Today, we spent some time wandering around St. John’s and loved the charm of the city and the friendliness of the people. Ethan met some new friends and we experienced the majesty of Signal Hill.
Video to come.
Morning
Ethan started his day by doing some reading and writing work. He’s not a big fan of showing comprehension, but maybe he’s accepted that the practice may be helpful.
However, he does like working on math and asks plenty of questions. For example, he wanted to know why multiplying by zero equals zero.
Dong Eun observed that the questions he’s asking are to help him understand why something exists so that he feels like there is a purpose to what he’s learning, rather than simply memorizing facts or rules.
Breakfast time
It was leftover cod cheek soup with toasted hot dog buns, which was perfect because it was a chilly morning. We love the apples we’ve had on this road trip across Canada, so apples are always a breakfast staple.
After the soup, we had some snacking rounds, which we’ve only seen here in Newfoundland. They are made without additives, preservatives or artificial anything, so we decided to give them a try… the 50% discount didn’t hurt, too. Much to our surprise, they were amazing! A little bit like a mini Montreal style bagel in taste and texture; kind of soft and chewy.
Ethan has also been very happy about getting his Kindle privileges back and is usually reading Harry Potter every chance he gets.
But this morning, we wanted to see downtown St. John’s and then head up to Signal Hill. On the way, we saw a nice park with a playground so we stopped. The heritage homes in St. John’s are very cool, btw.
New Friends
We noticed some kids around Ethan’s age playing in the park. Since it was Monday, we thought it was a bit strange. Ethan liked it, and quickly started playing tag and hide and go seek with the three boys there. As luck would have it, they were also in Grade 4.
I talked to the dad who was with the boys and was told their elementary school needed to be shut down due to some structural damage. The kids had been out of school for almost a week, and today was their last day. Lucky for us!
The dad, Arthur, who is a philosophy professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, was taking the boys to Tim Hortons for hot chocolate. His son, Michael, invited Ethan and so we met up with them at Tim Hortons.
We had a nice chat with Arthur and they invited us to go trick-or-treating with them tomorrow night. Ethan was very happy and excited, but now we have to come up with a costume!
Afternoon
After the hot chocolate, we said our goodbyes and made our way downtown. We stopped by the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, which was built between 1839 and 1855, and was the largest Irish cathedral outside of Ireland at the time.
Inside, Ethan was a bit restless so it was a good opportunity to talk about being respectful in places of worship and how we should behave.
In downtown St. John’s, we picked up some maps and information from the tourist information centre. While we were parked, I didn’t pay the meter because I knew we’d be leaving soon. A parking bylaw enforcement officer came by so I started to engine to signal that we were leaving. But he wanted to talk.
Luckily, it was a friendly chat about our trip and that he has family out in BC. He was a retired RCMP officer who just wanted to chit chat and tell us about life in St. John’s. We’ve met such friendly people here, and it’s something we’ll always remember about Newfoundland.
Harbourside Park
We found a free parking spot (again!) and walked down to Harbourside Park.
On the way, we met a young woman who recently moved here from Toronto and loves the St. John’s lifestyle and friendly people. Ethan got a chance to play with her dog, which he always loves doing.
We also learned about Newfoundland’s two famous dog breeds: The Newfoundland and the Labrador.
We learned about some of the history of Harbourside Park and how Newfoundland was first discovered by John Cabot. And Ethan even found time for a little posing by the water.
UPDATE: Ethan told me to say he loved the park…NOT!
Signal Hill
We finally went up to Signal Hill, a short 5 minute drive from downtown Newfoundland. Another cool thing was that the weather was clearing up. We took the opportunity to snap a photo with the most eastern Canada 150 sign.
Signal Hill itself is pretty awesome. We read about its history and loved the views, too.
Ethan brought his camera and took some snaps, as well. Afterwards, we made our way down the short trail to the Queen’s Battery.
Ethan learned about how the canon’s were loaded and fired, and also why they were there in the first place.
Lunch & Hiking
We needed to fuel up because we wanted to hike the longer trail that led down to the water from Signal Hill. So it was sandwiches made from leftover cold plate meat.
UPDATE: Outside of where we parked, which was at the Geo Centre, we saw two Newfoundlands… the dogs!
And then it was time for the 1.7km one way hike, which was really 3.4km because we had to come all the way back up, too! But it was worth it, as the views going down were amazing.
There were three sets of the red chairs that have been placed all across Canada for the 150th birthday celebration, so we had to sit in all three. And Ethan found a heart shaped rock for Dong Eun.
And there’s always time for a GIF…
Near the end of the trail, the scenery and landscape were just as impressive.
Dong Eun and Ethan have been playing a game where they choose a pose, usually, it’s a funny face. But Ethan lately just smiles nicely, leaving Dong Eun the only one to make the face. But she’s a smart cookie and caught on to him pretty quickly.
We finally got to the end and decided to walk a bit more to see this very unique St. John’s neighbourhood. We loved to quirky signs in people’s homes, especially the one warning us of the attack cat.
Ethan found some berries and wanted to make mistletoe.
But now it was time to go back, as it was going to be a bit of long hike uphill. A local stopped and offered to take our photo. Another example of how friendly people are here.
Even the rocks are friendly.
Evening – Costume Making Time
With an invitation to go trick-or-treating, we needed to get Ethan a costume. We don’t like to buy costumes, as they are not overly original and we don’t think it’s a good way to spend money. So, we brainstormed some ideas and decided that Ethan would make a ghost emoji costume.
We picked up some poster board and a set of markers, that he needed anyway, and stopped at the 24 hour Sobeys to make the costume. Ethan followed a design he found online and created his own version of the ghost emoji.
Yes, he was quite proud of himself and we were proud of him, too. He had asked a few times if he could buy a costume, but with some creativity, he made himself a unique costume that he’ll always remember.
After dinner, Ethan added a few finishing touches to the costume. We happened to have a toque with horns, so it was the perfect last addition.
Now it was time to head back to Signal Hill and camp for the night. We just hope it won’t be too windy and/or rainy.
If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.
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