Two days in France....

(posted from Espresso shop, Bonavista, NL)
(This post covers 8-11 September, 2010)

-------------------------


Saturday, 11 September-

This morning we woke late (0830) and had a slow start before heading back north. At Marystown we shopped at the Canadian Tire for lithium grease (hopefully to quiet an occasional noise from the power-steering unit pulley) and a few odds and ends. We then visited the local library which was closed but had left their wi-fi router running. Since we had accounts established in the Newfoundland Public Library system when we were at Clarenville, we could sign on and use it.
We caught up on email and made a Skype call to Labashi's parents. The library opened while we were working and we found they had a nice selection of used books. I bought three books and two DVDs for $1.50.
We then had a few more items to track down at the Wal-mart. We bought butane for the cookstove and chemicals for the Necessary. Finally, we decided we'd better finish off the bakeapples we bought a few days ago so we picked up a small ice-cream from the McDonald's and had bakeapple (cloudberry) sundaes in the van. Goood!
We then drove up back up the Burin Peninsula, now in the rain and getting heavier as we went north. Rain was still light when we passed something odd on the road and turned back for a better look. It was a road-killed beaver--- the first of those we've ever seen. The poor thing had apparently just been trying to cross the road between two ponds close to the road on each side when it was hit.
And on the subject of road-kill, there's very little of it in Newfoundland. We do see an occasional bloody spot where apparently somebody had a run-in with a moose but there's nothing there but a dark red mark-- no car parts, no moose parts. As we drive we see signs about how many moose hits there have been and it's clearly a big problem here. We try not to drive at night though we did have about an hour's worth of it on the way down to the ferry a few days ago. We notice that some of the locals have mounted driving lights on the roof-racks of their cars. And while we were driving that hour the other night we saw an oncoming pickup dim a spotlight he had mounted on his roof as we approached.
We made it to the Trans-Canada about 1700 and decided we might as well spend the night at the Clarenville Wal-mart. But then we remembered we're supposed to get strong winds tonight so with our fresh memory of the windy night at the St. John's airport Wal-mart, we carried on north to Lockston Path Provincial Park for some well-treed campsites. We arrived around 1930 and picked a well-protected site and settled in for the evening.
Labashi's reading 'Random Passage' and I've finished up 'Nine Dragons' and have started John Grisham's 'Ford County'.

---------------------------------------

Friday, 10 September-

After breakfast we checked out of the B&B and said a fond farewell to Ines. The rain and wind had stopped so we rode our bikes along the pier, walked out to the lighthouse (where we met a Frenchman visiting from Stasbourg and had a pleasant chat with him). We rode along the docks and then back through town to the Centre Commerciale where we continued looking at all the different foods and household goods.
We had lunch at the Hotel Robert where some of the other ferry passengers were passing the time.
The ferry was about a half-hour late but we had no problems boarding and our ride back across was rough at first but then smoothed out we neared Newfoundland. Neither of us was at all queasy on this trip even though we had six-foot seas for the first two-thirds of the ride.
We had a longish wait for Customs but cleared back into Canada with no problems. We retrieved Mocha Joe from his storage lot, loaded up the bikes and off we went.
On this fine evening we went into Grand Bank hoping to find a restaurant serving spaghetti but then realized we'd rather have Labashi's good spaghetti anyway, so we shopped at a Sobey's and went to nearby Frenchman's Cove Provincial Park for the night.
Frenchman's Cove was beautiful. We had it mostly to ourselves and on this sunny evening the pines and sea views were wonderful.
After our good spaghetti supper we took a long walk around the campground before retiring for the night.

-------------------------------------

Thursday, 9 September-

We had our B&B breakfast of very good French bread, small cheeses (the foil-wrapped kind), croissants, orange juice, and tea-- a very nice start to the day. It got even better when Ines informed us that we could stay another night if we wanted to. The windy day had caused the ferry to cancel so the guest who had reserved our room could not make it.
Unfortunately, we had the rain and wind for our weather today too. We walked down to the main street and checked out the stores, then as the rain got worse, went to the library.
We browsed a bit, then the librarian asked me if I'd like some English-language books and found three for me. One was a history of St. Pierre, another was about an incident in World War II there, and another was a novel about life on St. Pierre in its cod-fishing days. The history book was relatively small and had excellent historical photos so I read the entire thing in about an hour.
We then walked down to the harbor area and took a walk through the home-supply store. I liked seeing all the imported French appliances, furniture, door handles, electrical fittings, etc.
After lunch we went to the Archive Museum which had a very good section on St. Pierre history. Afterwards we stopped in a women's clothing store called 'The Twinkling of an Eye' (in French) where Labashi was unhappy to find the really nice French skirt she had seen and loved on the store window model didn't fit and turned out not to be French-made.
With the rain continuing to blow, we retreated to the library once again and were quite happy to do so. I read French motorcycling and boating magazines and loved seeing the pictures of models of both which are not available in the US.
That evening we had dinner at a restaurant downtown called 'Feu de Braise'. We had had a big meal last night so opted to share a Hawaiian pizza. After, we stopped in the bar downstairs and I had an Irish coffee and Labashi a very good porto.

------------------------------------

Wednesday, 8 September-

Something was up at the Wal-mart last night. The store closed around 2200 but I noticed several trucks had come in just before closing. One of them was a large pumping truck, i.e., a large cylinder with a pump mechanism on the back. That one backed up to the front doors of the Wal-mart and in a few minutes a very loud pumping sound began and we could see the five or six-inch hose leading into the Wal-mart shaking and bouncing.
This Wal-mart has a McDonald's on the side and I could see men going in with stepladders. I can't put two and two together and get four but whatever it was probably had to do with the McDonald's. The loud pumping lasted from 2200 to well past 2300. We of course didn't know when it was going to stop so we started talking about moving to somewhere else when the sound mercifully died away and all the trucks left, leaving the entire parking lot to us and us alone.
We woke early this morning and had a quick breakfast so we could get down to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. We had reservations to take the passenger ferry to St. Pierre, a French island 12 miles off the coast.
Since we were early we had time to visit the small visitor's center at Fortune (the town where the ferry departs). When I asked about wi-fi, the ladies staffing the center said I could get it at the RONA, which is a small version of a Home Depot. That seemed odd so after we pulled in and determined it was indeed a building supply store, I went in and asked if it was ok. The manager came out and said certainly it was okay and if we had any problems, just come in and we could use it inside the store or use one of their computers. Such friendly people, it's amazing.
The ferry is a passenger-only ferry so we had to leave Mocha Joe behind but we did take our folding bikes and we loaded the cooler with two bags of ice. We left Mocha Joe in a fenced parking lot which is locked at night so we felt very secure about leaving him for the duration. The ferry ride was $114 per person round trip and parking $8 a day.
Our ferry departed on time and within a few minutes of leaving the inner harbor it was already seeming like a long trip. The seas were at first coming at us head-on and that was okay but before long we turned and that gave the boat a motion that made us reach for the peppermints to combat our queasiness. Fortunately the peppermints settled us down for the hour-and-a-half ride.
St. Pierre and a few nearby islands have been in French hands off and on since the 1600's. They've been invaded several times but each time the negotiations afterward gave the island back to the French. It is a French territory in every way. It flies the official flag of France (and the European Union), uses the French 220-volt electrical standard (with the round plugs), has gendarmes for policemen, etc. etc. Most cars are French-- Peugeots and Citroens, though there were a few jacked-up American pickups.
When we bought our ferry tickets we were informed that the weather prediction for tomorrow suggested that the ferry would not be able to run due to high winds-- so we'd probably have to stay two nights instead of one. The ferry office also offered us a package deal for the round trip for two and a room for two nights at the Hotel Robert for $548. That didn't sound like much of a deal to us so we decided we'd take the chance that we'd be able to find a room in one of the B&Bs.
That decision worked out well for us. On the way over we met Nichole, a St. Pierre resident, who told us of 'Chez Ines', a small B&B run by her sister in law (Ines).
The tourist office contacted Ines but she only had a room for one night. We said we'd take it and look for another for the next night.
Ines' house was perfect. It was ultra-clean and neat and had been thoughtfully re-done to serve as a B&B. A kitchen and sitting room were downstairs for us and upstairs were three rooms, two doubles and a single. Ines' private rooms-- her sewing and computer room and her living/dining room, had doors which she could close off when she wasn't there.
Ines was wonderful. She greeted us warmly and made sure we had everything we needed. She took care of reservations for dinner at a nice restaurant even though it wasn't open. She had the private cell-phone number of the owner (who she knew well, of course). She had maps and directions and contacts and recommendations. All we had to do is say what we'd like to do.
One of our goals for the trip was simply to have some good authentic French bread and butter. Ines gave us directions to the bakery where we bought a baguette (for 85 centimes or about $1) but we had to bike ten minutes across town to the supermarket for butter. We used the ATM machine to get Euros and took our baguette and butter and a bottle of water to enjoy at picnic tables in small park along the bay. The weather was perfect sitting there enjoying our baguette and watching the bay.
We then took another bike ride around town, stopping at one point for a few Belgian chocolates and another to look at B&Bs for tomorrow night and another to peruse the extensive menu at tonight's restaurant.
We went back to the B&B for an hour or so, then walked down to the harbor as we approached time for our restaurant reservation. The restaurant (“L'Atelier Gourmand”) did not open for the evening meal until 7:30 and we had a reservation for that time. But at 7:30 the restaurant still was not open. At 7:35 a car zoomed up and parked out front, a woman hurried into the restaurant (our waitress, as it turned out) and the lights came on. Voila!
We had wine (of course), a demi-liter of white and one of red. For an appetizer Labashi had snow-crab and avocado layered into a light pastry. I had escargots and mushrooms and cream sauce in a pastry (EXCELLENT!). For dinner Labashi had lobster stew and I had filet mignon in Bearnaise sauce.
After dinner we walked back to our B&B quite contented.
********** END OF POST ************