My ipad travel blog: October 2015

I left Quebec City just after 9 to avoid rush hour traffic and I was soon heading towards the Eastern Townships-

I had agreed to stop to see an old university friend and my route took me into a part of the Eastern Townships with which I wasn't very familiar. I started on Highway 20 out of Quebec on the south side of the river, a road I was quite familiar with, but then veered off on to several different byways.

It was a fairly quiet drive...

Eventually I reached my destination, a lovely old farmhouse, that Susan's husband's family had lived in for 150 years.

I had a lovely visit with them

But was totally amazed by their tearoom where we had lunch.

This tearoom contains 800 tea cups that they have collected over the years.

It is a good thing they have space for them all. I think they should be in the Guinness Book of Records. I have a couple of small collections but they are miniatures, miniature houses, and miniature tea sets, which at least cuts down on storage!!

I was running a bit late so my drive to North Hatley was a bit rushed. For instance, I didn't have time to check out my aunt's old house near Richmond, or stop in the city of Sherbrooke.

My next stop was North Hatley to meet my friend, Linda, who had driven down from Montreal, and was waiting for me at our bed and breakfast. Now I lived in this area until I finished university and then spent many summers there and have made many trips and around North Hatley I thought I had been on every backroad but my gps took me on one road this time I was sure I had never been on. My father always said he had never seen a straight road until he went to Alberta in his early 20's and I am sure it is true. That was just an aside.

North Hatley is a gem, perched at the north end of Lake Massawippi, a lake nine miles long. This area was settled by what were termed, Late Loyalists, in the 1800's, who wanted cheap land and no Indian Wars, and came up from New England.

My ancestor, Captain Simon Kezar, was amongst these settlers.

Later North Hatley became a destination for rich people from Baltimore after the Civil War who didn't want to summer in the northern United States anymore. The story is that Pocohontas' grandson was on his way by train to Quebec City, when he spotted North Hatley from the train, and that was the beginning of summer people coming. Here is a bit more information from the town website.

After getting Linda some lunch we journeyed off, first to Lennoxville, a short drive away, to do a bit of discount shopping at the Hatley Store outlet, and then we went to Waterville, where I moved when I was eight and my parents lived until 1984. Waterville is the town they always seem to leave off the maps, although it has a bigger population than North Hatley and a Toyoto subsidiary plant.

Life has changed generally in this area since I was a child. North Hatley was totally English speaking and still English probably still dominates there. Waterville was probably a quarter English speaking and my street was mainly English speakers for instance. Two solitudes was how it was. Fortunately for me I had two bilingual friends who went to the French school so my world was a bit wider. In the 70's and 80's there was a migration of English speaking Quebecers out of Quebec due partly the Parti Quebecois becoming the governing party. Many businesses left Quebec. Most of the people with whom I went to Lennoxville High School live outside the province. Personally, I left because my husband got a good position in Vancouver, not really for political reasons. Just to say...

Above his my old house, which doesn't look much like it did when I lived there. The house is on a corner, and the drive way used to be on the side on Westmount Street and for some reason they moved it to the front yard on King Street. It was for sale a couple of years ago and I saw interior shots and it actually looked very nice but I have to admit I prefer a white exterior to this colour.

I came seeking colour and found a scarlet tree on my old street.

After a quick tour around Waterville we drove to where I lived until I was eight. My grandfather built the house and try to visualize my getting off the school bus in grades one and two and being greeted by my pony and dog. This is on the old Stanstead Sherbrooke Highway (now 143) and when I was a child my father knew everyone on that road from the North Hatley turn off to Massawippi. By the way these are quite short distances. Our farm was probably only a couple of miles to North Hatley and one or two more to Waterville.

We had been so busy we hadn't even checked out our room at Le Cachet, our wonderful bed and breakfast. Also note there is some great information on their website about the area.

Don't worry you will see more in my next post, above is our little deck.

It is an absolutely delightful place to stay!

It was definitely time for dinner and I don't have any external shots as it was a bit dark by 7 pm.

but we dined at Hovey Manor, a rather famous inn in North Hatley. It is a Relais and Chateaux property and the restaurant is award winning. We had a lovely meal and even wine from a local winery. And it was delicious. This establishment again has been made even more famous as the fictionalized setting of another of Louise Perry's mystery novels. And for the record Captain Kezar did marry a Hovey.

I seem to have slipped a couple of early next morning pictures from Le Cachet. Always nice to have coffee before breakfast delivered to your room!

Stay tuned for a very busy Tuesday

even if I finally had to use my umbrella!

I had a leisurely start to my second day in Quebec.

One of the fun parts of travel is looking out into different street scenes.

After a very nice breakfast we dropped Michael off at the Centre de Conservation, as there was an open house that afternoon. The Centre de Conservation is unique in Canada as Quebec is the only province that has such a centre.

Rene took me back to the old town

and this was my opportunity to

visit the English Language Library.

You have to love that staircase!

I could imagine Charles Dickens speaking her long ago.

It is a beautiful building

I have to admit though that despite being part of the English speaking minority in the province of Quebec, I never felt like I was part of a minority until I worked at a French speaking camp the summer I turned 21. Now I did grow up in an area settled initially by English speakers but perhaps this beautiful building says a bit about the power of the English once had in this province.

Life has changed quite a bit since then...

Then we were off back to the Centre de Restoration

And it was really fun to see the different departments.

Michael taught a term at Queen's University and a group of his former students made the 5 and half hour trip to tour as well.

Not just paintings are restored here but statues,

clothing such as this loyalist uniform and even paper (maps, books, photographs)

I really admire the people who work here-I can't imagine having the patience or the skill! I also really like how the Quebec Government really seems to care about the preservation of historical artifacts.

We left Michael at work and we went to classy Maguire Avenue in upscale Sillery. Rene knew of another chocolate shop that we had to sample. And then we sat a pleasant cafe and had tea and compared today's chocolates to yesterdays. All were delicious but we chose yesterday's as the very best. It was soon time to retrieve Michael

Rene and Michael had a swing dance lesson and I took a break

but I did a bit of neighbourhood photography

I need to research why they built these outdoor staircases in snowy icy Quebec.

I like the screen effect!

Then we set off for dinner nearby on Jacques Cartier.

After an Indian dinner we were looking for the eclipse of the moon.

It was really neat to watch

We had a clear view from their balcony but my iPhone was not really quite a good enough camera to capture what we saw but I borrowed these images from a couple of good photographers with good cameras!