Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada

 Today's tour was to visit various scenic overlooks.  There isn't a lot here in Corner Brook, but the scenery is lovely and the people are most friendly.  Our young guide, Richard, is an avid outdoorsman and his love of the area shone through.  He grew up here, went to school to train to be a guide and also to a school to learn winter resort management.  Didn't know they had such things.  Besides doing guided tours (which can't be a full-time job), he's also the manager of the local ski resort.  I learned from him that it is pronounced more like New-fun-land (the first "d" is almost silent) and you do say "land" and not "lund" as I had thought.  Also, "Newfie" is perfectly acceptable and not considered derogatory.  When Michael asked him where we might mail a postcard, he said give it to him and he'd take care of it, postage and all.  What a sweetie.

Not fancy, but nice.

Today's tour bus.  Definitely not typical.  We sat with the other naughty kids in the back.

A perfect weather day

This is a very nice park built by the owners of the pulp paper mill which is the largest employer in the area.  In the summer they close up the dam doors and create a nice swimming area for the locals as well as to make it easier for the salmon to climb the salmon ladder.  Apparently there aren't a lot that use the ladder, but it's there if they want.

The dam doors that are closed in the summer months.

From a lookout we could see the central part of town with the pulp mill just this side of our ship. We also visited their train museum - or at least the outside.  The passenger train stopped running in 1988.

The big pulp mill dominates the area, but fortunately there is no odor.

The snow thrower that was put on the front of the train in winter.

The last stop was to the ski resort that Richard manages.  Outside was this totem pole which is 60 feet tall.

This is one of the few places we've been where we didn't see a single American enterprise - no Subways, MacDonalds, etc.  Of course there are no Starbucks because Tim Horton's are generally a dime a dozen but there is a Walmart, apparently.  Gas is $2.19 Canadian per liter, which translates to just under US$7.00 a gallon.  

Back on board we had lunch at the poolside grill.  On offer were lobster rolls.  Seemed poor form not to try one since they were small.  This afternoon I had a massage to use some of our onboard credits.  Oleksandra, my masseuse, is from Ukraine and says her family is OK so far.  This must be a very difficult time for her.

We went to the lecture on the history of the Vikings in Europe by Angela Schneider from Vancouver, BC.  She really knows her stuff.  Tonight we had dinner at Sette Mari again.  I tried the monkfish which was OK, but I don't think I'll do that again.

Tomorrow is a very welcome sea day and we put the clocks forward another 30 minutes.