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www.clubmasterhoang.blogspot.com
POST 354 05August 2018
ST. JOHN’S
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ST. JOHN’S
This
summer 2018 I wanted to visit Memorial University and the city of St. John’s in Newfoundland
and Labrador (Not to be confused with Saint John, in New Brunswick). This city
is the North America's most easterly city, only about 3,700 kilometres to the
city of Caen in France. I was there last May conducting an intensive martial
arts training.
St.
John's is one of North America's oldest European settlements. With a population
of about 109,000 souls St. John’s covers 446 square kilometres. In recent
years, thanks to offshore petroleum industry the economy has been growing
quickly. In 2011, at $52,000 the city's per capita GDP is among the highest of
Canadian cities.
At
the beginning I was thinking about going from Ontario to St. John’s by road (2324km).
But a realistic plan showed that it would take four days to cover this trip,
including the time for a ferry crossing from North Sydney in Nova Scotia to
Port aux Basques in Newfoundland. Finally I must postpone that dream and
opted for a flight of two hours and 40 minutes with Air Canada.
On
that Friday, at 12:55 pm, an urban bus brought me directly from St. Johns
International Airport to Memorial University which is located at the other
end of the route 14. The bus ticket costs only $2.50, and when I put some
coins in the ticket-box to pay my travel I realized that I was still on the
soil of Canada and I did not need an exchange of currency for any of my
transactions. St. John’s, although far away from Ottawa and set on an island,
is part of our country. In the History of Canada the Province of Newfoundland
is the last province to enter in the Confederation; what if this entrance did
not happen? Recently, in 2001, the province of Newfoundland has taken a new
official name as Newfoundland and Labrador, it is now clear that this Anglophone
province consists of the island of
Newfoundland (108,860 square kilometers) and the vast area of Labrador (294,330
square kilometers), neighbouring the Francophone
province of Quebec. In the future could it help avoid conflict between the
two provinces regarding Labrador? According to some research, the name
Labrador came from the Portuguese term ‘llvrador’ (landowner).
I
got my accommodations in the Hatcher Building, room 405, on the campus of MUN
(Memorial University of Newfoundland). This university is the Atlantic
Canada's largest university. Memorial University of Newfoundland
provides comprehensive education and
grants respected degrees. Its historical strengths in
engineering, business, geology, and medicine make MUN one of the top
comprehensive universities in Canada. The business school occupies a modern
white building. The campus of MUN is very well organized and my room is large
and quiet. I really appreciated the generous
breakfast with music presentation on Sunday morning by a nice violinist. From the campus it took me about 40 minutes to
walk down to the city center and it was a great pleasure for me to do so
rather than taking the bus.
St. John's architecture has a distinct style from
the rest of Canada, and its major buildings are remnants of its history as
one of the first British colonial capitals. Housing in St. John's is
typically painted in bright colours and I really take great pleasure to see
these colourful houses while walking around the downtown of St. John’s which
is a hilly terrain and steep maze of residential and commercial streets. Many
good restaurants, bars and coffee shops abound Water Street, next to the
harbour. Parallel to Water Street, George Street is a short street with no
other shops than restaurants or bars; nothing happens here in the day but at
night it becomes a crowded special street after 9:30pm, full of activities
and music. In some sense George Street made me think of the Second Street in
Philadelphia.
Late night walking back from downtown to the campus
of MUN , alone through deserted streets, up and down, gave me a strong sense that
we have a precious life to fill in at each moment rather than sitting in a
safe place and let it pass.
I like St. John’s very much and in this Post 354 I want to share with you a number of
pictures taken spontaneously during my visit to St John’s last July, 2018.
*In one place
of my notebook for this trip in St. John’s I have noted:
-Tour: Iceberg Quest, $65, depart 9:13am
-Bus 14 to Airport, 10 to downtown, 5 to Quidi Vidi.
Bus 27 called The Link
-Bagle Café 234 Ducksworth/delicious dessert Lemon
meringue. Fish Exchange at Harbor and Water Street. Restaurant Yellow,
between George Street and Water Street. The Rooms Museum: excellent view over
the city, nice service for lunch. Sushi Island restaurant, 210 Water Street (all
you can eat for $20), delicious meals!
-Must see: Quidi Vidi, Signal Hill, Titanic Museum
Charles Phan Hoang (Summer 2018)
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ICEBERG IS A BEER MADE WITH 20,000 YEAR OLD ICEBERG WATER
END OF POST 354
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