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Back in Nfld

Not much to talk about today!  We got up this morning, got ready, had breakfast and walked around for a long while, waiting for the ferry to get going.

We arrived in Fortune, Nfld at 2:30.  The funny thing is all the locals that go to the dock to see the people coming off and getting on the ferry!  It's like the folks that go to Timmies everyday!  It's the big action of the small town!  We saw the same people today we saw yesterday when we were leaving!   They just show up, and start chatting with you!  Too funny!  It's kind of nice actually!  The old man that chatted it up yesterday came up to ask us how our trip went.

We drove all the way to St. John's - about 4 hours away - found our hotel, settle in, went for dinner and completed the evening with a walk downtown St.John's.  What a quaint city!  The ships in the port are HUGE!!!  I will take pictures tomorrow as it was too dark tonight.

St.Pierre et Miquelon

Got up this morning and took the ferry to St.Pierre et Miquelon, a French archipelago.  The ferry ride was about 1 hour long... and you felt like you were sitting in a roller coaster -  not the best feeling...

The island of St.Pierre is cute - lots of coloured houses - orange, blue, yellow, red - you name it they've got it!  There isn't much to do here.  Stores close from 12:00 to 2:00 and on Saturdays, many stores are closed in the afternoon.  What's left? Not much!  We walked around for a while, ate an ice cream cone and watched a movie on tv.

The town is set on the flank of a "mountain" so the streets are all on a steep hill.  We walked up to a lookout - where you could see the whole town.  We then hiked a little higher to get an even better view point.

I wish I'd had known everything was closed - I would've picked a different day to come!  Oh well - a relaxing day (except for that uphill walk!).

For lunch I had green salad - this means lettuce and dressing!  Sophie had a Ceasar salad and Remi had some kind of crêpe with cheese and ham.  For dessert Sophie and I shared a very yummy crêpe with ice cream, caramel and whip cream - which was the best part of lunch!

You can't have dinner until 8pm!  I would have a hard time living here as we usually have dinner at 5 or so!  We will be eating French pizza for dinner.  I wonder what that will be like!


I'm back to tell you about my pizza... What a joke!  Here's the story:  when you order a pizza they ask you for how many people (no such thing as small medium large).  We answer 4 as there are three of us.  We give the address - they know we are at a hotel.  They deliver the pizza - 1 1/2 hours later (people don't have dinner until 8pm).  Do you think this pizza could feed 4 people? No way!  It was a small pizza (8" if even!!) - and it tasted like those cheap frozen pizzas you buy at Loblaws!!  Plus, it wasn't even cut - they know it's for 4, and at a hotel so we wouldn't have utensils... Moral?  Don't buy pizza in St.Pierre and Miquelon!

Icebergs and Whales Oh my!

We slept in St.Anthony's last night.  When we arrived, Sophie and I decided to go for a hike as there are beautiful trails here.  If you are patient enough, you can see whales in the distance.  You can also climb 476 stairs to the top of a mountain.  It's hard work but the view from up there was unbelievable!  After the hike at the top, we decided to continue our trek and completed a second trail.  Both were beautiful!





The next morning, we had our boat tour to see icebergs from up close and whales.  Right in the bay, there were icebergs - big ones!  We got really close to them.  Interestingly enough, one of the icebergs had this rock stuck right in the middle of it!  The guide told us he's never seen anything like it before.  It's interesting to see!  It's also incredible that we only see a small fraction of the actual iceberg. It would be quite a sight if we could take it out of the water and see the whole thing!

Once every saw the iceberg, we moved on to see whales.  It didn't take to long before I yelled "There she blows!"!  A big puff of whale breath in the distance!  We got to see the magnificent humpback whale!  What a beauty!  There was three of them.  We followed them for a while and got to see them quite a bit!  After a while, just before we were turning back to get back to port, they (the whales) decided to have a closer look at who was following them!!!  They came up right next to the boat, let out a big breath and of course almost gave me a heart attack!  WOW!!!  They followed alongside the boat for a while and ended with a show of their fluke (the correct term for what we typically call tail).

L'Anse au Meadow

Off we go again to visit L'Anse au Meadow - an old viking settlement.  Being at the most northern tip of Newfoundland is pretty cool - no pun intended!  It's quite chilly here.  There isn't too much in terms of vegetation - lichen,  some very small pine trees, a few wild flowers -I didn't know that irises grew in the wild - these cool little puff things and a few leafy bushes.  The tundra is not a friendly place - lots of bogs, small lakes - or ponds as they call them here.


 It was a long drive to get here - but well worth it!  What an amazing place!  We saw our first icebergs on the way - huge ones too!  We stopped to take pictures and who did we see?  This older couple from New Brunswick that we keep bumping into!  Too funny!  What are the chances we stop at the same place at the same time?!   Weird!



After chatting for a few minutes, taking pictures for another few minutes we got back in our car to get to the viking settlement - about 2 minutes away.  It's a great place to visit! I wish I could bring my students here!  Lots of history to be heard and seen!


Of course, it's a "remake" of the settlement as a 1000 years is a long time for something to last.  You can still see where the original buildings would've been - the walls, the benches and the fire pits.

After visiting the little village, you could take a 3 km hike.  We went for the hike and loved it!  What a beautiful place!  The ocean on one side, the tundra on the other... beautiful!  It's amazing to think we stood where Lief Erickson stood!  History is fascinating!  I wish my teachers would've been able to make me like history in school...

Rocky Harbour

We left Port aux Basques as soon as we got off the ferry.  We were on our way to Rocky Harbour to catch a boat tour to see the fjord - more on that coming in a few minutes... first - our first impressions of the island!

Wow!  It really is just a giant rock!!  There is NOTHING for miles and miles and miles!  It's beautiful and boring at the same time.  Some parts are breathtaking while others remind me of driving home and how much I hate pine trees!

We finally arrived in Gros Morne Park - where we will be for a couple of days.  We went to our hotel and of course our room wasn't ready.  We drove off to West Brook for a boat tour to see a fjord - which really isn't a fjord since the last 9 000 years but anyway - what a beautiful sight!  You start off with a 3 km walk on a path, boardwalk.  On the way you can see bogs, plants and not too many animals - try none!

It was a 2 hour boat ride - a tad long - but well worth it.  The tour guide points out different things to


look at... very nice.  You conclude with a walk back to your car - we saw our first Nfld moose!  A skinny cow - maybe 2 years old or so.  She was very close to the boardwalk!

We drove back to Rocky Harbour - about 25 km to have dinner.  Sophie and I have discovered that you can not be in a hurry as everything moves in slow motion around here!  Not easy to get used to!  After dinner, Sophie and I went for a walk the rocky beach and found some awesome rocks!  It's interesting how they are all so soft -and many are really flat!

I'm pooped and ready for bed!

Driving to Ferry

Today was an adventure!  We got up, had breakfast and went on our merry way to catch the ferry that would bring us to Newfoundland.

We arrived in Cape Breton a little early and so we decided to stop at the visitor center to see which route would be scenic but not too long as we had a ferry to catch.  So, the friendly lady highlights a map for us and sends us along... here starts the adventure!

She sent us through the Bras d'or scenic route - which we have re-baptized the see shit route!  This route brought us in the boondocks of Cape Breton -in the rain, gravel roads and trees, trees, trees and more trees!  There was absolutely NOTHING to see!  As you know, there is a reason for everything... I'm guessing the reason this was put on our path was to help this older gentleman who had "dropped" his huge motorcycle and he couldn't bring it back up on it's wheels.

We got off this route as soon as we could (which couldn't be soon enough!), got back on the highway - wich ended up being quite scenic!

We got to the ferry yard in plenty of time - walked around for a while then got on the ferry.  We quickly found our room and went to bed.  Surprisingly enough, the beds were comfortable!  The boat was beautiful!  It's unbelievable how many cars and transport trucks fit on this ship!  Wow!

That was our day!