Canadian Capitals 2000

Monday

On August 21st, 2000 we set out for a tour of Canadian Capitals. We selected Tauck
Tours, because of their reputation for a hassle-free experience, with
deluxe accommodations and no restrictions on dining choices. Departing
from Orlando around noon, we traveled through
Cincinnati, and arrived in Montreal — unfortunately — during rush
hour. The trip, almost due north, took only a little over four hours; but
the cab ride from the airport took another hour.

Monday
was really the day before the tour officially started. We wanted time to
relax at the hotel. The Hilton Bonaventure in Montreal is an interesting
place. The building is seventeen stories tall, but the hotel occupies only
the top two floors. It is built facing the interior to eliminate street
noise. Most of the rooms surround the swimming pool and garden area in the
middle.

On Monday night we had a lovely dinner at the Castillon
restaurant, where Danielle experienced the first of many multi-course
French meals on this trip. She decided that the cheese course was probably
her best bet at most of these French restaurants.

Tuesday

We
had most of the day free on Tuesday. After a short walk around the city
near our hotel we had lunch at a deli in the underground city of Montreal.
We thought about going to the planetarium, but it wasn’t open yet, so we
wandered up to the visitor center, where I discovered that the Cuban
cigars in the shop across the street were priced for tourists. $45 for
Cohibas?! Admittedly that translates into about $30 US, but still…

We browsed
brochures for a while, but nothing really captured our interest. I’d spent
a month in Montreal one week in the early 90s, and I got the same feeling
this time — that there’s no “there” there.

In the end,
Linda took a nap, I smoked a delightful cigar called a Vegueros, and Danielle spent nearly four hours in the hotel swimming pool, where
she made friends with a girl from the United States named Michelle.

At
6:00 we met with our tour group for a wine reception. Our tour director, Julia
Stewart (“spelled the right way”, she says) is excellent: friendly,
organized, knowledgeable, and helpful. She was able to learn everyone’s’
names almost before she’d met them! Her stories of her experiences make
the tour much more personal and memorable. Julia is from Nova Scotia
originally, but now lives in Vancouver. This is her second year as a Tauck
tour director.

Danielle
was a bit disappointed to discover that there was no one else her age on
the tour; we later found out that she was the youngest guests our tour
director had ever had! Nevertheless, she gets along well with older
people, and is doing a great job of being a mature traveling companion.

The
average age of our fellow travelers is well into retirement, but that’s
not surprising, since school has started almost everywhere. They’re a very
nice group, and have proven to be friendly and punctual.

After
the wine reception we had a delightful dinner at the Castillon restaurant
with a couple from North Carolina, Dick and June. We talked about Harry
Potter and many other books, travel, and our hometowns.

Wednesday

After a nice breakfast in the hotel coffee shop, we met our group for a
tour of Montreal. Our motor coach is amazingly quiet. Even climbing a
steep hill, there is virtually no engine noise or vibration. Andre, our
driver, is from Montreal. Whenever we get on or off the coach, he stands
nearby in his coat and tie ready to help.

A
local guide name Lis showed us around town, including the 1967 World Expo
site and the Olympic Village.

In
the old part of the city we visited the Cathedral of
Notre Dame. Although I’m not much into cathedrals, it was very beautiful,
with elaborate woodwork and unusual stained glass windows depicting the
local history. Danielle lit a candle for GinGin, her step grandma.

Behind the cathedral is a chapel which was
burned and reconstructed in the 1960s. Its architecture is jarringly
modern, but the bronze sculpture at the front is impressive. The
largest in the world, it was made in England and transported to Montreal
by ship in thirty-two sections.

Up
on Mont Royal (for which the city is named) the view was nearly obscured in fog —
which later turned to rain. Fortunately, Montreal is not a particularly
scenic city, so we didn’t feel like we’d missed much.

After a quick stop
back at the hotel, we crossed the bridge to the Isle Sainte-Helene for
the Festin du Guviniers,
in The Old Fort. Lunch
included singing and piano music. Like many of the old forts in the area,
it was constructed after the war of 1812 in case the United States ever
again invaded Canada.

In the
afternoon Danielle went ice-skating in the high-rise building next to our
hotel. Then, for dinner, we wandered down into the underground city
beneath Montreal and had an eclectic meal at a fresh food buffet
restaurant called Movenpick.

Thursday

Thursday
was a day for traveling. Our bags were picked up from our room at 7:45, and
we were on the road by 8:45, headed from Montreal to Quebec. We stopped
for lunch at Montmorency Falls, where we dined on a terrace at the Manoir
Montmorency, overlooking
the falls. The manor was originally built by Edward, Duke of Kent during
the 1800’s. Edward was the son of George, and inherited his father’s
fascination with clocks, but fortunately not his manic depression. A military
genius, he led an unhappy life, and was eventually forced to separate from
the mistress he loved and return to England, where he married. He was the
father of Queen Victoria.

After lunch we took the cable car to the base of the falls and
back. The falls are higher than Niagara Falls, but don’t carry nearly the
volume of water. We walked along a boardwalk that clung to the mountain, eventually
venturing out over the falls on a suspension bridge. It was very noisy.

After
lunch we drove past Quebec City and on to the basilica of Ste. Anne-de-Beaupre,
a relatively uninteresting church, the current version of which was
completed in the 1920’s. The columns at the back of the congregation are
decorated with sculptures made from crutches and various orthopedic
devices, presumably to symbolize all of the people who have been healed
there. I’m not sure what the artificial limbs symbolize, but it must
have been impressive! I suspect this stop is on the tour merely to kill
time until the hotel rooms are ready.

On
the way back to Quebec City we stopped at a place that served maple butter
on fresh bread. That was delicious!

Due
to road construction we were somewhat late to arrive at the Chateau
Frontenac. We’d already made a 6:00 PM dinner reservation, and were dismayed
to discover the lobby filled with hundreds of Japanese tourists, all
attempting to cram themselves into three small elevators. It looked like a
Tokyo subway.

The
Chateau Frontenac is the most famous hotel in Quebec — and perhaps Canada.
It is easily identifiable, because of its steeply sloped green copper
roof. Built in 1893, (although the section we were in was added in the
1920s), other sections have been added as recently as 1993. Our room was
spacious, with modern bathroom facilities, and had obviously been
completely refurbished quite recently. The Chateau Frontenac is now part
of the Fairmont organization.

In
spite of the late arrival, baggage delivery to our room was prompt, and we
made it to dinner relatively on time, and had a lovely five-course meal.
We were delighted to be able to select any items on the menu, all included
in the tour. The waiter even flambéed Danielle’s steak at the table,
although in the flame height competition his flames were about a foot
shorter than at the Castillon. The other highlight of the meal was that the
waiter asked Danielle if she cared for some of our wine. Although not
strictly legal here, if the parents ask, it’s accepted. We had a 1995 Corton
Charlemagne, by the way. It was only moderately expensive — until they
added all of the taxes!

Friday

Friday
began with breakfast at Cafe Terrasse, where the croissants and pain au
chocolate rivaled those of Paris. Then we went on a two-hour tour of
Quebec City. Our guide, Eric — (Quebec law requires a local guide in the city)
— took us down to the old city, where it seemed that almost every
shopkeeper and restaurant owner was one of his relatives. Since he’s a
tenth generation resident of Quebec, I suppose that’s not surprising.

We had lunch at Le Continental, a four star restaurant, reputed to be the
best in town. Once again Danielle was able to taste the wine, a 1998 Clos
du Val Chardonnay (“Le Clos”).

At Danielle’s insistence, we had a lovely
carriage ride around town. Our horse was named Roadster. Compared to the
summer weather in Orlando, the 70 degree breeze here was heaven.

Saturday

Saturday was another day of
travel. After breakfast at Cafe Terasse we headed out of Quebec City — to
the regret of all. We wished we could stay longer to more fully explore this
charming place.

Heading along the St. Lawrence River, we stopped for an elaborate
buffet lunch — featuring several dozen salads, among other things — at Chateau
Vaudreil, a new hotel built on the banks of the river.

After lunch we followed a winding road past many lovely homes on the
Ottawa River, crossing into Ontario and arriving in Ottawa at 5:00 PM.

We learned that Ontario means “sparkling water”; Canada means
“collection of huts”; and Ottawa means “floppy ears”(!)
— an Iroquois reference to the dangling earrings of the Heuron tribe.

Ottawa is a charming city of parkland and beautiful buildings
surrounding the river and the Rideau Canal. The canal runs 120 miles,
paralleling the Rideau River. Rideau is french for curtain, so-named
because of the way the Rideau River falls into the Ottawa.

Our room at the Westin
overlooked the canal and the parliament building, with a view to both
north and south. It is one of the nicest hotel rooms that we’ve ever had.

Saturday evening we had a fairly awful meal at the Elephant and Castle,
an English pub near the hotel. The culinary contrast between the French
and English parts of the country is self-evident!

Sunday

Sunday we had breakfast at Daly’s in the hotel and set out for a tour
of Ottawa. Now that we are out of Quebec, Julia guided the city tour
herself.

First stop was the Canadian Parliament building. It’s a beautiful
structure, filled with elaborate carving, woodwork and stained glass. The
House of Commons is like a smaller version of the one in London.

Behind the building is the older Library of Parliament, which survived
the fire that destroyed the earlier Parliament building — due to someone’s
closing the steel door that separates the two.

On the south side of the building is the Senate chamber. Unlike the
U.S., Canadian senators are appointed until age 75. Perhaps because of
this, they don’t seem to have any significant role in the government.

After Parliament, we hurried off to Rideau Hall, a park across the
street from the home of the prime minister, to view the trouping of the
colors. Adrian, one of our co-travelers, is from London. On the way, he
gave us a detailed history of the British army, and described the
significance of the colors, the elaborate flags given to each company. The
flags are actually blessed, and presented by one of the royal family. Even
when they are worn out, they are never destroyed, but are stored away in a
chest.

The colors, of course, were used as primitive semaphores during
battle, since the drums and bugles could not always be heard.

We watched as the red-coated troops marched about the field. The band —
which included bagpipes in addition to the full array of usual instruments —
was quite impressive. They played for about a half hour.

The final stop on the tour was the Musee de Civilization, an enormous
structure on the Hull side of the river. The others on the tour were most
impressed by the exhibits, but we’ll have to take their word for it — we
never made it out of the children’s museum! It’s the best I’ve seen, with
dozens of fascinating experiences that captivated the imagination of the
many children packed into the place. In our brief hour, Danielle drove a
Pakistani bus, explored a pyramid, unloaded crates from a freighter using
a crane, tried on snow shoes, and visited a dozen countries.

On the way back to the hotel the bus dropped us off a few blocks away
at the ByWard open-air market, where we had lunch at a sidewalk cafe.

After a break for journal writing and relaxation, we
headed out to the Rideau Canal for a boat ride. The guide on Paul’s Boat
Cruises (since the 1920’s, the sign says) was named Frank. A student of
French Literature at Ottawa University, Frank was quite a comedian.

We
learned that the Rideau Canal was constructed by Irish and French workers
in just six years in the 1820s. It was built in preparation for a sequel
to the War of 1812, which never came. The eight-kilometer portion we
toured was created from sections of swamp, bedrock, and a farmer’s
fields. Four hundred of the workers died in the swamps alone, from what
was later called malaria.

This section and one other that is ten kilometers long are the only manmade
portions of the canal. The rest of the 200 kilometers is comprised of
natural bodies of water.

Traveling along the moss-laden waterway, it was hard to imagine it in
winter, when they drain all eight kilometers by opening the locks that
feed the Ottawa River, Then it becomes the world’s longest supervised ice
rink.

We had dinner back at the hotel, at Daly’s, then packed for the trip to
Toronto tomorrow.

Monday

After breakfast at Daly’s, we headed south for Toronto.

It was mostly a day of riding on the bus, but we stopped at Gananoque
for a one-hour cruise of the Thousand Islands. If you think Thousand
Islands is an exaggeration, so did we —  but there are actually 1865
of them! (To be an official island, it has to have at least two trees and
six square feet of ground cover!)

The area is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen, rivaling Yosemite,
Vancouver, et al. The narration was recorded, and perhaps a bit out of
date, but you could have bought a six acre private island with cottage and
dock for the astronomical price of $100,000 in 1982. I want one!

Seriously, though, it would be a great place to spend the summer,
swimming and boating off of a tiny rocky island, commuting to Ganonoque
across the channel. Winter, on the other hand, sounds a bit harsh. Some
residents snowmobile across the frozen river to get to town!

We could see the US side of the river from the boat. The
international boundary was drawn after the War of 1812, and splits the
islands between the US and Canada. No islands straddle the line, although
it runs between a pair that are connected by a short bridge — making it the shortest
international bridge in the world.

The lunch on the boat was pretty grim, so I stuck with the salad, which
was quite tasty and served with — you guessed it — 1000 island dressing.

Mid-afternoon we stopped at a roadside oasis called the Big Apple,
which was actually a lot of fun, The bake their own pies, have a large
gift shop and restaurant, and the obligatory restrooms. But the real
attraction was out back, where you can feed the sheep, rabbits, ducks and
llama. The rabbits wander free through the woods, and Danielle had a great
time photographing them. It was a well-timed visit, since our current
nighttime reading is “Watership Down”.

Julia passed around a clipboard so that we all could contribute to a
group poem. Linda’s contribution was:

We greatly enjoyed the tour and eating,
But soon Tauck’s buses will need wider seating!

Danielle wrote:

I had fun although I’m only nine
I even got to taste some wine.

I didn’t get a chance to do one, but it would have been:

Hilton beds are pretty rotten,
But Westin’s are the best we’ve gotten;
Still in all, for what’s around it,
Frontenac’s tops, I’m glad we found it!

We arrived at the Toronto Hilton at 5:00 PM. The building has just been
completely remodeled into what can only be described as Parking Garage
Moderne. The concrete lobby has all the charm of a cement plant. And the
trendy Tundra restaurant offers fine dining in an environment slightly
more austere than your average stainless steel box. The food was
elaborately presented and mostly top notch, but the designer of the place
really should be shot. We had a good time playing with the rocks(!) that
held down the napkins, designing hypothetical weighing puzzles for each
other. Example: You have four rocks, three of which weigh the same. How
many weighings does it take to find the different one?

Julia went to special efforts to get Danielle accommodations on a high
floor, so we have an expansive view of the city. But the best thing about
the room isn’t that. It’s not even the trendy easy chair that has only one
arm(?!). It’s the Internet connection. Plug your laptop’s 100Base-T jack
into the cord, launch your browser, and you’re immediately connected to
the Hilton’s welcome page. Log in for $9.95 a day, and you’re on the
Internet at T-1 speeds. No set up, it just works — I have no idea how.

I’d never actually used the Internet at these speeds; it’s a whole
different experience. Ironically, our web and mail server was down (which
never happens) when I first connected , but after dinner it came up and I
transferred all of the pictures from this trip in under two minutes. Whew!

Tuesday

Toronto is a city of glass and steel, the antithesis of Quebec. The
homes of 4 million people sprawl around a block of towering buildings at
the edge of Lake Ontario, smallest of the Great Lakes.

Other than the big buildings, there’s not much character to the city. A
local guide showed us around for a couple of hours, walked us
through city hall, and then dropped us off for a self-guided tour of Casa
Loma.

Casa Loma is a castle-like house built by Sir Henry Mill Pellatt in
1911. More precisely, it was built by about 300 laborers. It cost the
equivalent of about $40 Million. Sir Henry and his wife lived in it for
less than ten years before he discovered that it wasn’t nearly so
profitable to own an electric utility company once it wasn’t a monopoly.
The furnishings and house were auctioned to pay his debts.

One of the more interesting things we found in the city were some 600
moose statues. Sponsored by corporations at $6000 each, the
moose are clever and often comical. The fiberglass creations have mostly
lost their antlers to souvenir hunters or pranksters, but they’re still
cute. They will be auctioned in the fall.

For lunch we went to the 1800-foot-tall CN Tower, the world’s largest
free-standing structure. The Restaurant 360 makes a complete turn every 72
minutes, affording a terrific view of downtown and the Lake Ontario
waterfront. After lunch we walked across the glass floor, which gives you
a rather queasy feeling, since it’s 1100 feet straight down!

One the way back to the hotel we passed the theater where we saw The
Lion King later in the evening. What a show it was, with fabulous costumes
and lighting, and all the great songs from the movie plus many new ones.
Several of the performers were quite good, including the ten-year-old boy
who played young Simba, and the woman who played Nala — she was truly of
Broadway caliber.

Wednesday

After my solo breakfast in the aptly-named Tundra (Danielle opted for room
service) we boarded the bus for the ninety-minute drive to Niagara Falls.
I had always pictured the falls in the middle of a national park setting,
but in reality they’re surrounded by something across between Coney Island
and Las Vegas. Still, even the miniature golf courses and haunted houses
can’t overwhelm the beauty and massive size of the falls. The Maid of the
Mist boats get right up into the spray of the horseshoe-shaped Canadian
side. The boats are named after an Indian legend about a maiden who was
sacrificed by sending her over the falls in a canoe. Her spirit is said to
live in the mist behind the falling water.

Speaking of people going over the falls, the first one known to survive was
a schoolteacher who went over in a barrel about one hundred years ago. She
was 63! More impressive is the boy who, about ten years ago, accidentally
went over the falls in swimming trunks and life preserver and survived. He
was pulled out of the water by the crew of one of the boats.

It’s a good thing they hand out ponchos, because the water really comes
down when you’re up in the thick of it. The flow is fairly turbulent, and
the boat rocks as if it’s shooting the rapids.

We stopped for lunch at The Queen’s Landing, a new and very nice hotel
in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It’s a charming town, and we wished we had time to
explore it, and to visit some of the many wineries in the area. But too soon
were headed back to Toronto, for our farewell dinner and packing for
our early flight tomorrow — and a 4:00 AM wake-up call!

It’s been a great trip. Now we have the excitement of getting back so
that Danielle can see her new school.

As we fly home, we’ll also be remembering the sights (especially
Quebec), and thinking about our tour director, Julia, who starts it all over
again tomorrow afternoon…

1. Fly to Montreal
Tour begins: Bonaventure Hilton Hotel at 6:30 PM. Discover the many
charms of the delightfully French city of Montreal; the day is at leisure upon
your arrival. This evening you are invited to a 6:30 PM reception and dinner to
meet your Tour Director and fellow travelers.
Meals D

2. Sightseeing Montreal
With its dual English and French cultures, Montreal is one of Canada’s most
unique cities. This morning enjoy a sightseeing tour including St. Joseph’s
Oratory, McGill University and Mt. Royal, plus a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral.
After lunch the afternoon is free to spend as you wish. Visit the fashionable
shops of Place Ville Marie, Place Bonaventure, St. Catherine and Sherbrooke
Streets, or explore on your own. Montreal is delightful, with many things to do
at any time of the year.
Meals BL

3. Montmorency Falls / Quebec
Leave Montreal and head east through the heart of French Canada. Follow the
shores of the mighty St. Lawrence River through Trois Rivières to magnificent
Montmorency Falls, higher than Niagara Falls! Enjoy lunch beside the falls, then
journey to Quebec City for two nights at the Château Frontenac. Sprawled atop
sheer cliffs rising above the narrowing St. Lawrence River, Quebec reflects an
old-world charm and grace of another era. Highlights include the Plains of
Abraham, the provincial Parliament buildings, Porte St-Louis and the narrow,
cobbled streets lined with boutiques and cafes.
Meals BLD

4. Quebec City
This morning take a sightseeing tour of Old Quebec, capital of the province, the
only walled city north of Mexico. Grayed by the brush of time, ancient stone
houses huddle beside venerable churches and historic monuments. You may wish to
stroll on Dufferin Terrace, watch the unending line of ships from around the
world, or visit the small boutiques of the Old City. For those who wish,
continue on to the Beaupré coast and visit the shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupré
and its famous basilica. Return midday to Quebec City; the remainder of the day
is at leisure to enjoy this beautiful city.
Meals B

5. Vaudreuil / Ottawa
Travel west, past Montreal, along the route of early French explorers and fur
traders. After lunch continue to Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, perched on the
banks of the Ottawa River. As the center of Canadian government, it is renowned
for beautiful flower gardens, tree-lined streets, numerous parks and noble
buildings. The city was chosen as the capital of Canada by Queen Victoria in
1857; at the time it was a somewhat rustic outpost on the edge of the Canadian
frontier. View the training center of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police before
arriving in the heart of the city for a relaxing two-night stay.
Meals BLD

6. Canada’s Capital — Ottawa
Ottawa captivates the visitor with the charm of its magnificent boulevards,
exquisite gardens and regal architecture. This morning’s sightseeing includes
views of the Royal Canadian Mint, National Research Center, City Hall, the
residence of the prime minister and Rideau Hall, the governor-general’s home;
you also have an opportunity to visit Parliament. In July and August see the
“Changing of the Guard” (weather permitting). Enjoy the remainder of
the day at your leisure.
Meals B

7. 1000 Islands / St. Lawrence
Head south to the St. Lawrence River for a luncheon cruise among the lovely
Thousand Islands. Some of the islands are lushly forested while others support
only a few pines perched precariously over the blue water. Continue to Kingston,
where the great river opens on to Lake Ontario. Travel the MacDonald-Cartier
Freeway to Toronto, Ontario’s largest city, for the next three nights.
Meals BLD

8. Toronto / Lake Ontario
Today enjoy a sightseeing tour of Toronto to see the downtown and residential
areas as well as the Royal Ontario Museum, Parliament Buildings and the
University of Toronto. Visit magnificent Casa Loma mansion, the opulent legacy
of Canadian Industrialist Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. The afternoon is at your
leisure to visit the museums and waterfront shops, or perhaps take a boat
excursion on Lake Ontario. Join us for a special evening attending a theatrical
performance of the magical Tony Award-winning musical, The Lion King.
Meals B

9. Niagara Falls
Travel along the Queen Elizabeth Way to Niagara Falls. In addition to viewing
the thundering falls from high above, you will descend to the churning waters of
the Niagara River and take the famous Maid of the Mist boat to view the
falls from below. It’s a breathtaking experience! Travel along Niagara Gorge to
view the world-famous Floral Clock, giant hydroelectric plants, Niagara Parks
School of Horticulture, and the Whirlpool Rapids. Visit the charming village of
Niagara-on-the-Lake for lunch with time to browse through the shops. Return to
Toronto for a farewell reception and dinner.
Meals BLD

10. Journey Home
Tour Ends: Toronto. Fly home anytime. A transfer is provided to the
airport.
Meals B