Did I ever mention how much I love Honest Ed's?
Saturday, July 31, 2010
MORE Ling Ling
Honest Ed's
Friday, July 30, 2010
oasis in Ottawa
The drive to Ottawa from Montreal was, well - boring. There is nothing particularly scenic about it, and the crappy-ass shoulder-less highways were disappointing after the beautifully paved highways in the Maritimes. (Yes, I'm a highway connoisseur/snob now - get over it.) Anyhow. We pulled into Hull/Aylmer/Ottawa area right around 6, just in time for some beautiful baked chicken, BBQ corn, and yummy fresh green beans with Grampa Keith and Uncle Alex, Bill's Dad & youngest brother.
Anyhow, after settling in, having baths, and exploring the delightful yard, which has both a front, back, and lower garden, with the latter backing onto a creek that are accessible via a series of footpaths, we got a healthy sleep in, with NO plans for the following day other than visiting and relaxing. Wil slept, the girls played pick-up-sticks, and Kaelan went down to the creek to clear some of the overgrowth and build himself a dam. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the park for some tennis and shuttlecock tag (which, in case you're wondering, is like ball tag... where you throw the ball at someone to make them "it"... only using a badminton shuttlecock instead of a ball.) (It doesn't work very well, by the way.)
After yummy tacos for dinner, we agreed we would go check out a laser light show projected onto the side of the Parliament Buildings called Mosaika, which was truly remarkable and enjoyable; a nice mix of eye candy, Canadiana in both French & English and inclusion of indigenous perspective without being wishy-washy or promoting any one particular agenda.
Home to sleep, then up in the morning to see the Parliament Buildings in daylight, then hit the NAG and find some water for a swim. We went early enough to see the changing of the guards, then headed up the Peace Tower, something even Keith, who has lived there for over a decade, had never done. It was definitely excellent. After that we wandered around the grounds then hit one of the markets for MORE yummy cheese and fresh fruit and bread (why again don't we have these in Edmonton?) which we ate in Tin Square before heading to the NAG. Grampa Keith took the kids to the regular exhibits while Bill & I took in the feature exhibit, "Pop Life: Art in the Material World" which as Keith had warned us was totally unsuitable for children, and totally awesome... added bonus was that it was nice to have some alone time with Bill, something we so rarely get period much less on a holiday where we've been crammed into single-room or attached dwellings for almost 2 weeks lol
After the gallery we stopped at home for a quick snack and to grab our suits so we could find a beach. We swam at the Outouais River (where the previously picture seagulls swooped down on some poor woman's blanket and stole her entire block of cheese!) then went home for homemade chicken satay with peanut sauce and stir-fried veggies served over Basmati rice. We tied the evening up with wine and martinis, and a lovely little fire at the lower garden. I fell asleep with the girls, and woke up this morning with itchy contact lenses and a burning desire to not have a repeat of arriving at the train station in the nick of time. After a breakfast of "let's make some scrambled eggs and serve them with all the leftovers in Grampa Keith's fridge" we loaded up the van and drove to the PE Trudeau airport in Montreal where a (free - bonus!) shuttle dropped us and our piles of luggage off at Dorval Via Station.
As we were driving to Montreal, we did a mental inventory of all the things we may or may not have left behind along the way. So far, my camera is hopefully on its way back to Edmonton from Moncton; we'll have to call Grampa Keith and ask him to send us Ling Ling the Plastic Panda Ball and Bill's wedding band... not really too bad considering we've been on the road for almost 2 weeks, hey?
We are currently en route to Toronto for the final leg of our trip, and the girls are BEGGING to watch a movie on the laptop, so I'll leave off here and update again in a few days with details of all the fun and adventure with friends in Toronto/Niagara Falls. As for me, well - I've discovered that I get really motion sick on trains regardless of whether I'm facing forwards or backwards, so I'm off to pop some more Gravol and pray I'm not still feeling sick when we arrive in the t.dot in a couple of hours.
(And I must admit I am loving the iPhone pics taken with Hipstamtic thus far - they are WICKED cool!!!)
In Quebec, pretty much everyone can sell booze - the gas station, the Depanneur, the take-out sushi chain... In Montreal, beer and wine can be sold only until 11pm in certain places. In the area Grampa Keith lives in, you can only buy malt liquor at convenience stores and gas stations, but at any hour, but you have to hit a proper liquor store to get spirits or wine... Their solution to this for those of us who don't like that oh-so-popular malty drink BEER, they offer vodka- and rum-flavoured malt liquor coolers. That are technically modified beer with sucralose, fluorescent food dye, and citric acid added. They tasted like liquefied vomit in a bottle. Bill got me a 12-pack. ~urp~
Anyhow, after settling in, having baths, and exploring the delightful yard, which has both a front, back, and lower garden, with the latter backing onto a creek that are accessible via a series of footpaths, we got a healthy sleep in, with NO plans for the following day other than visiting and relaxing. Wil slept, the girls played pick-up-sticks, and Kaelan went down to the creek to clear some of the overgrowth and build himself a dam. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the park for some tennis and shuttlecock tag (which, in case you're wondering, is like ball tag... where you throw the ball at someone to make them "it"... only using a badminton shuttlecock instead of a ball.) (It doesn't work very well, by the way.)
After yummy tacos for dinner, we agreed we would go check out a laser light show projected onto the side of the Parliament Buildings called Mosaika, which was truly remarkable and enjoyable; a nice mix of eye candy, Canadiana in both French & English and inclusion of indigenous perspective without being wishy-washy or promoting any one particular agenda.
Home to sleep, then up in the morning to see the Parliament Buildings in daylight, then hit the NAG and find some water for a swim. We went early enough to see the changing of the guards, then headed up the Peace Tower, something even Keith, who has lived there for over a decade, had never done. It was definitely excellent. After that we wandered around the grounds then hit one of the markets for MORE yummy cheese and fresh fruit and bread (why again don't we have these in Edmonton?) which we ate in Tin Square before heading to the NAG. Grampa Keith took the kids to the regular exhibits while Bill & I took in the feature exhibit, "Pop Life: Art in the Material World" which as Keith had warned us was totally unsuitable for children, and totally awesome... added bonus was that it was nice to have some alone time with Bill, something we so rarely get period much less on a holiday where we've been crammed into single-room or attached dwellings for almost 2 weeks lol
After the gallery we stopped at home for a quick snack and to grab our suits so we could find a beach. We swam at the Outouais River (where the previously picture seagulls swooped down on some poor woman's blanket and stole her entire block of cheese!) then went home for homemade chicken satay with peanut sauce and stir-fried veggies served over Basmati rice. We tied the evening up with wine and martinis, and a lovely little fire at the lower garden. I fell asleep with the girls, and woke up this morning with itchy contact lenses and a burning desire to not have a repeat of arriving at the train station in the nick of time. After a breakfast of "let's make some scrambled eggs and serve them with all the leftovers in Grampa Keith's fridge" we loaded up the van and drove to the PE Trudeau airport in Montreal where a (free - bonus!) shuttle dropped us and our piles of luggage off at Dorval Via Station.
As we were driving to Montreal, we did a mental inventory of all the things we may or may not have left behind along the way. So far, my camera is hopefully on its way back to Edmonton from Moncton; we'll have to call Grampa Keith and ask him to send us Ling Ling the Plastic Panda Ball and Bill's wedding band... not really too bad considering we've been on the road for almost 2 weeks, hey?
We are currently en route to Toronto for the final leg of our trip, and the girls are BEGGING to watch a movie on the laptop, so I'll leave off here and update again in a few days with details of all the fun and adventure with friends in Toronto/Niagara Falls. As for me, well - I've discovered that I get really motion sick on trains regardless of whether I'm facing forwards or backwards, so I'm off to pop some more Gravol and pray I'm not still feeling sick when we arrive in the t.dot in a couple of hours.
(And I must admit I am loving the iPhone pics taken with Hipstamtic thus far - they are WICKED cool!!!)
Montreal - the unabridged version
When we finally settled in after our trying night on the train and our uninvitedly-eventful arrival, we had BBQ chicken (Bill went to the store to get supper and came home with a new skateboard deck?) and homemade hamburgers (SO nice after so much take-out/fast-food/restaurant eating in the Maritimes - I'm sure I've gained 15 pounds already lol) then vegetated until it was time to go to the fireworks, which were nothing short of mind-blowing. Buzz on the street is that Canada's entry was spectacular enough to warrant placement in the top 3. Our host, Fernando (who I wanted a pocket-version of - I love him!) said it was hard not to be blase about it since it runs eery summer for the same 10 weeks or whatever; I retorted that we come from Edmonton where we get fireworks on New Year's and Canada Day on a municipal budget and it was hard not to be impressed...
We tucked in three very tired children, and I proceeded to back up my pictures and start working on the official post-trip slideshow with a glass of wine and some air-conditioning ;)
At around 11 in the morning, my dear friend Alex and her handsome and funny fiance Ryan arrived for breakfast; we served up the last of the Prince Edward Island potatoes with a yummy omelette and cranberry juice. The original plan had been to head off to the Tohu centre for some free cirque, a it was the last day of the festival, but we were having such a nice time visiting we lost track of the time and ended up instead taking the Metro downtown, walking around Old Montreal for a bit, then heading up to Jean-Talon Market for some yummy cheese, veggies, fruit, and bread.
We tucked in three very tired children, and I proceeded to back up my pictures and start working on the official post-trip slideshow with a glass of wine and some air-conditioning ;)
Can I just pause a minute to mention two things.
#1) The public transportation system in Montreal is effing amazing. Not only are there commuter trains between major centres like Montreal & Toronto/Ottawa (something I seriously do not get about our lack of a similar system for Ft. Mac-Edmonton-Calgary), but there is an incredible Metro System that someone has been kind enough to make an integral part of Google's GPS map system so you can single-click to pinpoint your current location, type in your desired destination, and it'll bring up not only your walking and bus or train numbers, but how much it'll cost you. Damn, hey?
#2) It is impossible to not fall in love with the eclectic architecture and people of central Montreal. It is a bustling centre of culture, arts, history, cuisine, and more. From street performers and buskers to theatre and dance, from incredible graffiti to fine art galleries, from turn of the century mansions to adorable brownstones, tolerance and acceptance seem to be at the heart of this bohemian haven. I can't speak to the outlying areas, or the French-only/English-only neighbourhoods, though, and from what I understand there's no need to pay any mind unless you have a French vs. English bone to pick. For me, tout est bon.
We had meant to hit Atwater Merket but it wasn't really en route to any of the places we were heading that day, so Jean-Talon it was, and there are no regrets here. I don't understand why it's not possible for Edmonton to have a market open 7 days a week, too. I especially loved the (stinky, Wil would say) cheese market - a giant horse-shoe shaped sneeze-guarded glass counter with nothing but hundreds of kinds of international cheeses. We selected about 5 kinds (Serejane just about peed her pants when we told her she could get her own slab of feta, which she then insisted on carrying home in the 30-above weather...) and after a quick portrait with the blue cheese cow in the Hamel Fromagerie storefront window, we headed home on the Metro for a delicious meal... yum!
We turned in early so we could get a jump start on our second full day. Our pilgrimmage to Schwartz's Deli for what we were assured was the finest smoked-meat sandwich in all of Montreal began with a walk through St. Catherine's to the skateboard shop Bill got his deck at, to get Wil a pair of shoes. The ones he was wearing were purchased in September and smelled like he hadn't taken them off since getting them. We were all pretty perplexed with the psuedo-sewage odour that filled the space whenever he removed his shoes. The fact he only packed one pair of socks for himself didn't really help matters either.
Now, the skate shop is situated on St. Catherine's. Which is the gay mecca of Montreal. It is also the sex shop mecca of Montreal, replete with full displays in the store windows. Of course, I was fine with the gay district, and didn't have any issues with the kids being there either - even the pictures of same-sex couples embracing each other were cool. However, as we got nearer the skate shop, the sex shops had a full array of butt-plugs, vibrators, dildos, lingerie, lotions, etc. in a rainbow of eye-catching colours. While I wasn't particularly worried about the boys seeing such paraphernalia, I did have concerns about explaining it to the girls. Hurriedly, we found a nice little store peddling African collectibles, where Madisyn picked up gifts for her Mom and Gramma, then amused ourselves hanging out in the alleyways and admiring the tame-by-comparison graffiti...
After acquiring said shoes and consulting with Google Maps, we discovered that we were right along the bus route to get to Schwartz's, bu the bus wouldn't arrive for another 9 minutes. We figured it ould take as much time to just walk. We went right through Chinatown and up into the Jewish Quarter, stopping along the way to admire the sights and sounds, and of course to grab Slurpees (which are slushies there...) and two lens caps as one of mine had busted and I had wanted a squeeze-release to replace the somewhat time-consuming screw-cap for the pancake lens. We got our sandwiches and a few jars of Authentic Schwartz's seasonings then headed up St. Urbain Street to Mont-Royal where we refueled and relaxed (poor Serejane got a blister from the park), and decided that Mount Royal is really more of a grassy knoll, before walking back towards downtown via the University Area and embarking on our next mini-trip to the Biosphere at Montreal's Olympic Stadium Park. However, when we arrived, we learned that the Biodome and Insectarium had been closed since June due to a labour dispute, so decided we'd go check out the Botanic Gardens instead.
All I can say about the Botanic Gardens is WOW. The Bonsai exhibit was worth the admission alone, but the Japanese, Chinese, and Urban Garden exhibits were the icing on the cake. I'm excited now to go home and redesign our backyard, something Bill & I had discussed but really had no clue how to start before. We now have a kind of approach figured out and look forward to having our own little piece of urban heaven.
On our way back, since we kind of got shafted on the Biosphere, we decided to go in for a trip to the top of the Montreal Tower, which actually turned out to be pretty cool. he first thing the kids noticed were all the spiders. Thankfully, they were OUTSIDE the cabin of the tram, but there they were, freaking Madisyn out and thrilling Kaelan to no end - huge fat nasty-looking things. The view from the top of the tower was spectacular, but was also definitive proof that Mont-Royal is merely a grassy knoll (see image above) with the downtown skyline almost dwarfing it. But, I imagine it's the same thing for me to be unimpressed by their idea of a "mountain" growing up near the Rockies as their attitude toward their fireworks.
We took one last Metro-trip back to the apartment, where after a meal which included poutine (you can't go to Montreal and not have poutine, right?) Fernando joined us for a glass of wine and some picture-sharing. Did I mention how amazing our accommodations were or how much I adored our host Fernando? Let me mention it again, because it's so very true :)
We got up and packed early so we could have a couple of hours to walk around before picking up our rental van and driving to Ottawa. We walked across the Jacques Cartier Bridge to Ile St. Helene to visit the Biosphere (the geodesic dome at the site of the 1967 World Expo, not to be confused with the Biodome at Olympic Stadium.) While on the island, the challenge was put forth to find a four-leaf clover, which is worth $5 to the first verifiable find. With no successful find after about half an hour, we walked back across the bridge to the apartment, collected our bags, and cabbed it to the airport to grab our van and head off to Ottawa.
In a nutshell, I love Montreal, and will be adding it to my list of must-visit-again Canadian locations, right after Lunenburg.
Toronto-bound
We were fortunate enough to be able to change our point of boarding from downtown Montreal to Dorval Stn, just outside the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport, where we were dropping off the rental van.
The boys are super-excited to have WiFi in the train. I am, too - I will be able to update the blog on the commute and have maximum time to spend with my soul-sister Tannis.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Mon fromage!!!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Ling Ling on the patio
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Patio view
mmm - fresh produce for dinner
Saturday, July 24, 2010
bonjour, Montreal!
Allo, mes amis!
So much has happened in our first week of holidays it's amazing - hard to know what to share, there's so much!
Tuesday we left off after arriving at the Brigantine Inn & Suites at some ungodly hour of the morning. The Brigantine Annex where we stayed is in and of itself worth visiting - it is a beautifully appointed heritage building, built for a ship builder whose name eludes me but who had exquisite taste. It has been renovated inside to afford all the amenities of a modern hotel without taking anything from its plush historical feel.
The following day was mind-blowing - if you're ever in Nova Scotia, put Lunenburg on your must-see list. It's a Unesco Heritage site, an it was literally like walking into a fishing village caught in a time warp. The architecture, the atmosphere - everything - is splendid. The history is rich and deep, and is beautifully displayed in the Maritime Museum there - everything from crazy quilts and fashion to a petting tank to two fishing boats that you can board and explore. They have a boatbuilding shop where you can watch builders making schooners by hand, artifacts from the now-defunct whaling industry, and more - we could have easily spent another day in Lunenburg, especially since we didn't even make it to the geneological society where you can find the papers from your ancestors who landed at Lunenburg from pretty much everywhere in the world... but the clock was ticking and we did have an agenda dictated by things we had to book in advance, like sea kayaking and the train to Montreal...
After being motion sick from the plane and barely surviving our sail around the Halifax harbour, Wil was leery of coming on the whale watching putt-putt boat, but we walked uptown and grabbed some seabands and Gravol and we went off to find some whales. Now, anyone who has been subjected to the tales of my adventures in the past few years knows my terrible luck with seeing a @%$#@% whale. We managed to miss the right ferry to see the orcas traveling south from the coast of Vancouver 3 years ago, our Dominican trip 2 years ago was super fun (mmm - pina coladas and minutes-old fish for lunch on Bacardi Island - how can that be all bad?) but a bust in the whale department, and in Jamaica last year, while I got to see wild dolphins frolicking ahead of our boat on the deep-sea fishing trip (they scared off all the damn fish) I had yet to see an actual whale. It was apparently destined that I would see not one, not two, but countless whales off the coast of Nova Scotia, and got a few seals and dolphins thrown in for good measure! The girls had fun counting all the wildlife spottings they experienced, and even the boys got into it when someone would yell and point, the motor would shut off, and we'd float around watching for them to resurface. Bill & I both got a few pictures of the tell-tale fins, and even though none of them decided to do backflips or anything fancy for us, I have seen whales in the wild, for real, for sure, and I'm very happy :)
We ended up saying much later than planned in Lunenburg, and reluctantly left at about 4 in the afternoon, with the idea that we would take the coastal drive and stop at Peggy's Cove for supper. Having not actually made it to a lighthouse, it became a necessary stop :) The drive was harrowing, though - I'm not sure who sets the speed limits, but driving a van that handles like a school bus at 80km/hr on winding roads with no shoulders and blind corners every 200 feet is pure insanity...
Before we left, I had about 20 people tell me different things we needed to do, I was selective about who I decided to listen to and who to ignore. Part of what I struggled with was the whole, "Oh, don't do THAT - it's too touristy.." Well, uh... I'm a tourist, and I WANTED us to do the touristy thing. Obviously in 3 weeks we couldn't see everything there was to see, so I decided that we would try and see as much of a sampler as possible. A little of this, a little of that, and enough of everything to be memorable for kids ranging in age from 6 through 15. Not an easy task, and we hadn't originally planned on doing Peggy's Cove, the uber-touristy spot in Nova Scotia, but I cannot express how much I am glad that we did. Not only is Peggy's Cove so quaint and adorable that it's sickly sweet, but it's a functioning harbour that offers a harsh yet beautiful portrait of Maritime life and the very real struggles the fishermen, boatbuilders, and settlers on the East Coast face. If there had been a carnival or some cheesy theme park, it would have detracted from the stark reality of a small fishing village displaying itself in realtime.
Unlike Avonlea and pretty much of PEI, where I felt like most of the island had fallen victim to renovating itself to capitalize on the commercial viability of Anne of Green Gables (necessarily so as it may be) Peggy's Cove was stunning in its simplicity and starkness. There's not much to see: some uber-wicked rock formations, the lighthouse, and the tiny cove itself, crammed with fishing boats and lobster traps and gutting boxes. Aside of the local artisans in their little houses-cum-stores, only the restaurant and gift shop at the top of the hill are really "touristy." And even then, the building itself is unassuming, slightly decrepit, weather-beaten and time-worn. There isn't a fancy 5-star restaurant - it's a family dining room more like a camp cafeteria, that serves some damn fine seafood. (Wil had his first lobster dinner, the girls had fresh haddock and fries, and Bill and I had scallops and crab - yummers~)
After succumbing to the appeal of the coast in Nova Scotia, it was difficult making the break to head for Hopewell Rocks, in spite of how excited we were to move along. We didn't arrive at the Hopewell Motel until almost 2 am, which involved us reluctantly waking the owner/operator to check us in. The room was decorated like someone went hogwild at the Brick Warehouse in 1983 and stockpiled it in a storage facility for when it came time to renovate for decades to come... and it smelled funky... Of course, this might have something to do with the fact it's only a few hundred metres from the Bay of Fundy and it was rainy, but whatever... it had beds, the price was right, and to borrow a staple of real estate fundamentalism: location, location, location.
And the restaurant had amazingly tasty cheeseburgers, which we partook of before donning ponchos and wielding cheap umbrellas from the gift store to see the Hopewell Rocks at low tide. Un-freakin'-believable... Anyone who knows me, knows I love rocks. I especially love the way they look wet, and will lick them to see how pretty they are. (Hanging out with some geologists as of late, I found out that licking rocks is actually normal - yay me!) Anyhow. I only planed on grabbing a couple of keepsake rocks but took a good pound of stones out with me. We built an inuksuk, crawled through a cave, and took metal note of where and what things were because the next morning, bright and early, we were going to kayak at high tide. Despite the rain/mist/drizzle, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; and got totally muddy. (The silt was really gucky - I lost my shoes a couple of times, gave up, and just went barefoot...) We all ended up taking showers under the runoff from rocks to get the big chunks off before heading back to the hotel, and while the kids and I swam, Bill went to the campsite up the road to do some laundry.
We had to be at the Rocks by 8am to check in. We had originally planned for me to go with one of the boy at 8:45, and Bill to go with the other at 10:45, but the sun was out, the winds were calm, and the kayak gurus at Baymount Outdoor Adventures said that he girls could come too, which was TOTALY awesome, as I had felt really bad they would miss out on it. I took kaelan, Wil took Mads, and Bill took Serejane out to kayak around the rocks; I don't even have words. the ONLY bad part about it was that Kaelan packed his iPod at the bottom of my drybag, and his screen got cracked by my big fat heavy camera... So we are going to try and find a repair place... ugh... But, I will have to share the pictures later, as I did sneak my fisheye out of the drybag for a couple of shots, though most of the pics were taken on the Optio that I bought for the trip thanks to a generous giftcard from my Dominican newlyweds ;)
Covered in salty seawater and bug dope, we made a burn for Moncton to catch our train to Montreal. No trip would be compete, of course, without a few hiccups, right? ~sigh~ We had meant to do Magnetic Hill when we arrived last week, but decided to make a break for PEI straight from the airport, with the intent to hit is on the way back. Unfortunately, we ran out of time - our train left at 3:20pm. Only, it didn't leave at 3:20, it left at 5:20pm. My bad for not double-checking the tickets. What that equated to was 3 hours to kill in Moncton. Bah. We have to backtrack a bit here though; when we picked the van up on Sunday, Bill accidetaly forgot his book and his iPod at the Budget rental counter. We had already called and asked them to hang onto it for when we brought the van back. Fine. Great. Bill had been wearing his sandals instead of his sneakers for kayaking, and left his sneakers in the front passenger side of the van; so I put my other camera ($1200, plus a $900 lens...) there for Bill to grab when he grabbed his shoes since he'd been using it on the trip. And he got the shoes but left the camera... oops. The biggest disappointment is that of course now he doesn't have a schmancy camera to take pictures with. We called and asked if it was still there (they didn't know) if they could ship it back to Edmonton...
After we got that fiasco sorted out and I assured Bill the camera was in fact insured and it was all good, we left our bags behind the counter at the train station and ventured off to explore Moncton for a couple of hours. When we drove in, I had taken a bunch of pictures of a bell tower that stood above the entire city; as soon as we got out of the station, we saw that it was within walking distance, so we followed it like a beacon, drolling along the way at beautiful old houses... So, 'please don't think I'm stupid for not knowing it was the famous St. Vincent de Paul church. When we got there, we didn't plan on going in really,but sine the doors were open, we ventured forth and were treated with what is one of the first official guided tours that included going up into the chambers where the organ is house. Holy. Crap. Holy crapoly. Talk about serendipity! What a totally happy surprise!!!! The stained glass windows were worth going in for alone, but then we got to climb up in behind the organworks to view the over 5000 pipes that are controlled by whatever skilled musician happens to know how to work the keyboard/pegs/pedals. Apparently, they church (built in 1939 an 1940) could not open unless it was debt free. So the cathedral was completed as a shell - no pews, no organ, nothing inside - in 1940, but was not officially opened until 1955 after the congregation had spent over a decade fundraising. The final installation was the pipe organ, which cost about $78,000 dollars then but is now worth about $1.8 million dollars. The kids ll took a turn ringing the bel in the tower; Kaelan played The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the keyboard. Twere wonderful :)
After walking around a bit more, we decided to head back towards the Via station. Having forgotten the book I was reading, we stumbled onto a used bookstore reminiscent of Edmonton's own Wee Book Inn. We had already stopped at an amazing candy and ice cream store (Candy Chameleon - the lime sorbet and the pineapple ice cream are super tasty!) so the girls ate their penny candies and browsed Where's Waldo? books while I grabbed myself a couple novels and the boys and Bill chilled out.
A lesson learned: check the train schedule BEFORE you go wandering - they had moved the train's departure by almost half an hour, to 4:54 instead of 5:20! We made it back to the station with 4 minutes on the clock, found seats, and settled in for the overnighter to Montreal. Everyone but me slept :( And though we left Moncton a half hour earlier than scheduled, we arrived in Montreal over an hour later than what our tickets said.
We thought we would head straight for the apartments when we hit Montreal, so we could leave our bags and go off exploring for the day, but there was no answer on the phone number. We walked for what seemed like an eternity this morning, looking to find ways of killing time. We ate gross McDonald's food kitty corner from our suites and ended up sitting in a public green space until our gracious host Fernando called and told us our suite was ready.
Another backtrack....
I showed the kids the links to most of the stuff we had planned, including this apartment. Madisyn was more excited about this apartment than pretty much everything else I showed her. Every 3 minutes she'd ask when we got to stay in the cool apartments. It was kind of making me crazy, truth be told. So when we got the call that we could check in early (11 am - woot woot!) Mads was vibrating!
We're all settled in now; the pictures do not do this place justice. We have a fridge full of groceries, clean kids, cocktails, and enough ambience to tide us over until our trek to see the Canadian fireworks competition entry tonight and our breakfast date with my old friend Julie-Alex and her fiance tomorrow morning; then off to Jean Talon for super ingredients and the Tohu for some free Cirque :)
So much has happened in our first week of holidays it's amazing - hard to know what to share, there's so much!
Tuesday we left off after arriving at the Brigantine Inn & Suites at some ungodly hour of the morning. The Brigantine Annex where we stayed is in and of itself worth visiting - it is a beautifully appointed heritage building, built for a ship builder whose name eludes me but who had exquisite taste. It has been renovated inside to afford all the amenities of a modern hotel without taking anything from its plush historical feel.
The following day was mind-blowing - if you're ever in Nova Scotia, put Lunenburg on your must-see list. It's a Unesco Heritage site, an it was literally like walking into a fishing village caught in a time warp. The architecture, the atmosphere - everything - is splendid. The history is rich and deep, and is beautifully displayed in the Maritime Museum there - everything from crazy quilts and fashion to a petting tank to two fishing boats that you can board and explore. They have a boatbuilding shop where you can watch builders making schooners by hand, artifacts from the now-defunct whaling industry, and more - we could have easily spent another day in Lunenburg, especially since we didn't even make it to the geneological society where you can find the papers from your ancestors who landed at Lunenburg from pretty much everywhere in the world... but the clock was ticking and we did have an agenda dictated by things we had to book in advance, like sea kayaking and the train to Montreal...
After being motion sick from the plane and barely surviving our sail around the Halifax harbour, Wil was leery of coming on the whale watching putt-putt boat, but we walked uptown and grabbed some seabands and Gravol and we went off to find some whales. Now, anyone who has been subjected to the tales of my adventures in the past few years knows my terrible luck with seeing a @%$#@% whale. We managed to miss the right ferry to see the orcas traveling south from the coast of Vancouver 3 years ago, our Dominican trip 2 years ago was super fun (mmm - pina coladas and minutes-old fish for lunch on Bacardi Island - how can that be all bad?) but a bust in the whale department, and in Jamaica last year, while I got to see wild dolphins frolicking ahead of our boat on the deep-sea fishing trip (they scared off all the damn fish) I had yet to see an actual whale. It was apparently destined that I would see not one, not two, but countless whales off the coast of Nova Scotia, and got a few seals and dolphins thrown in for good measure! The girls had fun counting all the wildlife spottings they experienced, and even the boys got into it when someone would yell and point, the motor would shut off, and we'd float around watching for them to resurface. Bill & I both got a few pictures of the tell-tale fins, and even though none of them decided to do backflips or anything fancy for us, I have seen whales in the wild, for real, for sure, and I'm very happy :)
We ended up saying much later than planned in Lunenburg, and reluctantly left at about 4 in the afternoon, with the idea that we would take the coastal drive and stop at Peggy's Cove for supper. Having not actually made it to a lighthouse, it became a necessary stop :) The drive was harrowing, though - I'm not sure who sets the speed limits, but driving a van that handles like a school bus at 80km/hr on winding roads with no shoulders and blind corners every 200 feet is pure insanity...
Before we left, I had about 20 people tell me different things we needed to do, I was selective about who I decided to listen to and who to ignore. Part of what I struggled with was the whole, "Oh, don't do THAT - it's too touristy.." Well, uh... I'm a tourist, and I WANTED us to do the touristy thing. Obviously in 3 weeks we couldn't see everything there was to see, so I decided that we would try and see as much of a sampler as possible. A little of this, a little of that, and enough of everything to be memorable for kids ranging in age from 6 through 15. Not an easy task, and we hadn't originally planned on doing Peggy's Cove, the uber-touristy spot in Nova Scotia, but I cannot express how much I am glad that we did. Not only is Peggy's Cove so quaint and adorable that it's sickly sweet, but it's a functioning harbour that offers a harsh yet beautiful portrait of Maritime life and the very real struggles the fishermen, boatbuilders, and settlers on the East Coast face. If there had been a carnival or some cheesy theme park, it would have detracted from the stark reality of a small fishing village displaying itself in realtime.
Unlike Avonlea and pretty much of PEI, where I felt like most of the island had fallen victim to renovating itself to capitalize on the commercial viability of Anne of Green Gables (necessarily so as it may be) Peggy's Cove was stunning in its simplicity and starkness. There's not much to see: some uber-wicked rock formations, the lighthouse, and the tiny cove itself, crammed with fishing boats and lobster traps and gutting boxes. Aside of the local artisans in their little houses-cum-stores, only the restaurant and gift shop at the top of the hill are really "touristy." And even then, the building itself is unassuming, slightly decrepit, weather-beaten and time-worn. There isn't a fancy 5-star restaurant - it's a family dining room more like a camp cafeteria, that serves some damn fine seafood. (Wil had his first lobster dinner, the girls had fresh haddock and fries, and Bill and I had scallops and crab - yummers~)
After succumbing to the appeal of the coast in Nova Scotia, it was difficult making the break to head for Hopewell Rocks, in spite of how excited we were to move along. We didn't arrive at the Hopewell Motel until almost 2 am, which involved us reluctantly waking the owner/operator to check us in. The room was decorated like someone went hogwild at the Brick Warehouse in 1983 and stockpiled it in a storage facility for when it came time to renovate for decades to come... and it smelled funky... Of course, this might have something to do with the fact it's only a few hundred metres from the Bay of Fundy and it was rainy, but whatever... it had beds, the price was right, and to borrow a staple of real estate fundamentalism: location, location, location.
And the restaurant had amazingly tasty cheeseburgers, which we partook of before donning ponchos and wielding cheap umbrellas from the gift store to see the Hopewell Rocks at low tide. Un-freakin'-believable... Anyone who knows me, knows I love rocks. I especially love the way they look wet, and will lick them to see how pretty they are. (Hanging out with some geologists as of late, I found out that licking rocks is actually normal - yay me!) Anyhow. I only planed on grabbing a couple of keepsake rocks but took a good pound of stones out with me. We built an inuksuk, crawled through a cave, and took metal note of where and what things were because the next morning, bright and early, we were going to kayak at high tide. Despite the rain/mist/drizzle, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; and got totally muddy. (The silt was really gucky - I lost my shoes a couple of times, gave up, and just went barefoot...) We all ended up taking showers under the runoff from rocks to get the big chunks off before heading back to the hotel, and while the kids and I swam, Bill went to the campsite up the road to do some laundry.
We had to be at the Rocks by 8am to check in. We had originally planned for me to go with one of the boy at 8:45, and Bill to go with the other at 10:45, but the sun was out, the winds were calm, and the kayak gurus at Baymount Outdoor Adventures said that he girls could come too, which was TOTALY awesome, as I had felt really bad they would miss out on it. I took kaelan, Wil took Mads, and Bill took Serejane out to kayak around the rocks; I don't even have words. the ONLY bad part about it was that Kaelan packed his iPod at the bottom of my drybag, and his screen got cracked by my big fat heavy camera... So we are going to try and find a repair place... ugh... But, I will have to share the pictures later, as I did sneak my fisheye out of the drybag for a couple of shots, though most of the pics were taken on the Optio that I bought for the trip thanks to a generous giftcard from my Dominican newlyweds ;)
Covered in salty seawater and bug dope, we made a burn for Moncton to catch our train to Montreal. No trip would be compete, of course, without a few hiccups, right? ~sigh~ We had meant to do Magnetic Hill when we arrived last week, but decided to make a break for PEI straight from the airport, with the intent to hit is on the way back. Unfortunately, we ran out of time - our train left at 3:20pm. Only, it didn't leave at 3:20, it left at 5:20pm. My bad for not double-checking the tickets. What that equated to was 3 hours to kill in Moncton. Bah. We have to backtrack a bit here though; when we picked the van up on Sunday, Bill accidetaly forgot his book and his iPod at the Budget rental counter. We had already called and asked them to hang onto it for when we brought the van back. Fine. Great. Bill had been wearing his sandals instead of his sneakers for kayaking, and left his sneakers in the front passenger side of the van; so I put my other camera ($1200, plus a $900 lens...) there for Bill to grab when he grabbed his shoes since he'd been using it on the trip. And he got the shoes but left the camera... oops. The biggest disappointment is that of course now he doesn't have a schmancy camera to take pictures with. We called and asked if it was still there (they didn't know) if they could ship it back to Edmonton...
After we got that fiasco sorted out and I assured Bill the camera was in fact insured and it was all good, we left our bags behind the counter at the train station and ventured off to explore Moncton for a couple of hours. When we drove in, I had taken a bunch of pictures of a bell tower that stood above the entire city; as soon as we got out of the station, we saw that it was within walking distance, so we followed it like a beacon, drolling along the way at beautiful old houses... So, 'please don't think I'm stupid for not knowing it was the famous St. Vincent de Paul church. When we got there, we didn't plan on going in really,but sine the doors were open, we ventured forth and were treated with what is one of the first official guided tours that included going up into the chambers where the organ is house. Holy. Crap. Holy crapoly. Talk about serendipity! What a totally happy surprise!!!! The stained glass windows were worth going in for alone, but then we got to climb up in behind the organworks to view the over 5000 pipes that are controlled by whatever skilled musician happens to know how to work the keyboard/pegs/pedals. Apparently, they church (built in 1939 an 1940) could not open unless it was debt free. So the cathedral was completed as a shell - no pews, no organ, nothing inside - in 1940, but was not officially opened until 1955 after the congregation had spent over a decade fundraising. The final installation was the pipe organ, which cost about $78,000 dollars then but is now worth about $1.8 million dollars. The kids ll took a turn ringing the bel in the tower; Kaelan played The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the keyboard. Twere wonderful :)
After walking around a bit more, we decided to head back towards the Via station. Having forgotten the book I was reading, we stumbled onto a used bookstore reminiscent of Edmonton's own Wee Book Inn. We had already stopped at an amazing candy and ice cream store (Candy Chameleon - the lime sorbet and the pineapple ice cream are super tasty!) so the girls ate their penny candies and browsed Where's Waldo? books while I grabbed myself a couple novels and the boys and Bill chilled out.
A lesson learned: check the train schedule BEFORE you go wandering - they had moved the train's departure by almost half an hour, to 4:54 instead of 5:20! We made it back to the station with 4 minutes on the clock, found seats, and settled in for the overnighter to Montreal. Everyone but me slept :( And though we left Moncton a half hour earlier than scheduled, we arrived in Montreal over an hour later than what our tickets said.
We thought we would head straight for the apartments when we hit Montreal, so we could leave our bags and go off exploring for the day, but there was no answer on the phone number. We walked for what seemed like an eternity this morning, looking to find ways of killing time. We ate gross McDonald's food kitty corner from our suites and ended up sitting in a public green space until our gracious host Fernando called and told us our suite was ready.
Another backtrack....
I showed the kids the links to most of the stuff we had planned, including this apartment. Madisyn was more excited about this apartment than pretty much everything else I showed her. Every 3 minutes she'd ask when we got to stay in the cool apartments. It was kind of making me crazy, truth be told. So when we got the call that we could check in early (11 am - woot woot!) Mads was vibrating!
We're all settled in now; the pictures do not do this place justice. We have a fridge full of groceries, clean kids, cocktails, and enough ambience to tide us over until our trek to see the Canadian fireworks competition entry tonight and our breakfast date with my old friend Julie-Alex and her fiance tomorrow morning; then off to Jean Talon for super ingredients and the Tohu for some free Cirque :)
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