I got into
the habit of doing point form post a while ago, works for me and seems to be
more useful for people looking for hotel details etc than straight-up prose.
Photos of
all this will be posted HERE and added to as we go along.
Speaking of
hotels:
1. It wasn’t why we picked it (the selection isn’t
great outside the mid-June to August high season as many or maybe even all
B&Bs seem to close) but we stayed at a hotel friends used when here a few
years ago. L’Hotel Robert. Right on the harbor. Reno’d rooms, pleasant small hotel, perhaps
30 of them. Free internet access and the
best I have had in a hotel in a long time, perhaps ever.
2. Pleasant little restaurant in the
front of the building but not prt of the hotel.
Our first night her we ate there and is was very good. Geri had a seafood past dish while I had a
seafood Cassolette St. Jacques with frites.
Yum. I liked the house white
whilst my oak-addicted table mate did not.
3. Al Capone stayed here while visiting with
business partners during US prohibition.
We keep running into his footsteps.
Here, Windsor, Cuba…
The Trip Out
From St. John’s:
1. There was no foreign currency ATM at
the St. John’s airport and no cambio (open or closed) in sight. Luckily, as the guidebooks tell you, CAD is accepted
by anyone in the tourist biz, including taxis.
I even got back Euros as change.
2. Air St. Pierre has two plnes: an ATR
42 they use for international flights to St. John’s, Halifax, Sydney and
Montreal and a Cessna for domestic operations.
3. Things a bit informal. The departure time seemed to float and we
left 15 minutes early (or 50 minutes using the earliest of the departure times
provided throughout the day) when all the passengers had checked-in.
4. 40 minutes gate to gate with most of
the flight being over NL. We started
descending while still over Canada, that’s how close it is.
Arrival:
1. No other aircraft in sight. Luggage and passport control fast. Lots of locals pulled over for searches. None of the dogs we had been warned of and so
Geri could have brought her non-prescription meds.
2. No taxis waiting. You call (free phone by the unpersoned info
desk) and them come get you.
3. See above re paying for the
taxi.
4. The ride nto town (5 minutes and E5
or about $8CAD) was a nice intro and a reminder that we really are in
France. Fun, occasionally exciting with
many gear changes made more on principle than out of necessity.
Pre-Diner
Walk:
1. It was a beautiful sunny evening
(remember, quite north here) and so we went for a walk to give me a chance to
work up an appetite after a giant breakfast in St. John’s and to get my camera
reflexes back.
2. Speaking of backs, Geri’s seemed to
be doing quite well all day. Bit
surprising really, but there you are.
3. Unfortunately either sitting at the
desk reading a bit before bed or the bed itself means she is having a bad back
day as we start Day 2. Look for updates
tonight.
4. This is clearly a working town. A sea port.
Not really touristy at least not at this time of year.
5. Small, comprehensible.
6. Feel like a French village. Was thinking it would feel like the northern
coast of France but actually Basque-ie. The
architecture for one thing. There’s also
a zazpiak-bat court.
7. The main square is, of course, Place
General de Gaulle.
8. Lots of North American cars and
pickups with French plates.
9. With my BB disabled rather than
incurring international roaming charges am feeling a bit twitchy but it’s also
kinda nice to be without work e-mail and to be using a real camera rather than
my phone. Aside from the optics quality
etc I spend a lot more time composing with a camera than with a BB. The phone seems to encourage quick and dirty ‘life
streaming’.
10. On the harbor is a weird little
building with glass walls on three sides.
All over those walls are posters of beauty pageants and Miss St. Pierre
et Miquelon. Inside is a small meeting
room with a table, chairs, a computer and more of those posters.
Stay tuned…
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