Saint Pierre, part trois

I now present the third and final instalment of photos of the Saint Pierre visit. This is, of course, the topic the horror writers have been waiting for. The cemetery with its above-ground tombs in various states of disrepair. I don't know entirely why they are above ground, similar to New Orleans. If I were to hazard a guess it would be because the soil is shallow and very rocky much like many locations in Newfoundland.

I recall reading at some point during our visit that the cemetery was established in the late 1800's but has been relocated twice in its history. It is shown on the tourist map on the Saint Pierre website and listed as one of their attractions to visit. It's a strange feeling walking about the site, spread out across the top of the hillside west of the 'downtown' area.

The tombs are many shapes, sizes and colours much like the older dwellings within the town itself. Many tombs are well-tended and are no doubt often visited. Others are in complete disarray, perhaps because the family members have long ago left the community. There is a great view of the town and harbour from the cemetery (if the fog has lifted) and a view of the hillside that backs the town to the north. I'll stop yapping now and let the photos speak for themselves.

BTW, the banner above is a 'panoramic' shot of 3 photos stitched together by our camera...V likes to experiment with the camera. I thought it would look better shown up there rather than squashing it into a space in the post. For those who didn't get tortured enough enjoyed the photos, I will load them (and some that I didn't show) on my Facebook page over the next few days.

Does anyone know what the little 'port holes' are for?

Seeing that little window open kinda gives me the creeps...

This one kind of speaks for itself.

The End.

Saint Pierre, part deux

In this segment, I have included photos from: the streets of Saint Pierre, in a restaurant and inside the modern Musée et Archives de la Collectivité Territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. Or as I prefer to call it...the Museum.

The streets were foggy and drizzly most of our visit but I have tried to include a few pictures that show the hilly nature of the town and the colourful homes, qualities it shares with neighbouring Newfoundland. Three days (one evening, 2 full days, and a morning) are enough to take in everything as you can walk from one end of town to the other in about 1/2 hour.

There is a small museum of cinema, but we avoided it as it was a bit pricey to get in and smelled like granny's damp basement. The main Museum, however, is very modern and heavily subsidized by the French government. There are a lot of artifacts depicting the early fishing heritage of the islands and displays that describe the history of the early native settlers. Again, a background similar to that of Newfoundland. The guillotine is very popular with the tourists but is tucked away in a corner as if they were embarrased at its presence. Interesting. You can browse the Museum web site here. Not to worry, click on the 'translate' button to get the information in English.

There was one large liquor store in town that had a large selection of many beverages. Sadly, my knowledge of French wines is lacking (c'est dommage!) so I didn't purchase any. However, a fancy 12 year old Scotch winked at me...

We discovered that there are five main restaurants where fine French cuisine was available. It took a day to discover the quirky hours (by our standards, at least). They opened for lunch from about 12 until 2pm and then closed until about 7pm and stayed open until about 10:00pm. A word of advise...a reservation is always necessary in Saint Pierre. I have never been to France, so I can't compare the meals. However, I have been to Montreal and Quebec City and the dining was comparable to the fine eats available in those locations. I had a very nice pepper steak one night and a fillet of cod with a very nice coating of almonds served on a bed of peppers. I could continue but I think we should move on to the pictures.

Street scene looking east towards the harbour

Narrow streets and colourful houses aplenty

The duck house in the pond near the cemetery

Once a forge, this building demonstrates the architecture of over 100 years ago. The use of timbers, filled in with bricks is visible on the near end wall

The gardens in front of the cemetery

A small French import called an Aixam. How small is it? Scroll down....

Farther....

Farther....

Yep, that's me protecting my privates with a plastic bag. Small car, eh?


This was the logo just to the left of the door (V took this photo, not me...)


Relaxing in a nice restaurant after a day of walking in the fog

Can't go wrong with caramel cheesecake and coffee (anyone hungry yet?)

One of the many artifacts on display in the Museum and Archives. Admission price is 4 Euros each (about $5.50)

While in the museum, a wedding party arrived for photos in the premises.

The happy couple...and a little kid. That reminds me, Cathy Olliffe has been nagging me about a wedding story to post at her blog. Ours was a sordid affair...should I participate?

The infamous guillotine. It was used in 1889. The one and only execution by guillotine in North America.

Slide on in. Try it on for size.

Want a cliche? A clean, close shave...


I hope you enjoyed the second installment. I'll close off here but will return for the final segment, part trois, where I shall continue the morbidity with a pictorial tour of the Saint Pierre cemetery.

Saint Pierre, part une

I have quite a few photos to bore you with present to you about Saint Pierre, so I'll break this into three segments.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I spent three days on the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon just off the coast of the Burin Peninsula here in Newfoundland. It's a little known location to most of the population of North America. I only learned of the 'overseas collectivity' just four years ago when we moved here. Most school age children in Newfoundland are familiar with Saint Pierre as they often run school trips there as part of French language programs.

The archipelago has a population of about 6200 people, about 5500 of whom live on the smaller island of Saint Pierre to the south. The ferry from Fortune takes about 1 hour 45 min to cross to Saint Pierre. The ferry, though, does not take cars so we left our van in a secure compound back in Fortune. I was surprised at how many of the passengers on the ferry were French citizens on their way home from visiting/shopping in Newfoundland. We were later to discover that many of the young people finish school and attend universities in Quebec as well as France.

The islands, similar to the coastal areas of Newfoundland, have a long history of disputes over the fishing grounds. Saint Pierre and Miquelon changed hands between the English and the French a number of times since its early occupation in the 16th century. The islands also have a strong Basque influence passed down through generations from the early settlers. You can read more in the Wikipedia article here about Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The article about the more populated island of Saint Pierre can be read here.

Oil rig Henry Goodrich in Marystown for a 2 month refit from White Rose Oilfield

A shot from the ferry at a neighbouring island as we neared the harbour

Sorry a bit fuzzy...one of the zodiac tours available out of Saint Pierre

A harbour view of Saint Pierre as we approached the dock

Another view of Saint Pierre from the harbour

Yet another shot of town from the harbour...bored yet?

Another ferry in the harbour. For tours, I believe

School age kids getting sailing lessons on a foggy morning

A sailboat leaving the foggy harbour

Lighthouse to the east of the town

Fishermen's huts near the lighthouse

Place handle into vertical spindle to crank boat in from water

Boom

Ok, I'm sure that you've seen enough now. Take a break before I drop in another cassette and continue the slide show in Part Deux. This will have a few street scenes and the museum that houses the infamous guillotine. For those that want more information about tourism in Saint Pierre, they have a pretty good web page with information on hotels, B & B's, transportation, maps and tours available about town and to the islands of Miquelon and Langlade. Click here.

Creeping Back after the Holiday

Wow! A week has passed already since my last post. I figured I should make the effort to pop in and say hello. The day was long so I'll keep the post short. First days back to work after holidays really suck.

V and myself took the ferry across to the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon just south of the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland. It has a population of about 6200, with 90% living in the town of Saint-Pierre. The colony has bounced between French and English hands several times since the 1500's but has been under continual French rule since 1815. It was a thriving fishing community in the 1800's and also had several years of prosperity, between 1920 and 1933, during the prohibition as it was a base for the smuggling of alcohol to both Canada and America. Al Capone is said to have stayed in the same hotel we stayed in. Cool.

I shall post some commentary and photos of Saint Pierre once the camera guru downloads the photos using some sort of camera voodoo.