Arrival - July 8th, 2014

Well, that was underwhelming!  I had imagined arriving to a grandiose place - you know, turning a corner and seeing the city, or going up a hill and once at the top seeing this humongous place - well, nope, nope, nope! I think arriving to Ottawa from the west end is actually better than arriving here!  Oh well!

We are staying on 48th street - in Times Squares.  Let me tell you - it sure stinks on the streets!  There is garbage everywhere - I'm guessing it's garbage day?  When you arrive on street corners EWWW the smells are even worse - weird really!

We went for a loooonnnnngggg walk - there is so many people I'm finding that a little overwhelming - They are everywhere!  It's not scary - just overwhelming.  After walking for a while, Remi getting caught once by scammers - we had dinner at John's pizzeria - good pizza!  This crust, pepperoni and cheese.

We continued our adventure and ended up in Central Park - WOW!!!  What a gem amongst all this yuckiness!  Breathtaking! I can't wait to spend more time there on Saturday!  We walked back to the hotel going down 5th avenue - didn't see anyone famous (we are on a mission!).  We did see very expensive stores (didn't bother going in), and a really neat one called uni quo?  They have a really interesting concept going!  It's gigantic and inexpensive.  So colourful as well!


We went back to our hotel to get some sleep (which didn't happen much- uncomfortable bed, fear of bedbugs, you know... your mind plays tricks on you...).

Well, let's see what tomorrow brings!  Perhaps we will get used to the smells?  Oh - and get ready for Sophie's big surprise!!!  More on that coming soon!

Getting Ready for new Adventure- New York City!

Our next adventure will be bringing us to New York City!  I've been wanting to see this city for a long time... and that time has finally arrived!  I can't wait to see how big it really is... 20 000 000 people is a lot of people!

We've planned a few things and have left some open space to decide when we get there.  We've also registered for a race while we are there - Boomer's Cystic Fibrosis Run to Breathe.  It's four miles long (6.44 km).  This will be Sophie's first timed race - we'll see how it goes... hopefully won't be hot like on Canada Day!

Other things we have planned are the usual tourist things like the Statue of Liberty, a couple museums, Empire State Building, having pizza in Brooklyn and a secret special treat - more to come later!

This and That

Here are a few bits and pieces of this and that I think you might find interesting.

These little fluffy plants were just so cute!  They "flew" in the wind. 

These are carnivorous plants.  The leaves keep water and when bugs go in, the plant closes up and eats it! - like a venus fly trap.

• If you decide to go to Newfoundland bring clothes for every type of weather!  We lucked out and didn't get any rain.  Some days were REALLY cold below 10.  While in St. John's area it was about 20 degrees.
• Be ready to walk - most places you have to walk to - for example the fjords you have to walk 3 km there and 3 km back.  Same for L'Anse au Meadow.
• If you don't like fish, you don't have to eat fish! 
• 
  

Cape Breton

We took the ferry at 5 pm.  The first ferry was much better than the second!  This time, the air conditioning was broken - it felt like it was 100 degrees in our room.  All this extreme heat gave me a headache from hell.  At 12:30 I couldn't take it anymore so I went to see the nurse.  He took my blood pressure gave me some Advil and Tylenol and I was back in my room.  I went and sat in one of the lounges where it was a little cooler.  Not a fun ride... but on the bright side, it took 2 hours less than expected!

This 2 hours extra sent us on our way to go around the world famous Cabot Trail - a 200 km scenic drive around Cape Breton.  I've been told this scenic route is quite scary as you drive right on the edge of cliffs.  Well, if that's what you expect, like me, you will be disappointed!  Those who found this scary better never do the drive between Jasper and Whistler! They will dirty their pants for sure! 

It's a pretty drive that's for sure.  From time to time you see the ocean, you drive "close" to the edge where the view is spectacular.  There are quaint little stores and tons of restaurants to choose from.  The best part was the 2 hour hike we did.  It was called Skyline.  When you get to the end, you end up at the edge of a cliff.  When you look out you can't tell where the sky starts and where the ocean ends - it's very neat!  You also see the "terrifying" hill you have to drive down... just like in magazines.


At the bottom of this mountain is a beach - not that you would swim there... it's all rocks.  Very pretty.  We stopped for a couple pictures.  We continued our drive to Cheticamp - a very cute acadian village.  We had yummy ice cream - which we really deserved after hiking for 2 hours!  We did get a glimpse of a moose - or a moofalo as we like to call them - the signs to tell you to be careful of the moose looks like a cross between a moose and a buffalo hence the new name!

This 200 km drive ended up taking 8 hours!  The fastest you ever drive is 60 km/hour!   It was a nice way to conclude our trip.  We arrived in Moncton at 12:00 am... to see that every single room was already rented!  We lucked out and got the last room in town because the young lady at the counter had made an error in someone else's room!  Thank God for mistakes!

Cape St. Mary is on highway 100, about 2 1/2 hours from St. John's.  It's a ecological reserve where tens of thousands of gannets and other birds come to court and have their chick.  After driving on this little winding road you finally make it to this amazing place!


The first thing you see is a welcome center and a little store of course!  The first thing you smell is the ocean.  The first thing you feel is freezing cold!  It was 7 degrees with a blustering wind - brrr!  We put on our sweatshirts and jackets!  The first thing you hear are
thousands and thousands of birds - that are a mile (literally) away!


It's a nice hike to see the birds.  It's one mile there and obviously a mile back.  The view is spectacular!  On the way, I kept seeing these "patties" and wondered what they could be from... caribou maybe?  The mystery was soon solved when we turned a corner and what what standing there?  Sheep!  Sophie had to take 10 000 pics of them!  Thank goodness as I didn't have one to share with you =)

That's the goal.

We continue on to see what we came all this way for... the gannets.  All I can say is OMG!!! It's truly unbelievable!  You only see this on tv documentaries - and I have seen this exact spot on docs!  There are so many birds it makes you dizzy!  They fly in and out with their beaks full of "stuff" for the nest and for the babies.  You are standing 10 meters away!  Enjoy the pictures...

birds 10 meters away

Gannet

coming back with lots of goodies!

The babies are quite ugly!

That's how close to the edge I am!

When one came back, they would rub their beaks together as if they were kissing!

The view

humpback whale we saw from shore!

Sea Kayaking

We went sea kayaking in Cape Broyle today!  That was fun!  We didn't get to see any whales but we got to see and touch sea urchins - and even eat one!  Did you know that sea urchins don't have a brain or lungs or anything else for that matter?

The guide used a knife and cut it up for everyone to taste.  She said it would taste like a fruit - and it sorta tasted like cantaloup or mango - but I thought it tasted like mussels - yuck! Raw sea urchin - who would ever think I'd eat that?!

We kayaked for 2 hours.  We went between rocks making sure we didn't get caught on the rocks of death.  The swells were getting quite big for us beginner kayakers - 3 and 4 feet!


 We then arrived at insanity cliff (213 feet high cliffs) where a boat was waiting to get us and take us back to the dock.  Great sunny day!


After our adventure kayaking, we went to Ferryland.  There is a lighthouse there.  It's at the end of a cove so you could see whales.  We think we saw minkes but not 100% sure.  I took pictures of the lighthouse - will add them later.

We are now off to St.John's haunted walk.

Witless Bay - Bird and Whale Watching

Another fabulous day spent outside!

We embarked on a boat today to go bird watching.  You want birds? OMG!!!  You've never seen anything like this I'm sure!  500 000 puffins at the same spot!!! Incredible!  Thing is, there aren't only puffins here! There are razorbills, murres and various types of gulls - even some with their babies.  It's noisy, smelly and wonderful! Sophie was in heaven with all those birds around!  We also got to see minke whales (they are kind of boring as they don't do much - no spout, no fluke) and a beautiful humpback (they are the "fun" ones - they come right up to your boat, show off their flukes and can even be seen breeching).

On the first tour, I was talking to one of the crew members mentioning how I would've loved to have seen a whale... so, he offered to give us a second tour for free!  Wow! What a nice man!  Of course we didn't refuse and on the second time out is when we saw the gigantic humpback - right beside the boat!

Newfoundland is turning it out to be a wonderful place!