I've made it to Newfoundland!

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Off to Newfoundland
I'm not sure what to expect
Pleasantly surprised!

My last day in Halifax yesterday was pretty much spent wandering the streets. I checked out some of the "Lobsters in the City" that are scattered about town. They are basically 7 feet tall fibreglass lobsters that have been creatively decorated by artisans and will eventually be auctioned off to raise money for something...to be honest, I don't think I ever found out!

I also stopped by the Mary E. Black Gallery which was currently displaying "In the Margins: Works by 12 woman clay artists." One from each of the Canadian provinces and territories. Hmm, I thought there were three territories??

I then worked on more of my cross stitch while watching “Superman II”. Did you know that Lex Luther was the Ruler of Australia in that movie? We all had a good laugh about that one! Then I pretty much topped off the evening having a lovely conversation with Dana whom I used to work with and is currently living in Montreal. We made plans to meet up when I'm in Montreal two weekends from now. How exciting!!!

Now to this morning. It was an earlier start than what I'm used to. I was out of the hostel before 8AM to make sure that I had enough time to catch the Airporter bus by the Westin Hotel which was a short walk away from the hostel. I waited there for about five to ten minutes when a taxi with two passengers pulls up. "Going to the airport? I'll take you there in exchange for your Airporter ticket." Excellent! So I had a nice chat with Gary the taxi driver and the two passengers sitting in the back that were from Hamilton, Ontario. Gary asked where I was travelling to and somehow got onto the topic of all the travels I've done the last 10 months. Then he asked me my age and was surprised when I told him. Hmm, what's new? haha Gary’s been driving his taxi for about 20 years now. We talked about lots of things on our 35km ride to the airport. Gary told me that I need to try myself some moose meat since it is healthier for you since it is a lean cut of meat. (This coming from a guy that is on the obese side...) We talked about all the road work that's going on around the province. We talked about Michael Palin and all of his awesome travels. Gotta love that guy! The topic of snow in the region and then the leaves not being as vibrant as previous years. Gary thinks it is because of the lack of frost this year. The couple in the back got a few words in too. lol They have a daughter in Vancouver and a son living in Halifax whom they just finished visiting with. Apparently the couple have made a road trip all the way out to Vancouver two times. Now that is quite a drive. They say that from now on they'll be flying out to Vancouver instead of driving cuz it just takes too much out of you. Hmm, you'd think they would have figured that out after driving the first time. LOL

My flight from Halifax to St. John's was uneventful although I did strike up quite a few conversations with my cross stitch. There was this one lady that just had to come up to me and ask how I was able to sneak my needle past the airport security x-ray. Hmm, I didn't realize that sewing needles were banned carry on items??

It's a short ride in a taxi to get into town. It was a bit irritating that the taxi driver was not really paying attention to where it was I wanted to go. Thank goodness there are set rates from the airport into town and I was not charged extra!

I got to the hostel and the door was locked. I looked through the door and saw that there was a long set of stairs leading up to a window but the window was closed. Hmm, now what? Lucky for me another hostel guest came by and let me in and lead me to the office and I was soon checked in. I booked a dorm bed online but David was nice enough to give me my own private room for the same price! Score! One more reason to travel in the off season. 😊

In the office was another hostel guest, Marko and we started chatting. He just got into St. John's as well. Eventually Carol who's been in Newfoundland for the last month just visiting came out to use the internet and we all started chatting. We eventually decided that we should get outside and see something and decided on visiting the Rooms.

The Rooms is new. It just officially opened at the end of June and is home to the Provincial Art Gallery, Natural History Museum and the Archives. Quite ugly on the outside but awesome on the inside! We spent most of the afternoon there and since it was nearing dinner time decided to head out for some dinner as well after stopping off at our hostel for a bit to pick up our toques and gloves cuz it was chilly out there.

The winds were so strong that at times it felt like it was pushing me as I was walking. It was cool to see the long grass being blown by the winds. Quite a surreal sight to see.

We ended up at a really nice Mexican restaurant and I ate way too much. I guess when I spend good money on a decent meal I like to clear the plate! lol It was rainy, cold and windy when we left the restaurant and went back to the hostel to warm up and rest up before headed out again to check out a pub or two in the area. I had to check out the local music scene that Carol kept yammering on about. It ended up that it was me, Carol and Todd going over to the Ship to check out the local act. Todd is also staying at the hostel and is from Vancouver Island...another BCer! It was also open mike night at the Ship but there was only one set of guys on the accordion and a mando-cello. They were okay. I was a bit pooped and decided not to head over to the Irish bar like Carol had hoped. But she is only 18 and you legally have to be 19 to be able to get into the bars and pubs so she ended up coming home as well.

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