Five days into our 22 day road trip, 800 miles down, 3,700 miles to go. The weather and fall colors have been spectacular. The family time in PEI was really special for both of us. Now we are on our own until a planned meeting with a friend in Winnipeg for dinner.
From PEI we drove back across the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick and then headed north entering Quebec and the Gaspé Peninsula when we drove over the Restigouche River. We had never heard of it either.The only moose we have seen in Canada so far.Most of the churches in PEI were fairly simple small white churches with steeples beside the church and not on top. We are now seeing much larger churches that absolutley dominate the skyline of even the smallest towns.Sandy researches while Jim drives. She found us a nice St. Lawrence riverfront hotel in Sainte-Flavie called Le Gaspesiana Hotel which is a very deceiving more motel looking structure from the road but the rooms were quite nice and had balconies right on the riverfront. This is the dining room where we had dinner and breakfast, both of which were outstanding,Not a bad dinner at Le Gaspésiana Restaurant. Sandy had Coquille St Jacques one of her favorite dishes.St. Lawrence River sunset.View from our terrace patio on the St. Lawrence River.Seaweed covered beach.Post breakfast walk out on the pier.Hotel view from the jetty above.The town is named after Flavia, a martyred saint.This restaurant was named The Ketch with a real ketch in front of it.We were impressed at this artwork which is two trees woven together at their tops..Another impressive church, unfortunately closed when we were there that morning.More cemetery meandering which reminds us of a sign we saw on a cemetery in Spain during our Camino walk which said “Remember me as you pass by, I was once like you and one day you will be like me”. 😮Our trip has taken us over many impressive bridges with spectacular water views. This is the Pierre Laporte Bridge, St Lawrence River Levis, Quebec.When in Quebec City we stayed at the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and had this view from our hotel room which overlooked the promenade along the river that is dotted with many shops and places to dine.This five star hotel is perched on a promontory overlooking the St Lawrence River. Once a Royal Castle and over a century old it has proudly hosted many prestigious guests including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II in 1939.We really enjoyed Quebec City which is the capital of Canada’s mostly French-speaking Quebec province. Dating back to 1608, it has a fortified colonial core with stone buildings and narrow streets. The structure you see in the picture above and below is part of the old city wall which has been preserved in a shorter form.The historic district of old Quebec is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.The Foliage was at its peak here. Canadian Maple Leaf.A fairly uncommon site in Canada are black Squirrels.The Manege is the only military building in Canada to have been recognized as a national historic site. It is now used for large scale events.The Concierge at the Hotel recommended BŌ Cuisine d’Asie Restaurant and it did not disappoint.Great atmosphere and delicious food.We decided to take a walking tour of the City to learn more about it.The city has two parts: Upper (Haute-Ville) and Lesser Town (Base-Ville). You can get between the two by either walking very steep stairs or riding the Funicular. We learned from our guide that the roofs were painted red in the past to help find the houses through the snow storms that reached the roof tops and often animals blood was used to color them.The name of this restaurant translates “To the Old Canadians,” it was the oldest house in Quebec (1675). It has five different dining rooms with seating for 128. It is decorated with antiques and collector’s items and serves authentic Quebec cuisine.We left the tour to visit the Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral which has a Holy Door that is one of only seven such doors worldwide and the only one found outside Europe. Holy Doors symbolize a passage between what one leaves behind to what one wishes to walk toward. A Holy Door is generally kept sealed, only being open in holy years. This one was currently open to mark the 350th anniversary of the diocese of Quebec. We walked through the Holy Door of Santiago De Compostela in Spain when we walked the Camino Francés two years ago. It is said when you walk through a Holy Door all your sins are forgiven. We figured after two years we needed more forgiveness.😇Side Altar of the Church near the Holy Door.Main Altar of the Cathedral.We left Quebec City over this bridge for our next destination, Montreal, a short 160 miles away.We stayed at the Hôtel Place d’Armes 55 Rue Saint Jacques, Montreal which is housed in three stunning 19th century neoclassical buildings, opposite the magnificent Notre Dame Basilica (so many Notre Dame’s in Canada).The “magnificent” Notre Dame Basilica wanted $16 to enter which we thought was too pricey so we went to breakfast instead. Nice monument and fountain in the plaza. Montreal had some lovely stone buildingsView from the window of our hotel room. Our Canadian friend Ruby that we met in Tokyo recomended this shopping mall.Sandy purchased this hat which was knitted by a Nepalese woman and part of the proceeds from the sale go to the women to help them be independent as traditionally the belief was that a woman’s place was in the home. Note the price tag still on the hat.Hotel de Ville (Montreal’s city hall).As we left Montreal the trees along the Trans Canada Highway were bare of leaves and we thought that we were done with the fall foliage.Another short ride of 123 miles brought us to Ottawa which neither of us have been to. This is a photo of our hotel which was conveniently located close to the sites we wanted to see.We found this area of ByWard Market to be very touristy, similar to Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market but more honky tonk.Oh now that is a handsome guy in the O.😘We strolled through Major Hill’s Park and were blown away by the foliage.Sandy could not stop taking pictures.This park is a tranquil oasis in the midst of this modern capital city and is a treasured meeting place for all Canadians,National Gallery of Canada is one of the largest art museums in North America by exhibition space.This spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois is named Maman. This stainless steel, bronze and marble sculpture is among the worlds largest and they are located in several locations worldwide. It measures 30 feet high and 33 feet wide and has a sac containing 32 marble eggs and its abdomen and thorax are made of rubbed bronze. We have seen three other of these at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville Arkansas.This is the Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa and I think by now you can guess the name (yup Notre Dame). Dating to the 19th century it features a colorful interior and skyline dominating spires.The blue starry vaulted ceiling was definitely the star of the show.However the stain glass windows were also amazing,More spectacular foliage(sorry but Sandy is obsessed).The US Embassy looked absolutely deserted this afternoon. There were none of the usual guards walking outside the entrance and no cars in the parking lot. We wondered if it was because of warnings we received that day to avoid this building because of possible violent protests regarding the war in Israel (we are not very good at obeying)😌.Not sure what government building this was but we liked it.These are the Rideau Canal locks. There are eight of them to go to the Ottawa River. The canal is 5 feet deep. Ottawa’s Parliament Building.Centennial Flame with coat of arms and year that each province or territory joined Canada.More of Ottawa Parliament buildingsSee below for the description of this monumentA Thai dinner to finish off Ottawa.
We have now completed 9 days of this trip driving 1,600 miles in 29 hours. We are now looking at five days of covering Canada’s relatively flat large province of Ontario. This drive will also be very sparsely populated with long distances between any population centers, even tiny towns. Since Jim does all the driving we have devised a road trip car strategy to keep him entertained with a combination of things which is that Sandy reads a book out loud to Jim, we try to figure out the game wordle together, we call people on the phone, we have some conversation with each other, Sandy prepares snacks, and we stop every hour to take a short walk.
I am having SO much fun living vicariously thru you crazy kids!!! Looks like the weather has been PERFECT! LOVE the foliage pics 😇! When we were in PEI (9/13-19) there wasn’t much foliage… BUT, back on the mainland ( and especially when we got home to NH!!!) we hit FULL/PEAK foliage in New England🥰🫎🥰 Fully retired now, and FT New Hampsters💃🫎🐾
Hope you had a SPECTACULAR
YOU day, Jim!!!🎂🥂🎂🎊
Xoxoxoxo
Chanda
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