St John's Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Colourful memories

October 14, 2021October 14, 2021 inspiringmax

One of my favourite things when we visited St John’s Newfoundland was its colourful houses. They popped up everywhere, matching in style and blending in colour. Also known as Jelly Bean Row houses as their varied colours match those of jellybeans. It is said that the original reason the houses were painted in bright colours was because the sailors coming home from a long stretch at sea would like to look up from the harbour into the hills to look for their homes. As fog is a problem in St John’s the houses during these times the homes all bleneded together. So by painting them bright colours they could easily find their home.

I have no problem believing this as growing up I could see my home from the train. It was easy to pick out as it had a very large brick wall in front of it making it stand out from the surrounding houses. 50 years later I still look for my old house whenever I am on the train to Sydney. It’s an old habit I have no need to break even though its nearly 25 years since my mother moved out of my childhood home.

Thanks Kristian for your inspiring word today – matching.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Rare

August 20, 2016August 20, 2016 inspiringmax

As this weeks photo challenge calls for something rare I am reposting my photos of The Veiled Virgin. I couldn’t believe that her veil is made of thin marble. She is so beautiful. If you ever get the opportunity to visit St Johns Newfoundland, Canada, go out of your way to immerse yourself in her presence. It is a rare and memorable experience that will leave you smiling.

For more information about The Veiled Virgin please click on my earlier post below.

V – Veiled Virgin # A – Z Challenge

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/rare/

One More Time

November 17, 2015 inspiringmax

If you were able to relive one day from the last 12 months, which day would it be — and why?

Given the chance I would relive 25th November 2014. The was the day my husband and I embarked on our 6 week Canadian adventure. We were so excited. However on arrival at Sydney Airport I became suspicious that our tickets were incorrect, so I asked at the check-in counter.

“Are these tickets correct, we are going to St John’s Newfoundland?”

“Yes they are correct they just used the abbreviation” replied the counter attendant.

So I settled and didn’t think about it again.

Then we arrived in Vancouver for some reason I became suspicious again. I checked with the baggage handler only to be given the same response, so again I settled and we continued on our journey across Canada.

By the time our flight arrived in Toronto, we had been up for more than 24 hours and were exhausted. Being smart travelers we decided to check which gate our connecting flight went from before getting food or drinks. We wandered to the departures board where I discovered our flight number and destination didn’t match. Then I realised my gut instincts had been right. The travel agent had booked us flights from Sydney to St John, New Brunswick and not our destination—St John’s, Newfoundland. We were devastated. The only good point was that we solved the problem before either our bags or we bordered the flight.

The gentleman at Air Canada’s service desk was excellent. After about an hour he had made a plan to get us to St John’s as quickly as possible via Halifax arriving 24 hours later than we originally planned. To add humour to this difficult situation he told us this destination was a regular mix up for overseas visitors. The other common problem is people flying into Sydney, Nova Scotia when their destination was Sydney, Australia—a much bigger problem.

The moral of this story is mistakes are easily made and part of the journey. Trust your gut instincts, triple check your airline tickets early and always pack your sense of humour when traveling.