hot Newfoundland

Montreal looking uptown at Mont Royal from the Quartier Latin

One amazing hot day in Montreal, trying to aclimatize to Canada. It is a huge bustling city and I love the contrast between this intense urbanism and the rest of my journey. I have a few days off before I start the residency so I flew via Montreal to Newfoundland.

I arrived in St. John's only to discover that the Holland America line cruise ship had appeared in town and it was as if I had brought a huge Montreal building with me filled with the Dutch people I thought I had left behind in Amsterdam. St. John's has a very deep harbour and perfect for huge cargo ships and cruise liners however the cruise ship was only there for 12 hours before rushing back to Halifax NS to be in that harbour when the oncoming hurricane Earl appears. It is very hard to see any of the effects of "Earl"- yesterday it was so wonderfully sunny. 

I'm staying with friends and we went blueberry picking in the afternoon, I am convinced this is a cure for jet-lag. It is such peaceful activity picking the purple-blue fruit. They often grow with cedar bushes so there is this heady perfumed scent from crushed cedar underfoot and the burst of blueberry taste as I quality check the berries I pick. Combined with the wind off the sea and the warm sun it was a perfect afternoon. We drove back to St John's and along the road an overheated thermometer sign annonced 27C. This is not the cool North I was expecting.