Quebec--North America's France

One of several historic city gates to Quebec

We loved Quebec, especially Quebec City.  It's like Paris without the Eiffel Tower and all the dog shit on the sidewalks.

Founded in 1608, it is the last narrow point on the St. Lawrence River and was a major port, political capital, and focal point of British, French, and US military designs.  Its citadel is huge, the largest fortified city north of Mexico.

The St. Lawrence & Quebec port

Beyond the citadel, old Quebec if full of narrow quaint streets and alleys, reminiscent of Europe, and France in particular.

One of many street scenes.  We ate on the left.

The massive Fairmont Hotel was the meeting place for Roosevelt, Churchill, and Canadian PM Smith to plan D-Day. 

The Fairmont hotel

Nice, but a few too many mosquitoes

We camped upriver in a beautiful forested national park, next to Isle de Orleans.  After lunch at a winery with just so-so wines, we bicycled partly around in 80 degree heat and 80% humidity.  We were also right next to Chutes Montomorecy a huge waterfall taller than Niagara Falls.

Chutes Montomorecy

You can see more photos HERE.

We drove over 400 miles today along the St. Lawrence River then through beautiful, hilly farmland and forests.  (Sorry, no photos, but parts were definitely photo worthy).  Now that we're in New Brunswick, it's nice to see road signs in English, and have people speak English with us.  We're within two hours of the Bay of Fundy, the place with the massive tides.  Then back to the USA via Maine.

Leisurely Charcuterie lunch in Quebec City

WHAT WE CAN, WHILE WE CAN

Ottawa and Montreal

On the locks of  the Rideau Canal

After five straight days of driving from Calgary, it felt so good to not be behind a windshield.  Having been in many capital cities in the world, we weren't expecting much.  But Ottawa  (population almost one million) was much like Washington DC.  Lots to see and do, and we hit perfect weather for it.

The Rideau Canal next to Parliment

We drove part way into town, then rode our bikes into downtown.  We've come to realize that riding bikes in any downtown is much less stressful than driving and finding a parking place.  And on our second day, we found a nice route along the Rideau Canal.

Our morning commute to downtown Ottawa

Over 120 miles long, and carved out of granite for much of its route, it was built between 1826 and 1832 for military purposes.  It connects the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario. (By comparison, the Erie Canal, 363 miles long, was completed in 1825.)  Over 1,000 Irish workers died of disease during the construction, mostly from malaria.  We'd believe it, based on the mosquito bites we got in our campground.


We witnessed the pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guard in front of the Parliament building, undergoing a 10-year renovation.  Many of the buildings there made us feel that we were at Hogwarts.

Hogwarts?  Or the House of Commons?

We also got to watch another one at the home of the Governor General, Canada's first astronaut.  She was out of town, so we got to see more of the residence (photos are in the link below).  The grounds were beautiful.  The Governor General is the Queen's representative, and has duties similar  to that of an American Vice President.

Inside the House of Commons

We also toured the home of two prime ministers of the WWI and WWII era, saw the obligatory Gothic cathedral,  toured the House of Commons (built in a former courtyard), and enjoyed an excellent Indian and French lunch.


I'm writing this in Quebec, and like every other Canadian city we've visited, we've enjoyed the ethnic diversity.  People of all creeds, attire, and ethnicity seem to mingle with each other and get along.  Canada's liberal immigration policy is its strength, especially when countries in Europe, Asia, and even in the US are approaching flat or negative population growths and strains on their pension systems.  This diversity creates some wonderful dining opportunities, as well.

You can see more photos of our Ottawa photos HERE.

MONTREAL

Bike path on our island campground

We didn't get to see as much of Montreal as we had wanted.  It was twice the size of Ottawa and the weather didn't cooperate on our sightseeing day.  We arrived on Discovery Day, Quebec's version of our 4th of July.  By law, everything from Walmart, to Ikea to Mom and Pop establishments were closed.  

But we took advantage of the beautiful weather on our island campground (a national park) on the St. Lawrence River and bicycled around it and watched the locals enjoy the holiday.  As always, our campground neighbors were so helpful and friendly.

It rained a lot the next day.  We drove to a park and ride, then took the subway into downtown Montreal. The heavy rain made the cathedral and an indoor market a refuge, but in the end the museum Pointe-a''-Calliere made the day most satisfying.

The Museo Pointe-a''-Calliere

Built on the archaeological ruins of Montreal from 600 ago to today, we got a good sense of the history about this place and North America.  Best of all, it had a fabulous traveling exhibit about the history of French cuisine.  Think what you may, but these two food geeks spent a good two hours there. 

We don't  have a lot of Montreal photos, but what we do have are HERE.

Stay tuned for our next post on Quebec--We love it and took a lot of photos.

WHAT WE CAN, WHILE WE CAN!

The (Long!) Trans Canadian Highway

At a lunch stop at Indian Head,
somewhere along Hwy 1

We’ve driven 1900 miles since our Sunday departure from Calgary along Highway 1, the Trans Canadian Highway.  It’s the longest national road in the world.   Today was a light day, ‘only’ 273 miles.  Yesterday was 425—a bit too much pulling a trailer and having it push us down curvy steep hills. 

Canadian prairie, Manitoba 

The first 2.5 days out of Calgary were flat, straight, and green prairie.  Gradually the scenery transitioned to more trees to the point that yesterday and today we were in coniferous and deciduous forests all day, with occasional glimpses of Lake Superior, with lots of hills and curves.  At least half of the time the highway is a two lane road with frequent passing lanes.  Fortunately, traffic seemed light, but with frequent construction delays and often rough roads.  The first two days, the speed limit was 60-65 mph.  But the past three days it's been 55.  The towns and cities seem so far away from each other!

Lake Superior near Sault St. Marie

We’re not doing all 4800 miles of Hwy 1, which starts in Victoria BC and ends St. Johns’s Newfoundland.  Our goal was to simply get across the prairie and the vast southern interior.  We’re 300 miles from Ottawa, where we plan to spend a couple of days, then more quality time in Montreal and Quebec. 

We started near Banff, hope to make it to Nova Scotia

Near Thunder Bay, overlooking Lake Superior
Close (sort of) to Grand Rapids, MI

So what’s it like driving about 400 miles a day?  For the driver, it’s tedious and fully engaged, especially with 5500 pounds and an extra 21 feet behind us. However, we’re scenery geeks, (especially me) even flat prairie.  We’re working our way through an excellent audio book about Alexander Hamilton. (What a giant!) And we often default to about a half dozen of our favorite Sirius Radio stations from symphonic to hard rock.  Or sometimes silence, happy and content with the person next to us and ‘Jackson’ our Airstream behind us.  It wouldn’t be fun alone.  When Kathy isn’t driving, she’s finding our campsite for the night and beyond, or dealing with Assistance League emails.

And speaking of campgrounds, they are all starting to blur together.  Tonight we’re in a nice, but mosquito infested, provincial park with lots of privacy and hiking trails.  We’ve stayed in a delightful city park, and two commercial places. Our fellow campers are friendly—to the point where we were playing a scrabble-like game over wine and chocolate with our neighbors next door two nights ago.

Davis Lake CG, Ignace Ontario.  Great
 studio for my drum practice pad

Rapids on our hike in our campground tonight at
Chues Provincial Park, Massy Ontario 

If you missed our Facebook or Instagram posts about the Tyrell Royal Museum, we spent a couple of hours there Sunday before starting our eastward journey.  It was the best natural history museum we’ve ever experienced.  It, and the surrounding dig sites are huge.

Well worth the detour!

Tomorrow Ottawa—and two nights in the same place!

"What We Can, While We Can!"

The Spectacular Canadian Rockies and Calgary

There are many kinds of visual beauty in the natural world.  The pastoral beauty of verdant farmlands, the serene beauty of flowered meadows and lakes, the relaxing beauty of the Oregon coast, or the mellow beauty of wine country.  And then there is the category of spectacular beauty.  Banff and Jasper national parks knock that category out of the park.

At the Crow's Foot Glacier, Jasper NP Canada

We spent three nights in rustic campgrounds in Banff and two at Sunwapta Pass in Jasper National Park.  The beauty was simply jaw dropping, making it hard to drive, especially pulling our trailer.  But riding bikes for a day gave us expansive vistas, and a great workout, especially at this higher altitude.

Kathy heading into an 8% downhill
grade outside Banff

This year, they didn’t get much snow, so our views were more like you would see in late July or in August.  Global warming is evident everywhere with receding glaciers and massive pine beetle infestations.  That said, our drive through the Columbia ice fields was probably the most beautiful drive of our lives.  Our only complaint is the shortage of pullover places to stop for a photo or to just gawk at the majesty.

The Ice Dome Glacier from the
Columbia Ice field Center

The Snow Dome, just three miles from our campground is a massive glacier, and the birthplace of three rivers, including the mighty Columbia.  The other two flow to the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.  The glacier is receding about 15 feet per year.  Go while you can, and many tourists from all over the world are doing just that.   

Near Medicine Lake, NE from Jasper

An interesting fact:  The towns of Banff and Jasper are owned by the Parks Canada.  Thus, there are no lavish mansions, B&B’s and second homes like you would see in Aspen, Telluride, or Jackson Hole.   You have to document a purpose for living there, such as teaching in the local school, working in the park, or in the hospitality industry.  Thus, rents are reasonable, and retirees generally don’t live there.

For more photos that don’t do this spectacular beauty justice, check out THIS LINK.

Calgary

Calgary was quite a pleasant surprise.  We spent two nights in Calgary, a huge city of 1.5 million and massive skyscrapers and famous for its annual Calgary Stampede rodeo.  It’s a young city, first settled in 1884 and incorporated in 1894.  It is clean, vibrant, hip, and diverse. We drove three miles from our campground to a park and ride, then rode the train into town. 

We toured Studio Bell, Canada’s answer to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll museum.  Much of the focus was on Canadian musicians, many of whom have had a huge presence on the American music scene.  It also focused on the science of music and how instruments work.  But it can’t hold a candle to Cleveland’s R&R museum.  The best thing about it was the building itself, truly an architectural work of art.

Studio Bell

Today we enjoyed a long walking tour of downtown Calgary.  This place just oozes art, architecture, and energy.  And speaking of energy, that’s what this town is built upon—oil, gas, and more.   We loved the library, an architecture creation of beauty and function.

Entrance level to the library

Inside the Wonderland
Head Sculpture

The Wonderland
Head Sculpture

You can see a few more photos of Calgary at THIS LINK.

Tomorrow, after a brief visit to a dinosaur dig north of here, we start our 2400 mile drive across the prairies to Quebec.  If time permits, we might make it to Nova Scotia.  But our goal is to be in NW Massachusetts by July 3 to spend the long 4^th of July weekend with Skyler, Spencer, and Feruza in the Berkshires, and to attend the Tanglewood Music Festival.  You can follow us in more real time on Facebook and Instagram (@KelemenRon). 

"WHAT WE CAN, WHILE WE CAN!"