August 1 in St. Pierre.

Three of us on the ferry to St. Pierre, were all bundled up as it was quite cold and windy. The weather was good though and we saw the coast along the way over.

They switched to the French flag when we entered French waters.

A view of St Pierre from the water.

This town huddled by the edge of the bay was also cute and filled with bright colored buildings.

The white boat in the back was our ferry. We arrived around 9:00 AM and spent the night.

Mostly we walked around town and shopped. Of course the licence plates are French.

The island has a population of 6000 people and most of them reside within the town. The streets were amazingly empty at times, especially during the noon hour when everything closes for lunch. Stores seem to be able to decide their own hours and days of operation.

The streets are quite narrow with one way traffic. There are lots of cars.

The bright colors help alleviate the dreariness of the grey foggy days, especially in the winter.

The largest and probably oldest church.

City Hall I think.

Detour in English.

For my door collection.

We thought we might visit this historical island in the morning but it was foggy and rainy so we decided to skip it. It is not far off shore from St Pierre.

These people were learning to sail in the harbour.

The breakwater with a light house. Wow the sky is blue today.

Susan looking back towards town.

Door of the lighthouse.

It was hard to get a picture of this flower, it was so weird.

One of the oldest houses in town.

We took a bus tour around the island in the afternoon. It is amazing how quickly the fog can roll in.


Fog on the rocks looks like a moonscape.

Another coastal view.

This is the passenger terminal area of the airport. They have only one small jet plane but they must also receive flights of other airlines.

This is the new hospital building.

A view as we were coming back to town.

The graveyard had some old stones. They require the families of the deceased to maintain the stones and plots in good condition. If there are no family left to do that they will remove the grave and place what is left of the remains in a building designed for that purpose.

They speak mostly French but most shops speak enough English that we had no trouble. We didn't try to go to the other French Islands and felt that 24 hours is plenty of time to see what is here if the weather co-operates.

Arrived in Fortune July 31st

Today we left St. John's and drove down onto the Burin Peninsula which is between Fortune Bay and Placentia Bay. We followed highway 210 down to the town of Fortune on the west coast. Highways 210 and 220 form a touring loop known as the Heritage Run. We managed to see a few things on the section we drove today.

Below is shot near Sandy Harbour River at an interpretive view park containing many boulders which were left behind from the ice age when the glaciers began to melt.

Susan is beside one looking at the Inuksuk on top.

There were lots of wild flowers everywhere we went, many that I hadn't seen before.

Just past Boat Harbour we stopped to see this old fisherman's house at a place called Livyers Lot.

Then we went to this building next door for lunch. We all had a bowl of chicken soup made with salt beef. It was tasty enough but neither tantalizing nor terrifying to the taste buds. It was comfort food and most welcome on this foggy, rainy day.

This is a view in the dining room of the tea house. This was also an old house which has been restored.

There was a nice view from the dining room window but the window was pretty also.

These are the seed cones on an Elder bush. They grow everywhere here and the moose are said to like them. The leaf we crushed smelled fresh and didn't have a bitter taste and the seed cone was crunchy and tasted a bit like a crab apple although not as tart.

We arrived at Fortune mid-afternoon and located the ferry office where we picked up our tickets for tomorrow. Then we went to our suite which happens to be the entire top floor of the red building below. We are near the waterfront but don't have much of a view because the fish plant runs along the shore in front.

Nearby was this Interpretation Center which focused on fossils and rock from the area.

One of the boats in dry dock.

Another boat which appeared to have gotten a new back end.

Walking out behind the marine buildings we came to Horse Brook Trail, a nature trail with tons of wild flowers.

We walked to the other end on a trail beside a marshy area near the waters edge.

It was quite foggy but beautiful.

We saw great patches of wild roses in bloom.

Also other interesting and beautiful flowers.

Joanne and Susan on the path.

We had supper in the little tea house which is conveniently right beside our B & B, and then went to visit the George and Mary Lake Heritage House.

It had been restored back to its original state without power or water.

It was a lovely day in spite of the rain and now we are preparing for the trip to St Pierre tomorrow.