Newfoundland - St. John's

Today was still windy, but only had the occasional showers in the afternoon. Definitely a great improvement from yesterday.

Our AirBnB is located on the second floor of an old "Jelly Bean Row" house. It has its own charm and is definitely a unique space. It has a large living room with 2 comfortable sofas to relax on. The bedroom is in the back of the house next to the kitchen, making it is nice and quiet. We are located on a fairly busy street, but surprisingly enough you can barely hear the traffic when you are in the suite. Free street parking (with a permit provided) is a nice touch as well.

We were, like many, enchanted by the rows of brightly-painted Victorian terrace houses in the downtown area of St. John's. They are decorated in a wide range of rainbow of hues ... reds, mauves, blues, greens and yellows. These "Jelly Bean" houses were originally constructed as temporary accommodation after the Great Fire of 1892. Today they provide permanent residences for its ever-increasing number of citizens. One story even tells of some fishermen who painted their dwellings the same colour as their boats. How fascinating to be staying in one of these historical homes.

Given that the weather was holding up, we decided to explore St. John's today by foot. We started our adventures by heading out of our place and toward downtown. Our number one goal today was to try to find "Mile 0" of the TCH in the city of St. John's. We started our Cross Canada adventure this summer in Victoria and made it to "Mile 0" on the west coast. After travelling the entire distance across Canada, one of our stops in St. John's is to make it to the other end of the Trans Canada Highway. I still haven't figured it out why they call it "Mile 0" at each end, but to say you have been to both markers in one adventure is something of an achievement.

We stopped into the local hotel for a tourist map and I made an

inquiry as to where you can find the "Mile 0 Marker". Believe it or not the information on where you can visit the marker is as difficult as it is to track down the actual marker. The front desk at the hotel directed us to a "marker" that is located in front of the local Railway Museum. So off we went, hoping that we were not going to be the "last team to arrive". As it turns out it was the marker of Mile 0 of the TransCanada Trail and not the TCH. Oops, we likely are going to be the last team to arrive to the check in.

So off we we went up Waterfront street to do some window shopping amongst the local boutiques and restaurants. As we we were wandering along we came across the Newman Wine Vaults. The Newman Wine Vaults tell the amazing story of a 300-year connection between wine produced in sunny Portugal, aged in the cool climate of Newfoundland, and sipped by England's aristocracy for generations.

The legend is that in 1679 a Newman & Company vessel loaded with port wine left Portugal for London but was driven off course and came to pass the winter in St. John's. When the ship returned to England the following spring her cargo was found to have improved in flavour. From then until 1996 Newman's celebrated "Ruby Port" was aged in Newfoundland - much of it in the romantic stone vaults on Water Street. Newman Wine Vaults is where it all began.

We happened to stumble across the St. John's tourism office as we continued to wander down Water Street. Luckily, they were able to point us in the direction of the actual "marker of Mile 0". As it turns out it is located right in front of City Hall. The TransCanada Highway actually has been extended beyond the original end point over the years and now ends at the "City Dump". The thought is that once the solid waste depot is relocated they will develop a park and a significant marker for Mile 0. Until then it sits quietly beside City Hall, walked by unknowing people each and every day.

We had a great time wandering around downtown and checking out the history of old St. John's. What a great city, but boy is it windy here.