The mystery has been solved !!! I have been MIA because Doc and I went to Canada. We took a Canada Rail trip from Toronto to Ottawa to Montreal to Quebec. The train was wonderful - we got first class seats and had meals and booze included. It's a great way to see the countryside - I became unreasonably excited when I saw wild turkeys. We stayed in Fairmont Hotels, two of which were old Canadian chateaus, as you will see. So let's get to the recap !!
Our first stop was that bastion of Canadian culture, Tim Horton's. You have to eat at Tim's at least once when you are in Canada. They were originally Dunkin Donuts, but a hockey player bought the chain years ago.
The Fairmont in Toronto was just your typical high rise four star hotel.
Doc put on his favorite Indiana Jones costume for our adventure to Niagara Falls.
The bus ride was about an hour and a half. We stayed on the Canadian side of the falls.
When you go on the boats to ride up to the falls, you get a disposable raincoat with a hood. You do get pretty damp.
There are several cruise companies. We took Hornblower, because that was included in our tour, but the oldest one is the Maid of the Mist.
Here I am, on board, as we approach the American Falls.
The smaller part of American Falls is called Bridal Veil Falls.
This is the full view of American Falls.
It was pretty amazing that small water birds could sit on the rocks and float near the falls.
Up ahead, you can see Horseshoe Falls. That's the part that you usually see on postcards.
It gets really hard to take pictures as you get close to Horseshoe Falls, because the boat rocks and the spray is intense. But there is a nice view from the shore above.
You can actually get pretty close to the drop off at a place called Table Rock.
It was fairly scary being so close to the drop off.
Then we had lunch at a buffet on the top of the Sheraton Hotel there.
We shared a table with a lady from Sweden and her mother. They had flown to Vancouver and taken the train all across Canada. They had been at it for a month.
There was also a beautiful little park that was hidden from the very commercial main street of Niagara Falls. It was called Queen Victoria Park.
Across the street, I saw this sign. They were also at every train station and airport terminal. Marijuana is legal in Canada.
After lunch, we saw the suspension car that crosses the river.
I do not like heights, so no thanks.
Before we went back to Toronto, we stopped at the Floral Clock. There used to be a second hand, but it was removed because people wanted their picture taken while riding on it.
Then we stopped at a quaint little town called Niagara On The Lake.
It was Victorian themed. This is where I got my souvenir from Toronto, which I will show you at the end of this post.
The Toronto train station.
Next, we were off to Ottawa. It took about three and a half hours on the train. I got absorbed in a podcast about the murder of an indigenous Canadian woman. The food on the trains was really good.
Ottawa's tourist district revolves around the Rideau Canal.
Next to the Rideau Canal are the Parliament Buildings. There are a lot of museums in Ottawa.
One of the buildings was under construction, like Big Ben in London last year.
We stayed in the Fairmont Royal York, which was one of the hotels built in an old chateau.
We had dinner at Byward Market in a pub called the Auld Pour. More on Byward below.
We had an attraction included in every city. In Ottawa, we got an amphibious bus tour on the Lady Dive.
These pictures are from the brochure. You get the idea, even though they are sideways. The bus goes on the street and then into the Ottawa River.
The Ottawa River separates the province of Ontario from the province of Quebec. In Ontario, the primary language is English, whereas in Quebec, it is French.
The city on the Quebec side of the Ottawa river is called Gatineau.
That is our hotel on the bank to the left.
This is the National Gallery of Canada. There is a lot of Inuit art in Canada. One of the other major tribes are the Cree.
This is the National Arts Center.
We saw quite a few embassies on the tour. This is the British Embassy.
The next day, we explored the town by going down Rideau Street, the main street in town. This is where the Byward Market is located. This is an open air market, with lots of restaurants, food purveyors, bars and clubs, and little shops.
There was one shop that always had a long line out front. It was called Beaver Tails. They served flat waffles with many kinds of toppings, like Nutella and fruit.
Byward Market was a very nice attraction, although I got my Ottawa souvenir at Nordstrom. You will see it later.
Here is the Ottawa train station. With first class seats, you wait in a lounge that has an abundance of free magazines, beverages and snacks.
Then it was off to Montreal. We stayed in the Fairmont Le Reine Elizabeth. It is the hotel in which John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their sleep-in to protest the Vietnam War. It is also the hotel where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton got married the first time.
The main street in Montreal is called Rue Sainte-Catherine. It is a shopping and dining mecca. Montreal is a very cosmopolitan city.
There are quite a few abandoned churches in Canada. Canada was founded as a very Catholic country, but over the years, as church attendance has declined, the churches could not support themselves. A lot of them are now venues for social events.
This church had beautiful LED lighting inside.
There were several giant chess sets out on the street, with lively games going on.
The Museum of Modern Art is also on Rue Sainte-Catherine. They had an outdoor exhibit.
This translates roughly to "In the backyard of the dog".
Very cute and realistic sculptures of dogs in action in the backyard.
Our included attraction in Montreal was a 3.5 hour bus tour. It started at Notre Dame basilica.
It is modeled after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, with the two bell towers.
Next to the cathedral was the presbytery, where the priests live. It had a charming garden.
This building was an old grainary that has been repurposed into condominiums. Apparently, renting in Montreal is very expensive. But as Californians, it was comparable to what we pay.
The tour took us through very poor neighborhoods and very wealthy neighborhoods, so we could really see how people from all walks of life exist here.
This building was the residence of Mr Cadillac, of the auto fame. Doc drives a Cadillac - they are really nice cars.
Every Canadian city had lots of horse and buggy rides available. They must be big tourist attractions when the weather is nice.
In Montreal, you pick up the Fleuve Saint-Laurent, the St Lawrence River. It is 1000 miles long, stretching from Newfoundland to Lake Ontario. Up in the north, the areas are called the New Territories.
All of the big cities have locks that the ships must pass through.
Also on the tour, we saw the Olympic Village, built in 1976, when Montreal hosted the Summer Games. This was the only Olympics in which the host country did not win a gold medal.
This is Olympic Stadium, the site of the indoor events.
This globe used to have a skin over it, but it got destroyed, and the citizens of Montreal liked it better this way.
We crossed the Saint Lawrence River many times on the tour.
We stopped near Olympic Park for a photo-op. There were great views of the Montreal skyline.
The Molson brewery figures prominently. Apparently, the Molsons and the Bronfmans (of Seagrams fame) are among the most wealthy residents of the city.
We passed an oratory. It is St Joseph's oratory, which is a minor basilica. They had a relic of Brother Andre Bessette, which was said to be his heart, but it was stolen at some point in time. It was eventually returned.
People pray to a particular saint at an oratory - in this case, St Joseph. We were told that worshippers climb the steps on their knees to pray. Brother Andre Bessette was said to have healing powers, and a collection of crutches and walking sticks is clustered by the front gate. The owners were cured, and no longer needed the crutches.
The oratory is located on the road up to Mount Royal Park. Montreal is roughly translated as Mount Royal in French.
The most famous grave in this cemetery is that of Rene Angelil, who was the husband of Celine Dion.
We had been hoping to see some mounties - the RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Sadly, there are none left. But we did see some horses who serve as modern mounted police in Mount Royal Park. They are there in their corral and people can pet them and meet them.
We stopped again at the peak of Mount Royal for another photo-op. The city of Montreal lies spread out below us.
We were lucky enough to see a red fox peeping out at us through the bushes. He watched us and stretched out before running away.
A groundhog also popped his head out of his hole, but he was way too fast for me to get a picture.
As I said before, marijuana is legal in Canada. Our tour guide said that you can tell where the shops are because there is always a long line out front.
She was right !!
Canada has a strange system for booze. You can buy beer and wine in beer stores, but for liquor, you have to go to government sponsored stores called SAQ. The grocery stores were nice and the food very beautifully displayed.
After that, we were off to Quebec City. Quebec City is a walled fortress, left over from various wars between the French, British, and Indians. Canada was originally under French rule, then British, and now has been independent for about 150 years.
We stayed in the Chateau de Frontelac, another beautiful old castle.
As I said, Quebec City is a walled city. There are two gates, the Louis gate and the St Jean gate.
This is the Louis gate. The entire old city is surrounded by three miles of walls.
The Chateau de Frontelac is on the waterfront of the St Lawrence river.
Underneath the boardwalk, there are the ancient storage facilities for supplies to the chateau during the war. You can go down and tour them.
That is what these visitors are looking at in the glass enclosed hole.
This is the American Embassy. For one day, the Gay Pride flags were still up.
This is once again the St Lawrence River. The town across the river is called Old Levis. A ferry runs every half hour and can take you over there.
Quebec City is built on the narrowest part of the St Lawrence. That was due to military strategy.
Many of the buildings had these plaques on them. Our walking tour guide told us that even though a building may say 1688, like this one, they were mostly rebuilt during the seventies and eighties. Quebec City had become very run down, due to a poor economy. But the Canadian government invested in rebuilding the city as a tourist attraction, and now it is beautiful again.
Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in 1704. Francis de Montmorency Laval was the first Catholic archbishop and was credited with converting many of the savages to Roman Catholicism in the 1700s. This is a statue of him with the natives at his feet.
Another monument commented on the English-French conflict. General Wolfe of Britain won the war, and General Montcalm of France lost. But both of them were shot and died in the battle. That is when Canada turned from French to British rule.
Our daughter in law's last name is Wolfe.
Once again, lots of horses and carriages wait to give tourists a ride.
Along with the walls, Quebec City is built on a hill, so wherever you go, you have to climb hills or stairs.
For those who are physically unable to do so, there is a funnicular to help.
The city is very picturesque, and reminds me of Paris, only hilly, whereas Paris is flat.
Louis Hebert was the first man to farm in Canada. He was an apothecary back in France. He married a 14 year old girl and proceeded to teach the new Canadians, as well as the natives, more modern ways of farming.
His wife is at the base of his statue, and his son on the other side, with his new invention - the horse drawn plow.
We wondered why many of the churches had roosters on the top of the crosses. It is because when St Peter betrayed Jesus, he did so before the cock crowed three times.
The rooster became a symbol of Catholicism and later, of hospitality.
This 17 story "skyscraper"was designed by the same architect who built the Empire State Building.
The building is a replica of the top floors of the Empire State building, which was built a few years later.
This is City Hall. All of the major buildings are named "Hotel de......." in the French style.
Since Quebec was a Catholic stronghold for so many years, religious symbols abound, such as the Sacre Couer, or Sacred Heart seen here.
There were lots of Adirondack chairs set out for public use all over Canada. In Quebec City, they were designed as adult sized swings.
There were also many stalls selling artwork, just like they had along the banks of the Seine in Paris.
There were many buildings with frescoes on the sides. This one was particularly realistic.
One of the largest compounds in Quebec City was the church and school of the Ursuline nuns.
The side altar faced towards the nun's pews, and the larger altar faced towards the congregation.
In this way, the congregants could not see the nuns, but they could hear them singing. The Ursulines were a cloistered order.
The huge school was originally girls only, with thousands of students. Now there are both boys and girls, about 1100 in total.
The Ursulines brought modern education to Quebec. They were professionally trained educators, unlike the old system, in which the oldest unmarried girl taught the villagers, and often could not read or write herself. The Ursulines vastly improved the education of the Quebecois.
On our first night, we ate at the Restaurant d'Orsay, which overlooked the Dam, the plaza of the public. Champlain's statue proudly watches over his people.
The next night, we ate at a restaurant called Aux Anciens Canadiens, which was housed in a french farmhouse. The ceilings were only about 6 feet high.
We saw it on our walking tour, and it looked like it was a good deal, so we came back.
Here is the sign. For $22.95 CD (more on US versus CD dollars later ) we got a drink, appetizer, main course and dessert.
As you can see, the prix fixe menu was pretty extensive. If you wanted something more gourmet, like caribou steak, you could get it, but just added the extra cost to the $22.95. But there was plenty to choose from in the basic section.
A glass of wine or beer to start.
Then we both had the meat pate. It was served with candied carrots, which tasted a lot like orange marmalade. It was delicious.
For our main courses, I got the Quebec meat pie, and Doc got the turkey medallions. We shared.
For dessert, we got maple syrup pie and maple bread pudding. I forgot to take a picture. It was all very good.
This drawing depicts one of the wars that took place in 1759.
Here is the same church today.
Since Quebec City is a walled fortress, cannons are everywhere. Some are Scottish made, and some are Russian. But the advent of ammunition rendered the cannons obsolete. They were too heavy to move, so now kids climb on them.
They also had a giant snow globe. Out tour guide did not consider this as a piece of art.
This fresco was very impressive.
It depicts, from top to bottom, winter, autumn, spring and summer.
It also shows many of the famous historical figures in each window.
So I told you about the exchange rate. One Canadian dollar is about 70 US cents. In addition, there are less tariffs in Canada, so things there are great bargains. It is equivalent to a 40% discount right off the top. So what did we get?
Well Doc wanted books, of course, but they were all in French. He ended up with a bottle of absinthe, which cannot be purchased in California, and which we first tried in Amsterdam.
We saw this chess set, with Indians versus redcoats, but we didn't get it.
Doc and I both got some Canada thongs at the Old Navy in Ottawa.
Also in Ottawa, I got his set of Poirot mysteries. They are in French, so they can help me brush up on the language.
I also got a couple of European cosmetic items in Montreal, because the price could not be beat.
In Ottawa, at Nordstrom, I got these gold and opal earrings.
And finally, in Niagara On the Lake, there was a shop that was having a huge sale on all sterling silver.
So Doc got me this opal bracelet,
this Claddagh ring,
and this amethyst pendant.
Our trip was flawless - until the end. We took a 50 seat puddle jumper from Quebec City to Montreal, where we boarded an Air Canada Airbus. After about 1.5 hours in the air, the pilot announced that there was a problem with the aircraft and we were turning back to Montreal. I immediately panicked, and continued weeping for the entire time we got back to the airport. Luckily, we lived to tell the tale.
There were many emergency vehicles there to meet us, so I don't really think that the problem was the cargo door, as the pilot announced. For our near death experience, we were each given a $10 food voucher. How generous.Then Air Canada billed me for the 8 cents that we went over the $10. Such great service - I sent a nasty email. We were put on another plane (thankfully) and the pilot boogied and we only arrived home about an hour behind schedule. But many people missed their connections and had to stay in a hotel overnight. That would have been awful,
While we were waiting to board the new aircraft, this beautiful sunset happened. When I saw it, I knew that everything would be okay.
And that is our trip to Canada - overall, it was a great trip and I loved seeing that vast beautiful country with it's friendly helpful people. I hope to go back some day.
