The day we went to Montreal

The next day was reasonable when we left Buckingham for Montreal, but by the time we reached the small church of Grande Fresniere,  St Eustache, a small red brick building pretty much in the middle of nowhere, it was looking like a very grey day indeed. 

 

 

 

Just across the road was one small house, but otherwise the land all around was farmland. 

The two buildings weren’t just any old buildings, and we weren’t there to go to church – well, we were sort of – or to visit the people in the little homestead by the roadside. 

The house had once been the home of  Gail’s ancestors John Inglis and his family, who had emigrated from Scotland in 1829. Originally it was a stone house but someone later added the wooden siding/cladding and presumably the veranda. It has quite a history to it too, as just before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837/8 and the Battle of  St Eustache it  was taken over by the rebel patriots to use as their headquarters.  Gail sent me an account of events, written later by John, which included a list of goods stolen and a description of the treatment her great great great grandmother suffered at the hands of the rebels.  Pretty scary.  All I can say is that Isabella Inglis was one brave tough woman!

The church was built on Inglis land donated by William, son of John and Isabella.  The clay for the bricks also came from the land and William helped to build it.  Unfortunately we could not see inside, but we were able to look around the small cemetery to one side.

The red marble Inglis gravestone stood tall near the front of the cemetery, in memory of a family that saw much of the development of the Canada we know today. At least three generations lie here in this now peaceful place among the people they probably grew up with and lived amongst.

We continued on our way to Montreal, arriving there to find the city high-rises in fog.  This is part of the old railway station, and it was here we had something to eat in a restaurant that took its decor inspiration from an old railway carriage.  It was excellent. 

 

This is a corner of the same building –La Gare Windsor or Windsor Station.

 

 

 

It was so wet we really didn’t fancy going out and getting soaked, so we just drove around downtown, and I took photos through the window when I had the opportunity.  This is in Place d’Armes with Notre Dame Cathedral on the right and the Art Deco Aldred Tower on the left. The Aldred tower built in 1931 was set to rival the Empire State Building but the stock market crash of 1929 put paid to all that!

This time the Aldred Building is on the right, dwarfing what was the first skyscraper in the city, the New York Life building.  Place d’Armes was being dug up for some reason, hence all the orange and white striped bollards.

 

 

We drove around the old town of Montreal, situated alongside the St Lawrence River, up and down little cobbled streets that no doubt would be fascinating to wander through if the sun was shining!

You can see how wet it was by the reflections on the road at this old town corner.  It just didn’t let up!

 

 

 

Same in Chinatown with its beautiful lion gates with their ornamental pagoda roofs.

 

 

Then we  passed part of  the internationally famous McGill University.  It’s a large university with several buildings around the city.  I thought  this one was rather splendid – and look!  The pavement – the sidewalk – is dry!!! for the moment!

Surprisingly, though this huge 20th century basilica dominates the hillside of Mont Royal, it is extremely hard to find a description of it in the guide books.  It is called  the Oratoire St Joseph, and was at first intended to be only a small shrine to St Joseph, but through public donations, like Topsy, it just growed – and growed. 

There’s a viewpoint somewhere on Mont Royal from where you can view the city, but for one thing we couldn’t find it – or didn’t find it, to be more accurate – and for another I don’t think the views would have been too spectacular that day anyway!   So it can be something to do next time!

There really wasn’t much point in staying around in the rain, so we just headed for home again,   where we had a quick visit

with Sonia. Gail’s sister-in-law,

 

 

and the kids

 

 

…and the new kitten.  Coco was so cute.  I warned them that they might have to search my pockets as I left!   I got the spider to take home though!

Talk again soon.

Historical around Ottawa!

The day after the Montebello visit, Gail, Peggy and I took off in the car once more!   First stop was at the Hogsback Falls, and the weir above them that prevents flooding caused by the construction of a dam that diverts the water from the Rideau river into the canal!  The falls incidentally were also created by the construction of the dam raising the water level and replacing the rapids that had been there originally!   Sound complicated?  Apparently it was, in the 1820s when construction of the dam took place!    It fell apart three times and one contractor resigned before they got it right!

Further along the Rideau river is the 19th century  Watson’s Mill in the township of Manotick, a historic  and very attractive place indeed.  The Mill itself was constructed in 1859/60 by a Mr Dickinson and his business partner Joseph Currier, who I will mention again later.

Machinery on the top of the dam moves across it in order to open and close the weir gates

 

 

It was Dickinson who called the place Manotick, and the mill, though called the Long Island Mill at first, soon took this name, until a later worker in the 20th century bought the place and changed the name to his own - Watson’s Mill. 

The square in front honours Dickinson’s name, and across it, opposite the mill, is the house where the Dickinsons lived, painted in my favourite colours too.  Unfortunately unlike the mill, it was closed for the season, so we had to be content with the outside view.  It is a beautiful clapboard house with all the appearance of an elegant British Georgian house.  After 30 years of mill ownership Harry Watson sold the mill to the local conservation authority who have restored the workings to their original condition of 1860 and now run the mill as a tourist attraction, with a series of actual milling days operating through the year from late spring to early autumn.

Of course the mill has to have its ghost story and the ghost in question is that of  Ann Crosby, wife of James Currier who was the partner of Moss Dickinson at the start of the mill. Ann, aged 20, had only been married to James for a month when  the first anniversary of the mill was celebrated.  Ann was touring the mill when her skirt got caught in a revolving turbine.  She was flung back against a support pillar and killed.  Currier was so distraught by the accident that he quite lost interest in the mill.  He sold his shares to Dickinson and left the town.   Those who have seen a ghostly apparition at the mill say it was a tall flaxen-haired young woman.  Is it Ann?

We took a short walk along Mill Street looking at some of the old houses.  This was a house originally owned by a tailor whose shop was next door.

 

 

 

 

The conservation authority restored  the exterior of this next property …

The Miller’s Oven, now a cafe run by the town’s senior citizens – we had a wonderful strawberry shortcake and cup of tea there - was once the general store, telegraph office, post office, and later a  hall upstairs with barber shop below, and even a public library and pool room! 

This little house, the Mill Street florist, dates from 1877 and was built by Moss Dickinson for his workers.  It used to stand on the roadside but was moved back at some later stage.  It is also in the style of Dickinson’s own house  – very classical in appearance.

There were so many lovely houses that I really couldn’t photograph all of them – but I made a pretty good attempt – before we turned and came back towards the mill.  

 

 

Ahhh!  Those trees!     The colours!

 

 

Just then the school bus came round the corner and stopped to release some homebound students.  I liked the way the Stop sign at the side of the bus unfolded out to warn any other road users that there are children about.  At the front too, a lever  swings out  to warn the children not to cross in front of  the bus.  Our school buses are not dedicated to carrying just school children, but are also in general service, but I think these two safety features could be employed over here.  I know of a few terrible accidents that have happened when either the bus driver or overtaking car drivers have been unaware of  road crossers.

So, a last photo before it was time to leave and this is looking from outside the mill to its left, to the Presbyterian church, that replaced the previous brick built church of 1877.

Have I said yet about the amount of trees there are over here?  It’s wonderful!  Even in the cities there are avenues of trees all over the pl;ace!

So then we  headed off to Ottawa where we were meeting up with Peggy’s daughter, Pascale, and going for supper.  She chose a lovely Italian restaurant in the city’s downtown market area where we had a lovely meal, and afterwards as we passed a street stall on the way back to the car, I was persuaded to try another local delicacy…..

  It’s OK.  They weren’t the real thing – well not real animal bits!

They are a kind of deep fried elongated pancake, with cinnamon sugar sprinkled over – well that’s what I had.  There were other choices of toppings too but that was the basic.  Mmmmmm!  (Licks lips at the thought!)  Yes, I would be quite happy to try another of those!

Talk again soon.

Another day out in Quebec

This was the day I ate poutine!   Apparently the roadside cafe we went to at Montebello does the best poutine!  What is it?  Well, it’s a Quebec dish originating  in the 1950s, consisting of french fries – chips to us Brits -  with a topping of fresh curd cheese, and then smothered in a light gravy.  The Quebec pronunciation is something like pootsin.  The word poutine MAY derive from the English word pudding , but could alternatively come from a word for a  not very appealing mixture of various foods!

Fries?  Fine!  Gravy?  Good!  Fries and gravy?   Mmm?  Maybe!  Curd cheese?  Not too sure!  All of the above together?  Not very sure at all!  However I was prepared to give it a go, and you know, it wasn’t too bad!!  The curds were like small chunks of  melted cheese and didn’t taste sour as I had thought they might do !  However, I’m not a fan of soggy chips/fries at the best of times, so poutine would only be a once-in-a-while dish for me!

Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a photo – not like me at all, eh? – so you’ll just have to imagine it!

Just along from the cafe I had spotted a small house, with its garden full of Canada geese!  I went to investigate and found very plausible life-size fake geese – probably hunters decoys – as the house turned out to be a shop for hunters  and fishermen!

Now who would have known they weren’t real – except for the feet!

 

 

 

From there we carried on in the car a little way to see another rather fabulous and unusual Fairmont hotel, the Chateau Montebello – the great  red cedar log-cabin hotel!

Built in just a few months in 1930 it was at first a private retreat, but when it was taken over by Canadian Pacific  Hotels and opened to the public it soon became a popular  place to visit.  Over the years, various famous people have stayed here, including politicians and royalty.   The website has some beautiful photos in its introduction to the hotel and  others on their photo gallery which you can find on the intro page,  but I’ll show you mine here!  The main building centres round a huge tall  hexagonal stone chimney with  a lounge area on the ground floor and a fireplace on each of the six sides of the chimney. 

 

 

The next two floors are galleries circling round - so you can look down on the lounge area, or find a quiet cosy corner to relax in -

 

 

 

 

and are connected by beautiful  rustic wooden staircases.

The bedrooms are in the several wings that radiate out from the main building - it must look like a child’s drawing of  the sun from above –  along with the dining room in a further wing.  It too has a gallery round it at the first upper floor level.

What a place!  It would have been nice to sit and relax for a while over a cup of hot chocolate and a cake but we had to get home as Ken was due to be coming for tea. 

After a quick walk in the grounds and a look at the Ottawa River, it was time to go, and sadly when we got back we found that Ken was unwell and not able to call round, and in fact I never did meet him, his problem persisting throughout the whole week.  So we ate the pizza bought for the meal and the chocolate cake that was to have been Ken’s birthday cake, and in fact breakfasted off pizza and cake for the next couple of days too!!!  I wasn’t complaining!  So instead we had a quiet evening at home, during which I caught up with reading some off the letters that were written  in the mid 19th century to Gail’s ancestor by the ones who stayed in Scotland.  It was fascinating to read of their lives – who was ill or who had died; what prices of potatoes or wheat etc, were, had the crops been good this year - and interesting  how some of the Scottish family were considering joining the new Canadians, asking questions about how easy it might be to get a place on a farm,what would the pay be like, would it be long before they could afford their own farm, what was the land like, was it good soil, etc.  I think the freedom in sending goods between the two countries was most interesting – from apples to machinery it all just went by ship with no customs or rules and regs about what could or couldn’t be transported.  Letters were sent in a box with the expectation that they would get  there sometime - it took months sometimes - and letters that arrived back home in Scotland were passed around so that news from Canada was probably  received several times over by the different families.

Gail began to transcribe the letters some time ago but the writing was hard to decipher in some cases and virtually impossible in others!    What is most incredible though is that the letters were retained at all,  and passed down through the family in the writing case that the old fellow himself  had used.  Once again I can’t think why I never photographed that old box and its contents!

In a couple of days on our way to Montreal I was to see the little church built by Gail’s ancestor at Grande Fresniere, and the little churchyard where he and his descendants are buried .

Talk again soon.

Onwards – to Ottawa

Next day Jimmy and Jean took me to Union station – on the right of the photo -  where I got my ticket in the very impressive marble ticket hall and joined the queue waiting to board the train.  The journey wasn’t too long, about 4 hours maybe – I forget now, from this distance in time – following Lake Ontario’s shoreline for a while.  It was very relaxing anyway.

Arriving in Ottawa I was met by cousin Gail.  We had  joked about maybe having to tuck a newspaper under our arms so we would recognise each other but there was absolutely no need for that.  She spotted me first, but I knew her right away too, which wasn’t bad for only seeing each other in photos until that moment.  No, we had never met before!   We hit it off right away though and on the way home I caught up on the plans for the next week.  That evening Gail’s sister-in-law Sonia and her partner Steve were coming for supper with the littlies, Katie and Campbell – who had been warned not to laugh if I spoke a bit funny (I suppose they would think my accent a bit different!)  - and next evening I was to meet her brother – Gail’s brother – Ken, now sadly parted from his family.

However, once at home - on the other side of Gatineau - I met Gail’s partner, Peggy, who had cooked a special meal of  what sounded like pattie shinwa!  I got the shinwa bit as being the French word Chinois/Chinese, but wasn’t so sure about the pattie bit, expecting maybe some sort of paté dish.  Anyway, it turned out just to be like Shepherds Pie, though made with beef and bison or was it buffalo?  It was one or the other!  Once the rest of the family had arrived and we’d all been introduced – the kids were great!  No giggles about my accent – we all sat down to supper which was delicious,  I’m sure I had a second helping!  Young Campbell had a present for me too – a little clear plastic angel in a dome, which when switched on glows red, pink and purple in turn!  I’ll certainly put it beside my Christmas tree this year.

I had presents to give too, and I think the book about Hamish the Hairy Haggis went down best of all .  Auntie Gail may have to be up to some sneaky tactics to get hold of it if she wants to get it off Campbell!  (She said she wanted to read it too!)

So we had a lovely evening, and all too soon it was time for Sonia and Steve to take the kids home – school the next day.   I can’t remember how long the three of us sat up chatting but Gail is also a bit of a night bird, like myself, though Peggy isn’t!

So next day we went out in the car – and to be honest I have forgotten in which order we did things over the next few days!  I think this was our first day out together.  We visited the country estate of  William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s longest serving Prime Minister (22 years )in Gatineau Park, and saw his home, Moorside,

 

some of the “ruins” erected in the gardens by King himself,

 

 

 

 

and the cottage by the lake, Kingsmere, the houses both restored and, thanks to King’s generous gift to the nation, open to the public – in season, but not in the middle of October.

 

The grounds were beautiful and of course the tree colours were amazing!

 

   

A red squirrel entertained us with his antics for a bit too till I eventually got his photo up in the tree!

 

 

 

 

Then we continued to the Eardley escarpment to look out on the amazing view.  You could see for miles.  This too is the geological  point where the Canadian Shield meets the St Lawrence  Lowlands.  That’s the stuff of countless boring geography lessons at school, but here.. here’s the real thing!  

On our way then to Wakefield, next to see was the beavers’ lodge at Lake Bourgeoisie!  No beavers about but we had fun thinking about the upper middle class beavers that must live here!

Wakefield is an attractive small village beside the river Gatineau where we stopped to look at a couple of shops, then drove along a bit to take a wander over the recently restored covered bridge over the river.  It doesn’t go anywhere nowadays but is a nice walkway from which you get a nice view of the river.

It was getting near suppertime and  Gail and Peggy knew just where we should go.  We landed up at Wakefield Mill standing beside a rushing set of waterfalls.  Having had quite a history of milling and then lying empty it was recently restored and refurbished as a hotel and spa.  What a lovely place.  These seats across the river were just waiting for a photo shoot so  Peggy took a pic of the cousins!  

 

 

 

Later, while waiting for a table in the dining room we sat on comfy sofas in the lounge in front of the log fire, and were eventually taken to a table in the conservatory – see the above photo – overlooking the falls, where we ate the most delicious meal, accompanied by a glass of something red and alcoholic!   Very nice too.

This obviously wasn’t the night we were due to meet Ken.  I’ve definitely got my days muxed ip. 

Never mind!

Talk again soon.