Last Day - Full Circle

The ship pulled into St. John’s this morning as the last stop for all passengers, and some of the crew.  For the next two weeks, it will be repositioning empty.  So, even the Expedition Team disembarked and headed their separate ways.  We had a nice last breakfast, and got to say some goodbyes to friends we had met over the last 2 ½ weeks.  St. John’s seems huge!!  There are 100,000 people here, which frankly, is more than the population of ALL the places we stopped since Copenhagen, COMBINED!  The next two larger places would be Nuuk with about 15K, and Iqaluit with about 7 or 8K.  Quite a few had less than 500.  So, this was definitely the biggest place we had seen in weeks!

We got a taxi to the airport, and picked up our rental car, and headed to the hotel.  We sort of got the feeling we were coming “full circle” with this stop.  First, the hotel is on Stavanger Road, recall that we stopped over in Stavanger, Norway at the beginning of this trip.  We were happy to be able to check in, drop everything off, and head out again.  But first, we had a mini-second breakfast.  Theresa wasn’t 100% for breakfast on the ship, and they still had free breakfast at the Hampton Inn, so we grabbed a bite.  I saw a guy there with a shirt from University of Houston!  All the way up here in Newfoundland, and we run into someone from our alma mater!

Our first stop was the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, also the Cathedral.  It was enormous!  I think, like St John’s itself, this basilica might fit every church we had seen inside with room to spare.  We attended Mass, and enjoyed the grandeur of the place.

   
[St John the Baptist Basilica in St John’s Newfoundland]

After church, we headed to Cape Spear, the easternmost point of the North American continent.  A lighthouse was built there in 1836, and a few supporting buildings later.  We had considered going there to watch sunrise, which might have been a good idea, but frankly, I am no morning person, and that sounds like a bad way to start my last vacation day!  So, we went this afternoon. 

[As East as I can safely go (without breaking the rules)!]

[I don’t follow all of the rules!]

[The lighthouse at Cape Spears]

[To the coast…]

[Cape Spears used to have cannons for coastal defense, especially from U-Boats.]

We spent a LOT more time there than we thought, but it was enjoyable.  While there, we saw our cruise ship departing and heading out to open sea.  It was strange seeing it leave, even more so knowing it was empty of passengers, with the crew working hard to super clean it for the next two weeks.

[Our ship leaving in the distance, with waves crashing on the easternmost point of North America.]

After a very late lunch, we went to Signal Hill, the point where the first transatlantic radio signal was received from Europe December 12^th, 1901.  At the top of the hill, was Cabot Tower, erected in 1897 to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of John Cabot’s exploration.  It is interesting to think the tower is 100 years old, so Cabot’s travels were half a millennium ago.  There were great views of St John’s, the harbor, the narrow approach, and such.

[St John’s Harbor from Signal Hill.]

[The easternmost point from Signal Hill.  It is the tip on the left.]

[A panorama from Signal Hill]

[Cabot Tower with aircraft gun.]

As we got ready to head back, it occurred to me, the “freeway” we were right next to, the TransCanada Highway (TCH) was at its easternmost point.  See our posting for 2011, November 3^rd (actually posted on the 4^th, but titled “I don’t know where the ice is?!?—Thursday 3^rd”).

[Gotta look at the Nov 3^rd/4^th posting in 2011…it will make sense!]

We went back to the hotel, and just hung out in the room, finding a cartoon on CBC about some Inuit family.  It was fun to watch, but lacked a little of reality!  Oh well!  It was a great wrap up to the trip.  Tomorrow is all about travel home.