Maggie in Newfoundland Again 2016: Day 37 St. John's

Although today was sunny, warm and spectacular and it seemed a sin to go inside, we went to visit The Rooms. A museum / archive / art gallery situated on the hill by The Basilica, overlooking St. John’s harbour. It is a beautiful addition to the city skyline and since they now have a display to honour Beaumont Hamel we were very interested in visiting. If anyone ever found themselves in St. John’s on a wet, miserable day, this is an outstanding way to spend the time!

The building itself is art! The enormous windows that span three floors, the displays and common areas that flow logically and seamlessly into one another and the architecture of the building both inside and out made the entire experience very pleasant. The displays are informative and provide just enough human interest to tug at the heart strings (I cried at Maggie Osmond’s video of knitting sock for her soldier son three times!). The tribute to the Blue Puttees and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment painted a very vivid picture of Newfoundland in the context of WWI and was a great honour to the men who fought. The museum displays offered a history of Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders that was wonderful to share with my children (heck, even I learned a few things!) and the art was creative and thought provoking. I think the pictures will speak for themselves but the entire day was an absolute delight!

We stopped at the café in The Rooms for lunch – excellent choice! And while Mary-Katherine and Michelle wanted to walk around the block to my cousin’s (George) art studio and David was taking Andrew back to Grant’s to pack for their flight tonight, I stayed on at The Rooms to explore things that we had missed. When Michelle and Mary-Kate came back to get me and explained to the woman at the front desk that they were just here to pick me up, the woman recognized them and asked with some shock, “She has been here since this morning?” (We arrived shortly after it opened, and I left shortly before it closed!)

After picking up Andrew and Michelle’s luggage from Grant’s we set out for The Gould’s to have dinner with my cousin Leslie and her wonderful family. They own a beautiful piece of property on what is now the outskirts of St. John’s and her three sons are roughly the same age as our boys. We had a wonderful evening together! The food was delicious and the company was wonderful. We shared family stories, caught up on one another’s lives and the kids had a wonderful time getting to know one another. The evening was limited by the fact that we had to get Andrew and Michelle to the airport for their flight to Dublin. As we drove away they both commented how it was a perfect way to spend their final evening in Newfoundland. I couldn’t agree more!