St Johns, Newfoundland

Ah, St Johns. I knew before I even left the airport that this was the very friendliest of cities.Once the salt cod capitol of the world, St John's is now all about oil and tourism.

The harbor at night.

A free noon concert at harbor park...sea chanties!

Another view of the harbor. The big blocky building is The Rooms museum, not to be missed.

Much of the original city which was settled int the very early 1600s burned in 1879 (or somewhere thereabouts) so I can't really vouch for the age of the older neighborhood of row houses just above the harbor. They are known to one and all as Jelly Bean Row.

Walking in this town can be a real chore because the uphills tend to be darned steep. No fear, there are lots of little stops one can make where tiny little parks sport statues and history boards to explain them.

The entrance to the harbor is called 'the Narrows', a thin channel deep enough for oceangoing ships. On one point is Cabot Tower, a steep trek up the hill. Leading away are two of St Johns' many hiking trails. I took the downhill back to the harbor that winds along the clifftops with a great view of the Cape Spear lighthouse across the narrows.

Cabot Tower

View fo St Johns from Cabot Tower.

Cape Spear, the most easterly roint in Canada.

At the end of the trail is a neighborhood known as the Battery, once a military battery that is no longer there. Nowdays, colorful houses dot the rocky shore, some sporting signs declaring themselves 'shakes'. These houses were relocated, I'm told, set on logs, rolled down to the water, floated across, the rolled to the new site. 

St Johns is not a city known for its graffiti but they are trying. I found a couple pass-through walks that are highly decorated. Obviously this is a legal if not a paid project as I found one young man set up and hard at work in broad daylight.

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Yes, there is humor here. How else would a street get a name like this? I just wondered what kind of chips: wood, fish, poker, maybe even buffalo chips. Nobody could tell me for certain.

Terry Fox lost his leg to cancer and decided to run across Canada to draw attention to and funds for cancer research. He dipped his leg into St Johns; harbor then set off. He didn't make it because cancer got the best of him but he became a national hero anyway.