Blogs from Canada, North America - page 17

We are now in upper Gaspesie region. There are cliffs, deep valleys, secluded bays, villages, fishing boats and the ever deep blue sea. It's a very scenic road. I might have stopped a dozen of times that day to admire the landscapes! Region has a couple of very beautiful light houses, especially the all red at La Martre! In Mont St-Pierre, mountains seem to drop directly into the sea. It's a place renowned for paragliding and for good reasons! No cities there but only small villages. It can be seen by the abundance of the fauna. In the last decade, I noticed a big decline in insect population where I live, (a far away suburb of a big city), especially large butterflies. But I see large butterflies everywhere here. Same thing for some birds like the ... read more

Trip continues. We stopped at Grand Metis to visit the Redford Gardens, (Jardins de Metis). This used to be the summer home of a very rich English family. It's now a botanical garden. What's remarkable about this place is that the gardens are integrated into the surrounding nature, (forest, stream, plains), instead of supplanting it like some other European French gardens for instance. This is a very beautiful place, and you can easily spend a day there. My favorite gardens there were the entrance garden, the stream garden and the alley of peonies. Considering the cool climate, it's remarkable to see the variety of plants. We then continue on the road, North-East direction to follow the sea road. The estuary widens more and more and at Ste-Anne des Monts, it's about 70km wide, making it really ... read more

I spend ten minutes or so doing a couple of Duolingo lessons in French so I can kid myself I’m not lying when I tell the locals I’ve tried to learn their language. It's then off for a wander along Rue Saint Jean into Old Quebec. It’s insanely cute, and just like Michael said - “a trip to Europe without crossing the pond”. The Rue’s closed off to cars and is wall to wall street cafes, most of them packed with Sunday morning diners. I could well believe I was in Paris. The City Hall and other similar public buildings have got an extra French look and feel to them with their green copper rooves. I stroll along the massive deck in front of the even more massive Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac overlooking the St Lawrence ... read more

Today was our last full day on the ship. In the morning, we will leave the ship and transfer directly to the airport. We fly home tomorrow. Today we slept-in… until almost 8am… which is almost 10am Missouri time. We ate breakfast and I packed everything. We did our “tour of the ship” a little late this cruise – it’s where we start at the bottom and go through each floor seeing everything. This is a smaller ship built back when the ports were the entertainment so no bumper cars or 4D theaters exist. It is a lovely ship. I took pictures of a few of the interesting items we saw today. This ship was built in 2004. It is well maintained and this cruise to Alaska is the second cruise out since COVID hit in ... read more

In this trip, we visit the Quebec's eastern regions of Bas St-Laurent and Gaspesie. First region sits in the estuary of St-Lawrence river and second one in the St-Lawrence gulf. First stop was 'Le bic' national park. It's a very scenic region, with cliffs, many small bays, emerging rocks, salt marshes, etc.... Park has many hiking trails of all difficulties along with bike trails. Sea kayak excursions are also possible. It's a good spot to observe sea birds. Seals are also to be seen, but they are shy and you need to be patient. There are 2 types of seals: common seal and gray seal. The common seal is smaller with a cute face and an all over pale grey color with small black spots. The gray seal is larger, darker and have a dog face. ... read more