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Published: October 8th 2008
New England in the Fall
Couldn't think of a better way to describe where I am, and when.What took you?
First of all, apologies for having taken this long: a few of you have been asking about the blog, but I needed to have a couple of places to write about first. So you haven't missed anything, this is the first entry.
And first, a question: Have you ever packed for a trip and had lots of space in your bag when finished? Did you worry you must have forgotten something & go off looking for extra clothes to add? For a 2-week holiday, I'd normally pack enough for the whole trip without doing laundry halfway, -
I'm on holiday, I don't have time for laundry -but since this is a prolonged affair I can't avoid that there's going to be clothes to wash. So I didn't pack as much, mostly new clothes bought just for this trip: that travelling gear you can buy from outdoor shops, Polyester's the stuff; dries overnight & doesn't take a crease. On the down-side, I am now 'man-made-fibre-man' and have logos all over the place and when I catch sight of myself in a rest-room mirror, it looks like I just stepped out of a catalogue.
Boston & Newburyport
First stop was a couple of days in Newburyport, North of Boston, to see Joan and Frank. Tony was my first friend in infants school and our Mothers met when picking us up from school. Tony & me fell out of touch for years, but found each other again this Summer. So I met him in the Pump House in Albert Dock, Liverpool and we caught up with where we both were in life, and pretty much we picked it up from where we left off. It was fantastic to see him again and of course I asked about his Mum - she'd had a hard time bringing 3 boys up on her own but was always an angel to me and even babysat for us a few times. I'd heard she'd moved to the States & married again. So were talking in the pub, and in she walks. Joan said: "Don't you dare go on a trip without coming to see me on the way", so I guess that was my orders, a ticket to Boston it was going to be.
She lives in Newburyport now, north of Boston, in a beautiful house the back
garden of which runs down to the shore of the Merrimac River, and is married to Frank. It's a million miles away from Huyton in Liverpool. I had a wonderful couple of days catching up and meeting their friends at her Birthday party, looking around the town centre, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, then Boston itself before catching the night bus to Montreal. I can recommend an afternoon on the Freedom Trail in Boston city centre: it's a walking tour through some of the significant places and events that led to the American Revolution.
Montreal & Quebec
In Montreal I hired a car for a few days & toured around. I'd had this mad idea for driving all the way to Newfoundland, but hadn't thoroughly worked out average speeds/days available/sleeping time and could have made it, but wouldn't have had time to stop & look at the view along the way. I therefore missed out on photographs of the roadsigns for the towns of
Badger and
Dildo, west of St. John's, though I did get as far as Fredericton in New Brunswick on the Trans-Canada Highway. But it's nice to see Canada without snow in pleasant tempeatures, since when
I've been here before it's been a winter climbing trip to the Rockies, and it's -25C.
I didn't see many signs of the
different way of life the Québécois maintain they live (I heard a couple of them say just that on a radio phone-in I found when punching the SCAN button in the hire-car, searching for an English-speaking station). But maybe 5 days here isn't long enough and I'm just spotting the things that fit my prejudice. A few years ago they removed the bi-lingual public information signs here & there, and replaced them with French-only, but I didn't find anyone unwilling to speak in English to me when my school-era French failed. Montreal city is beautiful, and a bike-tour across the river to Jean Drapeau park and the Biosphere gave wonderful views of the city. David, our tour-guide told us about the Chinois Canal, and the busiest, oldest, and deadliest bridges that cross the river. I met Yoshi and Miguel on the tour, and their friends Raphael and Aiuki, and the next day we all visited a brilliant Andy Warhol exhibition in the pavillion Jean-Noel Desmarais.
Still can' think of what I must have left out
of my packing, maybe it wasn't important.... or maybe it was a heavier Winter coat: last night I arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland, at Christa's parents place, and just looking out of the window it has started to snow.
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Carole
non-member comment
Bienvenu!!
Hi, I'm Carole from Terroir. Nice to read u. I thought ur forgot us, but no!! Martin is back!! Hope u enjoy ur trip in quebec, the most french part of the world...Have u improve ur French? hihi... Have a good time! And don't forget to bring us new music!