St. John's

We spent three nights and two full days in St. John's. Both days were pretty grim weather-wise but I guess it's par for the course at this time of year.

Here we're driving south on what's called the Irish Loop Drive. Very cloudy and gloomy. The countryside is still very beautiful though.

A few shots along the way.

This is an ancient settlement they're excavating. It's called The Colony of Avalon.

Frome the website:   Established in 1621 by Sir George Calvert (the First Lord Baltimore), the Colony of Avalon is widely recognized as the best preserved early English colonial site in North America. Today, on-going work at the Colony is changing the way we understand that past.

Anyway, we got there day after the interpretive centre closed so all there was to do was to go out and look at the excavations.

Really not too much to see without explanations.

Some more info about the colony here.

The first day was so gloomy and rainy I didn't take too many pictures. We just drove in a counter-clockwise manner until we found our way back to St. John's.

On day two we just did touristy stuff around St. John's with our friends Gordon and Barbara.

Below is the Cabot Tower which sits at the top of Signal Hill.

A different angle scooped from the internet.

Another shot from down the hill.

The entrance to the harbour of St. John's.

The canons that protect the harbour.  It's easy to see how it would be a very difficult thing for an invading force to enter the harbour.

And that's why no invading force ever chose to do that.  Instead they came ashore and attacked the rear end of St. John's by land.  Damn French!

The shack where all the soldiers stayed who manned the cannons. It must have been a cold, boring job.

After Signal Hill and a coffee break we headed to Cape Spear which is the most easterly point in Canada.

It is also a site where, during the second world war, huge canons were installed to shoot any enemy ships approaching.

Some of the funky, colourful houses on the hillside.

Shots of the ocean at Cape Spear. From here London is probably closer than Calgary.

Terri in front of one of the big guns. During the war they had a huge hydraulic device that would raise the gun above the cement block so that it could fire and then it would be lowered down again.

After Cape Spear we went for a traditional Newfie lunch. Fish 'n' Chips...yummmmm

At a well known Newfie eating establishment.

St. John's reminded us a lot of San Francisco with its hilly streets and tall skinny houses. I'm not sure if the houses below are very old or very new and just made to look old.

Anyway that's about it for St. John's.

Tomorrow we join the cruise.