Day 84: Placentia to St. John's

Location: St. John's, Nfld
Date: Thurs, July 17

After a Scallop dinner for breakfast, I explored Placentia a bit.



Then I headed to Castle Hill National Historic Site. Castle Hill features the remains of French and English fortifications from the 17th and 18th centuries. Placentia (or Plaisance as the French called it) was a key fishing village fought over by the French and British from 1662 to 1713. As was the case with most battles, the British won the battle.





I then headed to St. John's. The terrain is unlike anything I've seen, although a bit similar to the drive between Thunder Bay and Manitoba. Lots of rocks, and small lakes.


Newfoundland is also home to some great village names. For example, Foxtrap and Conception Bay.


I started my visit with a trip to Quidi Vidi. Upon arrival at the Quidi Vidi lake, I was greeted with a flock of pigeons who followed me around like minions.




Fortunately this unsuspecting girl, who was feeding ducks distracted them away from me...


I continued on to Quidi Vidi village, for a step back in time.



Then I headed to Signal Hill National Historic Site, where I stopped at the Visitor Centre and thought it would be appropriate to spend a few hours on the Internet catching up.


Signal Hill was at the forefront of modern communications. In 1901 Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal at Signal Hill. In 1920 Cabot Tower was the site of the earliest wireless phone calls across the Atlantic.

It was a beautiful clear day and I regret not making it up to Signal Hill until 8 pm. I still had a decent view of Cabot Tower and the coast. If I'd been up there earlier, I might have seen whales.



Around 8:30 pm I arrived at my parents hotel, The Captain's Quarters, which local folks would later tell me is rumoured to be haunted.


My parents & I headed out to Ches's for some fish & chips. First timers get this fancy certificate!


After supper, I headed to CBTG's for my show that night.


Big shout outs to Neil Conway of The Discounts for hooking up a couple of shows! He opened up the night at CBTGs with a fun acoustic set!


I was the second act, and decided to take a picture of everyone with their thumbs up during the Super Dude Jorun remix!


The final act of the night was the rap-punk-metal band Local Tough.