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French-American Center Newsletter

Newfoundland

On a rocky coast thats usually shrouded in fog there's a light house called Cape Spear. In the same place, facing east, you will see a sign post with arrows going in several directions. If you look more closely, and it's not one of the days where the fog is so thick you can't see anything at all, You will see that marked on those arrows is the direction and distance to every major European capitol. You are now standing on North America's most easterly point. After that, it's all ocean untill you hit Ireland if you go strait across.

Now, if you can imagine yourself on this point of rocky land as I have described, I am going to ask you to turn yourself around so that your back is to Europe and you are now on the first door step of the North American continent and more immidiatly the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Terre-Neuve et Labrador). Newfoundland is an island and Labrador is attatched to mainland Canada and shares its border with northern Quebec. The two regions combined are slightly smaller than France and have only 500 000 inhabbitants, the vast majority of whome live on the island. The language is English with a heavy Irish accent from 16th Century counties Cork, Waterford and Wexford. The accent takes some getting use to at first so lets go first to a pub to get out of the cold and loosen up your tongue. The most logical place to start any drinking session is in the city of St. John's, about 3km from Cape Spear. In St. John's there is a street which boasts the most individual drinking establishments per square meter on a single street. George Street which has anywhere from 60 to 80 bars and pubs is a place where a thirsty traveller needn't stagger very far to find a warm smoky place to order a dark rum and coke (the traditional drink, called a dark and dirty). You will hear plenty of celtic music and rowdy customers any evening of the week.

The Newfoundlanders (pronounced NEWFunLANDers) claim to be the most friendly and hospitable people if "a bit rough around the edges". Before you let yourself get to charmed by their music, wit and story telling and before all the dark rum gets to your head there are some sobering facts you may wan't to take into acount. Their ancestors are responsible for the genocide of an entire race of aboriginal people known as the Beothuks. The only Indians left on the island part of Newfoundland are the Mikmaques who are the descendants of an eastern tribe that were recruited from the mainland to help push the Beothuks off their land. It's also home to the seal fishery, which if you are a fan of Bridgette Bardot, it's probably something you are against.

The best time to visit is in May and June. There are plenty of whales, sea birds and monsterous icebergs that float past the harbour. Sometimes the iceburgs are larger than the glass office towers on the water front which reflect the iceburgs like giant mirrors. In the summer you may be suprised to find swimmable beaches in the central areas of the province, People tend to forget that even though the winters are famously extreme, most populated parts of Canada have four very distinct seasons. The fall is often quite scenic and you can enjoy the harvest of bluberries which appear in just about every imaginable baked item at the beginning of the winter. They even have some very popular blueberry wine in Newfoundland. Then there's the winter. It must be mentioned. Winters can be and usually are pretty grim in Newfoundland. It's not unkown for there to be 15 meter walls of snow next to the roads. Driving becomes slow and dangerous in the icey conditions and hospital emergency rooms are full of 50 year old men complaining of chest pains after they attempt to shovell the snow as if they were 25 again.

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