[upinottawa]

I spent 24 hours this summer in St. Pierre, France. The ferry leaves Newfoundland from Fortune, NL a town about a 3.5 hour drive from St. John's. The fast ferry takes about an hour to get to St. Pierre.

The town has a hotel, but the bed and breakfasts are reasonably priced and provide a much more personal experience. There is a bus tour that leaves from downtown several times a day -- very worth the $10. By the way, most places will take either Canadian dollars or Euros.

The town was certainly a hybrid between Atlantic Canada and France. At the grocery store one could purchase French products sitting next to President's Choice products. The town has several decent restaurants that allow you to escape and imagine that you are in Europe.

The people there were extremely friendly -- we got a ride to a grocery store after asking a random lady for directions to the store. Here are a few pictures from my stay....

Customs office: no passport required. Although getting a St. Pierre stamp is fairly cool.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010818.jpg

Downtown St. Pierre:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010786.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010784.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010817.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010790.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010789.jpg

The streets: no stop lights and stop signs that read "STOP"

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010783.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010778.jpg

The lighthouse:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010798.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010792.jpg

Near the lighthouse:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010808.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010800.jpg

Downtown from the graveyard:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010771.jpg

The graveyard: limited space requires bodies to be buried several deep

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010773.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010774.jpg

A popular game:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010811.jpg

French, American and Japanese cars live in harmony:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010810.jpg

The sunset:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010769.jpg

Langlade Island:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010759.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h267/upinottawa/St%20Pierre/P1010829.jpg

I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

[Smevo]

Very nice, it's a place I want to visit sometime...probably the next time I get up to Newfoundland, whenever that's going to be. :rolleyes:
Thanks for sharing, upinottawa. Looks like it was a very rewarding trip in general. :cheers:

[hoser111]

There are also direct flights out of Halifax via Air St.-Pierre....have been there a couple of times...Very quaint and cheeeeaaaaaap French wine too! :)

[PhilippeMtl]

Interesting, looks like nothing else.

[MrChills]

Whenever I tell mainland Canadians or Americans about St. Pierre, they almost don't believe me. I sometimes forgot also that France still has claim to this land here. It is a very interesting place and a North American oddity.

My mothers sides of the family is from the South Coast on Newfoundland (Pass Island) you can see Miquelon (larger Island next to St. Pierre) from there. Although it is not as big as it used to be, many people on the south coast survived by smuggling alcohol from St. Pierre and Miquelon during prohibition days, Al Capone actually had a “hideout” on St. Pierre.

[samne]

interesting indeed, thanks.

[MolsonExport]

Very interesting. Any Miquelon shots?

[harls]

Spectacular stuff!

[circle33]

Thanks for the tour.

Gotta put visiting there on my ever expanding to do list.

[upinottawa]

Thanks everyone.

As for pictures of "et Miquelon" :) , having only 24 hours in "France" we could not make the treck to Miquelon. The ferry from St. Pierre to Miquelon runs only three days a week, one round trip per day and departs St. Pierre early in the morning and does not return until late in the day. The ferry schedule from St. Pierre to Miquelon is as follows:

TUESDAY, FRIDAY and SUNDAY :

Departure from Saint-Pierre : 8 AM
Departure from Miquelon : 7 PM

The Fortune, NL to St. Pierre Ferry runs according to the following summer schedule:

From July 7th 2006 to September 4th 2006, 1 daily trip at the following times :

Departure from Fortune at 2:45 PM Newfoundland Time
Departure from Saint-Pierre : 1:30 PM Saint-Pierre Time

Consequently, if you take the boat you will leave Fortune at 2:45 pm NL time and arrive around 4:15 pm St. Pierre time (St. Pierre is +30 minutes from NL time and +1 hour from Atlantic). The ferry to Miquelon leaves at 8 am. Further since the ferry back to NL leaves at 1:30pm, one cannot take a morning trip out and back to Miquelon using the ferry. To see Miquelon by ferry you should be prepared to make it a 2 day trip (at least) -- if you are travelling by car from St. John's it will be more like a 3 day trip if you factor in the drive.

You can find everything you need at: http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/

And ferry schedules at: http://www.spmexpress.net/english/index.php

BTW: St. Pierre has excellent French pastries for cheap! Not to mention the very low price of French wine over there!

[SSLL]

Great pictures. It's not strange that the signs say "Stop". The EU has standardised it across its member nations, St-Pierre being part of one. I guess it's cheaper sometimes to buy a vehicle in Canada and ship it across? Though, there are European vehicles too...

[upinottawa]

I think it is cheaper to purchase most items in Newfoundland -- especially fresh fruit and vegetables. As one can imagine, by the time the produce gets to St. Pierre it needs to be consumed as soon as possible. Needless to say, there are no farmer's markets in St. Pierre.

From what I was told, a lot of people from St. Pierre go to Newfoundland to do their shopping. The selection and prices are simply better. As far as vehicles, there are more and more pickup trucks and other 4 wheel drive vehicles purchased in Newfoundland as these vehicles are better for the type of winter driving native to St. Pierre.

From what I understand, there is a shipment of goods each week from Newfoundland. At some point in St. Pierre's history, everything was shipped from France. Those days are long past.

[boden]

Interesting post!

[SteelTown]

I've been there! We went on the long ferry trip just for the CHEAP booze lol.

It's like you landed in another world, amazing the difference.

[shappy]

really cool... the photos are great. I read about this place but have always wanted to see a "virtual tour". So thank you!

[Taller Better]

For some strange reason I have ALWAYS wanted to go there!!!

[Canasian]

Thank you for posting these pics upinottawa- I've always wanted to see the place up close.!

[graupner]

Very cool, do the people there actually speak french with a France accent ? or they have a more acadian or quebecer accent?

[Greco Roman]

This corner of the world is officially on my hit list of places to visit. Thank you for the pics; they are excellent. This would be good place to pratiquer mon francais. I am fully bilingual, but never get a chance to use, especially out here in Alberta; the "we hate french" province :(

[shreddog]

Was there about ten years ago - and these pictures capture it well!

I am fully bilingual, but never get a chance to use, especially out here in Alberta; the "we hate french" province :(
I don't wish to hijack this thread, but why must you say stupid things like that? You do know that Alberta has the fastest growth in French immersion in Canada and that all our Francophone schools have waiting lists to get in??

[Greco Roman]

Was there about ten years ago - and these pictures capture it well!


I don't wish to hijack this thread, but why must you say stupid things like that? You do know that Alberta has the fastest growth in French immersion in Canada and that all our Francophone schools have waiting lists to get in??

And I don't wish to offend you, but are you insane? Maybe what you say is true, but have you ever been to Alberta? Oh, it's looks like you have, so maybe you should come out of that rock that you have been hiding under and get a reality check. The attitude towards the french culture is pretty bad, and when I say that I am bilingual, and they look at me like its a bad thing. So before you accuse me of something, you should make sure YOU know what YOU are talking about.

And now I apologize for interrupting.

[shreddog]

I will not get into this as you seem to have a hate-on for Alberta, however if you wish to practise your French try Le Ciné-club d'Edmonton or any of the other numerous Franco associations in E-town.

BTW, I have been living in Alberta for 12 years, am very active in the Francophone community, have kids in the Francophone school system, and have never once encountered anti-French sentiment. In fact at the Calgary Santa Claus parade on Saturday, I had a ballon seller try to speak French to me simply because I was speaking French to my son and she assumed that French was my first language - and it certainly wasn't hers! Yeah, that sounds pretty hostile.

Anywho, SP'n M are great, funny thing is how many people don't even know it exists. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it has aged so well!

[Greco Roman]

I will not get into this as you seem to have a hate-on for Alberta, however if you wish to practise your French try Le Ciné-club d'Edmonton or any of the other numerous Franco associations in E-town.

BTW, I have been living in Alberta for 12 years, am very active in the Francophone community, have kids in the Francophone school system, and have never once encountered anti-French sentiment. In fact at the Calgary Santa Claus parade on Saturday, I had a ballon seller try to speak French to me simply because I was speaking French to my son and she assumed that French was my first language - and it certainly wasn't hers! Yeah, that sounds pretty hostile.

Anywho, SP'n M are great, funny thing is how many people don't even know it exists. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it has aged so well!

No hateon dude. Just callin em like I see em.

[upinottawa]

With respect to accents, I am not a very good judge. That being said, there would be no reason for people from St. Pierre to have a Quebec accent. Television and radio programming for the area comes via satellite from France and many people on the island have lived in France-proper at some point in their lives (i.e. for university, etc.).

[SignalHillHiker]

Gorgeous. St-Pierre-et-Miquelon is one of my favourite places in the world. It's not often you get to see what other people would build using exactly the same building blocks your ancestors had. It's an incredibly addictive experience.

*Bump*

I can relate to its appearance perfectly - it's virtually identical to Newfoundland, for obvious reasons.

But, culturally, it is so different. It's more traditionally French than Quebec - three hour lunches, every morning starts at the bakery, drinking age is like 14, everyone has a cigarette hanging out of their mouths... it's just sssooo foreign.

[CdnEh]

Very interesting.

Perhaps I'll visit when I (hopefully) make the trip to St John's next year.

How much is the ferry ride? Is there any English on the island whatsoever?

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh, it's not expensive at all. On Le Cabestan, it costs $75 return (for an adult). And the ferry ride is very short. You can clearly see St-Pierre, even make out individual buildings, from Newfoundland.

You'd catch the ferry in the Newfoundland town of Fortune.

[SignalHillHiker]

Here's a tourism promo video for you. I've watched it at least 10 times. Her voice/accent/syntax is addictive:

hytKCec3e-0

[CdnEh]

It's kind of ironic that EU citizens (including France) need to have a passport to gain entry to the island, but Canadian citizens only need to show picture ID (like a drivers license).

I guess this has to do with being required to travel through Canada to get to the island, but still, kind of interesting.

[Trevor3]

It's kind of ironic that EU citizens (including France) need to have a passport to gain entry to the island, but Canadian citizens only need to show picture ID (like a drivers license).

I guess this has to do with being required to travel through Canada to get to the island, but still, kind of interesting.

I thought that the rules were changed a couple of years ago and a passport is now needed for all visitors to Saint Pierre et Miquelon.

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah, they used to give special privileges to Newfoundlanders (and perhaps all Canadians?) but, as far as I know, a passport is required since 9/11.

[CdnEh]

I thought that the rules were changed a couple of years ago and a passport is now needed for all visitors to Saint Pierre et Miquelon.

Not according to the ferry's Travel Documents page

http://www.saintpierreferry.ca/St._Pierre_Ferry_Office/Travel_Documents.html

[SignalHillHiker]

Ooh, awesome! :D

[Marty_Mcfly]

yeah, the governments changed the policy a few years back to require a passport to travel to st. pierre from canada, but it was quickly reversed (probably saw a drop in tourist numbers)

My fondest memories of St. Pierre? Heineken beer were super cheap because they were "domestic", but imports (ie. Coors light) were almost 10 canadian dollars a bottle. Like I'd ever pay that much for Coors. And two super cute girls sat down at my table with me and my roommate and started making out with each other looking for attention. Apparently they don't see too many guys from off-the-island

[Trevor3]

Not according to the ferry's Travel Documents page

http://www.saintpierreferry.ca/St._Pierre_Ferry_Office/Travel_Documents.html

Well then, I did not know that! Looks like St. Pierre may be on my list of places to visit this summer.