We're back in St. John's now for one night before we move to the Delta for Martin's palliative medicine conference. I took this shot of the above picture from the corner because I bought a picture of this very corner at Gower Street and this is our B&B. Then below just demonstrates the narrow residences up the street. We're up on a hill with downtown on the water front.
We went to the Johnson GEO Centre which is a world class geological interpretation built into the rock on Signal Hill. Exhibits take you back to the start of the earth with four other sections: Our Planet, Out People, Our Province and Our Future. The most interesting exhibit was on the Titanic. We wandered through and read almost everything before they closed. We got up to exhibit 46a so Martin took pictures of the rest so we could finish reading the story, just fascinating! There were so much detailed information I didn't know about the ill-fated ship.
We had dinner here with a few other conference attendees. Nautical Nellies was a typical Irish pub.
This is the Court House on Water Street.
Water Street - the oldest street in North America. This famed area offers various types of cuisine as well as Newfoundland fare. There are intimate boutiques, craft stores and souvenir shops where I found some treasures (mostly for grand babies) to take home.
We took a walk in downtown St. John's call the Heritage Loop, which many old buildings and various churches to see. This first one above is for all our RN friends. This building is for the Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This is the Government House when Newfoundland was a British Colony.
Continuing on our route here's another picture of the narrow residential buildings.
Another Church, not sure of the name.
This is the Basilica St. John the Baptist Church. We were able to go inside and it was so beautiful with arched ceilings, stain glass and beautiful woodwork.
This red brick Church above is the United Church and the one below is called Victoria Hall. These historic buildings all have their own character and unique beauty that make St. John's , Canada's oldest city most distinctive.
Victoria Hall
Signal Hill National Historic Site sits high atop the city of St. John's with a spectacular view of the city of St. John's and The Narrows, the entrance to St. John's harbour. Signal Hill was the reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi in 1901, as well as the site of harbour defences for St. John's from the 18th century to the Second World War.
Notice the cannons on the cliffs edge in above picture.
Spectacular view of the harbour and the city of St. John's.
Note the hiking trails as we are looking down from Signal Hill on the west side.
This is just the entrance into the harbour ("The Narrows").
This is Signal Hill from our hotel room, so that you can see it from a different perspective.
We had a thoroughly wonderful trip to this island and we'll be coming back again, likely to see the western part of the province including the Northern Peninsula and Labrador. In our visitor's guide there is a rhetorical question: "why do people keep coming back? Because St. John's and surrounding areas beguiles, enchants, fascinates, charms and captivates all who visit." That pretty much sums it up for us!
