Back in 2004 I visited Canada… for about an hour. I walked across a bridge, looked at a big waterfall, and then walked back again. Niagara Falls was very impressive, but I’ve not been back to Canada since. A few days ago I visited St. John’s, Newfoundland, at the end of a cruise. I had to leave the ship and head to the airport, but not until 4:30pm.
My first plan was to head to a small town near St. John’s. There is nothing of interest in this town, but I wanted to visit anyway. Why? Because the town is called Dildo.
This lead to much amusement when I mentioned it on twitter and Facebook, mainly due to the many puns. But it would be quite expensive in both time and money, so I decided to let that plan slide. No puns this time.
I decided to walk towards Signal Hill, a big bluff at the mouth of the harbor. It’s the location of Marconi’s first ever transatlantic radio transmissions. Such a transmission was thought impossible, but trying it out lead to the radio waves bouncing off the ionosphere instead of just running in straight lines into space.
A labrador! Although Labrador is the province next door to Newfoundland, they are represented by sculptures. There were also some Newfoundlander dog sculptures, but I didn’t take photos of them.
There are lots of painted wooden buildings in St. John’s. Unfortunately none of them piqued my photographers eye. But this bird box did.
The entrance to the harbor, guarded by cannons, with the city in the background.
Culver’s tower on top of Signal Hill.
This is the location of that first ever transatlantic radio signal reception antenna, the reason this is called Signal Hill. It’s also REALLY windy.
A small dog.
A labrador! a real one this time.
Ashley, my fellow adventurer, recently unbraided hair blowing in the wind.
The walk was much longer than expected, as we took the more adventurous route back down Signal Hill. I was fine, but someone else was wearing flip-flops.
The fishing village part of the city. Note the buildings falling into the sea. This was one of the many results of a single freak wave earlier in the year.
Ashley and me, surprisingly sunburnt.
I always love checking out second hand bookshops in all the cities I visit. It’s a pity I didn’t have time to look about much, as I had to get back to the ship in time to leave the ship.
That’s it as far as photos go! I did get some video of me juggling in Canada/Newfoundland, but due to the strong wind, I couldn’t do anything particularly interesting. Except, that is, straddle a cannon for full on phallic symbolism.