Nobody 697

Sunday, May 27, 2007
Nobody # 697

Nobody Asked Me But:

“In the cool, cool, cool of the evenin',
tell 'em I'll be there.
In the cool, cool, cool of the evenin',
better save a chair.” Hoagy Carmichael.

Here are the cools and a few not so cools on our trip to Eastern Canada. I have organized them into six parts.

OTTAWA

WAY BEYOND COOL =

Seeing the city with Tom. He was as excited and happy to be sharing his home base for the past two years, as we were to be there.

The city. It was much different then we had expected. In “tourist speak” one hears little about it as a destination. Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Whistler get all the press. I have never been to Toronto, but I can vouch for all the others as great places. And so is Ottawa. The grand old buildings, including a beautiful Parliament, the river, the green spaces, the museums, the small town feel within a much larger city make it an excellent destination. The pictures that Tom has sent us during his stay there were only a hint of its specialness.

OTHER OTTAWA WAY BEYOND COOLS =

Being there for the annual tulip festival. It was at three sites and all were beautiful but the one by Dow’s Lake was extra special. A rainbow of tulips in the green of a park with its blue lake background made for a stunning visual. The story behind the tulips is equally fascinating.

In 1940 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands fled to the U.K. with her only daughter, Crown Princess Juliana. To insure her safety, the Queen then sent Juliana to Canada for the duration of the war. When her daughter Margriet was born, the Canadians even ceded the hospital maternity ward to the Netherlands to insure that the new princess would be born on native soil. Juliana was so appreciative of her treatment while in Canada that she presented Canada with over 100,000 tulip bulbs setting the stage for the world’s largest tulip festival.

Our dinner at Hy’s – an old Canadian steak house chain. The steaks, served in Hy’s traditional library and leather atmosphere, were delicious, the cheeses toast still tops in its field and my house Cab better than many more pricy ones I have had elsewhere. All in all, it was a special night.

The giant spider outside the art museum (Musée des beaux-arts du Canada): As many Canadians feel, it may not be totally appropriate but it is totally stunning.

My sausage sandwich purchased from a stand at the festival and eaten on a bench in a multi-colored world.

Not so cool = my meal at Coasters, a restaurant that sounded good on the Internet. The rice was cold as were the icky scallops, and the shrimp was tough. And horror of horrors, my Canadian Cabernet tasted terrible and smelled worse. (sorry Canada, but you can’t win them all)

But, back to cools =

The view of the Ottawa River from behind Parliament.

Our drive to the small town of Wakefield with its two neat small stores and very good maple walnut ice cream.

The way the television turned on and off. I know. It doesn’t take much to thrill me. But it was cool that a blue screen parted like theater curtains as it came on and flowed back together for off.

The Musee Canadien Des Civilisations - I admit to not being an aficionado of most “First American” culture, but this was totally an exception.

Beaver tails – churro-like sweet in the shape of a (surprise) beaver’s tail and either dusted with cinnamon sugar of covered with maple butter. We had the latter. Umm, umm good.

Our first night pizza at a place close to Tom’s.

The duckboat tour of the streets and waters of Canada’s capital.

Pure, an excellent gelato shop, two blocks from Tom’s.

The ride from Chicago to Ottawa. The plane was a small jet, much like a corporation job, with wide, leather seats.

This Tallulah Bankhead quote seen in an Ottawa stationary store: “If I had my life to live over, I would make the same mistakes – only sooner!”

OTTAWA TO QUEBEC

Beyond cool = Riding the train in comfort – waiting in the first class lounge, easy on and off and a comfortable ride with very good food – especially on the Montreal-Quebec segment. The experience was not the absolute purity of our London to Edinburgh train but still lots of fun.

QUEBEC

WAY BEYOND COOL =

Our hotel (the Auberge Saint-Antoine) in the lower part of Old Quebec, close to the waterfront. We had a suite with a large terrasse overlooking the St. Lawrence. (see magazine review at end of Nobody)

The Nespresso machine in our room – the water takes 20 seconds to heat and all you do is add a 1-inch packet of your beverage choice, from espresso to mocha, to regular coffee to tea, etc. and it is instantly ready and delicious – foam and all.

Exploring outside the walls of the Old City and seeing the neat things that we missed on our other visit 14 years ago.

Watching all the Quebecois turn out for the sun. The outdoor cafes and coffee houses quickly fill up.

Discovering Tutto Gelato on one of these walking excursions along Rue St. Jean. The first time, because of a lousy experience at another gelato store, I bought one of their $1 mini-cones. Having little to lose I went for a flavor I have always avoided – pistachio. Not because I don’t like the nuts, I love them. But I have always lived my life by three rules, one of which is never to eat green ice cream. However, theirs was more of a khaki color, so I took the chance. It was superb; so good that I stopped later that afternoon at another branch for a large.

Eating breakfast outside at Le Cochon. It was cool but sunny and beautiful. The food tasted great. I had Eggs Benedict with super home fries and great toast. Barb went for the waffle with bananas, strawberries and whipped cream and hot chocolate with sugar around the rim of her glass.

Actually Barb had 2 hot chocolates. The restaurant had two types on the menu, and she thought she was getting the same as she had gotten the previous day. But she mistakenly ordered a very thick version, almost syrup, which the restaurant gladly exchanged.

The previous day – eating delicious old fashion doughnuts (their version of beignets) at Le Cochon Petit next door. Again we were outside and Barb’s BOWL of hot chocolate was a thing of beauty. (Picture at beginning)

Merely cool, and Jim learns a lesson in humility = Our first day bus tour of the city. We scoped out the new spots to which we wanted to return, and I discovered that the story I had taught my history students all those many years was probably more legend than fact. The British did not find a secret path up from the St. Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham by watching French laundry women carrying their wash down to the river.

Far from cool = Our crêpe adventure. Returning from one of our long walks we stopped at a crêperie for dinner. The Magic Pan it was not. In the words of the immortal Jim Healey, “bad food, man, bad food.”

Cool = Hearing that 08 post player, Drew Gordon, has committed to Bruin basketball.

Cool = Our taxi driver, jacket, tie and soft-spoken commentaries.

BACK TO WAY BEYOND COOL =

The heated tile on our bathroom floor.

The “barkers” at Quebec (and Montreal) restaurants who stand outside their doors trying to entice you in a low-pressure way. It worked for us. On our first night, having been well fed on the train, we were looking for a snack. The lady at Café Bistro a short walk from our hotel, offered a simple chicken soup and bread. It sounded good. It was, which led us to return two nights later for our best dinner on the trip. I had a delicious flanked steak accompanied by equally wonderful Yukon mashed potatoes and a mixture of snap peas and fiddlehead ferns. Barb’s yellow pike with the same accompaniments was almost as good. The profiteroles for dessert were not too shabby either.

Visiting J. A. Moisan, the oldest grocery store in North America. We saw so many things that we wanted but had no room to bring home.

Uncool = No Starbucks in Quebec. We checked on line and in the phone book but there were none listed.

Cool =

Finally finding a Pommes Frites stand - excellent fries, good gravy but no cheese curds. Sorry, Tom.

Buying Hatley boxers, not Harry Potter like their tee I bought in on our last trip to Victoria, but soft and very cool.

Uncool = Crowds of middle school kids at our tour bus spot waiting for a museum to open. I am sure that to know them is to love them, but they were noisy enough to remind me that I’m glad I’m not teaching any more.

Very cool =

Exploring Lower Old Quebec where our hotel was located and riding the funicular from there to Upper Old Quebec.

A day in our rental car exploring just outside Quebec City. We drove to and around Isle d ‘Orleans. We were too early in the season for most of the fruit and veggies but did find some great fresh apple cider, beautiful homes and more Pommes Frites.

After finishing our island tour we drove north, getting a bit lost, to Chez Marie, a stone homestead built in 1652, where they still bake in a 150-year old outside bread oven. We had bread and maple butter there 14 years ago and again last week.

We finished the day with a stop at Parc De Chute – Montmorency, a beautiful waterfall within sight of the city.

TRIP TO MONTREAL

WAY BEYOND COOL = Our stop at a hamburger shack, and the burger and fries that we ate on a covered picnic bench with the rain falling lightly and the St. Lawrence below us.

MONTREAL

WAY BEYOND COOL =

The doorman at the Ritz Carlton who showed so much patience as he directed two lost souls to a competing hotel.

The Cirque De Soleil – Watching them perform in their home tent along the St Lawrence was breath taking. The tent holds only about 3,000 and with 6th row seats, we felt a part of all the action. I was alternately thrilled and chilled. I would pay big bucks to have my grandchildren see this someday soon.

Discovering a new drink, a double espresso mocha and sipping one at a coffee house a block from our hotel, the Nelligan, as I finished an excellent book, Ian McEwan’s, “Atonement.”

(aside) Do you remember my describing the rental chairs that Barb and I lunched in at St. James Park in London last fall? In “Atonement” I learned that those chairs were being rented out at least as far back as the 1930s.

Once again hearing the bagpiper at Olgivies Department Store. On our first visit to the store, an uninformed clerk told us that this practice had been discontinued. Discouraged, but refusing to give up, we checked with someone else on our second visit and found that indeed the piper still strolled through the store at 12:30 each day. Since we learned this at 12:20 our timing was both perfect and a bit lucky.

Browsing in a neighborhood bookstore where the music and most of the books, including some by my favorite mystery writers, were in French.

Uncool = I did not take an English/French dictionary.

Cool = Our hotel was in an old brick building in the center of the old port part of the city. Our room was neat but noisy – street repairs begin at 7 in Montreal. We could explore this great part of Montreal that was new to us and walk to the Cirque.

Not so cool = We were a $10+ taxi ride from the main parts of the city.

More Cool =

The great multicolored rain coat that Barb found at a craft shop close to our hotel.

The Montreal airport – from security to the gate, there were never more than two people in line ahead of us.

Uncool = We found no really good food in Montreal except for the gelato and cookies close to the Nelligan.

IN GENERAL

Cool = 9 new Starbucks.

Not cool = Only 9 new Starbucks.

This, from Hugh, so that # 697 is not totally without politics:

Senator John Edwards was paid $55,000 to speak to 1,700 Cal Poly Students. The subject of the speech.............

poverty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a description of our Quebec hotel taken from a travel magazine:

Walking into the L'Auberge Saint-Antoine is like walking into a museum, only the reception is much, much warmer. The 83-room hotel, which is located in the Old Port and blessedly just off some of the city's well-tread tourist paths, opened in 1992 in three historic buildings on an archeological site that yielded some 5,000 artifacts. Four-hundred of them are on view in the hotel's common spaces and even in the rooms themselves. Each floor represents a layer of excavation, and each room identified by its own treasure. Etched aperitif glasses used by visiting diplomats in the early 1800's may be embedded in your nightstand, or a Chinese porcelain cup used in the mid-1700's neatly displayed by your room door. Appropriately, Saint Anthony is the patron saint of travelers and lost things. The hotel is owned, designed, and curated by the Price family, who first landed in Quebec two centuries ago to build a logging and paper business. The familial hands-on approach is part of the hotel's unique, intimate appeal. Airy public spaces reveal whimsical touches, and the newer rooms especially, are a successful marriage history and modern design, with sleek fireplaces, sumptuous fabrics, and bathtubs big enough for three. Rates at L'Auberge Saint-Antoine start at USD $142 (for a Classic room) midweek in mid-August. All prices include a homespun buffet breakfast in the hotel's tea salon-lounge. The feedback about L'Auberge Saint-Antoine on Tripadvisor.com, a website repository for unbiased reviews of hotels, is nothing short of glowing. One guest from Boston writes, "I loved it. It was the best hotel I ever stayed in." Even a resident of France, a country that overflows with inviting hotels, reported that it was one of the most charming places they've ever stayed.