Oh Canada! May 29th - 31st - West Danville,VT to Baie-Comeau, QC

Day 1 - Tuesday, May 29^th – West Danville, VT to Montmagny, QC

We left camp at 10 am on a grey and rainy day, after a night of pretty continuous thunderstorms with beaucoup lightning.  And so began our 25^th anniversary trip to Quebec, Labrador and Newfoundland.  This is a trip we’ve talked about for years, and delayed till our 26^th year of marriage due to other commitments last year.  So we were pretty psyched to finally be going.

There was no waiting at the border crossing since we were the only car there.  Our drive to Montmagny was overcast, but no rain, which made the trip easier. 

It was exciting getting our first glimpse of the St. Lawrence.  That was in Levis (pronounced Lay-vee by the Quebecois) as we got off Auto 20 and onto Rt. 132 - the road that would take us all the way to Matane and the ferry to Baie Comeau.  Once East of Levis the road became immediately almost free of traffic and gained a coastal feel.  The houses were each unique vs the same-same track houses so common in the US.  The place has a definite appeal to us.

We stayed at the EconoLodge in Montmagny which was, well – econo.  The room was adequate but smelled of stale smoke even though it is a no smoking room.  But hey – only one night.    Our dinner was a bigger hit.  The Restaurant Bel-Air served up a yummy lasagna for John and a wonderful pork tenderloin dinner for Chris.  

Day 2 - Wednesday, May 30^th – Montmagny, Quebec to Rimouski, QC

After breakfast at the EconoLodge - which was actually pretty good – we stopped for a few supplies at the local IGA.  Quebec seems to have lots of IGAs.  It reminded me of when I was a kid, and we shopped at IGAs in Michigan.   I can’t remember the last time I saw one in the states.  

Anyway, we were putting our purchases in the trunk, including a supply of wine, when a fellow pulled up behind us, rolled down the window, and in his best attempt at English let us know that the store next door, SAQ, is a liquor store and a better place to buy spirits than the grocery stores.  A random act of kindness.  You meet nice people everywhere you go.

Our drive to Rimouski was very pleasant and made me think I’d like to come this way again when I have more time to visit the little villages we drove past.  As it was, we didn’t have much time to linger as we needed to get to our next place by 4 pm. 

We were intrigued by an unusual type of ground fog, if that's what it really was, that we were seeing just above the tilled soils.  We wondered if it came from recently fertilized fields?  Maybe moisture rolling in from the St. Lawrence?  We weren't sure, but it was interesting.

One way we planned to save money on food and not eat every meal in restaurants for a month was to have picnic lunches.  So each day we stopped for lunch along the road and had food from the cooler. 

In St. Jean Port Joli we found a very cool lunch spot in a little park filled with all sorts of wood carvings and metal sculpture.  There were also interpretive signs telling us about the river and its wildlife.  The river has maximum tides of 20 feet!  Can you imagine such a thing for a river?  

The signs told us another thing we’d been curious about, and that’s how the fresh/salt water mixes and where the St. Lawrence River becomes the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The salt water mixes with fresh water starting just East of Ile de Orleans near Quebec City.  It stays mixed fresh/salt until after La Pocatiere – roughly 70k or a little over 40 miles eastward - and then becomes all salt water.  I’m sure there’s more to the scientific story, but that’s a nutshell answer and we were glad to have it.

Picnic park in Saint-Jean-Port-Jolie, above and below.  There were many interesting sculptures in this little roadside park.

The other stop we made, also in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, was to the museum/gallery, Musee des Anciens Canadiens , devoted to wood carving and wood carvers.  What an interesting place!  

This is at the entrance to the Musee

That is a carved and painted wood mural in back of me along the front of the building

Its gallery covers two floors exhibiting a variety of woodcarving techniques and styles from various local artists.  I particularly loved the carved wooden hands they used to hold the ropes where they section off the pieces.  

And I was drawn to one particular artist's work that I took some shots of - alas, I didn't write down the artist's name.  : - (

The museum part was particularly interesting.  My favorite piece was the wooden chain that was carved out of a single piece of wood.  We were told it took many years for the fellow to complete it.  

I definitely recommend a visit to Musee des Anciens Canadiens if you make a trip to this area of Quebec.


http://www.museedesancienscanadiens.com/musee%20A.htm

There were sooo many lilac bushes – lilac trees even – in full bloom along the drive!  And they were more profuse and lush than any I’ve ever seen.  The lilacs must really love this environment.  I just wanted to stop and stick my nose into every one we passed and drink up that wonderful scent. 

Several times throughout the trip we were passed by semis carrying enormously wide and long cylinders.  They had police escorts ahead of and behind them.  We thought perhaps they were parts of silos since there are a lot of farms along this route.  Then we saw a semi pass us – again with the police escorts - and it was carrying the largest propeller blade you’ve ever seen or imagined in your life.  We saw two semis ultimately, each carrying one gigantic blade.  They were blades for wind turbines, and that made us realize the cylinders we saw earlier were for a wind turbine column, not a silo – though they seemed about the same diameter.

Gite du Capitain Bruno, our accommodation for the night, was in the Captain’s room of a beautiful B&B built in 2008 and run by a lovely lady named Louise Dupuis.  It had a king sized bed, granite counter in the bathroom, flat screen TV, bamboo flooring and fully tiled shower.  Oh, and it had a bidet which I still don’t really understand the purpose of, let alone how to use it. 

A good rest after a long day of driving. 

The view of the St. Lawrence from our bedroom

We drove down to the ‘quai’ (pronounced kay, I learned) and walked up and down Rimouski’s marina walkway which was very nice.  There is a place for walkers/runners and a separate lane for bikes.  

Low tide brought many shore birds to feast on the critters left behind

After much searching, we finally settled on an Italian place called Maison de Spagetti which served up decent fare.  And then to bed.

Day 3 – Thursday, May 31^st – Rimouski, Quebec to Baie Comeau, QC

We woke to a very grey drizzly day, and after a wonderful home cooked breakfast - a al Madam Dupuis - we drove to Matane and our 2.5 hour ferry ride to Baie Comeau.  

Along the way we saw this pretty incredible property that we are told is a privately held estate.  The entrance gates say Manoir Dochar.  Somebody with some serious money was living out their fairy tale fantasy here, for sure.

We found a nice little boulangerie in Matane and bought fresh bread and cheese for lunch, then got in line for the ferry.

 

Boy, they really do pack the vehicles in this ferry, I gotta tell you.  It sort of creeped me out walking through those aisles of tightly packed vehicles, including very large tractor-trailers, some taller than my house it seemed.  

As we were pulling out of port, we noticed the end of the piers were buttressed with these things that looked like giant jacks.  Sort of cool.

I wish the day had been sunnier, but as it was, we were able to put our heavy duty outer gear to good use.  We put them on and spent a good hour and a half on deck during the trip across the St. Lawrence.  I believe we were the only people on deck besides staff.  Everyone else was inside biding their time, but we were determined to make the most of the experience and actually had a very good time ‘braving the elements’.

Look at how the wind is blowing John's pant legs.

  

50 Shades of Gray

Self portrait in a port hole.

Our hotel in Baie Comeau, Hotel le Manoir, was very close to the ferry and is really a beautiful place.  It was one of our splurge hotel nights – a treat to ourselves before we headed north into the hinterlands.  The room had a very nice view over the river, which was at low tide when we arrived.

Our room with a view

By the time we finished our dinners, seated at the only table with a full view of the river, it was  high tide, and we enjoyed watching the river slowly rise over a little sand bar inch by inch.  Several gulls were sitting on the ever shrinking little spot of land, and they didn’t fly off till they absolutely had to.  I suspect they were taking advantage of the critters who were being washed up onto the sand by the rising tide.  But who knows. Maybe they were just playing chicken.

Paris - Day 10

Day 10 – Saturday, September 4^th – Bye Bye to Paris

The Last Hurrah

We had planned to go to Montmartre, which we missed last time we were in Paris, but we were wilted little posies by this time, and gave Montmartre a pass – Rats!

(And speaking of rats, the trip is now complete because Jane actually SAW a rat, which was – believe you me – the highlight of her trip.)

So we fed a few more birds and walked around Les Halles where we had wine and stinky cheese for lunch.

We tried to find the flea market near St. Eustache that we found on our earlier trip.  No luck with that, but we did find an area of nice gardens around a big shopping area, the name of which escapes me.  They had a fountain which the birds found perfect for an afternoon splash.

On an earlier walk to the 14^th A we found a hardware store where we bought a lock to place on the Pont des Arts, representing our sisterly affection into posterity – or until the bridge police remove locks again, whichever comes first.  So we took ourselves back to the Pont and affixed our lock amid the rest.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a last trip back to the Louvre where Chris found some beautiful religious ceramic pieces that captured her eye.

After packing, we had a mediocre dinner in St. Michelle and waved a weary bye bye to Paris as we headed to the airport.  We absolutely wore our little selves out having a grand time in the beautiful city of lights!

Au Revoir!  

Post script:

What’s with the fish?

These fish are freakin’ EVERYwhere in Paris.  What’s up with that?  Does anyone know?

Paris Day 9

Day 9 – Friday, September 3^rd – The Penultimate Day

No rest for the weary, or, A day for the birds

We were pretty beat after getting back to our hotel the evening before, so we found a place to eat dinner in Les Halles, not too far away, and headed for bed. 

This morning, as we looked around our room, we thought we’d capture a few shots of our digs so we’d remember it when we get old and our brains start to become leaky.

La salle avec les deux steps

Les Gear

Les Shoes

Les Petit Dejeuner

We decided Friday would be a take-it-easy day for us with a ‘little walk to the Paris Opera House’, officially named Opera de Paris Garnier after the architect who designed it, Charles Garnier.  Turns out it was not so take-it-easy a day after all, but it was worth the exertion.

On our way to the Opera House we fed our abundant excess breakfast bread to the sparrows in the Jardin des Tuileries.  I’m sure they were all sorry to see us go back to the states.  They loved Jane.  I think it was the bling....

Make room for me!

Oh, thank you, Janie!

I'm full now.

OK, My turn.

A Cezanne in the Tuileries

And this is how Chris's feet looked after 9 days of walking around Paris and Brussels

Tuileries Heron and - well, what IS that mythical creature, anyway?

One of my favorite statues in the Tuileries

A bird in the hand.....

View from courtyard of the Louvre - notice the archway at the right....

Here's a view of the archway's ceiling.  See the birdnest?  There were several, and they are swallow nests.

And here are some of the little critters peeking out of the nest at me.  It was hard to capture them, because they are always on the move.  Very busy birdees.

  

We stopped in at the cathedral right next to our hotel, Saint Germain L’Auxerrois (pronounced, I finally learned, Loo-zher-wah).  We were glad we did, because there has been significant restoration to the interior since we visited 7 years prior.  We were happy to see such a refresh of the place.   

Above and below, their beautiful organ

The painting on these 3 windows has a pre-Raphaelite look to me.

Tired as we were, we made frequent stops along our trip to the Opera, including a wonderful candy shop where we bought fancy caramels to bring back, and a fun, funky bus stop that was so Jane - FANCY!

A walk through the Jardin du Palais Royal allowed us to unload more leftover bread by feeding their none-too-shy pigeons.  

One at a time now.

Hmmm, bread or fingernail - decisions, decisions

Practicing for falconry 

They seem a lot bigger sitting on your arm than they do on the ground.

And suddenly – there it was!  I could almost have closed my eyes and imagined the Phantom peeking out from behind the huge angels on the rooftop!  

aaaaaaand, queue music!

I tell you, there aren’t enough cameras to handle the picture potential of this beautiful place, but I did my darnedest.  Here are a few of the pictures I took - trust me, it's only a few considering how many I took!

The ceilings were splendid!

I especially liked this one with the bat motif

Can anything be more ornate than this hallway?

Looking from the main hallway into one of the salons

This is a promenade outside the ornate hallway

Even the floors were amazingly decorous

Self portrait in the mirrors

Look at the ceiling beyond the urn.

This entire floor is mosaic tile.  I want that in MY house!

A very interesting part of the Opera House was this library/museum.  What I loved most - besides the fabulous wooden cases - was the miniature scenes housed in the small glass cases on either side of this room.  Jane is standing in front of one.  Examples of the scenes are shown below.

These were made of paper meticulously cut and painted.  They were working 3D scale models of what the final scenery would be for a given opera or theater piece.  Outstanding!

Jane looking into box 5 - the Phantom's personal seat.  Alas, we didn't see him.  But!......

I did see a shadow, and I think we might have just missed him escaping up the staircase! 

One of the large statues flanking the entrance to the main auditorium

There were several of these beautiful bronzes all around the outside of the Opera House.

Opera Garnier tidbit

Almost as fabulous as the Opera House itself is the scale model of it housed at the Musee D’Orsay.  The model was built by Richard Peduzzi between 1984 and 1986 and is roughly 8’ H x 19’ W x 3.5’ D.  It is fantastically detailed down to the painted ceilings and string simulating the intricate roping used to manage the staging.  Truly a wonder and a must see if you visit Paris!

Here is the Wikipedia web page about it, and there are other pictures available should you want to check them out.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scale_model_of_L'Opera_Garnier.jpg

After all the magnificence of the Opera House, we needed to gird ourselves for the long walk home.

On our way back from the Opera House, we stopped by the Comedy Francais which was founded by Louis XIV in 1680.  The interior was closed, but we did manage to see the lobby and outside of the building.

Just one corner of the ceiling.  The other corners were equally ornate.

We headed back to Les Halles again for dinner and at at a place called Café Indiana.  Chris almost unwittingly ordered steak tartar.  Yikes!  Jane had a great chicken curry.  On the walk home we enjoyed seeing Notre Dame at night where there were folks performing various street dances.    

Jane was too tired to join the street dancers, so she decided to  strike a Parisian night pose.

Continuing on, we saw the Tango People - a whole group of folks with a music box and speakers playing tangos.  It seemed folks would choose partners and just dance in the Paris moonlight.  Tres romantique! 

Farther along, the Eiffel Towers lights were doing their hourly camera bulb flash show as we strolled by.

Flash on.....

Flash off.

We decided we’d walk down some steps by the bridge to get closer to the Seine, but the steps smelled WAY like pee, so we abandoned that idea STAT!

Instead, we just enjoyed one last look at the Pont Neuf at night before retiring for our last sleep in Paris.

Last time we visited Paris, the city was in the process of steam cleaning all the faces on this bridge.  Can you imagine what it costs to keep all the many architectural edifices in the city clean and in good repair?  Sheesh!