Day 49 - St. John's, Newfoundland

I will apologize before I even start on this Wednesday, July l8th, as it was a very busy day and I just might get a bit lengthy - sorry!!  The weather was on and off all day, warm, cool, sunny, very foggy but nothing stopped us from a very full day that started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 5:00 p.m.  A tour bus picked us up and we toured many sights in and around St. John's.

We started our city tour at the Lt. Governor's House.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to take a tour inside, even though he was out of town.  Bruce took a picture through the front window of the Greeting Room.  There are flowers everywhere - they even have their own greenhouse.  The bottom is an invitation to meet Queen Elizabeth in June of l959.  Any and all royalties are housed here.  We all got to sign the guest book - wow!!  The house was built between l827 and l831 and retains much of its original furnishings.

Like many other cities in Canada, they like their colored houses.  These are in the historic part of town so if you buy one of these houses, that today cost a lot of money, you cannot make any changes to them except paint them a different color.  The green house in the top right photo is very well known here in St. John's, as it is used in a TV show.

As we drove on Water Street passed the harbour, we saw a lot of boats - big and small.  I was told that a lot of the boats are used to haul repair parts, etc. to the Oil Rigs off shore - not necessarily these two.  There is a statue honouring Terry Fox who attempted to cross Canada to bring awareness about Cancer.  There is also a statue of a Newfoundland Dog and Labrador Retriever.  The NF dog is known for his size, strength which allows him to excel at water rescue.  He has a thick double coat, webbed feet and innate swimming ability.  Also a bronze monument to the Cod Fish - see the inside formation is of a fish.  At one time, the Cod Fish were in abundance so there was no limit as to how many they could catch.  However, once there weren't so many, they were told they couldn't fish them anymore.

High above the city, as shown in the bottom left picture, Signal Hill has been used for defense, observation and communication.  From signal masts high atop the Hill, flags conveyed information on approaching vessels to military and mercantile interests in St. John's.  Merchants then had plenty of time to prepare their docks for incoming vessels.  Also became the site of harbour defenses from the l8th century through World War II.  The Cabot Tower was constructed in l897 in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's "Voyage of Discovery".  Guglielmo Marconi officially opened the new Marconi wireless Station on the second floor of the Cabot Tower.  It became the main wireless link between Newfoundland and the world.  It was used until l960.

High School students performed a Tatto for us at Signal Hill.  They marched to Drums and Flutes and then did a reenactment of a skirmish.  Our timing was pretty good because the fog came in as you can see in the top left picture. 

St. John The Baptist Cathedral was established at the end of the l8th Century by Irish Settlers.  The top left picture was taken by Bruce from the top of Signal Hill - great picture!!  Top right is of the alter, below it, is one of many many stained windows and the bottom right is of the ceiling.  I took a walk around the back of the alter, and I actually got lost - that's how big this church is. 

After our tour of the Cathedral, we also received a small tour - two rooms - of the Presentation Convent where retired Nuns live.  They have a beautiful alter in one of the rooms as well as a beautiful statue of the Veiled Virgin.  We were in complete awe of the workmanship.  One piece of marble was used to create the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The "perfect gem of art", as referred to by the bishop, was exquisitely sculptured by Giovanni Strazza (l8l8 - l875) and brought from Rome in l862 by Bishop Mullock of St. John's.  It was given to Mother Mary Magdalen O'Shaughnessey, Superior of the Convent.  Fran and I just couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  The vase was a gift to one of the Nuns and the bottom right hand corner shows the ceiling in one of the rooms.

This is Cape Spear.  It was very foggy here.  At one point, we couldn't even see the lighthouse.  It is the most Easterly point in North America.  The bottom right is the Cape Spear lighthouse - the oldest surviving one since l836.  Modern equipment was installed in l912 and remains in use in the concrete tower built nearby in l955.  Much altered during the l9th century, the old lighthouse has been restored to its original appearance.  It was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales in l983.

Picture of the Day!!

This stature was so beautiful.  Hope your day was equally as lovely.