(I've always loved the look of Canada's flag and the sound of their national anthem, the title of which I am borrowing for this blog posting!)
Over a period of three weeks in 2010, Kathie and I toured the Mediterranean on a Holland America cruise. That cruise line assigns you to a specific table for dinners. A Queensland, Australia couple, Margaret and Murray (M&M), were assigned the same table, so we dined together each day. Before the trip ended, we had become very good friends, almost as if we had always been so. Every few years since then, the four of us have arranged to travel together—the western US to Niagara, Australia, Portugal, Japan, and New Orleans and other parts of the southern US. A trip to New England was planned but had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Recently, though, we were able to be together once again, this time in Canada. We returned from that trip just last week.
Kathie and I cruised from New Zealand to Perth, Australia in 2015. When the ship stopped in Adelaide, M&M had arranged for their good friends Margaret and Graham (M&G) to meet us for a private tour. For our Canada vacation, we were able to spend time with all four of them, as Canada is but a part of the four-month, round-the-world tour that these Aussies are doing together.
Our itinerary for Canada included meeting in Quebec City before driving together to Montreal, Niagara-on-the-lake, and Toronto. We spent four days in each of the first two cities and two days in each of the latter two. Walking was the name of the game. According to my Apple Watch, we walked nearly 5.5 miles throughout old Quebec City on the very first day—some 13,000 steps and at least nine flights of stairs! Several subsequent days involved nearly the same amount of walking. Not too shabby for a group of 70-somethings! Shortly into the first day, I captured this photo of Kathie and our four Aussie friends as we neared the old military fortress called the Citidel. Here are Margaret, Kathie, Margaret, Murray, and Graham.
Most of old Quebec City sits on a high plateau above the St. Lawrence Seaway. The Citidel is strategically located to look down on the city and the port area at the foot of the plateau along the river. Visiting here invited us to think about much of the history of English, French, and American settlement and conflict during early colonial time in this region. As you likely know, Quebec was primarily influenced by the French, and that is the dominant language throughout the province. For months prior to our trip, Kathie spent time each day practicing and relearning French. Accordingly, her help was invaluable in aiding our reading and listening to the language as we navigated our way around Quebec and Montreal.
The Citidel is today the home of the Royal 22nd Regiment of the Canadian Army. We took a tour of the grounds which began with our guide giving us an overview of the facility and explaining the reasons for the "star shape" of the fortress's walls. Since cannons could not shoot down along the walls to repel invaders, the star shape allowed the cannons to fire at an attacking enemy along adjacent points in the star, I'd seen forts like this before but had never stopped to think about the rationale for the configuration. Our guide explained this with the help of an illustration.
Each day at noon, a modern cannon at the Citidel "announces" the 12:00 hour. Our tour concluded at just that time. As the announcer says when introducing the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band, "Are you ready for the boom?" (I had to sneak that in!)
Walking through one area of the old city, we came across this sculpture of a log driver—the men who untangled the log jams and kept logs floating down the riverways. In Hayward, WI, near where our cabin is located, is the Angry Minnow craft beer brewery. They make an excellent beer called River Pig that is my favorite. "River pig" is a nickname for log drivers! So, of course, I had to take this photo.
We drove out to see Montmorency Falls, where the Montmorency River cascades into the St. Lawrence Seaway. The weather was so overcast and rainy that I could not get good photos, though we enjoyed a nice lunch at the site and were able to view the falls quite well with the naked eye. If you wish to see a decent picture and learn more, click here. During our morning drive out to the Falls, we stopped for coffee near a shopping mall. Just inside the mall was a shop where you could rent a "critter" for a brief ride throughout the mall corridors. I suggested that some of our group try this out so that I could get a video, but no one took me up on the idea.
M&M & M&G have actually been traveling together for nearly four months, having been already in Italy, France, the UK, and Iceland before meeting us in Canada. They will return to Australia soon after they finish their tour of western Canada. At dinner one evening in Quebec City, M&G took advantage of the coordinated time zones to video chat with one of their grandchildren back in Adelaide. I couldn't help but capture this moment of joy in their faces as they connected with someone they were obviously missing.
Speaking of being at dinner, all six of us enjoyed plenty of great food—too much so, probably. Here is the crepe dinner I had one evening.
You may have heard of poutine, a dish all of us wanted to try at some point. In case you don't know, it is
basically french fries smothered in gravy, usually with cheese curds
added. Upscale versions have shredded or cubed bits of meat, such as
bacon or pork. Bottom line: We are not fans. We tried both basic and supposed upscale versions and gave it a fair try, but alas... Evidently its origins have to do with the need to feed large families when limited resources and ingredients were available.
Kathie did all of the arrangements for the trip, and she found a delightful B&B in an elegant old French-style home just at the edge of old Quebec City. The owner served good breakfasts each morning and took this nice photograph of all of us on the morning we departed for Montreal.
We rented a 7-passenger van for the two weeks we were together. Along the way to Montreal, we stopped to see a museum documenting the paper industry (the
Borealis museum near Trois Rivieres) and the
Abenaki Museum near the community of Odanak.
Because the Formula 1 races were taking place in Montreal while we were there, and also because we had been warned about traffic, we chose to stay at a chalet in the Laurentian Range north of Montreal. This was a delightfully peaceful location in the woods with lots of space and a laundry! The last day we were there we drove to the highest location in the Laurentian "mountains" at about 2300 feet. There are charming villages there, lots of golf courses, pretty views, and an extensive skiing lodge and set of slopes. On the other days, we drove to the northern edge of Montreal, parked in a large public ramp near the terminus of the Montreal Metro orange line, and took the subway down into the city for our sight seeing.
Kathie had arranged for a walking tour of the oldest parts of Montreal, much of which was the original financial district. The architecture was quite amazing. Our tour guide was knowledgeable, interesting and very fun, as you can tell in one of these pictures.
Another walking tour involved food tasting. The tour guide took this photo of the entire group. We sampled five different foods, including bagels (for which Montreal claims to be famous), gnocchi, pizza, cannoli, and poutine (supposedly an upscale version). Personally, though the bagels were good, I think I get better ones elsewhere, and though the poutine may have been upscale, I'm still not impressed. The tour was fun though, and included walking through some pretty Montreal neighborhoods.
Days later, we are in Niagara-on-the-lake. This charming village is just north of Niagara Falls on Lake Ontario and is surrounded by vineyards and fruit and vegetable farms. Residents seem to be very proud of the look and feel of the community. Nearly every yard is well tended and filled with plants, flowers, and groomed trees. The downtown area has many shops, and there are good places to have a meal or a beverage. Numerous B&Bs dot the town as well, one of which we enjoyed. Just up the street from us was the Irish Harp Pub, where we dined our first evening. Well, maybe we had plenty to drink as well, because we told stories and laughed and laughed. We looked up at one point to notice these doors on the back of the pub. Notice the "B&B Rooms Above the Pub" sign! Maybe it was funnier at the time, but when we asked our waitperson if the rooms could be had by the hour, he said, "Only for an up charge."
A significant portion of our second day there was spent at Niagara Falls. While our Aussie friends did the classic, raincoat-covered boat trip up to the base of the Falls, Kathie and I wandered about above the mist.
Later, we stopped to see the whirlpool downriver from the Falls. This is where the Niagara River attempts to make a sharp right turn while it carves out a whirlpool that you can see at the left of this panorama as the water cycles before finally exiting toward Lake Ontario. And, yes, we all did ride the cable car out over the river and back for a closer look.
Kathie had discovered an area called the Cheltenham Badlands northwest of Toronto. Because we are so familiar with our own Badlands National Park in South Dakota, one place we visited in 2012 with M&M, we decided we should check it out as a stopping point on our way back to Toronto. These badlands occupy a very small area compared to our park, but they were fascinating to see. You may read more about them
here if you wish.
For our first dinner in Toronto, we chose Rodney's Oyster House. We arrived without a reservation, but the host agreed to seat us at the bar, which, as it turned out, was perfect. We were directly in front of the person shucking the oysters and preparing plates for the patrons. With a real gift of gab, a strong desire to please his customers, fascinating skill and technique, and overall charm, we were not only well fed but also greatly entertained and educated. As I recall, both Graham and Margaret (of M&M) asked all kinds of interesting questions and were treated to information in turn about the various kinds of oysters on offer. In the process, I believe each of them ended up with two or three free oysters each, simply because this young man wanted them to try some different tastes. (Or maybe he just knew how to work a crowd!)
We had booked condos via AirBnB in downtown Toronto for our two nights there. Surprisingly, these were quite affordable even if in two very tall high rises not far from the CN Tower and other Toronto attractions. The one Kathie and I enjoyed was on the 58th floor, giving us quite a view looking toward Lake Ontario, the CN Tower, Rogers Stadium (where the Toronto Blue Jays play), the aquarium, and other sights. I would have loved to see a Blue Jays game, but they were not in town.
When we did our cruise around Japan with M&M in 2018, our dinner table mates were Jim and Sandy, a couple from Toronto. So we arranged to have lunch with them in the revolving dining room at the top of the CN Tower. We made two cycles during our meal with Jim and Sandy pointing out lots of the Toronto highlights. Wildfire smoke from northern Canada was definitely affecting the air quality and visibility there, just as it has been recently for us back home.
That evening we had dinner and attended a show at Toronto's Second City, the comedy home of many famous individuals, including Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, and countless others. The show was quite funny. Margaret (of M&G) even got into one act! Out of the blue, one of the comediennes handed her a microphone and then did a skit as if Margaret was her mother, now deceased, but able to have a telephone conversation with her daughter nevertheless. Margaret surprised everyone quite a few times with some very clever comebacks to questions she was asked.
Throughout the trip, and most especially when we were at the chalet in the Laurentian Range, Margaret expressed a wish to see a bear. She didn't want to see one very close, but she did want it to be a live experience. Alas, this ended up being the best we could do for her.
Kathie did a terrific job planning this trip, and it was fun, as all of our trips with M&M have been. It was good to see M&G once again as well. There were lots of laughs and stories and the usual tears when we said goodbye. Kathie and I flew home from Toronto, while the Australians traveled on into western Canada. More memories! More opportunity for future stories! Looking forward to being together again down the road!
