Miquelon and St. Pierre

Mark and I spent thirteen days holidaying on the Atlantic coast in late July and early August. Nine of our days were in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and the other four were spent on the French overseas collectivity of St. Pierre and Miquelon. We were there two years ago, and wanted to go back, especially to see Miquelon which we didn’t see last time. I had brought my camera on this trip and didn’t take any photos while in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia at all. It wasn’t until our second day in SP&M, when we made it to Miquelon, that I started snapping. Hence, the title of this post emphasizes Miquelon over St. Pierre.

On Wednesday, July 29 we flew from St. John’s to St. Pierre. I am about to board the plane, which we had to walk to from the terminal and enter from the back. Mark and I were seated in row 3 near the front so we were among the last to disembark as the exits at the front were emergency exits. There was no first class seating. The whole flight took forty minutes. On our flight last year from Réunion to Mauritius, although it took only 26 minutes, passengers were at least given a juice box. On this flight the sole flight attendant made one trip down the aisle holding a bottle offering passengers a small cup of water.

I took a photo of Mark in front of the plane after we landed in St. Pierre:

We had decided to take a cab from the airport to our Hotel Robert. Although we had walked to the airport when we hiked around St. Pierre two years ago, we didn’t fancy walking to the hotel, this time with luggage in tow, especially when we had a dinner reservation we couldn’t afford to miss. I asked the guide at the tourist information booth about cabs and he said that the Hotel Robert offered a pickup service for its guests. We did not even know this. Within a few minutes a driver was there to drive us back. The service wasn’t free, but a reasonable 10€. We expressed the need to visit a grocery store and our driver, Clovis, drove us to Clochet. He kindly told us there was no rush, and would wait for us. The much larger Super U store had just closed at 7 p.m. yet Clochet was open later. We bought milk, lunch meat, cheese and bagels. We checked in and got room 150 on the second floor. Our room was at the end of the hall and thus only had one other room adjacent. We unpacked our suitcases and rested a bit, then headed out for dinner at le Feu de Braise.

The restaurant was busy and we knew from our past trip that having a reservation was essential. I had written to the restaurant weeks ago to book a table and had received confirmation, yet when we arrived at 8:30 the host couldn’t find my name in her book. I spoke to her entirely in French, giving my surname first, and when she couldn’t find it, I told her my first name (and I spelled them out). When I had a look at the book myself I found my name–a thin line surrounded top and bottom by solid blocks of ink which had crossed out other diners’ names. Sheesh; I thought for a minute that they had screwed up our reservation and we wouldn’t have anywhere to go for dinner that evening. We would return to le Feu de Braise two more times. We each got a takeout pizza on Friday and we dined in on our last night, Saturday. We returned to le Marhaba on Thursday night.

We checked the weather forecast before our trip and saw that the nicest day for a trip to Miquelon would be our second day. Mark booked the ferry tickets while we were still in St. John’s. We got up early the next day (Thursday, July 30) and got the ferry to Miquelon, which left a few minutes prior to its 8:30 a.m. scheduled time. The trip took ninety minutes. As with our ferry trip from Fortune, Newfoundland to St. Pierre two years ago, if all accounted passengers are aboard the boat, there is no use waiting, so we departed early. Our ferry tickets were in an E-mail stored on Mark’s phone but he hadn’t downloaded them. He discovered upon arrival at Miquelon that he had lost his Internet connection. Thus once we docked we had a minor crisis: we couldn’t access our tickets for the return trip. We stopped by the small ferry departures building where we saw a free WiFi sign, but Mark couldn’t access his E-mail there. Fortunately we didn’t fret for long as the tourist office was nextdoor and we asked one of the staff members, Anja, if she could help us. She let Mark use her personal computer and he was able to access the tickets. Anja printed them out for us for free. Merci beaucoup, Anja!

Arriving in Miquelon:

Miquelon is by far the larger island yet its population is only one-tenth that of St. Pierre. We embarked on a hike to the north of the island. When we walked through the village we both remarked that the style of architecture was strikingly different from the colourful Breton wooden houses of St. Pierre. In Miquelon, the houses were larger, more like North American dwellings, and spaced further apart. For one, the larger space permitted bigger housing sites, just as we noticed during our hikes through the outskirts of St. Pierre. Yet the second reason had to do with the original settlement. Miquelon was settled by Acadians, who had a different background than the Basques, Bretons and Normans who settled on St. Pierre. We saw the Acadian Odyssey Monument outside the Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers church, which was itself located on Rue des Acadiens. During my conversations with St. Pierre locals later on during this trip, I asked about language differences between the two islands and was told by the Saint-Pierrais that they could definitely spot a Miquelonnais by accent alone. However, this accent is on a decline. I was glad to get a few questions answered after reading The Acadian Saga: A People’s Story of Exile and Triumph.

After our stop at the tourist office we embarked on our hike, going north along Rue Sourdeval:

The Corsican flag outside a house on Rue Sourdeval:

Looking back towards the village of Miquelon, after turning north off Route du fond de l’Anse:

We sat on the side of le Cap eating lunch, overlooking the bay, and picked blueberries on our walk back.

Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers:

The same flagpole is seen below. Behind Mark is an empty block. We learned that two months ago (thus in May) a fire burned down several buildings, including a grocery store. I found a shot of what the area used to look like on Google Maps:

A long birchbark canoe spans the interior of the church. A sign inside states that construction of the canoe began in 2003, so it is not as old as I expected. It was installed as a reminder of the strong ties that existed between the people of Miquelon and the Mi’kmaq, who came to the church for religious celebrations, including baptisms:

All too often during our summer travels, wherever we go, we find out that the local libraries are closed. Sometimes these libraries are closed for the entire season, sometimes closed on weekends, yet always with limited hours whenever they are open. We were therefore quite pleased to find the Bibliothèque Miquelon-Langlade open.

The library looking in one direction, towards the adult fiction and nonfiction. The SP&M collection is housed in the blue bookcase on the right:

The top two shelves (of five) devoted to SP&M:

Towards the children’s area in the opposite direction. The upstairs space is a teen area, now being used for storage during some renovations:

I looked at many books from the SP&M collection and took photos of covers I want to research further.

Miquelon post office:

We went inside and I enquired about postage rates. There is a standard rate for mailing within SP&M; a higher rate for the Métropole, which includes not only continental France but all its possessions, so the same rate to mail a letter to Paris as to Réunion or New Caledonia; and a higher rate for all other international mail.

We then walked to the small airport and looked inside the tiny terminal. A couple planes took off after we left; they were going to St. Pierre. Our taxi driver Clovis told us, when we informed him that we were visiting Miquelon the next day, that planes cannot fly there if it is too foggy. We were glad that we were taking the ferry.

Home-based barbershop along Rue Baron de l’Espérance:

When we got to the end of Rue Baron de l’Espérance we read some plaques about local flora and fauna and the role the Mi’kmaq played in using plants for medicinal purposes. A car pulled up and I expected the driver to ask for directions. I immediately knew that I wouldn’t be of much help. However instead of a request such as that, the driver asked (entirely in French, of course) if we would like to join her for a ride! I explained that we had a ferry to catch soon, so we couldn’t be gone long. Not a problem, as the driver and her companion were going to be on the same ferry as us back to St. Pierre. The driver, a Saint-Pierraise, had brought her car over on the same ferry we took. Her companion was a visitor from France. She was so trusting to pick up two strange men. Maybe she recognized us from the trip over. She took us across a small bridge and we looked at the new houses being built along the Chemin des Roses. Rising sea levels and erosion is a serious problem on Miquelon and some people are choosing to relocate to the higher ground here. Nine homes were under construction. We drove across the narrow sandbar with the ocean on one side and the Étang de Mirande on the other. Some families were enjoying themselves on the tiny beach at the eastern end of the Étang. I asked about driving on Miquelon and going to Langlade. The driver said that she had driven to Langlade but didn’t like it because the road along the sandbar is unpaved and her car gets so filthy. On the trip back she asked where we would like to get dropped off, and I asked if we could get off at a grocery store. She let us off outside the store Domane s.a.r.l on Rue Anne Clair du Pont de Renon.

Now what a serendipitous surprise that had been…we had wanted to see more of Miquelon including the new houses but knew that we could never make it there and back to the harbour in time for the return trip. And then suddenly a driver dropped in out of the blue, who ended up taking us all the way along the Étang de Mirande. Not only that, but the grocery store was so nondescript that I am sure we would have walked right past it, that is, if we were walking along the street it was on (otherwise we would have asked around to find out where it was).

New homes along Chemin des Roses:

Miquelonnais laundry out to dry:

Near the harbour where we await our return trip to St. Pierre. The ferry is coming; it’s on the horizon, right above Mark’s head:

The following day, Friday, July 31, we had the opportunity to visit the Bibliothèque Médiathèque de St. Pierre. It was closed when we were here two years ago. This trip has been a double windfall for us and libraries. To my left is the extensive SP&M collection. I took many photos of book covers. Mark is reading in his own cozy nook:

Most of the SP&M collection:

I would love to get my hands on a copy of this little pamphlet of a book, devoting its subject matter entirely to the sandy isthmus that connects Miquelon to Langlade. I had a great view of the isthmus when we flew from St. Pierre to Halifax:

The children’s area upstairs:

An observation I did not make in my first travelogue two years ago–yet definitely noticed–was that St. Pierre is littered with abandoned cars, and otherwise newish-looking vehicles parked on the streets with flat tires, sometimes with multiple flats. Why would so many cars and pickups sit on the side of the road with flats? Was this work of a team of vandals or are the roads strewn with spikes and broken glass? Is there a shortage of tires and mechanics on St. Pierre? We walked by a couple of car repair shops both in the town and along the outskirts, so there are businesses that can take care of this. I wonder if people simply abandon their old vehicles on the street or wherever they last left it.

It was a rainy day on Saturday, August 1. We walked to the old airport:

On the old airport grounds we spotted this shell of a car:

Misty day on the old runway:

In addition to the high number of vehicles we saw with flat tires, we were perplexed by the number of houses–which appeared to be otherwise complete and lived-in–that had raised doors with no staircases leading to them. In this house, a makeshift flight of stairs has been constructed out of old pallets, which can’t make for a stable climb up or down. Yet we saw many houses with doors on the second storey that opened out to nothingness.

The weather cleared and we explored parts of St. Pierre we hadn’t seen before. At the upper end of steep Rue Docteur Dunan I liked this purple house:

Around the corner from it on Rue Hoche we found the infamous Swiss chalet:

I like this house which is at the corner of Rue Bruslé and Rue Bourlihon. It appears to have two tambours but on the upper level. Its staircase opens at a wide angle yet gets pretty narrow once you’re standing at the door:

Mist rolled in to the dock area:

Colourful dory houses and their red wooden capstans:

Why we need lighthouses:

On our last day we decided to hike to the southwest of the island along Route de Cléopâtre, Route de la Bellone and around Étang de Savoyard. I expressed an interest to visit this area two years ago.

Rusted old machinery opposite the quarry on Route Iphigénie:

Basque and Newfoundland flags outside this house on Route de Cléopâtre:

We hiked along a boardwalk path called Diamant, which encircled the southwest peninsula. Along the way we could hear sounds that I first interpreted as ducks but we could peer over into the water and see at least a dozen frogs, bellowing away. We’d hear the same sound of frogs in ponds near city limits.

It was a long time before we saw anyplace to sit along the Diamant path. I needed to sit down in order to remove a stone that had lodged in my shoe. However once we found this bench, they started to appear at regular intervals:

On the walk back to St. Pierre, I liked this attractive blue house along Route de la Pérouse:

St. Pierre and the skating rink in the distance from Route de la Pérouse:

Looking across Étang Boulot:

The French schooner Belle Poule had docked and at dinner on Saturday night at le Feu de Braise we noticed many members of the crew waiting around for their pizza orders. On Sunday afternoon we decided to walk down to see the ship and were allowed onboard:

I could see the galley through the open window and a chef was preparing a pasta meal:

I hardly bought anything on this trip, aside from two postcards (one of Miquelon, since I didn’t buy any of that island two years ago) plus some raspberry jam and a jar of chestnut spread. I am glad I bought all the books I wanted at Lecturama two years ago. Back in April after checking on-line to see the store’s hours I discovered that it had closed. I enquired if there was a new bookstore on the island, and the new stationer, la Papeterie de l’Archipel, took over. Unfortunately the SP&M book selection was a fraction of what it was at Lecturama, and I only saw two of the five books I bought two years ago available for sale. I did not see anything new that interested me. (What interested me were all those old SP&M books I saw at the two libraries.) Upstairs at the Papeterie were toys, puzzles, and games. I saw three versions of French Scrabble, yet the deluxe version was hideously overpriced at over 120€, which is almost $200 Canadian.

We returned to our hotel and our driver Clovis picked us up exactly at 3:30 to take us to the airport. We had a 5:00 flight to Halifax. We arrived at 5:30; Halifax is one hour behind SP&M.