Canada day

Canada day was a beautiful record 25ºC. plus humidity day, I wore red shorts and a white shirt, many people wore red and white, some, especially children had their faces painted with flags, houses displayed large Canadian flags, more than usual, even cars had little flags. We drove around Conception Bay: St. Philips, Manuel’s Topsail etc. The views were fantastic and we took many photos. At Manuel’s river many people were swimming in the rock pools, which we still want to explore, as there is a hike along the river and Trilobite fossils. We spent a few hours at Topsail beach, which is one of the nicest beaches here, but fortunately not crowded. I tanned while my Other Half taught “there-and back” to retrieve a ball from the sea. She now loves swimming in the sea and won’t stop. All the beaches here have very small waves and have cobblestones. After spending the morning and afternoon beach crawling and picking up a tan, we headed Downtown.

We strolled along the streets, which were filled with tourists, teenagers with strange clothes and hairstyles, musicians etc. Even though there are pubs throughout St John’s, it has the most pubs per capita, George St. is filled with one pub after another, about 30 in all. Parts of it were closed off, for one big party. Some of the streets used to be cobbled years ago, but were unfortunately paved over. In Water St. where most of the souvenir shops are, there are large black harbor moorings. The next street down is Harbor St. where one walks past the ships. Other streets in this area are New Gower, Queen, Victoria, Duckworth etc. We had a lovely Ice cream for .75c, which is very reasonable at Lar’s Groceries. Some typical St. John’s souvenirs are: Small, colorful Wooden Clapboard houses, small colorful fishing boats, lighthouses, small fishermen statues, wearing yellow oils skins and hat and pictures of the same. It is refreshing after Calgary, that we can park in some parking areas for free after hours. Parking meters are closer to the buildings than we are used to, I suppose it is because of snow, which piles up in winter. Here you will also notice a high pole next to fire hydrants, to mark where the hydrants are in winter. Even with so many tourists, it is relaxing, as cars will stop for you when you cross the road.

Quidi Vidi Village
We drove through Q. V. Village and Q. V. Battery to Q.V Lake for a fire works show. “Quidi Vidi Village, a 17th century fishing village, lies within city limits at the base of Signal Hill. The village's small chapel, Christ Church, was built in 1842.”There is a lovely trail around the lake, which is part of the Grand Concourse. There were ducks swimming, boy were they in for a surprise. Around the lake filled up with thousands of people, with flags, flashlights, sparklers, Laser pointers, Red and white hats of all sizes, tall ones like “Cat in the hat”, sneakers with glowing laces, Alice-bands with lights attached etc. The fireworks started promptly at 10 p.m., it was the biggest show I have ever seen. It was beautiful but not too noisy. It was interesting to hear how the fireworks echoed into the surrounding hills. We left early and were amazed to see hundreds of cars parked on the surrounding hills. This is an annual event. Another event held at Quidi Vidi Lake is a regatta.