Behold, a healthy side of poutine.
As we were leaving Montreal, our landlord there asked if we’d eaten poutine while we were there. We had not. So our first order of business in Quebec City (QC) was to right that wrong. Bunny did the ordering, concerned that Marty might say “Je voudrais une putaine” instead of poutine and accidentally order a prostitute. 🙂
(Note: This is a pretty lame entry but I’m gonna post it anyway. I hope it’s better than nothin’)
It wasn’t listed among our top reasons for traveling to Montreal but the truth is we were looking forward to les boulangeries (the French bakeries). Croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche… Really good reasons to get up in the morning. 🙂
But we couldn’t find any – until this morning when we came upon a Venezuelan/Canadian boulangerie named Cachitos ( they’re basically Venezuelan croissants with ham, cheese, spinach, etc…). Met another REALLY friendly Canadian and enjoyed a great breakfast spot.
We walked around Old Montreal some more, visited Notre Dame again, talked to more friendly folks, enjoyed happy hour and took a nap.
Fun, busy day!
We had breakfast at Suzette’s Creperie in Vieux (old) Montreal. They served Bunny’s café au lait in a bowl (see photo). 🙂 Met a very friendly couple from Nova Scotia. I (Bunny) asked a question that I’m trying to ask all Canadians: do you like your health care system? They emphatically answered that they loved it. No complaints. Just saying…
We next visited Montreal’s Notre Dame cathedral. We both felt that it was the most beautiful church we’ve ever seen. We went to mass (honest, we did) and when we came out there was a huge crowd of union members marching down the rue de Notre Dame. We followed them until they reached Place de Victoria where they had music and speeches (in English and French). Very cool.
We also visited a Quebec history museum that helped fill in some blanks for these stupid Americans. Travel isn’t travel if you don’t learn anything. 🙂
We walked around the port of Montreal and then back to our flat. We were both pooped. A good day.
One of the above has been sitting in his den all winter eating and drinking .. the other is a bear …😁
So here we are in Canada ( actually the photo is of Marty with a friendly Minnesotan in the airport en route to Montreal). Normally most Americans don’t consider Canada a foreign country. But we’re talking FRENCH Canada here.
One reason we chose to visit Quebec province was because Bunny’s ancestors are French Canadian (on her mom’s side; hence her given name Yvonne). Another reason was to see if we could get French speaking people to smile. Hadn’t had a ton of luck with that in France . (We could use your help Scott ! Ben too!)
Our plan of attack is the same as it was in France (motto: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try…): we go with a smile and a “bonjour!”
We are happy to report our preliminary results: Canadians are friendly, even if they speak French! 🙂
PS: We went to Chinatown for dinner last night and Marty told the waiter “grazie!” The waiter looked confused – so did Marty…
The Montreal, Quebec City and RV across northern US begins. We fly PDX to Montreal on May 7. We then spend 3 nights at a VRBO in Montreal. We pick up a rental car and drive to Levis which is across the St Laurence seaway from Quebec City. We are going to stay 3 nights in Levis. We will be taking the ferry over to Quebec city during the days. We will then drive the car back to Montreal on May 13th to pick up an RV. We will then have till May 28th to get the RV to Vancouver BC. That will be about 3500 miles in 15 days. That’s an average of 233 miles per day. Or about 4 hours of driving time. Sounds like fun !!!!
Anyway we get into Vancouver BC and take a train home on May 29th.
Let the vacation begin !!!
We’re back in PDX after a marathon day of flying (SOMEDAY I want to fly first class, OMG, that looks comfy).
Anyway, we thought we’d post a few of the Flat/Creased/Rumpled Benjamin photos that had yet to be published. Enjoy…
Actually, this last one is Original Benjamin. 🙂
Its our final day in Roma. The morning was spent checking in for our flights tomorrow and how that all transpires. We spent the afternoon at The Pantheon and visiting several churches around our part of Roma. Its 5pm local time. We will be catching a cab at 5:30 am tomorrow for an hour cab ride to the airport then the flight leaves at 9:15am. We fly Rome to Atlanta 11 hours then to Portland 6 hours. So now is the other tough part of the trip … The long flight home … It has been a wonderful trip. I will post pics online this coming weekend…. We are all ready to be home …
Ben and Marty having one last glass of chianti…
Just a quick note here about our excellent traveling partner, Scott.
It’s been great to have him along (would’ve loved to have Ben with us too, but it was just not possible). Scott has put up with us (and by “us” I mean me, Bunny) for two and a half weeks with endless good humor. He made us laugh (often) and ponder big and little questions (almost as often).
A couple of his bons mots:
As the navigator for Marty’s driving: (you have to know here that roundabouts are everywhere): “Dad, you take the whirly-q up here. Don’t forget it’s a whirly-q, not a loop-de-loop.”
As novice tour guide: “All roads lead to Rome. And all roads in Rome lead to the gift shop.”
I think you get the picture. Or not? Maybe you had to be there!
In any event, THANK YOU, SCOTT for making this trip more fun!
In Golf you always want that last drive of the day to be a good one because “it will make you want to come back”. That’s what today was … a long straight drive. The Sistene chapel and St Peters Basilica. We started the tour at the Vatican museum. It was full of sculptures, paintings and tapestries. Then we were lead into the Sistine chapel where Michelangelo painted the ceiling. We used a Rick Steve’s app on our phones to have Rick lead us thru the different parts of the paintings on the ceiling. It was mesmerizing. The fascinating thing for me was how small the actual chapel was (or seemed). The whole chapel was134 ft long by 44 ft wide and 68 ft high. Then the people inside were elbow to elbow which made it seem smaller yet. I guess I had always imagined it would be a much bigger place. No pictures were allowed in this chapel.
We then found the “secret doorway” to St Peter’s basilica (thanks, Dave! 🙂 ).Â
This is the biggest church in the world. It measures at 730 ft long 500 ft wide and 452 ft high at its tallest place. We used the Rick Steve’s app once again to lead us thru St Peter’s Basilica.Â
We got out of that at 4 pm and our feet were tired. We found a nice place for drinks, bruchetta and pizza then we had to hussle off to pick up tickets for the papal audience tomorrow. The nun who gave us the tickets said we should be there by 7 am to get a good seat and that it would last until after noon. Not sure if that’s gonna happen or not. Besides, we’ve already seen “Papa Francesca”. We were near the Trevi Fountain so we stopped to see that. It is spectacular at night all light up. Then it was stopping for our nightly gelato before turning in for the night.Â
When Bunny first told me that the place we are staying in Rome is on a busy square I had no idea what we were to be seeing out our apartment window. The main concern would be the noise. What it has been is a wonderful view in to life in Rome. Campo dei Fiori goes from a Portland Saturday market during the day to an outdoor night club at night. The day start really ear!y. The vendors start setting up at6 am. By 9am most vendors have set up and are already receiving customers. They sell fresh fruit, hats, scarves, liquor, fresh flowers, magazines and books, and many many other items. This is a place that many locals will get their items while tourists also are looking for items. By 4 pm the vendors have begun the process of breaking down and the Italian zambonis are out cleaning up the square. By 6 pm the square is completely cleaned out of venders. The street vendors are out selling roses,fancy flashlights, lighted flying toys and other assorted items. The sidewalk cafes extend out into the square and are full at 8pm. The square is a constant buzzing sounds of people talk and laughing and yelling. I had heard that the local younger crowd comes to the square later in the evenings to meet up at the eating and drinking establishments. Luckily our bedroom windows do not open right onto the square. We have a buffer. The living room windows look over the square.
Here is the square just about set up for the day
Here is the square just about cleaned for the day. The red and white vehicle is the upper left is a street sweeper we call the Italian zamboni.
Here is the square at 8 pm with the street vendors hard at work selling to tourists.
This is an incredible transformation that happens everyday.