St. John's

Today was allocated to St. John’s. We started out by doing a walking tour with Micheal Boyle of Boyle Tours. Micheal was an energized Newfie with a gift for acting and telling tales. He took us around the Government House and its beautiful treed grounds, the Colonial Building, which was the seat of the Newfoundland Government and the Seat of the Assembly from 1850 to 1959; reminded us that Newfoundland was a country until 1949 when it joined Confederation; introduced us to the colorful wooden buildings in town, explained about the fires that ransacked the city; and generally gave us all kinds of tid bits that one would not normally hear. It was fun. After that we met a long-time business associate of Ray’s for lunch. He brought his wife along and we had a really good time with many laughs. They kindly drove us to see Outer Cover, Middle Cove and Torbay, absolutely stunning coastal residential areas within about half an hour from St. John’s. Then it was back to the B & B to get ready to meet another couple that we met in Portugal about 3 to 4 years ago. We had a lovely dinner at their home and exchanged many stories. Before dropping us off at the B & B they took us around Signal Hill. The view of St. John’s with all the lights was quite beautiful.

We have been lucky today to be shown spellbinding parts of the city by gracious local residents, and we are very grateful for these special insights.