A Busy Day in Montreal

Monday, September 30

We awoke to some ethereal views along the St. Lawrence.







When we landed in Quebec City several hours earlier than expected yesterday, our cruise director, Temu, had described the reason as a jet stream of a current. Apparently, the converse can be true as well.

As we were eating breakfast Monday morning, we learned that some river equivalent of a headwind of a current had slowed our progress and we'd be landing a couple hours late.

On an ordinary day, this would be only a modest rearrangement of tour buses, etc. On the all-important day of disembarkation, this was actually a pretty big deal. It was definitely not the time to envy our cruise director or the two tour leaders their jobs.

They had lined up cabs and other transport for 35 people. Rescheduling our two buses and local tour guides for the 76 or so of us Road Scholar types was relatively easily arranged. We would have to give up some of our planned stops (oops, there goes our Montreal bagel tasting!), but we weren't having to worry about train and plane connections like some of the other travelers.

We had to vacate our rooms by 8:30am. This allowed our cabin stewards to start their thorough cleaning in preparation for the group of folks that would be boarding in late afternoon for the return/reverse trip to Boston.

Though we docked around 10am, our rescheduled buses hadn't arrived. So there we all sat in the lounge with our hand luggage for a couple hours. No place to go and not much to do. We made a bit of a show of bidding our departing friends adieu as it was announced that their cabs had arrived. Eventually, our Road Scholar buses showed up, and we headed off the boat to identify our larger bags and assure they got onto the correct bus. We were taken to a spot in the old section of the city to begin a walking tour. The bus then delivered our bags to our hotel. A fairly nifty system, really, but the logistics of moving around as a group of nearly 80 has grown a bit tiresome.

We walked through a historical area with a local tour guide. The centerpiece of the walk was the beautiful Notre Dame Basilica. It was very crowded, but it's beauty still shone through.

















We walked across the Place d'Armes (same as in Quebec, it means a former military parade ground) and got a quick tour through the historic Bank of Montreal building.





Then we walked to meet our now-returned buses. We drove through Chinatown, past the thriving McGill University, and then up to Mount Royal (or Mont Real, the source of the city's name). In the spirit of transportation glitches, we got caught in a construction-caused traffic jam that slowed our progress noticeably. Eventually, we made it to the top of the hill, but were only allowed to jump off for a quick photo. (Our other bus didn't even get to do that. They simply drove right on through the park.)





We all met up again at Montreal Brisket for some of the famed Montreal smoked meat. The sandwiches were very moist and tasty and came with a local beer, Griffon Red.

Next up was a visit to the Olympic Stadium. This didn't sound very interesting to me, but turned out to be pretty fun. The odd-looking stadium has a leaning tower, on the face of which is a large funicular. Turned out we were going to be riding up to the top, where we were able to walk around to see the views in all directions. Not being a person fond of heights, I initially wondered if I should wait this one out. But it looked kind of fun, so up we all went. I loved the view on the ride up and down, and enjoyed seeing the views of the city and river.











The afternoon stop we had to forgo was a visit to the botanical gardens, which are supposed to be pretty special. However, our buses drove right past the gardens and delivered us to our hotel. A number of people were pretty disappointed, but most of us were flagging and ready to get checked in.

After all, we had only 45 minutes to get to our room before we had to meet again to board those relentless buses. Off we were whisked to our final group dinner in the old port section of the city.

By the time we returned to our hotel, it had been a very long day. Since we had initially planned to disembark around 8am, most of us had started the day pretty early. Outside our hotel was a big festival celebrating the kickoff of the hockey season (could there be anything more quintessentially Canadian?), but we were dragging. Instead, we made our final farewells and hugs with new-made friends, found the business center so we could check in for our flights and print boarding passes, then headed to bed. Who had the time or energy to get sentimental about a trip coming to an end?







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Unique and Wonderful Quebec City

Sunday, September 29

We were all eagerly anticipating our arrival in Quebec City. We had been sailing for 390 nautical miles and just short of 2 days and were ready to be on land--not to mention the draw of the city itself.

It is such a unique spot. My reaction to it, when we visited back in 1997, was that it could be nowhere else in the world. In some ways, it's wonderfully Old World and European, with its cobblestones, city walls, and everyone around you speaking rapid-fire French. But then there's the deeply entrenched history of North America at its heart as well. Quebec is, in fact, one of the oldest cities in North America and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's an intoxicating combination.

We awoke to some pretty views as we sailed along Ile d'Orleans, just a half hour outside Quebec City.








There were many of us on the bow of our ship to watch the approach to the city. It's a strikingly pretty setting, with the hill crowned by the Chateau Frontenac.




There were three large cruise ships in port--the Veendam (yet again), the Silverseas Silver Whisper, and the Celebrity Summit. Two of these are really big ships, so the city was going to be hopping.

Several of us were beginning to wonder where we were going to dock. We ended up turning into an opening in the sea wall behind the Silver Whisper. We entered a small inner dock area. Rather than simply parallel parking along the dock, we proceeded to completely rotate (with very few inches to spare) and come alongside, facing back out onto the river. Two river pilots had come aboard our ship about dinner time the night before, but a special harbor pilot had boarded a couple hours before this delicate maneuver.








Because we had previously spent several days in Quebec City, we decided to forgo the cruise-offered tour and simply walk and enjoy the city on our own. Since we had arrived a couple hours earlier than anticipated, we had a full 6 hours for our explorations. Yahoo!

There is an upper village--Haute Ville--near the Chateau Frontenac and most of the historic sites. There is also a lower village--Basse Ville--close to the riverfront, at the foot of Cap-Diamant. We started out by climbing up the hill, stopping at Parc Montmorency, with its ramparts and cannons (some of which were amusingly aimed at the cruise ships below).







Then as we climbed a bit further up, we were passing the Anglican cathedral just as the nice, ordered bells for 10 o'clock chimed. We love hearing church bells, so we stopped to listen. When the bells stopped, we started to move on. But then the bells started chiming very differently--more freely and melodically. After about 10 minutes more of this joyous chiming, we decided we were going to have keep moving. Those fabulous bells rang for a full hour. We were certainly in the right place at the right time.





We stopped in at the Place d'Armes, the center of activity in the Haute Ville. Even though it was a Sunday morning, things were already busy. Tour buses were starting to arrive, and the horse-drawn carriages were doing a brisk business. We walked to the Latin Quarter, the oldest residential area of the city, and along the old fortified walls and gates of St. Jean and St. Louis. We climbed up a hill then sauntered our way back to the Place d'Armes. Things had gotten a lot crazier. There were jams of tour buses and double decker buses, and walking tour groups all over the place.














We headed out to the Terrasse Dufferin, with its sweeping views to the river and the lower town.











We made our way down the windy road toward Basse Ville. We should have visited it on our way up, because by midafternoon, it was a sea of people. You could barely look right or left, just keep moving in the flow. Not only were there all the many thousands of cruise ship tourists, but also many bus tours. And, being a beautiful 75 degree fall day, every Quebecer (or Québécois in French) was out and about too.








We moved with the crowds on rue du Petit-Champlain and visited the Place Royale with its Notre Dame.





Finally, it was time to board our ship and get ready for the last leg of our journey--225 miles to Montreal. We had some folks seeing us off. It's kind of a funny (though not bad) feeling, being someone's Sunday afternoon entertainment.





A bientot (until later) Quebec!

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A Day Of Cruising

Saturday, Sept. 28

We left Gaspe at around 1pm Friday, and we won't dock again until Quebec City sometime Sunday morning--about 44 hours straight. Because of our storm-slowed progress, we are having to skip our planned stop today in the Saguenay Fjord. A disappointment for sure, but the captain is hoping we'll make the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence Rivers with enough time to watch out for any wildlife that might be hanging out at the mouth of the fjord.

The captain was offering visits to the bridge today. We were able to get one of the tours. Luck was with us, in that there was a big gap between our scheduled time and the next group. So, instead of the expected 20-minute visit, we got to stay there and ask questions for over 30 minutes. We got to meet Rachel, the second mate, who is our navigator. We were allowing a large freighter to pass us, and we got to hear about the communication between Rachel and the freighter to negotiate that passing. We learned some of the "rules of the road" on such maneuvers. It was a fun and informative thing to do, and we're glad we had the opportunity.





We had seen this guy far behind us at one point, but now he was passing us.




The St. Lawrence is a huge river. We could see land on both sides, but just as dim outlines on the horizon. Even after sailing for over 24 hours, the river was still 28 miles wide. Closer to the Saguenay, it is more like 18 miles.

When we got nearer the Saguenay area, there was an announcement that whales could be seen some distance ahead, on the port side. We bundled up and headed for the bow. There were whale spouts to the port side, ahead of us, and to starboard. Frequently, there would be two to four spouts at a time in one area, then suddenly we were having to watch another area. Jerry was watching with the binoculars, but it was very cold and the wind was very strong. He didn't stay long. He was nursing a bit of a cold, and this bow time probably wasn't going to further his cause. Most other people only stayed 5-10 minutes. But, if this was to be our hoped for wildlife experience, I wasn't leaving 'til I had to. Pictures were hard to get, but it was just wonderful to know we were surrounded by whales. There were only a few of us outside, but we were a (cold) happy lot. We stayed until the sun set and the sightings diminished. My hands were little blocks of ice. My it was brisk out there. Hard to imagine tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's.








We'll all be glad to set our feet on land tomorrow. Since it will be our last night on board, we will be mixing sightseeing and packing up duties. Never the fun part of a trip. However, our reward at the end of journey is getting to visit the wonderful Quebec City and Montreal.

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A Makeup Day

Friday, Sept. 27

We got a real makeup day. And an exquisite one at that.

After a calm, peaceful night, docked near the town of Gaspe, we awoke to the most beautiful, crystal-clear fall day imaginable.





We left just after 7:30am to drive over an hour to the town of Perce. The whole drive was noted as a scenic drive on our map. And it was certainly that. Beautiful views of the bays and salt marshes and headlands of the Gaspe Peninsula. We boarded an excursion boat and went out to the dramatic Perce Rock, one of the largest natural arches in the world.







Though it was a bumpy ride, we were so inured to the fickle waves that it simply registered as a very fun ride. (I, however, got too cocky and tried to walk to the rear deck to get a better view and darn near landed flat out on some people. Inured is one thing, but capable of conquering is another.)

Then we circled Ile Bonaventure, which "houses" one of the largest colonies of Northern Gannets in the world. Very impressive. Lots of seals and cormorants too. The gannets are handsome birds and are pretty in flight. We really enjoyed seeing them.

I had not chosen to bring my larger camera, so the rolling movement of the boat made getting clear shots a bit more challenging. Pocket-size cameras have their place, but my choice might not have been the right one. The down side of the SLR, of course, is that I would have needed to change lenses at least several times, as we moved from beautiful wide-angle views of the rocks or shore to wanting to zoom in on the wildlife. My little camera zooms quite handily, and in fact much more than my SLR, but it's very hard to hold it steady. On a bouncy boat, I definitely found it to be tricky. So I ended up in one of those situations where you take a lot of shots and hope some of them work; and the rest of the time you try to soak up the magnificence of what you're seeing. There's always a balance.

















It was an amazing thing to see and such a beautiful day on which to experience it. We felt incredibly blessed. We had a pure and blissful day of sightseeing in a strikingly beautiful spot. It's hard to imagine that anything else on this trip could top our Gaspe experience. (Heaven knows our group had earned this lovely offset to the previous days of storms and seasickness!)

We drove back to the ship, which quickly departed. The captain wanted us to be able to see views of the Gaspe Peninsula and Cap Gaspe, as well as our entry to the mighty St. Lawrence River during daylight. Many of us congregated on the aft deck and watched the sights. We were treated to fall color (unusually early due to an unexpected cold snap a couple weeks ago), sailboats, deep blue seas, and quite a few whales. Lots of spouts and backs visible. The sun was warm and the breezes mild, which made it quite glorious.










Cap Gaspe, in a national park area, which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (who knew?).




What a day! It truly doesn't get any better than this. This was exactly what we hoped the trip would be.


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A Challenging Day

Thursday, Sept. 26

We had a very rough evening Wednesday. Then we had a very rough night. And that was followed by a very rough Thursday. The ship started listing badly in late afternoon Wednesday--the explanation was starboard winds and shifting liquids in the hold. Pretty soon the swells were significant enough I forgot to worry about the listing. By dinner time, crew was stationed all over the place to offer help to get us wherever we were going. It kept getting rougher and rougher, and the ship was riding the swells and hitting the surface pretty hard (and much too frequently). At the end of the evening, those of us who had to enter our cabins from an exterior passageway (that would include us) were accompanied to our rooms.

It was hard to go to sleep, and we woke up repeatedly during the night. In the morning, rather than going straight to breakfast on the lowest level, most folks congregated in the lounge, on the second level, to share their stories. Our cruise director made an announcement to let us know that the high winds and high swells had effectively cut our travel speed in half. We were told that we were now expected to dock at 11pm, eliminating our scenic drive on the Gaspe and our bird watching excursion around Ile Bonaventure. The plan now is to dock for the night near the town of Gaspe and see what we might be able to do early Friday to recapture some of this lost day. This will be our first and only night with the boat at rest--something that is sounding mighty good to a lot of people. There were, however, a lot of groans over the notion that we had yet another 12 hours of the big swells and rocking and rolling to endure. A number of people chose to simply go back to bed, hoping to sleep through it.

And it was indeed impressive, should one be in the mood to admire nature's power. The seas were breaking over our (second level) bow, completely washing over the windows of the lounge. The effect was even more "exciting" in the lower level dining room. We were looking up at the swells, and at times our windows were covered in water.

Jerry has had no problems with any of this. Apparently, he's a born sailor. Between my SeaBands and my Dramamine, I'm not suffering seasickness. My nerves, however, are another story. There's really nothing one can do about it, but who wants to spend multiple days of their trip doing little but hanging on and wishing for some signs of improvement? We couldn't even see the shore, so there wasn't anything much to compensate for the unpleasantness.

My attitude is holding pretty steady; Jerry's too. We're disappointed for sure, but there really aren't many options. I have tried to simply get into the rhythm of the swells. But you can't get outside, and moving around is tricky and not taken lightly. These conditions have definitely dampened everyone's spirits. We lost an entire day of our trip. The whole thing is unpleasant at best. We still may be able to do our Gaspe excursion, but we've been told we will have to forgo our trip up the Saguenay Fjord, which is/was to be our big wildlife foray.

To offer compensation, the cruise line has told us there will be an open bar for the rest of the cruise. I suspect there will be a number of people taking full advantage of that.

By 6pm, the swells finally reduced. It was still rocky, and we all looked like drunken sailors (though that may be for more than one reason now!), but comparatively it was way, way better.

Land ahoy! We've reached the Gaspe. The seas have calmed; the sun has come out.












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Prince Edward Island (or PEI)

Wednesday, Sept 26

Because two large cruise ships were in port in Charlottetown, our cruise had opted to dock in Summerside. Being a small ship, we had no priority and would have to be at anchor if we went to the planned Charlottetown. So Summerside it was. It looked anything but summery. It was very cool and raining.

We were greeted by a bagpiper, underscoring the strong link to Scotland here. We were told 45% of the populace is of Scottish descent--and it shows.







We drove a half hour or so to the Anne of Green Gables site. With all the cruise ships providing lots of tourists, business was booming. The rain was coming down pretty briskly when we arrived, and we were a soggy group. Having recently watched the 1934 movie, it was fun to see the house. All the rooms are set up and furnished as described in the books.








We next stopped at one of the coastal segments of the Prince Edward Island National Park, which all in all has 26 miles of protected coastline. The rocks and soil and sand on this island are a rusty red. Quite striking. Very pretty coastline.





Then we visited North Rustico, a tiny fishing habitation, to see a representative fishing town.








Then we went to the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company for--you won't believe it--another lobster meal. We're becoming naturals at dismembering and consuming these hapless lobsters. (My apologies to our vegetarian friends.) At our previous two lobster bakes, we were served mussels. How ironic that, on this island famed for its PEI mussels, we were not served any. But the lobster may have been the best we've had.

Back to the ship we went and headed out on our 200 nautical mile journey to Gaspe. The fact that this tour is one of the few to stop on the Gaspe is one of the principal reasons we wanted to come on this trip.

Saying goodbye to PEI.




We were initially assured our sailing weather wasn't expected to worsen, but we soon ran into very rough seas. We sailed around 3:30pm and weren't expected to reach our destination on the other side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence until 2pm Thursday. We were to gain back an hour during the night as we moved from the Atlantic time zone back into the Eastern time zone, which means this passage was to be 24 hours long. We all were hoping the seas would calm before that time was fully elapsed. I kept thinking of the saying, "What we survive makes us stronger." While that may be, it doesn't make the surviving part much fun.

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