Saint-Pierre et Miquelon: 02 Aug - The Grande Tour

Monday dawned, as we knew it would, and it wasn't long before the day's work was underway: Shopping and Touring (upper case required). We began with Josiane's fine French breakfast on Kurika (photo left) highlighted by pastries and fresh breads courtesy of Kerry Deare. Next off to the Tourist Info Office for help with certain particulars. Finally we visited (1) the Post Office for commemoratives, (2) a craft shop for each boat's requisite SPM flag (photo right), (3) several post card shops, (4) a number of small specialty grocery shops, and (5)at least for me, the major event: mandatory jewelry shopping.

Due to an unlucky encounter with the calender, I'd departed on this cruise just over a month prior to Sonia's and my 12th wedding anniversary. When we were together in Boston a week or so later during late June and early July, we'd made up for this unforgivable lapse on my part to a certain extent. Yet it seemed to me that more could and should be done. In Saint-Pierre, I found out both where to do the make up work, and how to do it properly. Although I located the necessary items on my own, there is no question that Josiane's help on matters of style was invaluable. The shop that came to my rescue is a family-run affair and they could not have been more helpful (photo left).

Monday afternoon we were picked up at the club by a new friend of Jean and Josiane who had earlier promised a motor tour of the island. Fabrice (at the left in photo at right with two of his many cousins out for a run, and Jean and Josiane) was born on Saint-Pierre, married on Saint-Pierre, and has a 12 year old son born on Saint-Pierre also. He still owns a home here, but he is currently living in Saint-Martin and only gets home for holiday. His holiday soon became ours also.

Considering that Saint-Pierre is 4.5 miles north to south, it may seem surprising that Fabrice spent over 4 hours showing it to us. This he did in remarkable detail, with interesting and subtle descriptions of every facet of island life. Most of the discussion was in French and I struggled with many of the fine points, but one could not miss the visual splendor that characterizes Saint-Pierre. I will simply post photos and let the pictures talk.