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Published: June 16th 2011
The Franklin Hotel
Our digs in St. John'sDear interested readers,
Our winged chariot carried us from Montreal to St. John's where we picked up our black loaded Town and Country minivan. We then proceeded to the Franklin Hotel where we met some friends of Jen, Dawn and John. They took us to the Gypsy Tea Room where we all enjoyed some delicious cad fish. Notice we are developing a Newfoundland accent. You'll hardly be able to understand us when we return. Dawn is returning to her "Newfie Light" accent, which Jen noticed was absent in Calgary. We enjoyed meeting Dawn and John, and they gave us a list of things to see and do while were in St. Johns. Thanks guys!
We then proceeded to the Duke and watched Boston win yet another game. Only Bill stayed to the bitter end. Unlike in Montreal, our thirst for pubs was well quenched.
The next day we climbed Signal Hill (in the van). We had a lovely sunny day and enjoyed the spectacular view. Apparently, it was the first sun they had seen in three weeks. We decided to take advantage of the sun and go for a whale and puffin watching cruise on a catamaran. Unfortunately,
Signal Hill
We didn't see any pirates sailing into the port of St. John's nobody told the whales we were coming. However, there was an incredible amount of bird life among the islands off the coast of Avalon. We saw thousands upon thousands of puffins, gannets and mers (and of course, seagulls). When the puffins eat too much, they are sometimes too heavy to take off from the water, so were comical to watch. Back at the marina, we bought a stuffed puffin for Coltan and dubbed it poopy pants puffin.
Following our whaleless watching tour, we split up -- Bill had a nap, Rob got his hair cut, and Bob, Lynda and Jen explored the streets of old St. John's. We reconvened at a gastropub, the Yellow Belly Brewery, and enjoyed their house-brewed ales. We planned to get screeched, but got pulled into the trivia that was being played that night. In retrospect, we may have been better at getting screeched.
As unnatural as it may seem, the following day, the guys went shopping at the Avalon mall, while the ladies did a little shopping downtown and took a tour of the Anglican cathedral. Jen almost got ejected from the church when she admitted she had not been baptized. She narrowly
Signal Hill Fog Cannon
Who knew you could shoot fog? avoided a baptism right there on the spot.
We met up for cod tongues, scrunchions and chips, dressing and gravy at the Greensleeves pub. Yay carbs! After lunch, we headed up the peninsula to our house in Heart's Content. Even the GPS got lost. We took the opportunity of cooking for ourselves to prepare a vegetarian feast. The house is very nice and Victorian, complete with pump organ, out of tune piano and oil stove.
That's all for now.
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