Thursday 20 August 2016

It’s raining today so we hail the Hop On Hop Off bus again (it was a two day ticket) and tolerate the incessant talk of, this time, Dylan. Dylan is a history graduate from Memorial University, Newfoundland’s only. He loves the island and doesn’t want to leave, so he is using his degree as a tour guide on the bus. As the rain eases, we alight at Quidi Vidi, pronounced by almost all as Kiddy Vidi. It’s only those who actually live in this historic fishing village who call it Kweyedi Veyedi.

The origin of the name is unknown, it is not Latin, but we do know that it dates back centuries

These are the first residential gardens we have seen, each with their own shed

Quidi Vidi’s harbour is accessed through what is called The Gap

Some skill needed to navigate that on a dark and foggy night with a boat load of cod.

Our next stop is Government House, built in 1829 for the British Governor of Newfoundland, now the residence of the Lieutenant Governor (since Newfoundland and Labrador became a province of Canada in 1949)

The Gardens are beautiful and very serene

I stood at arms when the cops passed by

Just outside Government House is St Thomas, built in 1836, and the oldest continually used Anglican Church in Newfoundland

We waited a long time for the HoHo bus. Possibly delayed by the driver having to make a quick detour for throat lozenges. It finally arrived and it took us to The Rooms, a museum of history, art and culture. We learnt about the influence of the Irish on Newfoundland, which is often called the most Irish place outside of Europe. Irish migration started in the late 1600s, with many of the settlers coming from Waterford.

We had a sandwich in the cafe in The Rooms, which was fairly buzzing

We then made our way downhill, to the harbour and the hotel. It’s a slow walk for me, any walk of mine these days is slow, and the photo editor took advantage and checked out the neighbourhood. The general expression for the highly coloured houses is Jelly Bean Row

Everyone is welcomed in this most welcoming of cities

And the water is never far away