Not everything is French in Montreal

Parc d'Oka, Quebec, Canada

Reluctantly we pulled up stakes and headed off one of our favorite little islands, Ile d'Orleans. It's definitely a different vibe on Monday mornings than on Sundays. Very few of the cider shops, wineries, patisseries that cater to the weekend crowd were open. It was nice driving by all the little farms and having the place almost to ourselves. The St. Lawrence River was very calm and the early morning light made for some great photography.

Driving around Quebec was a breeze and "voila" we were on our way to Montreal. As Ned mentioned last night, our last visit to this part of Canada was our fall tour of 2009. How different it is seeing these same places in the summer! Tourist season officially opened on Sunday and it was like someone just flipped a switch. Was it only a few days ago we were wearing layers, enjoying the cooler weather and had most places to ourselves?

Rather than just visit the historic part of Montreal I thought it would be fun to visit "Little Italy" and embrace my Italian culture. The largest ethnic group in the Montreal area are Italians. Many of them arrived after the end of the 19th Century and after World War II. I envisioned this area would look and feel like North Beach in San Francisco. We thought it would be fun to take a break from seafood and, of course, potatoes and splurge on an Italian meal. By the time we actually found the Little Italy section, no easy feat without google maps or trying to navigate this crazy busy city, we were a little disappointed. Yes, we saw a lot of Italian flags flying and an occasional shout from groups of people spilling out of bars and dressed in similar attire, but this seemed to be more about Italian solidarity around the World Cup than anything else. Nothing grabbed our attention, we didn't see any quaint little cafes dotting the streets, only clogged traffic and tons of construction. So without any disrespect to my Big Nana Ella Maria Ramassa, we decided to forego Little Italy.

I also read about this Jewish Deli, Schwartz, that has been serving "smoked meal", or what we would call corned beef, sandwiches since 1928. It's been written up in everything from the New York Times to travel blogs and seemed a Montreal institution. We decided instead to embrace our inner Jewishness. The traffic, congestion and noise of Montreal seems more aligned with New York City than Quebec. We were delighted to find a parking spot only a few blocks away from Schwartz. Unbelievable!

Schwartz isn't so much a restaurant as a crowded narrow room with picnic tables and chairs. People were lined up down the block and we were told the line never seems to go down. The entire width of the place couldn't be more than 20 feet, and that included the kitchen, bar stools and table. (If you look closely in the 4th photo Ned is wearing a green shirt). We were placed at a table with a very nice family from Vancouver. I think you can order 4 things on the menu, but just about everyone just orders the "smoked meat" sandwiches. The size of the sandwiches could rival any good Jewish Delicatessen in NYC! Wowza. After that artery clogging sandwich we walked back to our car and discovered our first ticket of the trip. Apparently that magical little parking spot wasn't so magical after all! Turned out to be the most expensive corned beef sandwich we ever had!

Next destination was heading for historic Montreal. Again, we couldn't believe the difference in energy, people, and commotion from visiting here in late fall and during tourist season. We walked along several cobblestone streets, had fun taking photos, visiting shops and a maple syrup museum. My favorite part was talking with a woman whose family makes the maple syrup. They do it all from tree to syrup, including packaging and selling direct. Boy, could we relate to that!! We were going to go for a bike ride along the waterfront, but in all honesty the crowds were so overwhelming we decided to just head on out for our campground of the night. It took us several hours to get off the island. We were missing Quebec, with its cool breezes on the promenade, great views and manageable traffic.

We finally arrived at Parc d'Oka, a Quebec National Park, and it felt so good to be back in nature. I think our Nevada City origins are coming through because we definitely enjoy the laid back vibe so much better than the big city. This park is huge! It is a lush, heavily wooded forest with 814 campsites. The upside is we can barely see any neighbors the sites are so heavily wooded.

Ned and I are exploring the park and took a ride down to the beach. We thought we were the only people here, but heard some commotion on the beach. Several good natured fellows are lighting off fireworks and sending up fire-lit floating balloons on the beach, in the sunset. Apparently, they are celebrating someone's birthday. Even better news, the beach cafe has wifi!

Father's Day in Quebec

Ile d'Orleans, Quebec

Ned here again. Debi thought I should have the honors of writing the blog tonight, on account of it being Father's Day. We were thrilled when we woke this morning to see blue skies and bright sunshine. We totally lazed around and enjoyed the warmer weather before taking off exploring the island. We drove slowly around the island, admiring all the sweet little houses and businesses along the way.

One of our first stops was at an apple cider farm, where we tasted their wares and purchased a bottle. I liked it, while I think Debi thought it was a bit on the sweet side, but she deferred to me, being Father's Day and all. Next stop was at the other end of the island where we got a few great photos of Quebec from an advantageous spot along the water, and checked out the Chocolaterie where I purchased 3 of their bars, which were quite good, although they use chocolate imported from Belgium. (Hey, not everybody can go to the trouble of making bean to bar chocolate, right?)

Very near the chocolate place we drove past some amazing houses in a heavily wooded area that reminded us both of Sag Harbor and the Hamptons on Long Island. These are beautifully crafted old houses with gorgeous views across the water of Quebec. Further along the other side of the island we admired the perfectly displayed produce stands, and stopped for lunch at a roadside place. The food here was OK, but the view was unbelievable. We hung out there quite a while just soaking it in.

By now, we decided we had seen enough of the island, and we wanted to drive into Quebec and see the part of the old city which we had loved walking around 5 years ago on our Great Northern Fall Tour. We were bowled over with how different the place looks in the summer, especially the number of people just hanging out. It seemed that we weren't the only ones inspired by the sunny weather. In fact, as we walked towards downtown, across several expansive park lawn areas, many couples were enjoying the sun, and, let's just say that clearly love was in the air.

We had parked in a residential area (illegally, as it turned out, but we assume they took pity on these stupid Californians who couldn't read parking signs) and followed our noses toward the old downtown area. In the process we found the promanade, which is a massive set of wooden stairs which leads down to the boardwalk surrounding the old fort and chateau. The people watching here was great, as everyone from young to old wandered around, soaking in the sun. We explored lots of the streets, lined with shops, which we had wandered past 5 years ago. We kept loving how different it all seemed, fully populated with tourists, compared to our pervious Fall visit where we hurried about trying to keep warm, with very few other tourists to compete with. The place abounded with street musicians and performers of all sorts, including a pair of gymnasts performing jumps over a large open flame. During all this, we realized that it must have also been the equivalent of "Fleet Week", as we saw many uniformed Canadian Navy personnel walking around, and witnessed a deafening fly-by as a Canadian fighter jet streaked overhead.

At one point we found an "Opening Day of the Season" Festival, which featured a number of classic collectible cars displayed along the street, which had been closed off for pedestrians only. While most of the cars would have competed well with our Roamin' Angel events in Grass Valley, we were slightly amused that a couple of entries seemed to have squeeked into the competition which seemed less than "classic": The 1986 Chrysler Avanti K car, and the (unknown year) Plymouth Javilin both fell into this category. They both are old in 2014, but neither one struck me as particularly "collectible". I decided the K car was included as a rarity because it was still operating, as I recall most of those breaking down within a year or two after purchase.

We rested our legs for a while at one of our favorite squares across from the Auberge Tressor. This provided lots more entertainment with people watching, and listening to all the different musicians. My Father's Day dinner was at a local outdoor cafe which was great fun, including the pitcher of Sangria.

After dinner we returned to our campground on Ile d' Orleans, after doing a final lap of the picturesque island as the sun dropped below the horizon. We're now settled in for the night after a really wonderful Father's Day.

Plan B, v.2.0

Ile d'Orleans, Quebec, Canada

It didn't just rain last night it poured - all night long. We stayed up way too late watching Downton Abbey and it felt good to sleep in. When we finally started pulling out of the campground a fellow camper told us our tire was low. Again?! Turns out it was the opposite tire and we had picked up a dry-wall screw somewhere. The gods did take some pity on us and it stopped raining long enough for Ned to put on a spare.

When he was just about finished, two other campers came on over and asked if they could help us. When we told them it was just a tire one of the guys said he would be more than happy to take it back to Fredericton to get it fixed for us! How sweet was that? We told him we were planning on hitting the road in the direction of Edmunston. He said wait just a sec and came back in a bit. Turns out both he and his buddy are in the military and are mechanics. They were looking for their tire repair kit, but couldn't find it. Instead, he called ahead to the nearest Walmart, in the direction we were headed, told them our problem and said they we waiting on us. On top of that he wrote out very clear instructions with a map on how to get there. When we got to Walmart they guy who took care of us said he'd only charge us $5 for plugging it, forget about his time. He knows what traveling is like. Canadians are sooo nice!!

The biggest lesson for me of this road trip is the inherent good in people. We've been in sticky situations, and been dumb tourists in other situations, and we've always been aided by the kindness of strangers. I try to be a good person, but I'm going to try extra hard to pay it forward!

After our little tire diversion we headed "Ouest" or West and stopped at Grand Falls. This is a huge gorge with spectacular water falls. During the spring run-off, 6 million liters of water per second runs over the falls. This is 90% of the volume of Niagara Falls. A few months later virtually all the water is diverted to the power plant. Luckily, we hit it on a roaring day. Even better the rain had stopped for awhile so we were able to get out and stretch our legs and be silly taking photos of the touristy things around the area. Legend has it that a young native girl saved her village by luring a Mohawk tribe over the great falls and down into the gorge.

The craziest thing to me about these falls is that there are two zip lines that actually go across the gorge (a 230 ft. drop) and falls. WTF?!! You couldn't pay me enough to do that. The rates are $40 for adults and $30 for seniors 70 or over. Ned wanted to know if the senior rate included complimentary CPR. Totally cracked me up.

We are now in the world of all things French. Ever try using a gas pump with only French prompts? And the pumps don't work the same way as in the U.S. Yeah, that caused our credit card to be put on hold by the bank. (Another story, but I digress). We got a kick out of all the French town names. So, my French speaking friends tell me the joke about the city called "St. Louis-du-Ha!-Ha!" We didn't get it...

Our destination for the night was going to be Riviere-du-loup on the St. Lawrence River. When we got there it was raining like crazy, we had picked up an hour crossing into the province of Quebec, so decided to keep moving on. We drove another couple of hours to the City of Quebec and then our final destination for tonight was Ile d'Orleans. This is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River next to the city of Quebec. It was founded in 1679 and is still very agricultural and artsy. We passed apple and blueberry farms, wineries, cheese makers, cider mills and greenhouses abundant with beautiful flowers, and the most picturesque stone houses and barns. It feels so much like the French countryside. We are really looking forward to exploring this island tomorrow, as well as sunny weather.

Back in New Brunswick

Mactaquac Provincial Park, New Brunswick

After sleeping for a solid 11 hours(!) we thought it was about time to pack up and head off Prince Edward Island. As expected, we woke to a soft drizzle. Sure made me appreciate the warm days we had to explore and bike. They call this province "the gentle island" and it definitely fits. Laid back, beautiful and tons of outdoor activities to explore. Bye PEI, we'll be back!

We crossed back into New Brunswick following along the Acadian Trail. This route hugged the Northumberland Strait before dropping down to Fredericton. Ned keeps teasing me about my dislike of potatoes and how so much of this part of Canada is all about potatoes. There are potato museums, potato farms, potato chip wagons, and even potato statues wherever we go. God forbid we order something that doesn't have potato in it, on it or with it.

Continuing our education in Canadian history, our big plans today were to visit the historic district of Fredericton and take in a couple of museums. Good plan for rainy weather! What we didn't know were the two big events happening in Fredericton today - the University graduation and a huge Country Music Concert. Traffic was gridlocked and most everything was shut down for the events. We did manage to visit a couple of the Historic Sites such as Barracks Square, the Soldiers' Barracks and some of the Craft shops, but it was pretty low key. The Soldiers' Barracks were built in 1827 and at one time it housed 200 soldiers, 19 to a room. During the War of 1812, the 104th Regiment, stationed here, made a 1128 km, 52 day march to Quebec and then onto Kingston, Ontario between Feb and April with no loss of men. That must have been some feat in these Canadian winters!!

The town still has very much a soldier's feel. Walking up the steps to the Visitor's Center there were two red-coated guards on duty. True to form, they didn't make eye contact and were ramrod straight. As we were eating lunch we spotted 3 of them marching down the street. Everyday there is a changing of the guard, so not sure if they were part of that or not. (We were busy having a few beers at the time).

Tonight's campground is right outside Fredericton. It's enormous, situated next to a golf course, but in a very wooded area. I think there are over 400 campsites, and even though it's a Friday night there are very few people here. Is it possible that Canadians can be scared off by rain?! After taking a short spin on our bikes we decided to have a quiet evening at "home" watching movies on the laptop. Other than checking email once a day and trying to pirate a wifi somewhere to post our blog, we've been completely detached from technology, tv, etc. We are hand delivering, from Kristy and Leon, Season 4 of Downton Abbey back to Kathy. (You don't think she'll mind we are watching it do you?) The juxtaposition of the opulent and proper Downton Abbey next to us eating brats and sauerkraut in a campground does not go unnoticed. I wonder what the Dowager Duchess would say. "What is a week-END?"

PEI - from history lessons to storybooks

Cabot Beach Provincial Park, PEI

This morning was the warmest day we've had yet in Canada. It felt glorious.
After dropping off Winnie for a shoe repair (okay, new tire), we went for a bike ride on The ConfederationTrail. Prince Edward Island (PEI) has 221 miles of dedicated biking paths. This is truly a bikers heaven. We picked up a trail closest to the tire place and rode into the harbor town of Montague, a very low key quaint little village. What cracked us up was the outdoor elliptical trainer on the biking path, right next to an ice cream stand sign. Ned gave it a go, the exercise equipment that is and not the ice cream. We rode for a couple of hours (14 miles) stopping along the way to take photos and appreciate the scenery. We really enjoyed having the path to ourselves and crossing over trestles and rivers and riding through the woods. It was incredibly peaceful.

Once we picked up Winnie, we headed into Charlottetown to check out the largest city on the island. This year marks the 150th anniversary of The Confederation and most of the festivities begin this weekend. My history lesson today was learning about the birth of Canada, as a country. The Charlottetown Conference was the first time that representatives from PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Canada had ever met together to discuss common interests. The representatives that met were called The Fathers of Confederation and were a diverse group of English and French, lawyers and journalists, shipbuilders and soldiers, poets and businessmen. Apparently this was quite the conference that lasted for 7 days and included business meetings, balls and parties. It took many years for something formal to be arranged, but this is where the question, "Shall We Unite?" made an important breakthrough.

We thought the best way to explore the city was on bike. We rode along the waterfront and up and down all the historic streets really soaking in the history and culture. By this time we had worked up quite an appetite and decided to finally try one of the "chip wagons" that seem to be scattered all over Canada. First I have to admit that I hate potatoes. I don't care how they're fixed - baked, fried, mashed, or boiled - I hate potatoes. So, it was with a great deal of trepidation that I decided to jump in. Ned ordered fish and chips and I ordered the pulled pork poutine, having no idea whatsoever what a poutine was. (Ned originally wanted to try the lobster mac n' cheese, a local favorite, but the fisherman hadn't arrived with today's lobster as of yet). Upon getting our food I discovered that a poutine is a huge pile of french fries smothered in gravy & cheese, and this one had a bunch of pulled pork piled on top. Let's just say that Ned was a real gentleman and just automatically handed me the fish and chips. Yeah, he knows me. For the record, the fish was delish.

The big tourist attraction on the island is all about Anne of Green Gables. The author who wrote the book, Lucy Maude Montgomery, was born on PEI. Families now come to enjoy The Green Gables House, the site of L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish Home, The Anne of Green Gables Museum, Avonlea Village and even take in "Anne & Gilbert", the musical. Did you know you can even buy Ann of Green Gable raspberry cordial?! Other tourist attractions such as mini-golf, amusement park and a water slide are all nearby. We had to check it out, especially since I loved the book as a child. In all fairness to PEI, they've done a marvelous job of offering something quite touristy in a very low-key fashion. The 45 minute drive to the north side of the island took us through lots of agricultural farmland, through a seaside national park and some fishing villages. Once you hit the town of Cavendish the Anne theme does get a little overplayed, but it's nothing as glaringly cheesy as Dollywood, Gatlinburg, or many of the seaside boardwalks we've seen. The official tourist season doesn't start until this weekend, so I'm sure my opinion would change during peak season. For now, Ned and I are enjoying the off-season and cooler weather so that we can explore the island, sans lots of people.

Tonight we are camped at Cabot Beach Provincial Park at the very tip of Green Gables Shore. It's an odd little campground and one that would feel more like a tailgate party rather than camping if it was full. As luck would have it, there are only 2 or 3 others that we are sharing with this 150 site campground. It's basically one big mowed grassy area with a few trees scattered here and there. Ned and I are out on the point overlooking Darnley Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It's pretty awesome. A big storm is supposed to come in tonight, could make for some dramatic views of the clouds and waves.

Prince Edward Island - Eastern Shore

Brudenell River Provincial Park, Georgetown PEI

Driving down the Atlantic side of Cape Breton early this morning was just as spectacular as the western side of the Cape. Clear blue skies, shimmering water and sandy beaches made for a great journey on our way to Baddeck. I encouraged Ned to take one particular road, even though it really didn't make too much sense to me. It looked on the map like it was a bridge jutting across a small harbor, but the two lines for the roads didn't quite line up. I was hopeful that it would work out. Turns out it was a very small car ferry that took all of 5 minutes for us to board and ferry across. It was hooked up by a cable and held maybe 10 cars. I love when short-cuts work out:)

Our big adventure of the day was visiting the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. Alexander Bell's summer home was here and he worked on many of his experiments while here too. The home still exists, is privately owned by family and not opened to the public. Alexander was very fond of his beloved "Beinn Bhreagh" (beautiful mountain) and said it reminded him of his home back in Scotland. He especially enjoyed the cool weather. Ned was looking forward to Bell's inventions and in particular his foray into powered flight. I was looking forward to learning more about his work with the deaf community. Earlier in the trip we stopped at Helen Keller's birthplace and I picked up her autobiography. It was really interesting to get her perspective on the huge impact Alexander Bell had on her life and I was looking forward to learning about his point of view on their relationship.

Everyone knows about Alexander Bell and the telephone ("Watson, come here I want you"), but learning about Bell, the man, and all the other inventions and things he dabbled in was truly remarkable. For example, sheep husbandry. "Bell's desire to help the local economy prompted him to experiment with sheep breeding. He attempted to develop a flock of sheep which would consistently bear twins. He believed that a relationship existed between the number of nipples a sheep had and the number of lambs to which it could give birth. Over 30 years of research led Bell to conclude that no such relationship existed. He was successful, however, in breeding a flock of multi-nippled sheep." After reading that it was quite fun to see all the photos of Alexander and his children flying kites and enjoying the outdoors, with sheep often milling around in the background.

His other accomplishments were building the world's fastest boat, a hydro-foil that was used in WW1; helping launch the first successful powered flight in Canada, named the "Silver Dart"; was a founding member of National Geographic; pioneered the use of the tetrahedron, as a structural element; created a telephone without wires, called a photophone; and multiple inventions to help deaf people with their speech. The list goes on and on. Unlike Thomas Edison who was a professional inventor, Alexander Bell loved the process of learning new stuff and considered himself an amateur inventor. In Helen's book she talked very fondly of kite flying with Alexander Bell. It was really special to see photos of the two, hand in hand, flying kites together.

What I admired most about Alexander was his love of children. He made a point of listening to all their questions because he loved how children have no preconceived ideas. He said this gave him true inspiration to think outside the box. Truly a genius and an inspirational man.

Our second ferry of the day transported us from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island. This ferry was a big one! It had elevators that put passenger cars on the lower deck. We were placed with all the big boys - logging trucks, fuel tankers and 20 wheelers! It was a little intimidating to say the least. The 75 minute ride across Northumberland Strait was glorious. Lots of sunshine, blue skies and I even got internet! While waiting in line for the ferry a gentleman informed us that one of our tires had a big bulge. Uh-oh. We just bought 4 new tires in Maine and had less than 2,000 miles on them. Once we were on the island, we located a Michelin dealer just a few minutes before he closed. Fortunately, he was able to get us a replacement that should be in by noon tomorrow - fingers crossed. Since our plans for tomorrow include biking the Confederation Trail, this shouldn't put too much of a crimp in our style. I'm kinda digging this "bike while car work gets done" routine - haha.

Tonight we splurged for a seafood dinner, dining al fresco overlooking the Cardigan Bay. For a change we took a break from lobster. I had salmon, Ned had halibut. It was our favorite meal of the trip so far. Delish!