We are off to Newfoundland... (and France???)

This was supposed to be a simple, shortish road trip:  pack up the old Honda Civic, drive to Maine, catch a ferry to Halifax, visit a bit of Nova Scotia, see the Bay of Fundy, drive home. (Now that I think about it, that sounds like a really good trip - maybe next June?).  But here is what happened instead:  Joe said: “while we are up there, why don’t we continue to Newfoundland- there are puffins there! And it's near St. Pierre et Miquelon, which you’ve always wanted to see (more about that later)”.  So I said Good Idea!  And got excited about puffins and St Pierre!  And then, I looked at a map...... St John’s (the capital of Newfoundland) is nowhere near Halifax.... well, I guess that’s an overstatement.  It is nearer Halifax than any other city....  but it’s a 16 hour drive between the two...  St. John’s is almost half way to Europe.  In fact it’s a 3 hour flight from Toronto (half way to Europe ....).

So the simple road trip turned into a complex road trip - that started unreasonably early at LGA to catch the first flight to Toronto, and then from there to St. John’s. (Side note:  LGA is an UNBELIEVABLE mess right now....  and for the foreseeable future....  it’s going to take until 2025 to finish construction.....).  Then we pick up a car in St John,s, and drive all around the province, with a side trip to France!!!!!

So this did work out quite well, even though it meant getting up at 3am.  Which, even for an early riser like me is just too  f#$*ing early!  But the plane was on time, the connection worked out and we landed in St. John’s on schedule, at 2:00pm, which is 12:30pm in NY, because there is a one and 1/2 hour time difference!!!!  Well, that’s weird, but whatever....  just needed to pick up the car but then I realized that I had left my fanny pack, with passport, credit card, driver lisence - EVERYTHING- on the plane  I freaked out BIG TIME!  Ran back and tried to get through security, but was stopped by a very nice and very polite gentleman, who said that no - I could not just break every security rule because I was upset.  The people at security said the same thing.  The people at the Air Canada desk however did call the gate, had someone check my seat and FOUND MY POUCH!!!!!  What a relief, this would have been a real mess.  Anyway, everything was good - and I can't stress enough how nice everyone was - even while threatening to arrest me.  
So we had enough time to visit St John's - because the days are long this time of the year, and St John's is a very small city. 

 That's not to say that it's not magnificent.  It's the kind of place where you can see "everything" in 3 hours, and yet would not mind spending 3 weeks. 

We first went to Signal Hill and Cabot tower - what a grand view of "the rock" and the Atlantic ocean.

  I had to walk down to the edge of the rocks, and sit and just go "awwwww...." for a bit.  I could have stayed there a day or 2 or 200... 

 We stopped by the (very) little fishing village  called "Quidi Vidi."  Will have to google that when I'm less tired....  it could have been in Norway - it's funny how the two sides of the ocean look the same. 

 And then we went to the easternmost point of the Americas- Cape Spear!  You can almost see France from here......  It is  also the site of an interesting fort that supported the allies during both WWI and WWII.  
We thought we'd have dinner by the harbor, but the hotel - which is very near the harbor and has a lovely view of Cabot tower- was so comfy and easy....  so we just stayed in....
...

Tomorrow- we are off to France!!!!!!!!! (really!)