Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is not very large…about 250 km from tip to tip.  It is crescent shaped and when you look at it on a map, it short snuggles in the St. Lawrence Bay with New Brunswick to the south west and Nova Scotia to southeast and east of it.

My tour explored the Central Coastal Drive which runs along the St. Lawrence Bay to the Prince Edward Island State Park and nearby Cavendish (the fictional Avonlea)  where the house made famous by L. M. Montgomery’s novel, Anne of Green Gables, can be found.

It is about an hour’s drive from the port in Charlottetown to the Green Gables house.  With this drive, you see acres of rolling farmland where they raise all kinds of potatoes, corn, and wheat.  You also see a number of dairy farms. 

 

 

The farm houses are surrounded by neatly mowed lawns of at least an acre or more.  Almost all were decorated for Halloween or Thanksgiving (This coming Monday is Canada’s Thanksgiving Day).  You can see why this province is called the “garden province”.

You also pass areas where they are raising mussels, harvesting oysters, or trapping lobsters.  The labor that goes into the proper raising and gathering these shell-fish is amazing, and you can see why the prices might be high for the luscious products.

 

The Central Coastal Drive highlights the most picturesque sea views with their red sand-stone cliffs and sandy beaches.

 

The highlight of the tour, of course, was The Green Gables Heritage Place.  During the high summer season, it is jam packed with tourists.  But today, only two busses from our cruise were there. In fact, I was able to go through the house is a leisurely fashion with only three or four other people.

Since the tourist season is almost over and winter will begin in a few weeks, they are painting and repairing it now.  This is what the front of house looked like in early 1900’s.

 

It almost looks the same today.

In real life, this farm was the home of cousins of Montgomery’s grandfather.  Although Montgomery never lived here, she visited often. The house and grounds have been restored and decorated as Montgomery described in her novel and depict a typical PEI farm of the 1800’s.

On our way back to the ship, we drove around downtown Charlottetown which is the birthplace of Canada. It has all kinds of interesting shops, museums, historical houses and government buildings.

This is a park in the center of town.  The raised flower bed was created in honor of Prince Charles and Princess Diana when they visited here.  The town has continued to plant it ever since.

Down the street a couple of blocks is the fire station with an old fire truck displayed.

 

  I wish I had had more time to explore more of this lovely town.

Gaspe, Quebec

The Gaspe Peninsula is like one big national park.  It is sparsely populated and has miles of trails and roads with beautiful water vistas on one side and interesting rock formations on the other.  Sometimes the two come together as this well-known one of the head of an Indian princess.

I chose an excursion that went by bus from the port in Gaspe to Perce (about hour’s drive along the coast).  Here we boarded a boat to cruise around the Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island, the largest migratory bird refuge in North America.

Here I am “pictured framed” with the “Rocher-Perce” behind me.

Here are a couple of closer views of the rock from the boat.

 

 

We then cruised a short distance to circumnavigate Bonaventure Island.  We were fortunate that so many birds were still there.  By this time of year, most have left for Florida and Mexico—the real snowbirds.  We were told that thousands had left recently and then returned.  They don’t know why.

As we got closer to the island, we saw numerous seals laying around on the rocks.

 

Then I saw some swimming. This one flopped on a rock really near the boat.  Notice the number carved into his back.  I really didn’t notice this until I looked at the photo, so I don’t know who does this nor why.

We then rounded the corner of the rock and the number of birds began to increase.  These are northern gannets and about 122,000 of them come here to roost and have their young.  This is not only the largest colony of them in world, but it is also the most accessible.  The young ones are grey.  I only saw a couple of them.  Here’s one swimming.

 

When they mature, they are white with yellow on their heads.  First I saw one…

 

Then a small group...

Then several small groups lined up on the ledges of the rock island…And then thousands of them on ledges, flying, diving, swimming, pooping!!! Look closely and you will see them on every ledge.

 

 

It was really something to see and hear.

We returned to the quay at Perce, and these two men were making great music for our entertainment.  The music sounded like Cajun music to me.  (Notice the photo of the birds behind them.)

We had a pleasant bus ride back to the ship which was waiting for us as always, but this time we had to take a tender to get to her.

It was a wonderful, peaceful exploration of a very beautiful place.

Baie-Comeau, Quebec

 

 

This little town of 21,000 was founded in the 1930’s by Robert McCormick, the owner of the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, to produce newsprint for his newspapers from the abundant forest resources in the area. In this wilderness there was no road or rail access to the rest of Quebec.  The only route was by water.

The electricity developed by McCormick’s company influenced others such as the British Aluminum Company (now owned and operated by Alcoa) to establish in Baie-Comeau.  Since the 1950’s, the region is home to a number of hydro-electric power installations.

The Anglophone population once thrived, but since the late 1970’s, their numbers have steadily declined.  The English speaking school here has fewer than 50 students in K-11 grades.

I selected to take a walking tour of this town.  It has a pleasant little main street.  We were taken along a path among the autumn trees with a view of the St. Lawrence on our way to our first stop, the Anglican Church of St. Andrew and St. George, built in 1937.

 

 

It features Tudor architecture. The beams, trusts, and rafters are oak as are the pews, altar, lectern, and pulpit.

 

It has interesting stained glass windows that reflect the wildlife and trades of the North Shore (as this area is referred to since it is on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence).

This is the altar window which pays homage to the Christ child with a moose on the upper left, an eagle descending from the upper right, and a bear on the bottom right.

 

 

 

Two others show fishermen and loggers.

It was the first church in town to be constructed, and so other denominations were permitted to use it. However,  with the decline in populations and religious interest, there is no permanent minister.  Services are held once every three weeks by the lay people.  It is used for concerts and other community events. They served us tea and sweets while we were there.

Our next stop was the Hotel Le Manoir which is a charming four-star hotel. In 1937, McCormick built a luxurious inn for himself, his employees, and his guests.  The original structure was destroyed by fire in 1965.  Three years later it was rebuilt in stone.

We were served another tea here with delicious pastry.

Through the window is a wonderful view of our ship.  All of the rooms have this view of the River.

Our final stop was The Sainte Amelie Church which McCormick donated most of the funds to build.  McCormick’s wife died while the church was under construction.  The pastoral committee with Church Authorization, chose Sainte Amelie as patron saint to display their gratitude to their benefactor, whose wife’s name was Emily.

And what an astonishing church it is!  The frescos and stain glass were all done by the same artist, Guido Nincheri, a Florentine.  This photo does not do them justice.

 

It really is a museum today because the Bishop closed it in 2002.  A group of citizens bought it for $1.00 (but they also assumed its debt) and they offer tours to keep it open for visitors to enjoy the art.  It still is a consecrated church since the Bishop does allow two masses a year…on dates that he chooses.

A little town…with a big heart…and great pride.

Saguenay, Quebec

Just 120 miles north of Quebec City is Saguenay, Quebec, which lies inland of the sea on the Saguenay River.

 

There’s not much here, here. What you see below is about it. But it is lovely.

The city was based on its research and hydroelectric power plants. Not much else happening. So, it opened its port to cruise ships in 2008 to bring in some tourist money (and a little excitement, I guess.)

What it had to offer were things like a drive through the farm land, or a 2 hour hike after an hour’s ride in a school bus to view the fjord, or sea kayaking. As I said, there’s not much here, here. What you see below is about it. But it is lovely.



Since a lot of the tourists on board are geriatric and maybe not up to some of these activities, the locals said, like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland used to say, “Let’s put on a show!”

And so—some 200 local actors and a host of animals come together to present a two-hour musical production complete with fireworks, canon blasts, and audio-visual spectaculars telling the history of the Saguenay region. And they call it, “La Fabuleuse Cultural Show.” I chose not to go. Price of admission is $75…a little steep.

I had opted for “A Stroll in the Park”, but it sold out before I could get a ticket. Sorta glad it did, because it is a cold and blustery day. Notice the flags at salute…

 







As a result, I’m straying on board, reading, looking at the quaint village from the ship, and waiting for the satellite to cooperate so I can post this blog.

(BTW, I paid $175 for 500 minutes. The satellite has NOT been cooperative. We have been down more than on. I had better, more consistent connections in the middle of the Atlantic! Trying to chill out.)

Quebec City, Quebec

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of Montreal except a passing glimpse as I travelled from the airport to the sea port yesterday.  The port is in the old part of Montreal, and it looks lovely…very French. 

Here are some views of it as we sailed away.

A mix of churches and government buildings

This clock tower is at the entrance to the  port.

By contrast, this is the ultra-modern hockey arena.

Once the sailing the begins, the sail-away partying begins, this time a BBQ on the Lido Deck by the pool, complete with fruit sculptures and elegant designs.

We only had to travel a little over 100 miles to get to Quebec City, so we sailed along at the breakneck speed of 11 knots per hour.



I awoke a beautiful sunrise over the old town of Quebec with 36 degree temperature.  Love it.  I am tired of 90 degree Florida temperatures.



After a wonderful breakfast, I went on a tour of Old and New Quebec.  What a beautiful city!  Here’s a sampling of what I saw:

This is the train station designed by the same architect as the one who did the city’s landmark hotel,  Chateau Frontenac.

This is one of  four gates which gave entrance to the old walled city.



This square is opposite City Hall where you can see the Cathedral for the Anglican Church in the background with Halloween decorations in the left foreground.  The City Hall also had Halloween decorations in front of it.



Art is found around the old town.  Here’s a painting of a famous restaurant which dates from 1600’s and around the corner from the art shop is the building itself.

I am having trouble sizing photos, but at 45 cents a minute, I will have to leave them as they are.

Canadian and Atlantic Coast Cruise

If Not by Land, then by Sea.

Back in January, I had signed up for a wonderful RV Tour of New England and Canada to leaf peep with Yankee RV Tours.  I was to have met the Boothbay, Maine, and end the tour in Vermont.  The total trip would have been six weeks long, and I would have driven around 4,000 miles.

Well, long story made short, I had multiple problems with my RV which not only cost a lot of money, but left me uneasy about travelling all of the miles never knowing if something else would break-down.  So, I cancelled that trip.  It left me very depressed.

I started looking for an alternative trip.  To my pleasure, I found a cruise which would begin in Montreal, travel along the St. Lawrence River with stops in Quebec City, Saguenay PQ, Baie-Comeau PQ, Gaspe PQ, Charlottetown PEI, Sydney NS, Halifax NS, Bar Harbor ME, Charleston SC, and ending in Ft. Lauderdale.

Perfect…It covered much of the same area, I would get to see some autumn leaves, go to places in Canada I had never been. The price kept getting lower each time I looked.  Finally, a few days before the cruise was to begin, I pressed the button and signed on.  So now I am happily aboard the Maasdam of the Holland America fleet.  This is the fourth cruise I have taken with them.

Since the ship was to sail at 4 p.m. and the gang plank schedule to go up at 3:30 p.m., I had to find a flight from Orlando which would get me there in time to go claim my luggage, go  through customs, transport from the airport to the cruise port, go through the check-in process to board at least by 3 p.m.

The earliest flight I found left Orlando at 6 a.m. and would arrive in Montreal at 11:30 a.m. with a connection in Chicago.  This meant I had to get up at 2:45 A. M.  (This is very close to the time I usually go to bed!) so I could drive to a park place where I leave my car outside the airport, shuttle to the airport, and get checked in by 4 a.m.

Well, I did all of that and had a very smooth trip all of the way with no delays, easy connections, and time to spare.  I was on board and in my stateroom with delivered luggage by 1:30 p.m.
I am a happy shipboard camper.