Loose Ends

Well, there's a point in almost every long trip where you feel that you've overstayed your welcome and that it's just time to go home. I'm there. This has been an amazing few weeks, but it's to the point where there's not much more to be seen, not much more that I'm eager to do and I'm ready to get back to a normal daily routine of grocery shopping, cleaning, lesson planning, and so forth.

It feels a little like Quebec has turned on me. What was once just background noise is now the source of aggravation...the heat and humidity, the throngs of tourists in Quebec City, the clochards and festival crowds in Montreal. I still love it here...it's just time to go home. Rather than continuing in this navel-gazing vein, I'll just share some photos from my return to Quebec City and some final shots of Montreal...tomorrow before leaving for Chi-town, I'll do a proper retrospective of the trip as a whole that won't be whiny...promise.

En route from Quebec to Montreal

Finally! A real hotel room...treating myself at last!

Two wheels, a rainstorm and moi

So, I decided to test out the Bixi system of Montreal yesterday...Bixi stands for "bicyclette" and "taxi" and the idea is that you can borrow bikes from stations around the city and return them to any other station. It costs $5 a day for unlimited rides of up to 30 minutes a pop. If you have the bike for longer than 30 minutes, they charge you a little bit more. This bike-rental system combined with an amazing network of bike lanes makes for a good urban biking experience....one that would have been even better had it not rained!

In any case, I rode out to a sculpture park waaaaaaayyy out on the St. Lawrence River, which was a lot farther away than it appeared on the map. It really felt like a million miles away as well...just the sounds of water lapping on the shore, the cry of seagulls, the loud grinding of my bike, and the squealing of my quadriceps. Apparently, the Bixi bikes are not all in the best of shape...nor am I!

So I survived the trip, returned the bike to another station, which just happened to be near a market...quelle surprise! In fact, it was lucky I happened upon the market because the rain started pouring down...it was nice to have some tents to huddle under to keep dry. My thighs seemed to enjoy the break too.

Cinérobothèque personal viewing pod

However, the rain kept coming and I was getting impatient, so I got another bike and braved the rain biking along the Canal Lachine to the Old Ports area and onward to the Latin Quarter. Since it was still raining and I was getting pretty soggy, I dropped the bike off and hit the Cinérobothèque...coolest invention ever! You reserve a personal viewing pod and choose from hundreds of films to watch...all for free! The chairs were cushy with headphones that wrapped around from behind and a touchscreen that allowed you to choose what you wanted to watch. Now, these were not big budget films that you'd see at the movie theater...they were smaller documentaries and short animated films. In any case, it was a fun way to get out of the rain.

Kind of hard to see, I realize, so squint!

After the Cinérobothèque, the rain had stopped, so I explored a few parts of the city I hadn't visited yet. I also poked my head into a few stores...why oh why is the American Dollar so weak?? I remember when buying things in Canada was like getting a 50% discount!! Where have those good old days gone? In any case, I managed to restrain myself, but made a mental note of places to return before I leave. I figure if I still want something in a few days, I'll treat myself :)

Off to Quebec City this afternoon to poke around a bit more and hopefully catch a free version of Cirque de Soleil...keep you posted!

Adventure!!!

So, I've experienced three big adventures between my arrival in Montreal last night and this morning!

The severed head (aka exploding Coke can) with some other Canadian delicacies.

Adventure #1: First, as I was falling asleep last night, I was suddenly awakened by a loud, violent bang on my door...it was so loud and so sudden that I leaped up about 2 feet in the air from a prone position on my bed! After landing and as I lay there trying to restart my heart, I heard a weird dripping noise. Having just finished a mystery novel in which the detective found a severed head on her doorstep, I became convinced in my half asleep state that someone had thrown a head at my door. Somehow, I swallowed my terror and got out of bed to peek out the door and stepped straight into a puddle on the floor of my room. Suddenly, it all became clear. I had put a can of Coke in the freezer of my mini-fridge to chill faster and had forgotten about it. It exploded with such force that it dented the inside of the fridge...shhhh don't tell the front desk.

Adventure #2 - Yesterday afternoon I went on a treasure hunt and found copious treasure in the form of mid-century modern furniture. Wow! This is the place to come for furniture shopping. I have a feeling I will have to physically restrain myself from renting a moving truck to drive myself and all the treasure I would love to own back to Chicago in a few days. While I was in the neighborhood, I explored Le Village Gay for a little while...lots restaurants, bars, boutiques, etc. They were getting all prettied up for the upcoming Divers/Cité festival this weekend, but things hadn't really gotten crazy yet. When I was passing by this afternoon, the techno was pumping in preparation for tonight.

Le Village Gay

Indie's costume. If only Harrison Ford were modeling it...le sigh!

Adventure #3: This is the big one! I went to the exhibit "Indiana Jones: L'aventure archéologique" at the Science museum. Very cool! They had lots of props and costumes from the movies and tied the movie stuff into information about real archeological expeditions and findings throughout the years. The exhibit was super-high-tech...everyone received a little iPod touch that you could key in codes to get information, video clips, etc. read to you. To make it all the more fun, you could also participate in challenges to uncover pieces of an "artifact" on your little screen...I got all the pieces except one. Bummer...but it was fun anyway!

My handheld guide!

And, just for fun...a forest of air fresheners :)

And...we're back!

So, back in Montreal and the land of the internet connection...I spent a wonderful, relaxing few days with my family in northern Ontario and am just about ready to tackle the big city again.

My grandparents have an amazing cottage on Lake Joseph in the Muskoka Lakes region, an area known for beautiful scenery, quaint (and not-so-quaint mansion-like) cabins, water-related fun, sun, and the good life. We call it "God's Country"...and I call it home...the place where I feel most myself.

I've been visiting this personal paradise every summer since I was 4 months-old...only missing two summers along the way. My dad has been coming here since he was a little boy and ditto for my grandfather. There's tradition here. There's history. There's family. This house is over 100 years old and the Evans family have been it's caretakers for only a fraction of that time...hopefully we will continue in that capacity for a long, long time.

Sunrise

This is where I really relax. I catch up on my reading, I sail, I swim, I waterski, I nap (a lot), and I space out. It's easy to lose track of time. One minute you're eating breakfast and the next time you glance at the clock, you realize that it's already Happy Hour. From sunrise to sunset to the middle of the night Muskoka is beautiful...see for yourself. Here are some previously classified images of the secret Evans family hideaway...enjoy.

Sunset

Night

He wants to know what happens too!

Tough game of Probe.

Not a Probe fan...

I was the only one to tame the wild bucking bronco swan!!

Avant-garde and au revoir :)

Finally! I made it to the Musée des Beaux-Arts for the half-price entry to the Jean-Paul Gautier exhibit! In case you weren't sure, Jean-Paul Gautier is a French fashion designer of fairly wide reknown. I've never been a huge fan of his because his work is typically very costume-y...I'm usually more of a Dior New Look kind of girl, if you know what I mean...if you don't, that's okay.

However, this was my first real opportunity to get so close to haute couture...it was incredible. In fact, I would say that this was one of the best museum exhibits I've ever been to. If the previous exhibit I posted about left me confused, this exhibit left me inspired. I guess, as my sister, Dr. Laura, would say, Gautier was speaking a language I could understand. Really...the amount of work and the artistry was absolutely amazing. Éclablouissant...as they say in français. These photos really don't do it justice...

On another note, believe it or not, the program here is almost over. Only tomorrow's "graduation" ceremony remains...that and getting our grades. Today was a great final day, however, as far as classes were concerned. We had some great presentations by colleagues and an amazing workshop about the legends and stories of Quebec followed by a farewell dinner.

Storytelling...je suis tombée amoureuse là...

I will spare you the platitudes about how quickly time passes, but I will most certainly miss the day-to-day interchanges here; functioning completely in French; talking with other people that are as passionate as I am about what we do for a living; learning new things just by walking out the door; and above all, realizing that laughter is a worldwide language. Merci, Quebec and merci à mes collègues...vous me manquerez tous.

More to come...my travels aren't quite at an end...I will not be posting again until next Wednesday, so mark that date on your calendar. I'll be traveling to northern Ontario for some family fun (I'll update you when I get back to an internet connection) and then I'll be finishing off my Eastern Canadian tour right here in Quebec! À plus tout le monde!

Singin' in the Rain

Got our diplomas this morning! Hooray!

Yuk, yuk, yuk...amen!

Since we've been a bit immersed in our final class project for the last few days, I am going to revert back to some outings we actually had last week that I haven't shared yet. Don't worry, we presented our project today, so there's more fast-breaking excitement to come soon!!

Last week, we went to explore the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal. Now it may seem that Notre-Dames are a dime a dozen...and indeed, they do seem to pop up everywhere. However, having been into a large number of Notre Dames myself over the years, I can say with confidence that this one is truly magnificent.

Apparently, the origins of the building date back to the mid-1600's although the current structure doesn't resemble the original at all. During a 19th-century remodel, the inspiration for the interior decoration was taken from Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, one of the most incredible religious buildings in the world. Feast your eyes on a few more pictures of the high Gothic style...

I found some of the stained glass extremely interesting as they depicted more "New World" images than I was expecting. For example, several windows told the story of the founding of Quebec, complete with colonizers and native people. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the New and Old Worlds. The guys in the picture with me below did too...

At this point, you may be wondering about the "yuk, yuk, yuk..." part of the title...or maybe not. In any case, we were fortunate enough to have received tickets from the program's organizers to a stand-up comedy show that was part of the "Juste Pour Rire" ("Just for Laughs") festival that is a big deal here in Montreal. The show was called "Le Cabaret des Maudits Français" ("The Rotten Frenchmen's Cabaret"), which references the sometimes strained relationship between the French and the French-Canadians. The French often seem to feel superior to their "country bumpkin" cousins from Quebec and the Quebecois seem to feel like the French are snobs who have no real reason to think they're such hot stuff. In any case, the show was all French comedians from France, presenting to an audience full of Quebecois...hmmmmm.... I know there are some readers out there thinking..."how funny could this show possibly be? The French aren't funny!" And I have to say, I had my doubts going into it.

Male French Majorette...hilarious!

However, those doubts were completely unfounded. The show was hilarious!! I was so proud of the fact that I understood the majority of the jokes, even though they were delivered in rapid-fire french that the evening would have been a success regardless. It was truly funny, though. Had the comedians been from Quebec, however, I don't think I would have had as much luck with my comprehension. Even after 3 weeks, it's still tough to decipher sometimes!

Maybe you had to be there....

No, we're not at a dentist's appointment...we're supposed to be laughing!

True Nature of Quebec

Don't worry, I'm not going to get too philosophical here...I'm talking about real nature. We had a chance to visit the Botanical Garden of Montreal this weekend, which was beautiful, then got the heck out of the city on Sunday for a road trip into the countryside of Quebec. It was a breath of fresh air...literally.

Le Jardin Chinois

The Botanical Garden was amazing! They have recreated Chinese, Japanese, First Nations, Rose, Alpine Gardens among others...all were stunningly beautiful. While we wandered and enjoyed the natural beauty, I had to shake my head over the incredible amount of work it must be to keep the garden in such tip-top conditions when the growing season here must be insanely short. On top of that, the winters are brutal...these plants must need a LOT of care. And they receive it...it shows.

Yesterday, it was in the 90's and humid in Montreal...so we hit the road to Les Cantons de l'Est, a region that makes wine, grows yummy things to eat, and is lovely in a pastoral, small-towny kind of way. We had an awesome time and chilled out, literally.

Our first stop was the Musée de Chocolat in a tiny town, that wasn't so much a chocolate museum, but really more of a chocolate shop with some educational placards. This suited me just fine...I don't actually care anything about the origins of chocolate as long as its destination is my mouth.

After a quick chocolate stop, we continued on to a beautiful vineyard, where we were able to sample the wine William and Kate drank over dinner while they were in Quebec! Woo hoo...I was feeling better already. You don't see views like this in Montreal.

Even though we were out of the city, it was still hot and sticky, so we headed to a nearby lake, where we were able to picnic alongside the lake. After waiting the requisite 20 minutes (more or less), we hopped in to swim and cool off with masses of folks from the area. Ahhhhhhh!

Before my sailboat envy got too bad (There were Lasers! I couldn't help it!), we hit the road again, thoroughly refreshed and raring for more adventure. While there probably aren't many people who would classify blueberry-picking as high adventure, I have to say that it was the highlight of the trip for me! Blueberries are far and away my favorite fruit and I've always wanted to pick them. So, when we "stumbled upon" (ie...I researched the address ahead of time and made sure our route passed the farm) a u-pick blueberry place, I was out of the car in a flash. I can now attest that blueberries do indeed grow on a sort of floppy bush and they taste better right off the branch!








After the blueberry picking, we went to one more vineyard where I picked up some ice wine, which is made from grapes that are allowed to freeze on the vine. This causes the water and the sugar in the grape to separate, making for a really sweet, syrupy dessert wine. It was delicious! Since it takes 7 times more grapes to produce ice wine than regular wine, it is generally pretty expensive...buying it directly from the vineyard was a steal in comparison! And look at all I learned in the process!

All in all, the nature of Quebec surprised and delighted me this weekend. It was nice to get a gulp of breathing room before embarking on our last week of the program! Don't worry, though...more to come!