As we approached St. John's we first went to Cape Spear. We drove through the forest and then out onto an exposed rocky area that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. It's the most easterly point in Canada. We stood at the top, watching the waves crash below, and looked out to the horizon. Next stop: Europe.
It feels like it is something significant being here. In January 2022 we were at Tofino, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We've touched the sea at both coasts within a year. That's significant.
Because of its strategic location, Cape Spear was the site of the first lighthouse in Newfoundland. It was quite a little hike up to the lighthouse and interesting to tour it. The lighthouse became operational 1836 and six generations of the Cantwell family were lighthouse keepers.
During World War II, soldiers and sailors were stationed at Cape Spear. There were some tunnels and battlements still remaining that one could tour.
In 1955 a new lighthouse was built and the Fresnel lens from the old lighthouse was transferred to the new one and still produces a light. Each light has a specific 'signature' with this one having three white flashes every fifteen seconds. When we were at Grand Manan island last fall, we watched the sunset and then we saw the lighthouses lights begin flashing in their various sequences.
After our visit to Cape Spear, we made our way into St. John’s and after a series of left right left up down and five-way intersections, we found our place. It was a beautiful old house, one of the ‘jellybean’ row houses. We had the entire 2nd floor at our disposal and our hosts were a wonderful couple that made us feel right at home.
The house we were staying in was located only two blocks off of Water Street where all the shops and restaurants were located. We spent a wonderful couple of days wandering up and down the street, eating out in various restaurants and coffee shops and enjoying some musical entertainment.
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| I'm in here - somewhere. |
As for music, we were entertained at the restaurants with some authentic East Coast ballads and instrumental music.
The one evening we went to the Anglican Cathedral of John the Baptist, just half a block from our place. They had an evening service called, "Cathedral at Night". It was a beautiful time of sitting in a candlelit cathedral, listening to quiet organ music and spending time in prayer and meditation. As I'd mentioned in a previous post, I wanted this holiday to have moments of taking time. This was one of those evenings. It was restful and restored the soul.
The next night was a concert of a completely different beat. It was Ukranian Independece Day and our hosts had mentioned there'd be an outdoor concert on George St. featuring The Kubasonics, who were friends of theirs. We decided to go and what a fun evening it was! They entertained us with a wonderful fusion of Ukranian and east coast fiddle music. People were clapping and dancing and having a wonderful time.
We went to tour Signal Hill which is just outside of St. John's and overlooks the harbour. You can see Cape Spear from there as well. Parks Canada offers tours and we were the only ones in the tour group. That was great as our young tour leader had to go up the hill at our pace! Signal Hill was a strategic location for fortifications as it overlooks the Narrows, the only entrance to St. John's harbour. The Cabot Tower was opened in 1900 and it's main purpose was for flag mast signaling which was done right into the 1960s. Also, Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless transmission at Signal Hill.
Our final full day in St. John's began with 'choose your own adventure'.
Dave finally was able to go fishing in Newfoundland. This is his fishing report:
Saturday, Sunday and Monday are personal catch days (2 each
or 5 per boat). Other days are “catch and release”. This was a “catch and
release” day so there was no pressure. Yet, at the end of a 3-hour trip we had
a feast fit for a king. We ate some of the cod others had caught on the
weekend.
To actually catch the fish we would lower the line to the bottom of the sea (about 150 ft.) and then raise it up just a little and jig the rod (up and down motion) always making sure the line touched bottom between jigging motions. A 1lb. weight on the end of the line would keep the line tight. An extra heavy tug on the line with a jerk would indicate a fish on. We would then reel in all 150 ft. of line. We to be careful not to play the fish too hard or try to boat the fish too quickly because the cod have a very soft mouth and it would be easy to pull the hook out. A good size was about 24 inches and I had one that size with a couple of smaller ones and yes, I did “kiss the cod”.
Meanwhile, I, Hilda, went to The Rooms art gallery and museum. It was a short walk from our place, but it was definitely up. No wonder our host suggested going, even if just for the view.
The art gallery had some interesting works and pieces by familiar artists such as Emily Carr, and the Group of Seven, Christopher Pratt and Alex Colville. One interesting exhibit was placing the works of Kent Monkman and Cornelius Krieghoff next to one another. This juxtaposition poses the question that paintings of the past can’t be accepted as a statement of reality, but rather of that’s artist interpretation. Monkman's work provokes us to think about our interpretation of our history.
The museum exhibits that caught my attention were about the Irish settlement history of St. John’s, the political history of Newfoundland as it joined Canada in 1949 and the impact of the cod fishing moratorium that happened thirty years ago. In speaking with people and looking at these exhibits we learned a lot about Newfoundland's history.
All holidays must come to an end, and we bid farewell to our wonderful hosts and made our way to the ferry at Argentia. It was an all night sailing to Cape Breton. We sailed off into the fog and the waves rocked us to sleep.
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