On to Ottawa

Saturday 6 September

When we finally opened the curtains this morning we were greeted with a grey sky and rain. Just as well this was a travel day.

By 8:15 we were trundling through the streets of Quebec heading south west. This time we travelled along the southern shore of the great St Lawrence waterway.

One of the impressive bridges spanning the St Lawrence just out of Quebec

Canada generates an enormous amount of electricity, much of it from hydo sources. The landscape was crisscrossed with huge pylons carrying the power across the country.

We had a mid morning stop for drinks, toilets and some retail at a place that had quite an array of fur goods. I don't think anyone purchased any of the skin things however we did enjoy the opportunity to look at what they had on offer.

Lunch was included today and was at the Sucrerie de la Montage - an authentic sugar shack and pioneer-style restaurant. The sugar is, of course, maple based and primarily maple syrup. They do back their own bread in a wood fired oven. Today they had baked 170 loaves.

The bakery is housed in the right hand end of the building. n a fine day it might have been nice to sit around this open fire but not today is the miserable weather

When we arrived we were met with horse drawn wagons to take us up to the settlement. A pity that the seats were wet so we ended up with damp bottoms.

The meal was a bean based soup served with bread followed by an array of offerings that would have been staples for the folk who lived in this area. There was honey cured ham, fluffy omelet, pie, sausage and potato with gerkins, beetroot and chutney. Pancakes followed. There was a huge bottle of maple syrup on the table and most of us only indulged in it with the pancakes although we had it on good authority that it could be liberally poured over anything and everything.

In addition to the meal and the introduction to the making of maple syrup and the bread there was an entertainer who roped in some of our group to play the spoons and then had us clapping along with him. All good fun.

Back on the bus I think that there was a lot of snoozing as we continued on to Ottawa.

We were fortunate that the weather cleared in the late afternoon so our arrival in the Canadian capital was well timed. We began with an orientation tour of the city with a visit to a couple of spots on foot.

The cathedral with a wedding party outside

One of the modern buidlings

The face at the entrance to the Museum of Civilisation

Parliament House

After checking in to our hotel we headed off to stretch our legs. We have seen quite a few squirels over the past week. Here was the one we found in a pedestrian area of the city.

Canada  has quite an array of memorials. This one to World War 1 and 2 was quite impressive:

The front

and the back

Walking back we were treated to a gorgeous colour display with pink clouds and golden light on the horizon.

As we continued walking towards Parliament House we realised that lights were playing across the ediface. There had been mention of a light show later tonight and we stopped and watched the display for a while. The temperature was dropping and we were both in shorts so we decided that a quick change of clothes was in order before retuning to the grass in front of Parliament House for the show that was scheduled to commence at 9 o'clock. By the time we returned the crowd had really built up and people continued to pour into the area until well after the show got underway.

I must say that I have been impressed by the shows that the Canadians have put on for our benefit. There have been street parades, air shows and now a sound and light spectacular. I wonder what they can do tomorrow? Here are some photos of the show we saw tonight ... which actually ran for 35 minutes and was full of motion and visual impacts.