Day 30 - Cavendish, Prince Edward Island

We are up bright and early on Friday, June 29 as we have a 240 mile drive to Cavendish.  This was another uneventful day as the roads took us mostly through the countryside vs the coastline and all the little villages.  One good thing - no rain!!

We drove through more farm land today but noticed a lot of fields planted with potatoes.  Saw a processing plant for potatoes so it is obviously a huge product in this area.  There are a lot of these purple flowers alongside the roads - so colorful in different shades of purple. I was told they are Lupins.   Before we cross the bridge into PEI, Prince Edward Island, we stopped at a Visitor Center to take a few pictures of the Confederation Bridge.  In the picture are Rod, Roni, Wendy, Patty, Fran and Wayne.  Rod and Patty are from Seattle, Wendy and Wayne are from Calgary and Fran is from Bar Harbor.  As we drive and stop along the way, we run into people from our group.  We either just check in with them to make sure all is well, have a bite to eat with them or just a quick wave but it is always fun. 

Confederation Bridge that was built in l997 spans 9 miles or l2.9 kilometers over the Northumberland Strait making it the longest bridge over ice-covered waters in the world.   You can briefly see the flags of PEI as well as the Canadian flag.  After we crossed the bridge, we stopped at another Visitor Center and had lunch.  There are many lighthouses on this island - will find out more tomorrow as we will be doing a lot of touring.

Tonight the Staff prepared Taco Salads for everyone and Wendy and Wayne entertained us.  Wayne played the guitar and they both sang.  We were all given different forms of instruments,(I called them noise makers) such as shakers, rattles, etc. which we played very quietly, to join in the festivities.  It was great fun.  Afterwards a group of us played cards and the Girls finally won!!!  About time.. 

Hope you all enjoy the weekend!!

Day 29 - Caraquet, NB

What a great time we had on this day, Thursday, June 28.  We spent most of the day at an Acadian Historic Village.  From what I gather, these are people that came from France (mostly),  and settled in New Brunswick .  The houses and other buildings from the four corners of the province helped set the span of time to be represented from l780 to l880.  Over the years, the historical site expanded and a new section was added – the early 20th century and the progress it brought about especially in transportation and communication.  There are women that dress and work in period clothes using fireplaces and outside ovens to cook the meals, which are eaten by these people.  Men used tools from that time to chop wood and work the farm.  They make yarn and dye it to sell at the end of the season.  They also make linen from flax to make clothing, table clothes, etc.  You ladies will love this:  Most of the families had at least 9 children.  One family actually had l8 – nine from the first wife and nine from the second.  It was their duty to have many children!!!  In the more primitive houses, the entire family slept, ate and worked in one room.  The attic was for storage. 

In the top left corner, a gentleman is making a broom – takes him four hours.  Bottom left corner, a young lady is dyeing yarn using bark in boiling water.  She is also wearing wooden shoes.   I found a wooden swing in the midst of the trees.  Middle picture is a Molasses Pie being baked in a cast iron pot covered by hot coals and the bottom picture is of a latch hook rug using strips of old colorful rags on knapsack.  Truly amazing!

Of course, there are always animals in a village.  There were horse drawn carriages, black and white goats, sheep, chickens, donkey’s, cows, pigs, herons and I’m sure many other birds and perhaps wild animals. 

These are children that are spending time in a camp that is held in the village.  They all learn to do many of the things that their ancestors did.  As you can see, they are also wearing period clothing.  We saw them in a school room as well as spending time with the animals.  

Top photo is of a loom to make a linen cloth.  One of the women showed us how it works and only by demonstration, they will make at least 15 yards during the season.  Always need to have a blacksmith in every village.  The bartender was just adorable.  He told us some great and very funny stories.  I think of all the guys, he had the best job – stood there and talked to all the visitors.  There were a couple general stores – one actually where you could purchase items from the past.  There were also a couple wood working shops where they made wooden buckets and tool boxes as well as barrels that are used for storing fish.

In the 20th century section is a hotel that is actually being used.  Has l5 rooms for guests ranging in price from $60 to $90 a night depending upon the season.  In front is a Model A that the hotel uses to pick up their guests.  The barrel making was also very informative.  The wood strips are cut in one of the woodworking shops.  Once the strips are placed in a circle on a form, it is placed in the fireplace to heat and soften the wood to tighten and shape into the barrel.  I’m telling you, they do it all here.  They had a variety of farm equipment such as this old tractor.

There were many other buildings and tasks being performed by the interpreters but I think I got lengthy enough.  Everyone agreed that this was the best historical village they’ve ever been in even though we had to carry umbrellas and walk through the water.  Yes, it rained again today.  Wish we could send it to Colorado to wipe out those terrible fires. 

This was my Picture of the Day.  We drove into town to see what was happening there and ended up driving around the pier where all the fishing boats were.  I just love all the colored boats especially with the reflection in the water.

Hope you all had as good a day as we did.  We’ll try to send the rain your way!

Day 28 - Caraquet, New Brunswick

Hello Hello Hello!!  We are heading into New Brunswick which is more of an English speaking province so Good bye to French Quebec.  It is Wednesday, June 27th and another rainy foggy day.  I should have purchased a pair of hip boots for all the rain we've been through.  Haven't had too many sunny warm days to wear any of my sun dresses - darn..

As you will see by the pictures - some w/rain drops - I wasn't able to take too many pictures.  It was another day of traveling through the countryside - not too much along the coastline.  Even when we were by the water, couldn't see anything because of the fog. 

Nothing to exciting happening except for the poor people that owned the building that was on fire.  Even the rain didn't help them much.  The lighthouse is the color of the flag for NB.  They are a very proud people as we saw a lot of flags and even a house that was painted the same colors - a bit much I think.  Going through town, there were huge statues but I was only able to get a picture of the fish and by the heighth of the light poles you can see the size of the fish.  There are always little rivers and lakes along the way but we never have time to stop and cool off our feet in the water.

Looking ahead of us we saw very dark clouds and to the right of us, we saw the bright blue skies.  Needless to say, we drove into the rain but by the end of the day, the sun caught up with us - yeah!!!  You can see the reflection in the river. In every village there is always a church - some small and some very large.  Most of them have the little cemeteries next to them. 

Once we arrived to our campground and the sun was out, none of us wanted to go inside.  We had Happy Hour and enjoyed the evening outdoors.  We did notice that it is staying lighter later - didn't get dark until about 9:30.  Did have to call it a day as we had plans for a busy day ahead.  Night Now!

Day 27 - Perce', Q.B.

For the last time, Bonjour to all my friends and family.  We are leaving the French Province of Quebec tomorrow.  It is Tuesday, June 26 and we are off on a boat trip to Bonaventure Island.  It is only a 1 1/2 hour boat ride but it takes us to The Rock first and then a trip around the entire island. 

It isn't exactly a great day for a boat ride, but have to be on the top to enjoy all the sites. Ruth; however, was smarter and stayed on the lower level.  She takes awesome pictures.  Actually, the only site prior to the island was The Rock.  As you can see, it was misty and cool - great hair day - NOT!  Since this is a fishing village, there is a lot of history dating way back; however, I never thought about the reason for a lot of fishing was because the Catholic Church, at that time, disallowed eating meat l60 days of the year.  I do remember not eating meat on Friday's and other Holy days.  Thank goodness we had other options other than fish as well.

 

On the island are several restored homes of residents.   No one has lived on the island since l97l.  They have a very nice restaurant from what I was told - we didn't have time to even have a cup of coffee as we hiked around the island for over 4 hours and had to catch the returning boat.  It was a fairly easy walk except for some muddy sections and narrow paths but very enjoyable with a lot of foilage - such as the Queen's Lace plant.  It was so high, Bruce could barely see us.

The trip to this island is all about the birds.  We are overlooking the most accessible Northern Gannet Colony in the World.  This; however, is the second largest.  Never did hear where the largest one is located.  There are over 50,000 breeding pairs.  To us, it looked like a million.  This was on one side of the island but the small middle picture shows you how the birds are lined up on the cliffs on the other side.  It was totally amazing as well as noisy and smelly. 

Upclose and personal pictures of the Gannet's.  They are just beautiful but remind me of toasted marshmellows.  They are everywhere in the air as well as on the ground and they never collide with each other.  They each have their own nest and don't dare land somewhere else as they will be chased away.  They return every year to the same nest.  How they ever find it is beyond me.  None of them were fazed by people being around.  We were roped off but only two feet away from them.

On our walk were lookout points and trust me, you didn't want to venture any further than that as it was a straight drop off the cliffs.  We were lucky and saw a few seals just playing.  There were stairs leading down to a rocky beach so it was neat looking up for a change.  The stairs in the middle picture were part of our trail.  Supposedly, there were 450 steps in one area, but it didn't seem like it -maybe because we were going down vs up.

For me it was a toss up for the Picture of the Day.  Bruce was inside one of the old buildings and took this picture looking out.  What a great view these people had that once lived here.  Then again, I took the following picture:

Is she not just the cutest little girl.  I tried to get a front picture but she kept turning and I didn't want her parent's thinking I was some strange crazy lady with a camera.  She had the biggest brown eyes - just like her Mom.   So I will let you decide which you preferred.

It is raining and raining.  Just as we were finishing our walk, it started - we got soaked.  Came home and jumped in the shower to warm up.  It let up for a while but not for long.  From what I'm hearing, it isn't going to be any better tomorrow.  It will be a travel day but the wind is suppose to be quite strong - no fun there. 

Hope you are all nice and dry where you are and enjoying the summer months.  Have a great Mercredi (Wednesday) and I will say Au revoir for the last time. 

Day 26 - Perce', Q.C.

Bonjour!!  It is Monday, June 25 and we are happy that it isn't raining, at least yet.  The Staff  supplied coffee this morning while we had our travel briefing which was so nice of them.  Because of all the rain, everyone was a little concerned about moving the rigs but it all turned out well.  We are only driving 62 miles so there was no hurry in leaving except we heard that Perce' is a beautiful seaside village so we were all on the move within the hour.

 
It didn't take long for the short drive but the sights were still very nice.  However, no moose again!  We drove along the shores of the Bay of Gaspe' and as you can see the water was very calm.  One of the supposed highlights was the Aqua Church - color only - no significant meaning.  The roads were up and down hills the entire way but nothing like our entry into this village of l7% downgrade.  Thank goodness it wasn't a long distance down but it was right into the city as per the bottom right picture.  Don't want to overheat the breaks at that point.

This is our view from our campground, The Bay of Perce', another quaint little village with a lot of places to eat and shop.  The Perce' Rock in the top right corner and a tour boat in front of the arch within the rock.  There are a couple of huge houses with one heck of a great view.  We were all thrilled with the way the day turned out because we had mist on the way here but then the sun came out and all was well in the world. Would have hated to have missed such a view.

Picture of the Day - Doesn't this look like a picture you would see on a puzzle?  I think it is so cool!

Thrill of my day was seeing more whales.  They were just below our campground playing around.  I was told they are a Minke Whale, which is a smaller whale.  Below with the sailboat, in the corner of the picture is another Minke.  Then there is Rod hamming it up w/a full grown Gannet.  The real birds are in the middle picture.  There are thousands of these birds in this area.  I will go in more detail tomorrow because we are taking a boat to the Bonaventure Island which is a Bird Sanctuary.  We also saw a cruise ship in the distance - not sure where it was coming from or where it was going but always nice to see.

After Happy Hour, dinner, and dessert at Patty's, the lights came on in the village so I thought I would go out and try to take a picture - not too bad - so I thought I would share.  I love the reflection of the lights on the water.

Tomorrow will be a busy day on the Island so will close for tonight.  Hope you had a good day and will have a better one tomorrow on Mardi (Tuesday).  Bonsoir (Good evening) once again.

Day 25 - Cap-Aux-Os, QC

Bonjour!!!  It is Dimanche (Sunday) June 24th.  Now aren't you impressed w/all my French???  You'll only have to put up w/me and my little knowledge of French for a couple more days before we head to New Brunswick.
It was another wet day - darn it anyway!!  We are in such a beautiful part of the country especially if the sun was out.  We did the sightseeing, etc. but were dodging rain drops most of the day.  We are just outside the Forillon Park (the word forillon appears to designate a small, rocky island standing erect) and it is just beautiful along the coast as well as wooded areas.  We would have done a lot of hiking but the weather was only conducive to getting a cold so we did more driving.  We did see another whale in our travels which kind of made our day. We were hoping to see a moose but that didn't happen either.  One of our fellow travels did see one alongside the road - hopefully our day will come.  There are a lot of bears in the park as well - didn't see them either.

I just noticed in looking through my pictures that I lucked out and got a picture of the whale (now you can believe me).  I barely got it but it's there - yeah!!!  Thank goodness I bought a decent camera with a zoom lense as the whale was quite a distance out.  As you can see the coastline is lovely and if it wasn't so nasty out, we would have walked on the beaches as well as to land's end - the tip of the peninsula. 

This is quite the collage of pictures but they do flow.  We went into the city of Gaspe' and had lunch at a little French Restaurant on this little street.  It was only a block long but had some neat cafe's etc; however, it being Sunday not many of them were open.  Afterwards, we drove to the park and found this neat little cemetery.  As I may have mentioned before, a lot of Quebec is catholic so to see the stature of Jesus on the Cross was not a surprise.  I don't think you would see much of this in the States - someone would be complaining.  There are a lot of statues and crosses along the way in this province.  We continued into the Park and found this bird eating leaves in a tree.  Sorry but not sure exactly what kind of bird it is but it was not fazed by people walking under him.  To our surprise, we found this beautiful, huge pool in the park.  Wow!!!  It was next to a campground but there were hardly any people there.  Again, if it was nice, we would have been in there.

In the park are buildings, such as this store, that tell the history of the people who came to settle the land.  It was explained to us that the Cod Fisherman would buy their supplies here and pay off their debt after the season once they sold the fish.  I felt like I should buy something when I walked in until I realized it was just a display.  I could have used a box of oatmeal too!

                  This is our Picture of the Day.  A waterfall streaming down rocks covered w/moss.

A week ago, Pat, our Wagon Master's wife, asked us to all contribute a can of vegetables per person.  Little did we know that tonight when the Staff was preparing dinner for us it would be vegetable soup - one pot with chicken and the other with beef.  It couldn't have been a better day as we were all damp and cool.  It was excellent and we really enjoyed it.  They also supplied cake for dessert.  Now you know why we try to get in some hiking every day.  It was fun visiting w/everyone and hearing about their day.  Afterwards, Patty and Rod came over to play cards and again, us girls lost.  Gosh darn it - they sure are lucky.

Hope your day was a good one and certainly dryer than ours.  Bonne nuit (Good night) and have a good Lundi (Monday)!!

Day 24 - Cap-Aux-Os, QC

It is Saturday, June 23 and a very dreary day.  During our 200 mile drive today we had very little sun - mostly rain, fog, and mist.  Our drive today was along the coast with a view of the St. Lawrence River most of the way then that changed into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We drove through a lot of seaside villages along the way, saw a lot of churches, colorful houses and lighthouses.  We are now in the territory of Gaspe', birthplace of Canada.  The history of Gaspe' dates back more than four centuries to the arrival of French explorer Jacques Cartier. 

I'm sorry but I just can't quite taking pictures of houses.  For example, look at the bottom left house - is that obnoxious or what??  I personally like the little one in the top left corner.  It sits right on the beach - even has a pool.  Top right is a black house.  Who would think of having a black house?  It is followed by small colored houses that are rented out.  Below that is a mustard color one.  Let me  tell you, there isn't a color that hasn't been used on a house in this area. 

These are only four of many that we saw today and some we didn't see that were suppose to be out there somewhere.  Some of very well kept up whereas others, like the bottom left one, is not.  Could definitely use a paint job.  Along the entire coast are many many lighthouses and I'm sure, as we drive along, I'll keep taking pictures.  While looking out at the coast, we saw our first whales.  Yeah!!!  We were so excited - not like we've never seen them before.  I think we are suppose to be seeing a lot more of them on this trip. 

We were told about a wind farm so we thought we would take a tour; however, the guide only spoke French and we would have to wait over half an hour for an English speaking guide.  Then the tour, driving in our RV, would take 1 1/2 hours.  At that point, we opted not to wait around.  I do hope one day we can take a tour of sorts to learn how these turbines work.  You are looking at Eole, the tallest vertical-axis wind turbine.  It is part of the first wind farm in Canada.  While I was waiting, I noticed some flowers so thought I would get more pix.  Flowers love it in this part of the world.  We also drove past a waterfall on the side of the road.

Picture of the Day - Beautiful multi-colored Iris!

It was a long drive today because of the changing weather conditions and winding roads.  A lot of hills with up to 15% downgrades and, of course, going through towns,  the speed limits changed every couple miles. We did make it to our campground before dark and just in time for Happy Hour.

I want to wish My Sister, MaryAnn, a very Happy Birthday tomorrow.  I'm so sorry we can't celebrate together but you will be in my thoughts.  I'll raise a glass of cheer in your honor.  Love You Sis!! 

                                             Bonsoir (Good Evening)  to my friends and family!!  

Day 23 - Metis Sur Mer, Q.C.

It is Friday, June 22 and we have great plans to visit The Reford Gardens.  The sun is shining and it is gorgeous out.  We are all dressed in shorts, etc; however, just as we are about to drive to the gardens, it gets overcast and cooler - hey what's this about??  We start to walk through the gardens and we hear thunder - oh no!!!  I guess the Dear Lord wants the flowers watered so down came the rain.  It didn't take long for us to find shelter.  Fortunately, we were near the museum and home of the Reford's so we spent our time there while it poured. 

However, while walking around the park, I'll share some pictures of plants.  Bottom left are two walls of different colored Impatience Plants.  There are pools, creeks and bridges to make the walk very enjoyable.  The yellow plants are Lady Slipper Orchids.  I've never seen anything like them.  The peach color flower is a Peony mixed with Blue Poppy's.

These are all different colored Peonies.  They were huge as you can see where I've got one in my hand.  That particular plant had clusters of petals whereas the white one only had a few.  I've never seen so many different varieties of this plant.  They must have had several hundred plants throughout the garden.

As you can see, the flowers were plentiful and huge.  The colored sticks above are a sort of Garden Art.  Each side of the stick is a different color so it changes as you walk around the outside or even the inside.  The combination of all the flowers was very fragrant even just walking through a path of trees.

Picture of the Day - Cute little Pansies

I made this collage a little bigger so you can read about the garden as well as the Stick Garden.  The house where Elsie Reford lived is now a museum as well as a cafe' and dining room.  Both Elsie and her husband were very involved with the community as well as the art's.  Robert was one of the first people to own a Kodak camera and enjoyed taking tons of pictures and even developing them in his dark room. They had a very simple but large house.  Both enjoyed fishing.  Even the pond is set in a very peaceful setting.

After our trip to the garden, we took a drive along the coast and noticed all the different colored houses.  They would not nearly look so good in Illinois; however, here on the coast, they are so warm and homey looking.  As you can see in the top left picture, four houses in a row are different.  As we drove around, I kept taking more pictures.  There were lot painted black, brown, dark blue and yes, even white.  Go figure!!!

 At the end of the day, we took a walk across the road from the park by the coast.  It was a great night and the view of the lighthouse was something we've been waiting to see.  I don't know why some work and others do not, but you can see the light was working.  We again, played Black Queen w/Rod and Patty; however, the boys won tonight - darn!!!   Hope you had a great day as we sure did - rain or shine.

Day 22 - Metis Sur Mer Q.C.

It is Thursday, June 21 and a gorgeous day.  The sun is out, cooler than yesterday and no humidity.  It is a travel day of 220 miles along the coast of the St. Lawrence River.

We did have some miles along the coast as seen above but most of the trip was inland.  There are tons of islands in the river.

We did notice the many farms along the way.  Not a lot of cattle but fields and fields of crops.  Read in one of the brochures that amongst the patchwork of farmland, they have peat moss operations.  Unlike the Western Provinces of Canada, the farms are spotless, buildings are painted and equipment is neatly put away. 

We stopped for lunch at a wayside just so we could get a little sun and enjoy the day.  Bruce found a path in the woods so we took a short walk; however, we never got to the supposed view point so we returned and headed out again.  As in the cities, there are churches in all the little towns.  Steeples can be seen from every hilltop.

After dinner, a group of us went to the community center in the park and played cards.  We played Black Queen with Patty and Rod.  The girls won!!!!  Yeah!!  We called it a night as we had early plans for the next day.

Day 21 - Quebec, Canada

Bon jour!!   It is Wednesday, June 20th and I can't believe that it was in the 80's today - a bit hot to be touring around the city again but we did make a couple stops for refreshments - if you know what I mean??  Without a tour guide, Rod, Patty, Ruth, Bruce and I drove into town and walked the streets on our own.  We did see some of the same sights as yesterday but took more time to enjoy what we were seeing.  We took a tour of the Citadelle which is the largest fortification built by the British in North America in l820.   It is still an active military garrison for the Royal 22 Regiment and houses the residence of the Governor General.  Touring of his facility doesn't start until June 24 nor does the Royal Changing of the Guards - darn we just missed it by a couple days.

The guards change after a two hour shift. I can't imagine standing that long in wool uniforms especially in 80 degree temps.  There are an average of 200 or so soldiers.  They go to a base in Texas for training before they go to Afghanistan.  There are several tanks and guns around the grounds.  Because of where they are situated high and above the river, and the star-shaped layout, they had no problem in protecting the city.

As you can see, we are quite high above the St. Lawrence River (Fleuve Saint-Laurent) for my French speaking family - meaning Dawn.  Those guards have nothing over Bruce - look how tall and straight he is standing but as you all know, he couldn't stand there for very long as he has to be on the go all the time.  The guards were practicing.  There are about 20 of them.  Bruce took a sneak peek inside the Mess Hall - not to shabby from what I see.

Some neat shots that I thought I would share w/you but the best of the day is below:

Now isn't this pretty and peaceful??  Hopefully Bruce will take another great picture tomorrow.

We, of course, visited several churches.  There are so many in Quebec.  Top left is Notre-Dame.  Top right and bottom left are from a chapel next to a convent.  Sorry not sure what the name is but Mary of the Incarnation was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 22, l980.  She was widowed with a son and went on to do a lot of God's work for the rest of her life.  The two pictures on the right are from the Basilica of Notre Dame.  What looks like a pool is actually the ceiling. 

Obviously, you can tell what the picture is of the flags; however, the dog next to it is a fixture inside the Fairmont Hotel.  Wasn't fazed a bit w/all the people.  The building w/the red roof is one of the oldest buildings in the city which is now a restaurant.  We ate lunch at Cafe Paris, which was very good and had a drink at the end of the day at an outdoor cafe - our feet insisted we sit down for a while.  It was another great day.  It would have been great fun to see the city at night but we are quite a ways out of town and we are just a bit tired so we will have to save that for another time.                                                       Au revoir or Goodbye for today!!!

Day 20 - Quebec, Canada

It is Tuesday, June l9th and what a spectacular day we had touring Quebec.  This has been a trip of history and we were on over load again today.  We had a bus pick us up in the park.  Both the driver and the guide were very good.  I wish I could remember at least half of what we were told, but no such luck.  I will have to depend on some books that I have as it was very interesting.  We felt like we were in Europe.  I promise not to give you a history lesson on this city as I couldn't do it justice.

Quebec was the only walled city in North America and most of the historic section is within these walls.  The British built this wall to protect the city from the invasion by the United States.  A lot of the walls no longer exist but there are still stretches of it.  The building w/the green roof is the Fairmont Hotel - Le Chateau Frontenac - pretty impressive I would say.  We will be going back into town tomorrow and hopefully get a chance to at least walk in the door.  The building w/the red shutters is a museum.  They have many many museums; however, we would have to be here a week to see them all.  The top right photo is a portion of the wall.  Below is the Parliamont Building and a non historic hotel.  Had to include the picture as there are some modern buildings in the city.

The Old Town area is just delightful with all the colorful store fronts and restaurants.  Every street offers another European looking street with flowers everywhere.  Some of the largest hanging baskets I've ever seen.  The top right corner picture is of a mural painted on the side of the entire building because it had no windows.  It showcases the four seasons of the year.  I could add another dozen pictures of the streets and buildings but I'm trying not to get to lengthy.

Like I said before, flowers, flowers and more flowers.  Petunia's, Begonia's and Peonie's are in abundance here.  Some we've never seen or heard of before such as Goat's Beard - the tall white flowers in the bottom picture.

I have to single this picture out that Bruce took. I just love it.  Can't you just smell the wild roses?

A few pictures to prove we are really here.  I'm standing next to the mural - looks like a regular street w/people next to me - cool hah??  Bruce and I in front of the Tourny Fountain as well as with Patty.  Rod and I have the Montmorency Falls behind us.  It was a good day as the sun was in and out but not hot.

This is the Montmorency Falls which is l00 Feet taller than Niagara Falls.  It was great fun walking over the falls on the bridge and looking down.  Lot of water happening here!!

This is the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre'.  The grounds include the Basilica, a Memorial Chapel, The Way of the Cross, and Museum.  St. Anne, Grandmother of Jesus and Saint of Storms is visited by over a million people every year.  The statue on top of the Basilica is 13' tall.  The cooper doors were made by a local artist.  There are six statues on each side of the main entrance depicting the l2 apostles.

This has to be one of the most beautiful Basilica's I've ever been in.  The Rose Window is stained glass depicting different times in St. Anne's life.  The ceiling is covered with mosaic's of her life as well.  The pews have carvings of animals on the sides.  People have left their crutches and canes because they say they have been healed by praying to St. Anne.  There are stained windows with names of every city that has a church honoring St. Anne.  Very impressive.

More pictures of inside the Basilica.  Some were taken downstairs such as the one w/the pipe organs.  The top right picture actually has a pc of bone from St. Anne's arm behind glass.  It is inside a copper framed arm.  You can see the hand.  The Pieta' was downstairs as well.  We took several dozen other pictures of the side alters and column's but I've probably got you on overload already.

We also toured the Isle of Orleans.  It is where a lot of very rich people own summer homes and small farms where they grow fields of strawberries in the summer and vegetables later on.  Also have a few vineyards on the island as well.  Some houses were very old and others quite new and large.  We stopped at a market and bought freshly picked strawberries - the sweetest I've ever tasted.

Also on our itinerary for the day was a stop at Albert Gilles Copper Work's.  It has been a family owned company for many many years.  The Father passed away 33 years ago but the children are still running it.  They have a factory on the grounds and make a lot of very beautiful pieces of art and jewelry.  They do custom work for many notable people in Hollywood as well as around the world including the doors of St. Anne's Basilica.

One of the daughters gave us a quick demonstration of a leaf as to how they make some of their pieces such as the horses.  She drew out the design on the one side with a sharp tool.  Then turned it over and went over the same lines.  Then she took a smooth tool and pushed out the copper to give it a dimensional appearance -  puffy on the outside.  In French they have a word that means "pushing".  It was really quite amazing.  The bottom left picture is of a piece of jewelry and on the right is more of a modern art pc. 

It was a great day as we saw so many things but plan to go back tomorrow to see more and just slowly walk around the Old City.