Category: Countries

St. John’s, Newfoundland: More than worth the visit

Cape Spear: The eastern-most point on the North American continent

It is the easternmost point on the North American continent, and the city of St. John’s in Newfoundland (actually it’s Newfoundland & Labrador which is the official name of the province), Canada’s tenth province, is Art’s home town.   Well, the easternmost point is actually Cape Spear, but that’s just a hop outside the city.  Although he moved away many years ago, every time we go back to visit what is affectionately known as “the Rock”, we are blown away by the rugged beauty and the increasing cosmopolitanism.  Recent offshore oil exploration and production have given an economic boost to the city that it hasn’t seen in some generations.   And now, it’s the Canadian province with the most amazing advertising imaginable.  (See the video we’ve posted at the end.)

But, maybe the most impressive promotion for the city of St. John’s itself is the CBC television show The Republic of Doyle.  If you watch that show in HD, you can’t help but notice that St. John’s is one of the characters.  And although we’d venture a guess that the colors have been enhanced, St. John’s truly is a character.

The last time we visited was for a high school reunion – the reunion of a class that graduated so many years ago it’s hardly worth mentioning!  But, we had a chance to play tourist in a city that we actually thought we know so well.

As you fly into St. John’s, it’s easy to think that you’ve ended up at the end of the earth – as your plane reaches the shoreline of Newfoundland you begin to get a sense of place right from the start. And you must remember to keep an eye out for icebergs (at any time of the year – but in the spring in particular).  St. John’s is, by the way, the oldest English-speaking city on the North American continent.  With a population that’s shy of 200,000, the city itself is not large but if you seek them out, you’ll find all kinds of amenities that are worth the trip.

We’ve stayed at most of the better hotels over the years – the Delta and the Hotel Newfoundland (which has been under a number of banners, most recently the Sheraton but it used to be a Fairmont) – which are also the most expensive.  Recently, we’ve stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which is well-located on the harbor-front , has immense suites with great views, a lovely little bar with a view of the “narrows” that frame the harbor entrance looking out to open ocean, is reasonably priced, and because it’s a Marriott property, has wonderful staff.

At Battery Park overlooking St. John's: Son Ian made the pilgrimage with us that year

St. John’s is well-known as the North American city with the most bars per square foot than any other.  We can’t provide any source for that statistic, but trust us, if you take a summer trip to the city and wander downtown to George Street as you must, you will not dispute this statistic at all!  But for our money, these discerning travelers are smitten with the fine dining scene in St. John’s.  There are many fine restaurants along Water Street including Bianca’s which is worth a visit, but our current favorite is Bacalao on Lemarchant Road, which is known for its quintessential Newfoundland cuisine using local products.  It even won a national award for “hyperlocal food” recently.    We’ve eaten there several times, and both the service and the innovative food offerings make a return trip there in the future a must.

The there is a bit of shopping…do not go to the malls in St. John’s.  You will be disappointed.  But do go to the boutiques for women’s clothing.  Along Water Street, my personal favorite is Johnny Ruth.  Oh, the owner has created a gem of a space with a truly inspired and well-edited collection of often Canadian designers.  I’ve bought Comrags and Brenda Beddome there in addition to a number of others.   Also nip into Twisted Sisters Boutik while you’re on Water Street.

The Rooms, St. John's: Art & Ian take in the view of the narrows

No visit to St. John’s would be complete without a visit to The Rooms.  The name is a bit misleading – this is an architectural masterpiece that is truly uninspiring from the outside.  But step inside and it’s a different story.  Beside the fact that The Rooms is an extraordinary museum with all manner of Newfoundland history , both natural and other, it has the most amazing view of the harbor and beyond from a window that was artfully situated to provide just such an experience.

On our most recent visit there, it was Saturday, it was raining heavily and there were two bridal parties taking refuge for photo shoots.  The window makes a dramatic backdrop.

Now that Art’s parents are both dead, we have less reason to visit than we used to.  But we’ll make the trek from time to time – just for the food and Johnny Ruth!

(Flight times: from Halifax it’s an hour and twenty minutes; it’s 3 hours and 34 minutes direct from New York on United).

A sample of the Newfoundland and Labrador advertising campaign…

One perfect day – on the Med

The stern view from the perfect perch

I was sitting in our charter boat, sipping a glass of champagne and trying to see if I could bottle up the memory of this one perfect day so that I could take it out once in a while and relive it when I needed to.  Being able to do that takes really being in the moment – and a great still and video camera doesn’t hurt!

So, how did we get there that day?  It was last July and we were visiting our son in the south of France (we’ve often said that the main purpose of having children is for their entertainment value – and we have that in spades with our son who is a dancer with Les Ballets do Monte Carlo – yes, that Monte Carlo, Monaco).

We had seen along that part of the Riviera from Roquebrune just bordering Monaco to the east, as far as Cannes in the west as we visited from time to time on foot and by car.  Now, we wanted to see it all from the water.  So, as any discerning travelers would do, we started our research online.  We usually find that asking our friends is a recipe for disaster – many of them, as well-heeled as they might be – are unwilling to pay a bit more to get a bit more.  We are not.

To say that there are a lot of boat charter companies operating on the French Riviera would be a considerable understatement.  We narrowed the search down and emailed several.  The most personalized service, with the most interesting possibilities for planning our perfect day came from Boatbookings.com.  They were efficient and knew exactly how to provide us with what we were looking for (and they all speak English which made it so much easier!).  We settled on a 35-foot cruiser with a captain and catered lunch for an eight-hour cruise.

A glimpse of Monte Carlo -- from the harbor.

The young captain picked us up at the pier in Cap d’Ail where we always stay, and off we went for the day.  We stopped to anchor twice during the day – once for swimming off the boat, and once for our picnic lunch on board.  Of course, part of the perfection of the day was a result of the stellar weather – it could not have been nicer – or more luxurious.

In our continuing search for those luxurious experiences, this is one that will go down in our books as worth every penny (and euro) we spent.  It’s an experience that we’ll remember forever.

The value of luxury: The “six-star” experience

For several years now, we’ve been grappling with the question of what constitutes luxury.  As discerning travelers, we are interested more in refinement than luxury per se since most people seem to think if something is expensive, it constitutes luxury.  But that isn’t necessarily so.

A couple of years ago, we embarked on our first “six-star” (their marketing literature said it – we didn’t) luxury cruise.  While on board, we thought it might be a good opportunity to ask a few of these very well-heeled travelers what constitutes luxury for them.  Not one of those we asked mentioned anything about expensive items; rather they were focused on  experiences that for them were luxurious. For example, one of the women who could buy and sell the best of us, said that for her, luxury would be having someone to wash her hair for her every day.  Another said that to have fresh sheets on her bed every day is a luxury.  Others had similar opinions.  What all of these had in common was sensuality, if you must know.   More importantly it gave us a notion of what luxury means these days: a luxurious  experience.  In that spirit, we decided to embark on a journey of finding those luxurious experiences.

The Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay in California is set on a rugged bluff overlooking the Pacific.

A September wedding in San Francisco this year inspired us to take a few days afterwards and head down the coast for a road trip.  Our first stop was the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay.

This hotel is a quick hop from San Francisco and we decided that its ocean front location and rugged coastline beauty might make it worth the splurge.  It was (sort of).

There is no doubt that the hotel is beautiful but we’ve been to many beautiful hotels.  What would make this a luxurious experience for us?

Would it be the resort grounds? They are very nice, but no nicer than any other nice resort has to offer in a lower price range. How about the restaurants?  The restaurants on the property have wonderful ocean views and the food is well-prepared and served – but perhaps not earth-shattering.  The rooms?  The room was beautifully appointed but no more than what we come to expect.  The bathroom started veer into the luxurious – marble from top to bottom, a spacious walk-in shower, a fabulous Jacuzzi.  Rooms on the ground floor have fire pits which are nice, and for some might constitute a luxurious experience.

For us, the thing that made this a luxurious experience wasn’t the bricks and mortar, though.  The most outstanding feature of this Ritz Carlton property is their staff.   Every single one of them we encountered from the outdoor bar staff to the valets who parked our car were terrifically well trained and made it their business to learn our names.  It was one of those little touches that makes you feel special – and if an experience doesn’t make you feel special, then in our books it isn’t luxury.  The Ritz Carlton motto is “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen”, and this experience drove home to us that it is more than a motto: it is a way of life for their staff.  For example, it was also such a nice touch to find the valets had cleaned the windshield of our rental vehicle, and there were two bottles of water already in the cup holders awaiting us when we got in the next morning to continue our road trip down the California coast.

The experience made us wonder, though, about the “value” of this luxury hotel.  We concluded that its price tag, exactly twice what we had paid a night at the Stanford Court (Marriott Renaissance property) in downtown San Francisco the night before, was perhaps not worth it.  Marriott staff around the world are well-schooled in hosptiality as well.  All we can say is that our gut impression of the relative value is that the Ritz Carlton name may imply luxury; you don’t necessarily have to pay this much for a luxurious experience.

The Fairmont Algonquin: A fading lady

The Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews-by-the Sea, New Brunswick

It’s been a long time since we got behind the wheel of our car and headed out on the open road – instead of to the airport – for a travel getaway.  But autumn came upon us, and the thoughts of a foliage tour took over our good sense and we headed toward northern New England.  Along the way we stopped in St. Andrews-by-the Sea in New Brunswick, home to one of the grand dames of Canadian hotels: the Fairmont Algonquin.

Originally opened in 1889, the Algonquin Hotel was one of Canada’s first resort hotels.  Built by American businessmen, it was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1903.[1]  The hotel eventually made its way into the hands of the New Brunswick provincial government in 1984.  The Fairmont Hotel group currently runs the hotel (and has for a number of years); however, that relationship comes to an end on December 31, 2011.  Our recent stay there provided us with several clues to the answer to our question: why is Fairmont not renewing its contract to run the historic property?
We might be wrong, but we’d have to wager a guess that it has something to do with the Fairmont brand and that this property doesn’t live up to the brand expectations of its clientele.

Evoking a bygone era of travel

These discerning travelers booked themselves into what is called a medium suite located in the main historic building.  The two-room suite was quaint as expected (although not the kind of décor we are usually drawn to), furnished with what appeared to us to be either antiques or cast-offs from an estate sale.  Although everything was sparkling clean, when Art walked out of the bathroom for the first time he said, “If Ian [our 22-year-old son] rented an apartment with a bathroom like that, we’d think he lived in a slum.”  It had not had benefit of a renovation in at least 40 years.  Need we say more?

The main rooms of the hotel and the grounds evoke a sense of eras past when travel was more leisurely, and activities to while away the time were more gentile: reading, strolling, sitting in Adirondack chairs in front of wood fires in the evening.

The real highlight of the stay was our anniversary dinner at the hotel’s main dining room, The Library.  The day happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving and the chef was offering his version of the traditional turkey dinner, finished off by pumpkin crème brulée that was exquisite and worth every last calorie.

What will happen to the hotel after the Fairmont folks pull out is anyone’s guess.  We did ask several employees who indicated that it will definitely remain open, but there was no word on who would be managing it. We only hope that the new operator has deep pockets, because this fading lady will fade off the radar of discerning travelers everywhere without the makeover she so desperately needs – and deserves.

the creepy corridor
The creepy corridor: Like a scene right out of "The Shining"