finally. the last day. not "finally" as in vacation's over. finally, as in, took long enough to post the ending.

(Quidi Vidi fishing stages)

we woke up to another sunny day. sad that we were leaving St. John's.
we splurged on a big breakfast at Bagel Cafe, busy little dark joint that doubles as a bar at night.
wooden booths and japanese paper lanterns didn't disguise the delicious traditional Newfoundland breakfast.
salty fishcakes and eggs. what a fantastic combo.

especially followed by beer at Quidi Vidi brewery.
we saved this wonderful little town and tour of the brewery for our last mini-trip before the airport. the old historic fishing town of Quidi Vidi (pron: kiddy viddy) lies just on the other side of Signal Hill.
we walked off the fishcakes.
a bit of a trek, but not impossible by any means. plus, for 8 buckaroos you're rewarded with samples of every beer they brew, a tour of the place, and then a full bottle of your choice to enjoy on the dock.
we both chose the 1892 but i also really enjoyed Eric's Red, which isn't a red at all, but a smooth-tasting cream ale.
too bad our 2 bottle mix-pack that we tried to smuggle on the plane got confiscated.
at least it made us aware of the one bottle that had busted in bob's bag and left all of our clothes soaking in 1892 goodness.

so in the oldest town in North America exists one of its oldest residential structures.
entering the cottage is like going through a hobbit door.
and the place is crammed, i mean, crammed! full of antiques and junk and local crafts.



the lovely woman who runs the place uses the money from sales to keep the place going...naturally we had to buy something.



i scored a wonderful handmade inuit-style long hooded coat with fur and embroidery made by a woman in Labrador. bob scored an antique Parker pen to add to his collection.



suddenly heading back to town we feared we were running late. big surprise there.
and yet we still made a stop in the arts council to pick up a piece of art by a local artist.
a wonderful lino cut print of a codfish (but of course!) by Janet Davis.

we decided to grab a bite to go for the wait at the airport, assuming we'd have no problems this time getting our oversized luggage on the aircraft.
unbelievably we found another tiny little Indian place with some of the best tasting food to the east of Little India.
on that day, our final day, i could have stayed in Newfoundland forever.
long may yer big jib draw