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A cacophony enveloped me as I stood amid some of the 60,000 pairs of nesting northern gannets on Bonaventure Island, two miles off the southern side of Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula in eastern Canada. It was mid-July, and the female birds protected their chicks in the nests at this most populous rookery in North America for the large, white seabird species.
Male birds had returned from the sea with beaks full of seaweed for the nest or fish for the family, landing and taking off in a rambling, running fashion that set the whole colony into an uproar.
When the male returned, the pair of gannets reasserted their familiarity with each other by pointing their beaks skyward and tapping on the partner’s beak.
Join travel writer Lee Foster as he takes the VIA Rail Canada overnight train from Montreal to the town of Gaspe, to enjoy five major nature adventures in the Gaspe region. Read more…
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Photo credit: redit : Tourism Montreal/ © Patrick Hugh-Tiernan
Montreal exudes joie de vivre, the Gallic assertiveness that makes French culture so delicious. This city is a daughter of France, France without jet lag, Paris minus the rudeness, a city with a soul, a place with European atmosphere and North American casualness. Montreal is the largest French-speaking city outside France. Most English-speaking travelers who arrive in Montreal come to celebrate the motto, Vive la difference.
An interesting place to start here is the Cirque du Soleil circus performance. The imaginative performance of the dancers and acrobats proclaims a zest for life. Cirque du Soleil is one of the most successful cultural exports of Montreal. Itinerant companies of Cirque may be seen in major U.S. cities. Resident Cirque companies in Las Vegas deliver experiences that pack in the crowds night after night, providing some of the least-derivative entertainments you will ever experience. Cirque shows in Montreal, Las Vegas, and elsewhere are far more than circus acts, and viewers tend to describe them as spiritualistic dance expressions of the joy of life.
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Canada always has been and always will be two cultures, separate English-speaking and French-speaking peoples. This periodically causes anxiety among Canadians as competing visions of togetherness are put to a test.
The differences are also part of the reason why Canada has an enduring fascination for travelers.
The walled bluffs of Quebec City were – and still are – one of the strongest natural fortifications in the Americas, commanding the St. Lawrence River.
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Canada always has been and always will be two cultures, separate English-speaking and French-speaking peoples. This periodically causes anxiety among Canadians as competing visions of togetherness are put to a test.
The differences are also part of the reason why Canada has an enduring fascination for travelers.
For a traveler, the tension between the English and French in Canada creates a cultural energy, a dynamism that gives the country a special appeal and makes it different. The dispute has been simmering since the English General Wolfe defeated the French General Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City in 1759.
If you want to contemplate this Canadian culture, a suitable plan would be to sample the major cities, starting with predominantly English Toronto, then to French-English Montreal, and finally all-French Quebec City.
The best mode of transport to use while you ponder Canada ‘s identity is the entity that has tied the country together – the railroad. VIA Rail service can take you in first-class comfort between Toronto and Montreal, then between Montreal and Quebec City. A Canadian airline, such as Air Canada or Westjet, can also whisk you in and out of these cities.
While you experience the special attractions in each of these great cities, you may experience an underlying meditation about what it means to be a Canadian.
The walled bluffs of Quebec City were – and still are – one of the strongest natural fortifications in the Americas, commanding the St. Lawrence River. Be sure to see the sound-and-light show in the Musee du Fort, where a diorama and narration depict the comings and goings of French, English, and American troops here in the first two hundred years of the city’s life. Then walk along the boardwalk Promenade by the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac and climb finally to the top of the Citadel, which is still manned by an elite Canadian garrison, whose soldiers have served under the U.N. From the Citadel, with its historic cannons, you can imagine how formidable a defended Quebec could be.
The business worth fighting for in the early days was furs. By the end of the 18th century, there were 2,600 fur traders shipping a half-million beaver and deer pelts annually from Quebec.
To get a profile of the fortifications, cross the river on the ferry from Place Royale to Levis and back. Then stroll Lower Town, full of restaurants, shops, and special attractions. Rue Saint-Paul has numerous antique, art, and craft shops. You’ll find exquisite hand-knit wool sweaters. Galleries display prominent Quebec artists, with some of their finer paintings reproduced also as cards. A major museum, called the Musee de la Civilisation, has both permanent and changing exhibits. One of the interesting permanent exhibits shows the collective memory of Quebec. The Upper Town, on top of the bluff, has walks as intriguing as the Lower Town. In Upper Town stop in at Boutique Sachem to see Canadian Indian crafts. Jazz fans gather nightly around a piano bar at the Clarendon Hotel. The most celebrative times here are a summer fest and a winter carnival.
To get a sense of the countryside, rent a car and drive out to Ile d’Orleans, the food basket and summer cottage getaway place for the city. Small farmers on Ile d’Orleans have firm opinions on the taste of their strawberries as compared with those of nearby Beaupre. At an island village, St. Jean, river pilots of the St. Lawrence have a cemetery running to the water. Red-metal roofed houses and numerous church spires dot the birch-wooded landscape. Fall colors are ravishing. Thirty-seven families here have ancestors going back to the 17th century.
Photo credit: © MTOQ / Jean-Pierre HuardThe power of the Church is ever present in the region, and Quebec City is sometimes called the “City of Many Steeples.” A few miles beyond Ile d’Orleans, in Beaupre, the massive Basilica Sainte-Anne is a major Fatima-like pilgrimage site, piled high with crutches left after miracle cures.
Quebec City is a more relaxed and restful place than Montreal, more provincial and quaint, relatively remote. The people of this provincial capital are blessed with the stability of assured government employment. On the language issue, Quebec City is also more at ease because it can afford to be. In Quebec City about 96 percent of the people are French speakers, so the language issue is decided, as it is for English in Toronto. Moreover, the French were here first, before the English, so there is some cultural security in the primacy of French. There is less of the tension that is evident in Montreal. In Montreal, speaking English is a political statement, an uneasy concession to the outsider from the dominant culture. In Quebec City, speaking English is a transparent gesture to accommodate the traveler, the lifeblood of the tourism economy.
The culinary legacy of France, so much in evidence in Montreal and in Quebec City, is one aspect of the cultural division about which there is unanimous appreciation. Start your culinary research in Montreal, where the many French restaurants are not necessarily expensive. In my introduction to French Canadian cuisine, both the rabbit and the salmon salad were delicious. On another occasion I savored lobster bisque, followed by the lobster itself, from the waters off eastern Canada.
The great hotels built by the historic Canadian railroads are excellent bases from which to explore Canada. The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal are located immediately adjacent to the train stations, conveniently providing lodging in the downtown area, mercifully close to the trains during the cold season. The Fairmont Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City ranks as one of the most romantic hotels in North America perched high on a bluff. It makes one think of Ludwig of Bavaria’s famous “Disneyland” castle, Neuschwanstein, transposed and modified to a North American setting. Also, all three cities have experienced a boom in new boutique hotels, and so the choice of accommodations is considerable.
A traveler coming to Canada from the United States views the country and the language struggle of its people with both affection and concern. The border between Canada and the United States is said to be the longest undefended border in the world, no small achievement. Canada is larger than all of Europe and larger than the United States, even though the country has only 33 million people, compared to 311.5 million in the United States.
If the United States is a melting pot, Canada is a salad bowl. The ingredients in Canada will remain distinct, if not separate. Only the Canadians can decide whether the country will continue to be served up to the traveler as a single delicious dish.
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