that you could not even see the tower.  My little book on Newfoundland says that St. Johns is the foggiest city in Canada, with 124 fog days each year!

We didn’t get to visit the Fluvarium (I learned a new word). It closed before we got there.  It is a place where you can look directly into a stream via a glass wall that has been constructed butting up against the stream.  What an interesting way to illustrate freshwater ecology—I wonder if this began as a kid’s science experiment? 

Finally, I have to share our evening last night….we went to Tim Horton’s to get the blog posted, and each had a cup of coffee to make our visit legitimate.  After the post was published, I went to shut down my computer, and it started a software update— “do not turn off or shutdown—applying 1 of 16 updates”.  So, while I waited, Jim went exploring the strip mall.  He found a place a few doors down to get a haircut.  His haircut took about 5 minutes.  My software update took 35 minutes.  Also in the strip mall was a Weight Watchers meeting place—(they really ARE following me around!)   Luckily it was closed, so I didn’t have to feel so guilty when we went next door and ordered a pizza!  I’m afraid my lifetime WW membership status is going to be revoked! 

Other excitement—the police came to the campground this morning and took a lady from a small motorhome away in handcuffs.  We didn’t see it, but got a full report from one of the group –darn, they didn’t take a picture, and no more details.  Then, on tv this morning, they arrested the weatherman and charged him with giving bad weather reports!  It was pretty funny…they carted him off in the police car and said he’s in jail until the sun shines again.  These Newfoundlanders can find humor in just about anything!

We are winding up our tour of Newfoundland, and will be boarding a ferry tomorrow evening and spend the night on the ferry for the travel back to Nova Scotia which will take about 14 hours..will post an update on the ferry adventure as soon as I can!