On what I am doing in St-John's

I don't think I wrote an entry on what this trip is about. So I will rectify the situation. I am in St-John's more or less set to depart for Halifax via the Argentia ferry and the Cabot Trail. In Halifax, I will meet up with Philip, Dominique and Désirée from where we will travel by train back to Montréal.

This is an indulgence on my part as I have paid for our tickets back and my Via Rail points have paid for their tickets to Halifax. The latter bit was caused by three trips on the Canadian * and several trips to Toronto and back. It is about me wanting to give Désirée (and to lesser extent Dominique and Philip) a really memorable experience. I was her age when Grandpa took us to Scotland.

Also in the plan was taking the time to enjoy St-John's. I have been blessed with good weather for Newfoundland. It has been gorgeous so far except for rain yesterday which was an opportunity to do indoor activities without feeling I was wasting good weather.

I started with the Catholic cathedral of St-John the Baptist (having done the Anglican one the day before). It struck me as over-large but the tour guide said she'd seen it jammed with 4000 people or so. Interestingly, it features an icon or set of icons featuring Our Lady of Fatima and her now-canonised witnesses. It was given by Portugal or at least her fishermen who frequented the Grand Banks and St-John's back in 1955 when the gift was made as a centenary present for Cathedral. The guide betrayed her biases by saying the Portuguese fishers identified with the "oppressed" Irish Catholic Newfoundlanders. I couldn't help but point out that Portugal is (and was) a very Catholic country. She said the fishermen were being exploited by the Portuguese upper classes. They probably were, but I had to refrain from pointing out that one of the tools the Portuguese dictator of the time (Salazar I believe) were the three "F"s which were allowed to dominate the media as they were safe: Football, Fado and...Fatima. She said the shrine was a favourite with her kids and that was easy to understand as the figures were toy sized and shaped. Pretty much the rest of the Cathedral was built large. Unlike its Anglican counterpart, the Cathedral was set in a large complex of buildings supporting Catholicism in Newfoundland including a college or high school.

 Also nearby was the Rooms. This is in essence the Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. Designed to evoke the simple fishing shacks in outports known as "rooms", the building has two main parts whose red-roofs dominate the skyline. One half is an art gallery, the other a museum.

I started with the museum which gave prominence to an exhibit about the tragic story of the Newfoundland Regiment in WWI where in about one hour on July 1, 1916, it suffered 90% casualties, which may have resulted in a genetic bottleneck in Newfoundland.

There were other good exhibits, though the label of a whale skull should have had more than the Latin name for the minke whale! Also, I found that labelling a skidoo as belonging to the Inuit culture as a bit much.

Maybe it was the proximity to the Catholic Cathedral, but I found there was an Irish Catholic bias to the presentation. I also felt the need to bone up on my pre-Confederation Newfoundland history.

I went into a nearby Sobey's in search of milk and ziplock baggies. While I was there, I overheard a mainlander couple talking about whether their lodgings had a microwave. This would have not been significant except it turned out they were sharing accommodations with me, something we only found out when we got home. They were a couple of school teachers from Winnipeg. We had a good chat over some Quiddy Viddy beers.

Later that evening and against my better judgement, I got screeched-in at Trapper John's on George Street. This involved consuming a small amount of actual baloney ("Newfoundland steak") and a lot of verbal baloney which perpetuated the myth that the green-white-pink tricolour was actually the official flag of the Rock prior to 1949. It also avoided the origins of "true Sreech" (barrel dregs and I can testify that the process results in something harsh). The blarney also romanticised the Newfoundland-Jamaica connection, leaving out the fact that salt fish was food for slaves. Good fun.

Today, I took a trial run out to Pouch Cove. When I got there, I was contemplating the steep boat ramp down to a very narrow inlet, when an older local asked what the gulls were up to? I replied that they were just squabbling. This led to a long conversation about Pouch Cove and its history.

I somehow missed the museums in Torbay and Logy's Bay and made Quidi Vidi in time for the two o'clock brewery tour with tasting. Both the tasting and the tour were underwhelming.

I wanted to get to the gun battery that had protected the 20 foot entry into Quidi Vidi. This involved a circuitous route via the Cuckhold Cove Road. I got as far the Cove when a vista including Cape Spear distracted me. During the photo op, I noticed people gazing out sea, looking at whales. There was a fair number of minke whales in sight. Some of them were so close and so shallow that I could track them underwater with my binoculars from their white underbellies. That pretty much ended my afternoon.

I never did find the battery.

Ferryland tomorrow.

*My talking about the Canadian at work has resulted in a co-worker going a vacation with her family which will include taking the Canadian from Edmonton to Vancouver. I have given a lot of advice.