Air St. Pierre

We could have arrived by boat, but decided that air would be the way to go to get to St. Pierre. I think we were right after hearing how rough the crossing was. The enclosed fast ferry catamaran was a vomit comet the day we came. Happily, the flight was calm smooth sailing. Our arrival was uneventful and easy. We flew on an ATR 42 for the first time with Air St. Pierre. We were up, had a beverage and snack, then down. The whole experience was great.

St. John's Street Scapes

Again, the photos must await faster upload speeds, but suffice to say, the heritage branch of the St. John's municipal government is doing a good job as far as I'm concerned. The historic culture of the downtown is very much present. We really enjoyed staying in one of the tiny homes packed into the steep downtown hillsides. We also really liked people's disdain for grey, beige and other blah colours.

Signal Hill, St. John's Newfoundland

Christopher and I hiked up signal hill a few times - well, me only half way twice - but Christopher went the long way around from Old Battery Road. His video is great, and when I get closer to fast upload speeds, I'll put it in.

The view from Signal Hill is unbeatable. One evening after our dinner, we went out for a walk and stumbled upon an arts 'happening' which included a person in the Marconi Tower on Signal Hill (which by the way qualifies for the designator of 001 as the first place from which radio signals were ever sent) sending morse code responses to text messages that people in a down town park were sending. A very cool thing to see. Lots of parents taking their kids out way past their bedtimes to see 'art'.

Memorial University Botanical Garden

The mizzle let up and so we decided after lunch to head to the botanical garden. It was lovely, highly recommended. Different from the English style, but wonderful in and of itself. We even got fresh vegetables for dinner there. Newfoundland's Provincial flower; the pitcher plant is in this photo, but sort of hard to distinguish from the surrounding greenery.

 A lovely walk through the woods...

To find Chantrelles!

Then more walking through the woods to.. a lake-

Lillies and ducks galore

 The English style part of the garden, all coiffed.

Their emblem that I thought should be etched and then screen printed on a black t-shirt... 

St. John's Newfoundland

We're just outside of 'downtown' in the jelly bean sort of houses. Neat neighbourhood. This is just around the corner. 

And this is Rocket Food - not far from our little apartment. 

Enroute to Newfoundland

When I planned this itinerary I did think it out, but perhaps not as well as I should have. Between our flights from Vancouver to Montreal we had an almost 8 hour lay over. We went out and had a lovely dinner at GUU, then back to the airport for an interminable wait. 

And then, no more photos because of complete jet lag and exhaustion. Let me just say, I was so tired I forgot my purse in the cab and you'll have the idea. 

I slept for 14 hours straight. 

What the Squirrel Did

After Jack the Cat's death, we noticed that our lovely gardens had lots more little birds. Now I have noticed the other animals who come more often now that Jack is dead; squirrels. We have both a ground squirrel living under the deck, and the regular tree squirrels. While the evidence is uncertain - Christopher saw a tree squirrel in the strawberry bed. Here's what he did;

 

We can see the squirrel started with the very health organic Kale, and moved on to strawberries instead.