PART 2

 

 

Friday 11 June 2010

After the breakfast buffet we take the subway to Place d’Armes in Vieux Montreal. Not for the Cathedral this time - we saws that yesterday  - , but for the rest of this part of town. We see the court house and the court of appeal, that started out as a bank office. The entrance is impressive with its art deco lamps. This weekend Montreal hosts Canada's Formula One Grand Prix and we see people dressed in race team related clothes.  Although the race circuit is on Mont Tremblant well outside the city we can hear the high pitched sounds of the race cars doing their training rounds. We walk on to the Place Cartier. The town hall where French President De Gaulle held is 1967 “Vive le Quebec Libre” speech is under restoration. The speech caused a lot of unrest in Québec, because the french speaking Canadians felt discriminated against by the english speaking majority. We carry on to the Marché du Bonsecour, now a shopping arcade, that could do with more visitors. Next to it is the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecour, the seaman church of Montreal. A fine 17th century church, founded by a Marguerite Bourgeoy, Canada’s first saint. There is a small museum devoted to her life and work. Highlight of the visit to this church is a visit to the Chapelle Aeriale, on the roof of the church, offering some fine views of the old town and the river. After the visit we walk along the harbourfront and cut back into the old town. We pass the old Customs House and the Yeoville square with its old fortifications and the Founders obelisk. There is also a former fire station. 

We have  lunch at hotel Bonaparte. We eat in posh surroundings, but prices for the fixed lunch menu are moderate. We walk on to the Square Victoria. On our way ther we stop at the Royal Bank of Canada, once the highest building in the British Empire (23 floors). The banking hall with the teller windows is beautifully designed. At the Square Victoria we find an Art Nouveau subway entrance - a gift from France at the occasion of the 1967 world expo. Until then the entrance stood in Paris.  

We take the subway to Sherbrooke. That is in the district called le Plateau, high over the centre of town. Here, to long boulevards run parallel to each other with lots of restaurants and ethnic shops. : rue St Denis and Rue St Laurent, the latter also known as The Main.  For a long time Rue St Laurent was the dividing line between english and french Montréal. After that we take a taxi to take us up   Mont Royal, the mountain that gave the city its name. We are dropped off at a point overlooking the Eastern part of the city. We see the Olympic Stadium dating back to the 1976 Olympics. We take a bus to the Chalet Smith with a panoramic view of downtown Montreal. Great views of the sky skrapers of central Montréal. We take the bus back and then the subway to the B&B. There we see the last bit of World Cup match between France and Uruguay: 0-0.

At night we eat in the Quatier Latin (www.quatierlatin.ca) in an Asian restaurant Fou d'Asie on rue st Denis. Good food and reasonably priced. Back to the B&B.

Later in the evening we go out and sit down outside lounge bar Gotha Saloon bar, a bit off the scene circuit on rue Amherst. We sit very relaxed on a sidwalk terrace. The on to Bar Relaxe with lots of outside tables on village's artery, the rue Ste Cathérine. We decide to round of the evening as we did yesterday at La Normandie, where they yet again have laid on a happy Karaoke party.

Weather: morning dry and cloudy, 17°/63°F , later sunny 23°/73°F .

Saturday 12 June 2010

Montréal - La Mauricie (Grandes-Pîles): 222km (139mi)

 Our Tomtom navigation device takes us on a route out of town we would never have found ourselves. We see no signs directing us to Trois-Rivieres. After a while we reach the Transcanadian following the St Laurent River and getting us to   Trois-Rivieres. At Trois-Rivieres we turn north to Grandes-Pîles, where  we have booked  room in the Auberge Le Bôme. We are welcomed by the owners and can put our suit cases in the room. We are then off to  National Park La Mauricie. In the visitor center we get some advise on a walk starting at the Makinec parking lot to a lookout and back. The first two kilometres along the lake are easy, but after we have crossed a lake by means of a floating bridge, the the path starts climbing rapidly.  The next kilometres I follow a steeply climbling path to a marvelous lookout, called Royse. The view of the lakes, forests and mountains is breathtaking. It is infested with mosquitoes however. They are not harmless. Some of them carry the West Nile virus which can cause nasty symptoms of diseasees (flue-like feeling, fever, tired, upset stomach and bowels) which some case develop into meningitis. It cannot be treated and can only be prevention with mosquito repellant (containing DEET) is the only sensible thing to do. We do not see any wildlife today. Back to the trailhead and parkin lot. We drive back to Grandes-Pîles, on the other side of the river. A 30 minute's drive. We take a bath in the jacuzzi and relax a bit. Refreshed we walk to the marina and have a beer at the outside bar. 

Later we see the last bit of Engeland-USA match (1-1) followed by dinner in the hotel. The owners prepare a great and very tasteful meal. I have lamb and Erik goes for duck breast.

After that we look at a rerun of the Argentina vs Nigeria match (1-0).

 

Weather: sunny 23°C/73°F.

 

Sunday 13 June 2010

We have breakfast in the dining room. It has been well presented with fruits, croissants and some fresh orange juice. Eggs can be ordered to any style. After breakfast we drive back to Nationaal Park Le Mauricie. The national park is part of the Laurentides (Laurentians) mountain range north of the St Laurent river ligt. We cross the park and stop at numerous lookouts. One is even nicer than the next. We see a skunk by the side of the rouad. They appear not to be very rare. Then, when we round a curve we see in the distance a black bear running at the side of the road. When approach with our car he runs for it into the woods and we do not see it again. Unfortunately it was to quick for a photo.

Wij drive until Shewinigan parking lot, where we eat a burger at the Casse-Croute (Quebecois for Snackbar). We start our walk arund Les Cascades, a fast running river with numerous fals. In this part of the park it is a lot busier, then in the parts we visited up till now. After the walk we drive back to  St Jean de Pîles, where we do some shopping and then on to Grandes-Piles. We again take a bath in the jacuzzi and watch the world cup and see most of the match between Germany and Australia (4-0). We sit in the sun with some reading and enjoy the view on the riverlake. 

At night we again at the hotel. This time I take a duck breast, with smoked salmon as a starter. Very well prepared and tastful. Late night we watch some football: Ghana beats Serbia (1-0).

Weather: sunny 25°C/77°F

 

Monday 14 June 2010

La Mauricie (Grandes-Pîles) - Quebec Ville: 166km (100mi)

We get up early and are in front of the TV at 7.30am to watch Netherlands play agains Denmark. At half time we go downstairs for breakfast. We are too late to see the Netherlands take the lead only one minute into the second half. Later our boys score a second goal and we all cheers. We settle the bill with the hotel owners and leave for the provincial capital of Québec. 

Around 11.30 we arrive at the  Auberge Aux Deux Lions in Quebec City. The room is not ready yet, but we can park the car in the private car park. We walk down town following the rue St Jean and have some lunch on our way to the old town. The old town is completely walled in, the only city in North America. It is on the world heritage list of UNESCO. In the old town we first head for the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Quebec . This 17th century church is the oldest parish church North of Mexico. It burnt down in 1922 and has been fully restored since then. The altar is a copy of the one in Rome's St Peter. The tin lamp near the altar was a gift by Louis XIV of France.  We walk on to the Funiculaire, that takes us to the Lower City of old Quebec. Down below are narrouw cobble stoned street lined with restaurants and quaint little shops. It looks picture perfect, almost too perfect. We have a drink on outdoor café in the lower town and walk around. We end up at the Place Royale with stunningly restored 17th and 18th century houses and the  Notre-Dame des Victoires (1687) church, devoted to two French victories on the British navy in or near Canada (1690 en 1711). The main altar is in the shape of a castle. There are a few copeis of paintings by Rubens, Van Dijck and Van Loo on the walls. They were given by early colonists as thanks for a safe passage to the new world. 

When we have seen most of the lower town we go back up to the upper town with the funiculaire. We have a look from the town balcony with a view of the St Laurent river at the foot of  the Chateau Frontenac hotel. The hotel is huge and could easily pass off as a medieval castle. It was built by the Canadian Railways in the late 19th century and was designed by a New York architect on the spot where the French Colonist Champlain had a fortress built in the 17th century. The old town is still completely walled in there are still plenty of canons around to remind us of the times past. Somewhat higher up from the hotel are the remains of the old citadel. The first buildings here we of French origin, but most what we see today has been built by the British on the instructions of the Duke of Wellington. He was afraid of an attack by the United States after the war of 1812. We walk on into the old upper town and see the Grand Semenary (now a school for architects of the first french speaking Roman Catholic university of Canada), the hospital and finally the chapel of the order of Ursulines. By that time we have become a bit tired and we take the electric ecobus, that drives back for free to a bus stop near our hotel.

At night we eat a Piazzetta, a reasonably priced, trendy pizza restaurant in the rue Cartier, where there are lots of nice places to eat. The pizza's are fine and cost much less then anticipated, as we get an unsollicited discount.

Weather: on our way to Quebec rain and 11°C (52°F). In Quebec itself sunny and 23°C (73°F)

 

Dinsdag 15 June 2010

 Quebec Ville - Tadoussac: 212km (132mi)

Our happy and friendly hotelier has his breakfast ready when enter the breakfast room. He is very cheery and does not hide his curiosity either. He even joins at our table. We are saved when a another guest enters the room. We check out after breakfast and have some coffee in rue Cartier. After that we are on our way to Wendake, a  Huron territory on the outskirts of Quebec.

The Hurons are aboriginal people (or First Nation as they are called  in Canada), with whom the colonists led by Champlain came into contact in 1615. The French set up a fur trade with them. Champlain also supported them in their fights with the Iroqui people, who were driven out initiallyh. When the Dutch arrived via the Hudson bay they started to arm the Iroqui with fire arms thus tilting the power balance between the native nations dramatically. The Iroqui came after the Hurons with a vengeance. When the British finally occupied Quebec the Huron's alliance with the French was seen as a liability. These days there are very few Hurons (or Wendat as they call themselves) left. There is only one Huron territory (the one here) and three autonomous communities in the United States. Here in Wendake the community counts around 3,000 people. In the US there are another 5,200 Hurons.  The Hurons here in Quebec are mainly Roman Catholic and speak French. A lot of effort is put into spreading the knowledge about the Wendat-language and culture among the members of the community.

Our Tomtom gets us close to where we want to go, but not quite. We ask a passer by who points us in the right direction.  We first head for the museum, based in the Huron run Traité hotel and museum. We have a look at the modes exhibition, which is not cheap: 9 dollar pp. Then we move on to the Huron heritage village. That is a 5 minute drive. Also here a hefty entree charge of $12,50. We get a tour in French by one of the Huron men. We hear about the traditions of the Hurons and their tradtional housing arrangements. Hurons or Wendat these days live in ordinary Canadian house in the neighbourhood. Afer the tour we are treated to a show of traditional dance for which we have to fork out another $8 pp.After the dances - with some audience participation - we go on our way to  Tadoussac.

We drive back to the ring road and follow it in a North Easterly direction, keeping the St Laurent river on our right hand. WE stop at  St Anne de Beaupré, the Lourdes of Canada. Here Ste Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary, is worshipped, because she would have saved sailors on the stomy St Laurent river from a certain death. Thee is a huge pilgrims church on the edge of the village. We have lunch in a McDonalds across from the church. We carry on along the coast through nice landscapes and quaint villages. It is quite a drive of about 4 hours for only 200 km. At Baie de St Catherine we board a ferry crossing the Sagenay fjord to Tadoussac. The crossing takes only 10 minutes. Our motel Le Beluga is just off the jetty. We get a spacious room, on a busy road. We eat dinner in the buffet restaurant of the  Hotel Tadoussac, the posh hotel of the village with its conspicuous red roof. The food is a bit of led down. We walk a small circuit along the port to have a look at the tour boats for the whale cruises. Tomorrow will be on a Zodiac looking for the huge maritime mammals. 

 

Weather: sunny, 20°C/68°F.

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