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| Ste-Anne Caynon |
Yesterday was a
nice smooth sailing day and the sun came out too. I spent quite a bit of time trying to catch
up on my blog and uploading photographs.
I thought it would never end.
The clocks went
back an hour last night = 1 extra hour’s kip!
J
We awoke to a
rainy and overcast day. Fortunately the
tour I was assigned to was around midday and by then the rain had cleared.
The First
Officer got married today. I was dressed
for outdoors but Paul came into the cabin and explained about being invited to
the wedding. I was a bit at ‘sixes and
sevens’ about going because I had a tour close to that time. Needless to say I got changed and joined Paul
for the ceremony but on the proviso that I pre-made my excuses to leave, if
necessary, during the ceremony.
The wedding was
held in the Crow’s Nest and an area was cordoned off from ship’s guests who
could observe but from a distance. There
was a red carpet with flower pots of orchids on either side, turning the carpet
into a small isle. The officers lined up
on either side, sailors dressed in their sailor suits lined up near the door to
greet the bride, and the groom waited nervously near the podium. The bride arrived more or less on time
(11am); the Captain ‘giving’ her away because she had no living family to be at
her side. The bride wore a nice
‘mermaid-style’ dress and a hairdresser from the Spa had done her hair. The wedding official was from Quebec mainland
and conducted the brief but simple ceremony.
Both bride and groom shed a tear or two and one of the officers quickly
found some tissues for them. Some
photographs were taken and at this point in time I had to leave to dress back
into outdoor clothes for the tour.
Apparently after I left the Captain made speech and the cake was
cut.
The midday tour was soon on its way after midday, the bus
winding its way through Quebec City and out into the countryside. In Quebec City there are areas specially designated
for graffiti so you won’t find graffiti all over the place. It is incentive for those who want to paint
on walls or surfaces to do so and be proud of what they can do, but at the same
time brightening up the side of a building or the supports of bridges,
etc. The surfaces regularly are painted
over again, in white, so that graffiti artists can do something different. Lyn, our guide, gave us a bit of a history of
Quebec and other French provinces in Canada.
She herself is a 6th generation French immigrant and told us
a bit about her family and their community’s history. It was very interesting.
We eventually
arrived at Ste-Anne’s Canyon and were let loose to walk along a path and over
swing bridges. Fortunately the snowmelt
was still coming off the mountains so there was a lot of water and the
waterfalls were beautiful. One can also
do a guided rock-climb/cliff traverse or go on the zipline. As those activities were not part and parcel
of the tour, we didn’t go on them. If I
had known about it earlier, I could have probably booked to go on one of the
activities during the time we had to explore the canyon. But it didn’t matter – the footpath and views
kept me busy with the camera. Near the
canyon there is a ski-lift, the area being very popular for skiing in winter.
Our next stop
was at Domaine L’Ange Gardien, a winery/vineyard. We were given a nice slide presentation of
the growing of the grapes and processing into wine, along with descriptive
photographs. They also explained about
‘ice wine’ and ‘ice cider’. The process
is the same for both, where grapes/apples are allowed to freeze and are then
pressed. Not only are the wines sweet but
they are also quite expensive compared to the other wines the vineyard
produces. We were given a sample of
rosé, semi-sweet white and ice cider to taste during the slide presentation. Not being a wine drinker, I did taste the
wines we were given. They weren’t too
bad. But…. I did enjoy the ice cider. Needless
to say I bought a few bottles of wine (a variety) and Paul’s eyeballs just
about popped out of his head when I brought them back to the ship. Well, they aren’t all for me – I brought back
a nice bottle of rosé too, in case he doesn’t like the ice wine/cider or
fortified white wine. I’m sure he will
help me get through the sweet ones too though ;-) but when he is off duty!
The traffic
back to Quebec city flowed smoothly so the tour bus would have been a bit early
to get back to the ship. Needless to say
we had a very brief sight-seeing tour of the city on the way back to the ship,
still making it back to the port in time.
I missed out on most of the journey on the way back, taking notes and
filling out a form, but hopefully I’ll get to see a bit more of Quebec in 2
weeks’ time when the ship comes back again.
Paul was busy
when I got back to the ship so I briefly stuck my head around the door, blew
him a kiss, and headed downstairs to help with excursions brochure
folding. The folding went quickly – 3 members
for the cast came to help as well as me and a lady from Shore Excursions. Many hands certainly make light work!
After dinner
Paul and I met up with Judy and Fred, friends from Canada who have been with
the ship since San Diego and are getting off tomorrow. They were on the dance floor when we arrived
but kindly spent some of their time with us.
We will miss them as will the ship’s staff; a cheerful couple who can
lighten anyone’s day with their laughter, stories and friendliness. I don’t have to get up early tomorrow but I
will set the alarm clock so that I can meet up with them at breakfast, before
they disembark. Paul will come with me
if he has time.
Please see my photographs from Facebook using this link: Tour photographs
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| Our route, now sailing to Montreal. |
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