• 2001
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Newsletter 2001 - Canada

Brian's brother, Curt, has a friend who has a holiday home in Quebec and he arranged for us to rent the property for a week at the end of July.The house is about an hour's drive east of Quebec City and overlooks the St Lawrence Seaway. It is surrounded by woods, but not far from civilisation. The walk into the local village of Pointe-au-Pic takes around 20 minutes and is downhill all the way, which means that the walk back tends to take a little longer!

Quebec provided us with a chance to experience North America from a French viewpoint. One of the local gastronomic experiences is Poutine which is French Fries with gravy. On one occasion, we found variation with pizza sauce which was unbeatable.

The party included Curt Tarnoff, Mark Young, Murray Scheel and Brian, Eric and Carolyn Petersen, Brian and I. The holiday was the ideal mix of lazing around and reading on the veranda, interspersed with trips to take in the wonders of the area. The highlights have to be Whale Watching, Les Quatre Vent and Quebec.

Whale Watching

Carolyn organised the whale watching trip. About an hour's drive eastwards is Tadoussac. The town stands at the confluence of the Saguenay and St Lawrence rivers and this provides ideal feeding conditions for the whales.

From the wide selection of boat sizes, Carolyn had chosen Zodiacs for our trip. When I saw the large tourist boats and compared them with our small nippy boats, I was very grateful. The Zodiacs are very maneuverable and quick, we were obviously going to have a very exciting time. The trip starts with all the boats leaving town and quickly dispersing, trying to find where the whales are. After a while, the radio crackled into life to let us know that one of the other boats had found them. We then raced off to the location in search of our first sight of Minke whales. The sight of one coming up for air just in front of our small little boat was one I will never forget. Their sleek lines rose from the water and just as quickly returned to the depths.

The whole process turned into a game. We sat in the middle of the seaway, each one of us looking around through 360°, watching for the merest symptom of the presence of a whale. When we spied one, the boat would make a mad dash for that point, so that we could be close. But, we were not the only boat there. There was one other Zodiac and a number of much larger boats. The whole thing turned into a mad race as each boat tried to ensure that its passengers had the best view of the whales that afternoon. After a while the whales would move and the whole process would start again.

About 30 minutes into the trip, the driver got a radio message from the shore that a storm was approaching. We got the wet weather gear out from the hatch and tried to cover ourselves the best we could. I have never got so wet so quickly. One second we were dry and the next, sodden from head to foot. The jacket kept my torso fairly dry, but I do not know a more uncomfortable feeling than soaking, clinging jeans! At this moment, I really wished that we were on one of the large tourist boats. Then, as quickly as it had come, the rain stopped. The sun came out again and the breeze did its best to dry us.

In order to raise our flagging spirits, our driver moved to the end of the Saguenay river, where we saw Beluga whales. These are easily identified as they are white. They are very sociable animals and live in groups. It is beautiful to see one rise for air and then a couple of seconds later, another follows the arc created by the first. The sense of tranquility that one gets from watching whales is amazing. There is a sense of order and timelessness which is a complete contrast from our normal chaotic lives. All too soon the trip was over. I will never forget the whales of the St Lawrence.

Les Quatre Vent

How could I possibly miss out on the opportunity to visit Canada's biggest and best private garden (according to the guide book)? At first, it looked as if I would have to, as the gardens are only open to the public on four Saturdays during the year and they were already fully booked two months before we left. Fortunately, Curt is also a gardener and he discovered that the owners of our house have a membership to the gardens which allowed us to visit on Wednesdays. One pays $20 for the privilege, but what a privilege.

The garden is owned by Frank Cabot. The early garden grew up around a house built by his parents in 1928 and was shaped by his two architect uncles in the 1930s and 1950s. In 1975, Frank Cabot started to develop and enlarge the gardens in his own right.

The whole garden is made up of garden rooms. I didn't count how many, but there must be well over twenty. Every gardening trick that exists must be made use of here. Borrowed landscapes and tricks of perception abound. There are so many different areas each with its own atmosphere, there cannot be a mood which cannot be complemented by them.

Many styles of gardening each have their own area. Some parts of the garden are very formal, others follow the principles of cottage gardening. The potager has its own place near to the kitchen and the guest garden seeks to imitate furniture in topiary. The wild ravine turns into a very formal Japanese area.

Garden ornaments have their part to play, particularly the five foot high frogs playing their musical instruments of wielding gardening tools. Water is there in its many guises, a fast running rill babbling down steps, a minature lake with ducks, a wild stream, a contemplative pool and, almost as an after thought, a swimming pool overlooking the St Lawrence and the local village of La Malbaie.

The impact of the short season bought by the weather provides a "Chelsea-like" feel. I have never before seen aqualegias in flower beside roses in a real-life garden situation. The planting was at times voluptuous, at others calming. There cannot be anyone who is interested in garden design who would not be inspired by a visit to Les Quatre Vent.

Quebec

The first port of call for our visit to Quebec was the Changing of the Guard ceremony, the only one in North America. The soldiers uniforms are based on the Welsh Guards. Given the independant nature of the Quebecois, it is incongruous to see the guards in their bearskins leading their goat with gold protectors on his horns, just as one might in London.

Old Quebec has a European feel. The streets are narrow and it really feels like a "city centre". We wandered around them for hours, exploring the delights of the shops and stopping to sample the offerings of the cafes.

It was right at the very end of the day that we came across the pearl of the day. We went to visit JA Moisan Epicier, the oldest grocery store in North America. The store had a wonderful feel, but across the road was a Chocolate museum. It was really a shop with a small display of how chocolate was made. One could buy all different formats of chocolate. Being a hot day, we decided to pass on the hot chocolate drinks and chose ice cream. Here we found a flavour that I had only heard of once before, in the film Chocolat, chocolate with chilli peppers. I can understand if you don't immediately warm to the thought of this combination of flavours, but it is one that I can heartily recommend. Initially the flavour is of the chocolate, but then the pepper kicks in to give the mouth a energetic boost. We realised that it wouldn't be possible to bring this flavour home with us in ice cream format, but we have been able to sample the delights of chilli flavoured hot chocolate, and it is wonderful after walking the dogs on a cold winter's day.

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