Today I headed out to Walmart again. My small carry-on backpack has started to fall apart, so I wanted to buy some glue and tape to help hold it together. I did more research this time on getting the right bus number, a map of the whole route, the street and stop to get off, and added them all to my iPhone. I also brought along my “PocketJuice” battery backup to recharge the iPhone if the battery went flat due to the cold. So I got to the right bus stop, got onto the right bus, knowing that I had 9 stops until I had to get off. Except (and the buses here have a screen listing each stop – and the next 3 at any one time) – my stop was in 5 stops from when I got on. Thanks again Dr Google Maps. I will write to them when I get back to Karratha to assist in their improvement.

Anyway, I got to Walmart, wandered around to the hardware section and got some glue. The only tape that they sell is box tape of duct tape, neither of which would be strong enough for the backpack. Not a big deal maybe but given how enormous the store is, I’d have thought they’d have the material tape that Bunnings has. I also bought a packet of two torches, one small one for a key ring and the other a normal size. I find I need one of these to change the settings on my camera when the sun has gone down. So that was a good purchase.

Anyway, I got back to the hostel and then arranged my bookings for Toronto. Firstly the train from Quebec City to Montreal and then after a 30 minute stopover, another ticket from Montreal to Toronto – for this Friday 23^rd December. I then booked my hotel, after which I prepared for my visit for the day – the Plains of Abraham. It was only around 1.5 kilometres from the hostel, so even though it was snowing, I rugged up and walked. The air was crisp (around minus 10C) and I enjoyed the walk. I went to get into the museum, however the building is under significant renovations with scaffolding all around the front.

So I walked around it and found a way in through the back entrance. The museum is situated in one of the nearest buildings to the Old City itself, on the Grand Allee (the road I walked along to get there). Whilst built in the late 1930s, it works with the design of the Military Barracks. Given the history and background of the Plains of Abraham, I purchased a DVD that I can watch later. Interestingly, I learnt that the Plains were used not only to hang baddies and as a place for ladies of ill repute, in the 1830s, a gang led by a Charles Chambers used the Plains as a hiding spot and a place to recruit new members. He was caught and found guilty of theft in 1837. His punishment? Deportation to Australia!

There was lots of information in the museum around the way the troops and their families lived, some of the battles fought on the site, and a number of archaeological artifacts from the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s. All in all quite an interesting spot (like most museums).

By the time I was ready to leave the museum, it was 2.45pm and getting cooler. So I decided that this would be the perfect time to go snowshoeing. My philosophy was that if I could move around with wide shoe bottoms like snowshoes, without breaking my neck, then I could move up to something thinner like skis. So I found out that the snowshoeing hire chalet was collocated with the ski and ice rink – and that was right at the other end of the Plains (another 1.5 kilometres away). I therefore headed off. On the way I took a few photos.

The last photo is of the Statue of Joan of Arc, which is placed in the Joan of Arc Garden (the scene of many hangings in the past). Not that it looks like a garden at the moment.

The Chalet was at the large oval. The way it was set up was that there was an ice rink in the middle, a skiing area to the side of the oval (to the front of the site near the river), and then there was a road. On the other side of the road was a walking path about 2km long parallel with the river, then closer to the river there were two skiing paths the same length as the pathway, and they went in an oval shape, and then closest to the river was the snowshoeing pathway. So I then spent 20 minutes working out how to put the snowshoes on (I did ask two people and neither of them could work it out either) and then after that I went for a walk. Frankly I don’t see the appeal. The walking was okay but after a while of hard slogging, my knees started to ache due to the pounding. I found that they were no good in the soft snow, as I just pushed lower into it. So really it was only good when the snow was hard, in which case I may as well have used my Nikes.

The snowshoe area was also supposed to be along the Nature Trail (there are little signs along the route of plants and animals that are around that area). But those signs were along the skiing trail, so I suspect the skiers hijacked some of the snowshoe trail because it was better placed for them. This pushed some of the snowshoe trail right near the edge of the cliff (very little fencing), meaning that the snowshoe trail kept going down from the ski trail into the scrub, and then back up again when the ski trail was close to the cliff. But it was an interesting walk. The descriptions of the trees and plants were useless as of course it’s winter and the trees all look the same, and there were no birds around. There was nobody snowshoeing on my way from the start of the trail to the end, but after I turned around to come back, I came across a couple of other snowshoers, a couple of people with dogs, and a pair of young ladies running in snowshoes. But theirs were smaller and narrower than mine (I could barely walk fast as my hire pair were very long and wide), so maybe if I had my own snowshoes it would be more enjoyable.

Also on the way back, I went down closer to the cliff so I got some photos of the wharf and ships in the river. So I’m glad I got to do  it.

Despite the lack of sensible showshoes (you have to start somewhere), it was quite an enjoyable couple of hours on the trail. Wandering through the snow in solitude is just such a great thing to do. And I know now that I am no longer “dreaming of a White Christmas”.

I thought of going back tomorrow and hiring some skis, but decided it would be more sensible to have some lessons first from someone who can provide feedback, rather than just get onto Youtube to see if I could find a video on learning to ski in ten minutes. So that will be in a few weeks. Below is a photo of the Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec, with the skiing grounds in the front and Quebec City’s revolving restaurant (Ciel!) in the background.

By the time I finished, it was 5.15pm and starting to get dark. I decided to take a long walk home (it would end up being a 20 kilometre walk for the day), and just get to admire some of the decorated houses and buildings.

I then headed off to Beffroi Steak House to treat myself to a delightful steak meal. The seafood bisque had a great range of seafood, in an interesting bowl that was on an angle. In fact just the right angle to accidentally spill half the soup on myself (which I didn’t thank goodness!). I followed up with a prime rib 14 ounce AAA steak with mashed spuds and a Madagascar green pepper sauce. All of this was washed down with a bottle of Woodbridge Californian Zinfandel 2014. I imagine it will be even more tasty in a few years’ time, but certainly I got the good berries and pepper and plum flavouring. A great bottle for a great meal with quality service. I finished off with a trio of sorbet and a small porto.

After which I went back to the hostel, rested a little while and headed down to the lunchroom where they have a bar from 1800 to 200 hours. I had a couple of CC and colas, and got chatting to some young ladies who have recently finished their legal studies, one from Brisbane, one from Germany and one from Chicago. Had some interesting discussion about the refugee crisis, but it always ended up going back to the President-elect of the USA. The young lady from USA is really not looking forward to the next 4 years. However she is more concerned with those without the means to stand up for themselves, which was really good to hear. There seems to be a lot of that in the USA.

It’s been good over the last few weeks to speak with people from countries like the USA where their media representation is usually pretty negative, and to see that the people are generally not as they are portrayed. And to get a different slant on events that occur in different areas. I did learn a lot about how their political system works. I also apparently promised to follow the Chicago White Sox in the Major League Baseball competition in 2017!

Today I started to slow down a little – although buying the inflatable mattress was a brilliant idea if I say so myself, I had a much better sleep last night.

Today being Monday, none of the museums or items of interest to tourists are open.

I’ve been think about the quality of some of my photos. My main camera (Canon 70D) looks to possibly have a dirty sensor, due to some small marks I have noticed on some photos. After cleaning the lens the marks remained. I wasn’t sure whether it was the camera sensor or the lens, as one of the marks changed depending on the rotation of my 17-70mm lens. So I decided to take them in for checking.

After breakfast, I did some research on camera stores around Quebec City, and then headed off to catch the bus to one of them – called Gosselin Photos. I went through it with one of the camera guys – they had to find me one who spoke reasonable English as my current French is mainly just Bonjour and Merci (most people in Quebec City speak French, virtually all the signs are in French, and probably only a half of the population speak really good English). Which is fine, it’s their province. Anyway, he said it would be ready by Thursday afternoon.

So this left me for most of the week with my backup camera (Canon 600D) and the rest of my lenses, but the lowest lens width is 50mm (it’s a prime – or fixed – lens) , and the next best is a 70-200mm zoom lens. So I cannot get any good real close-ups, like buildings etc (since that’s what the 17mm end of the lens is for). As can be seen below, from my shots of Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls), which I went to visit this afternoon. In the end this is okay as it’s a relaxing holiday, not a photography tour – but the photos are really not only something to show others and display at home, but are also memory pegs for me in the future, to remember these travels. But at least I got to spend more time looking at the beautiful scenery.

It was quite a bus trip – about 40 minutes, a little longer than Google Maps said, but at least I got off at the right stop.  I still had to walk a kilometre and a half through ice and snow to get there. But when I did – it was spectacular. It’s taller than Niagara Falls, and is quite iced up. So I went to take a couple of photos from my iPhone, but the battery died (the temperature is around -25C today and the iPhone and camera batteries go flat very quickly). So I took a number of photos in a matrix which I hope to be able to stitch together (I think my free time in 2017 will be consumed by this), but in the meantime I shall table these few. They really do not do the Falls  justice in terms of their sheer capacity and raw power.

The first is of part of the top of the waterfall, and shows the ice and snow on top of the waterway; the second is of the start of the waterfall and shows part of the mist spraying upwards. At times the mist reached the bottom of the bridge. The final three are from the highest of the front viewing platforms. There are around 6 platforms at different levels from the top to the bottom, with wooden steps between them. By the time I got these photos, it was getting very cold and I still had another 2 kilometres to get back to the bus stop, so I stayed at the top level, took my photos, and then headed back to the hostel.

There is an interesting story in the spooky stories of Quebec City that relates to the Montmorency Falls, the story of La Dame Blanche. The Battle of Montmorency occurred on 31 July 1759, around 6 weeks before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (see yesterday’s blog entry). This was another important battle between the British and the French, and the commanders were General James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm. The British had around 4000 regular troops and the French had around 10,000 being a mix of regular troops and militia. The British attacked the French line at Beauport, which is about halfway between Quebec City and Montmorency Falls, the battle being within a kilometre of the Falls. The French held the line and the British retreated with 440 killed or wounded, against 60 on the French side. One view is that the battle ended just due to the disparity of sheer numbers, however another is that the humidity and heat from evaporation caused the British army’s gunpowder to cake, rendering it of no use. The spooky story is that the fiance of one of the deceased fighters wandered around the Falls calling his name after the battle. In an apparent state of shock or emotion, she put on her wedding dress, and plunged over the Falls to her death – but her body was never recovered from the Falls. It is said that some visitors see her through the mist and water, and others hear her calling his name against the roar of the water. An interesting history.

Today I took a morning bus tour of Quebec City (shortened a little due to the significant amount of snow on the roads making some places difficult for the bus – and our little band of tourists – to get to).

Some various bits of information passed on by the driver:

• We saw quite a lot of churches. There were many built in Quebec over the 1800s, with many either now closed as the numbers of churchgoers has reduced, or have been converted for other uses such as accommodation.
• Tourism is the number 1 industry in Quebec City, worth around $5 million per year and employing between 20,000 and 30,000.
• Unemployment is the lowest of the provinces at 4%. There are many jobs without sufficient people to undertake them.
• The government has a social program that allows study to anyone at a reasonable cost (around $2,000 per year).
• The tidal movement of the Saint Laurent / Saint Lawrence at the Montmornecy station (at Quebec City) is between 4-5 metres, with the maximum having been identified at 5.92 metres. The river itself is quite strong. And at the moment is iced over quite a bit, but due to its strength and tidal movements, the ice is in chunks that flow in and out depending upon the tides.
• The Quebec City symphony orchestra is the oldest in Canada, having commenced 113 years ago.
• Oh Canada, the national anthem, was written in a café in Old Quebec City, and was first performed in 1880 at the Plains of Abraham, in the Joan of Arc garden.

We drove into one of the entrances of the Plains of Abraham, to see some of the battlements and cannons. The Plains take up an area of 240 acres, and are adjacent to the old city and include the area of the Citadel. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, a defining battle but by no means the only one that occurred there, took place on 13 September 1759. The battle was between the French and the British for control of the city, and was a part of the Seven Years War which took place at various sites between those two countries and Spain and Portugal

Quebec City (the old part) is quite hilly. The British had been on QC soil for 4 months without attacking, but under the cover of darkness, and commanded by General James Wolfe, snuck up an unguarded steep part of the hill. The battle raged for all of 15 minutes. The British won, however General Wolfe was fatally wounded 3 minutes into the battle. His French counterpart, the Marquis de Montcalm, was wounded and died the following day. The British subsequently took over QC and as a continuation, they took over much of Canada.

The Plains of Abraham now have a museum, the citadel, other buildings, nature trails, a really large oval, a specific ice rink for ice hockey (with a statue of Joan of Arc near it), and a range of other facilities. In winter when it snows, the oval is split into an ice rink for skating and skiing, and the nature trail area is split into different tracks for skiing and snowshoeing. The Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec is also on the site. Below a couple of photos from the Plains – near the large oval (now under snow). Most of the photos are dull (or washed out of colour) due to the grey cloudy  sky and intermittent snowing.

After we had gone through some of the Plains of Abraham site, we headed back to the city centre, where we got out to wander through the Rue du Petit-Champlain, where we took some photos and went to one of the shops for chocolate / coffee / etc. and then back to the bus for the final leg up to Le Chateau Frontenac. This is a photo of it from the road below.

Below a couple of photos of the river, one with a Ferry coming in (the ferries operate about once every half hour taking people and vehicles across to the Levis townside and seem to get through the ice quite well)

I then hopped off the bus and headed back to my hostel.

In the afternoon, I took a bus out to a shopping mall called Galeries de la Capitale (the largest mall in Quebec City). I took a wander around for a couple of hours. These entertainment facilities were within the shopping mall. They also had a merry go round and a roller coaster.

I then headed off to Walmart which was relatively close by. I bought an inflatable mattress for $38 at Walmart. The mattress at the hostel has been too hard, my shoulders and back were very sore and I had been tired for the last couple of days due to lack of sleep. So I figured a cheap inflatable mattress on top of the hostel mattress should work. I then headed back to the hostel. On the way I took a couple of shots at the Place D’Youville, which is only a couple of blocks from the hostel. It’s mainly a smallish skating rink with some Christmas displays to light things up.

I then got back to my hostel and put the mattress up. And then read a book for an hour and then went to sleep.

Herewith a photo of Auberge Internationale de Quebec, my hostel.

Today I went on two short tours.

The first tour was a walking food tour of the Saint-Roch District, an area a little north west of Old Quebec where I am staying. Getting there I had my first experience of the non-infallability of Google Maps. I left an hour early just in case the place was difficult to get to, plus as it was snowing I wanted to buy an umbrella. The seventh store I went to on my route had umbrellas for sale, although only one type, so I bought one. One of the umbrellas that are about 35 centimetres long and you push it to open up. Instead when I pushed it, it did not lock into place. I read the cover and found it was an automatic one with a button on the handle. You press the button and it opens. It uses a piece of string so does not lock into place. Then you press the button again and it closes. When carrying a camera bag, wearing gloves and trying to manage the umbrella, you’d be surprised how many times you accidentally press the button so the umbrella goes down and up and down and up – not exactly what you want when you are trying to shield yourself from the snow. So in the end I held it by the metal shaft instead of the handle.

On my way I saw a taxi but decided to keep walking.

Further to my journey to Saint-Roch, I found that the streets Google said were in place were not the same as what was on the side of the buildings. I ended up about 500 metres the wrong way until I closed the phone and decided to rely solely on the paper map I had. Which was okay, apart from now having a sheet of paper which is around A2 size with about 16 folds to juggle under the umbrella just added some complexity to my attempt to locate where I was going. In the end I made it just as the snow shower was increasing in strength.

The meeting place was Fromagerie des Grondines on Rue Sainte Joseph (rue translates to street; and the majority of the rues in Quebec City are names after saints). It was a nice little shop / delicatessen with a broad range of cheeses, prosciuttos and other meats, plus the olives, dried tomatoes etc. that one would use for a picnic or an antipasto plate. It also has a few tables to sit and eat / drink / talk. Hopefully the new Fiorita deli in Karratha will get to this standard.

We had some of those tables reserved for the 9 of us plus our tour guide, Florence.

Florence introduced herself, then went around the group and we all introduced ourselves. She then talked about growing up in the area and how it had become a real foodies paradise with many different types of food and drinks being made here. We then started sampling. We started with a sample of cheese, then a drink made from a sea buckthorn berry which then has some water, oxygen for bubbles and some maple syrup for sweetness added to it. Delicious and something I may try when back home. We then finished with a toasted cheese sandwich. It had, as expected, cheese; but added was a thin slice of prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes, and pesto. This really added to the taste, and it was good to have on a cold morning. We then headed out into the snow shower for our next stop.

Stop 2 was Om Prana, a Vegan Bistro. The owners had visited as tourists, a year ago, liked the area so much that they decided to move their and buy a business. They purchased a vegan restaurant and changed it a bit by making it a bistro and adding some other items not eaten by vegans, but have kept the vegan foods as well. We got to sample a Raw Avocado – Lime Pie. Our walking tour booklet even has the recipe in it. For vegan food, it was quite tasty. I generally think vegan and vegetarian food goes really well with a 400 gram medium-rare T-Bone steak so am unlikely to try the recipe myself. But that’s okay, to each their own. And with the range of ingredients and final products at the bistro, I think the new owners will do well.

After we left the bistro, we walked through the streets in the snow and had some information provided about some of the buildings and history by Florence. There are some very interesting stories and history behind these areas and Saint Roch itself has obviously come a long way from its past. The area in this photo was a shopping mall 20 years ago but is now more boutique shops below and condos above, as the shopping malls in the suburbs mean that many urban dwellers no longer need to travel into the city.

This building – originally built as a factory – used to be a place where ladies of the night plied for trade, drug dealers hung out and generally was a no go area. To clean the place up, an art school was developed nearby and artists were moved into it. As urban renewal it worked really well.

The next stop for us was Noctem Artisanal Brewers. It had a large dining area, with a bar to the side and the brewing room at the back behind glass. So we could see as one of the owners was in testing some of the brew (mainly by sight and smell) whilst we were there. It was a nice clean spot and we started by having a glass of their IPA. It was a mid straw colour with a low aroma (that I could smell) and a slight sourness but with a herbal and nut feel to it. Tasty. To go with it, we had a small plate of pickled salmon and cabbage (I think it was), and I had a pickled salad whilst the others had black eyed peas, which I cannot eat. We then followed up with a stout. Very strong, very bitter with a nice long aftertaste. Whilst we were dining, Florence discussed the microbrewery scene (there are 4 in this area) and how they work together to an extent as they see themselves taking customers from the commercial breweries rather than each other. And in a place like this, customers can tend to go on a pub crawl, so they will visit each of the microbreweries and may then get hooked onto some of their products.

The next place we were heading to was dropped from our list, as it was a tea house and was very small, so with other customers in the store we would have gotten in the way. Or something like that. So then we headed down Rue Sainte Joseph to Chez Ashton. This started in 1969 as a little food van, and has grown into a fast food outlet. We went in and our food tasting here was Poutine, that great Canadian food, which it is said Mr Ashton brought to Quebec City. According to our host, it originated in Quebec and there are three small towns that claim to be where it originated from. It consists of French fries, cheese whey and gravy. Hearing the story of the three towns made me chuckle and think of pavlova. So this was my second time trying it. It is an interesting concoction, and is apparently similar to the kebab for those from Perth, that is: it’s drunk man’s food – you line up to buy it when the pub closes at 3am. And apparently here in Quebec there are very long queues for it at that time.

We then headed off to our last stop – the Champagne Chocolatier. Always a great ending to a tour. We got to sample both a chocolate, in this case a raspberry chocolate, and have a hot chocolate drink, in my case I had a dark chocolate drink. It’s usually stronger but has less sugar than the milk chocolate drinks. It was perfect for a morning wandering through snow showers. Then others then started buying gifts. Everyone else on the tour was from the USA and would be heading back within the next week. Any I buy I’d end up eating myself so I took the opportunity to thanks the tour guide and head back to the hostel. I didn’t hurry, I browsed around, looked in windows, at buildings and generally just taking my time. Even though it was lightly snowing, it was a pleasure to be outside in Quebec City at that time. It was a very enjoyable tour.

I got back to the hostel and browsed a bit through my photos and read up on some activities for Quebec City.

My next tour, the Ghost Tour of Quebec City, was to start at 2000 hours at 94 Rue du Petit-Champlain which was close to Saint Lawrence River, so I headed off around 1830 hours to scout the locations on the way for photos one night when I’d take my tripod etc. So I headed over to the top of the Quebec City wall near Le Chateau Frontenac – apparently one of the most recognisable and photographed hotels in the world – to see down the embankment to waterfront, and across the river over to the area of Levis.

With much of the wall around the old city mainly still standing, and the steep embankment around the waterfront, it can be seen that it was a very tactical position to establish the settlement. Quebec City was founded in 1608 by explorer Samuel de Champlain, although it had also previously been the site of a fort built by another French explorer, Jacques Cartier, in 1535. This initial settlement was abandoned not long after it was started for various reasons including unfriendly natives and harsh winter conditions. Tactical for a reason – there were many battles for it over the following 200 years. More of the history later.

So from the peak, I headed down L’escalier Casse-Cou (AKA the Breakneck Steps) very slowly so as to land at the bottom in one piece, still alive. The snow and ice on the steps make them somewhat dangerous in winter, so holding onto the rails for dear life seemed to be the way everyone dealt with them, and I followed suit.

I wandered over to the riverfront – the ice in the waters was just something else – and then made my way to Rue du Petit-Champlain. I met up with Trevor, our tour guide, around 1930 hours, which gave me the opportunity to wander around and look in windows and take more photos.

So we started at 2000 hours sharp. The tour turned out to be more about death and spooky stories than ghosts, here were a couple of those thrown in. Because (a) Trevor didn’t want us electronically recording his stories (quite rightly since he had done all of the research and was the entertainer not wanting it to be uploaded to YouTube), and (b) my iPhone battery died pretty quickly – it always goes flat in the cold – and I didn’t have a notebook, I don’t have as much info on this tour as on the last. Plus they are his stories so I’ll just go into a small number of them, a couple of interesting ones and a couple that are publicly available.

Herewith Thomas, our tour host, at our commencement point.

The first story he told was of a farmer who had been involved in an incident at a pub where a young girl was killed. This farmer had a wife and three children. The farmer was sentenced to death. The gallows was built in the town centre right near where we were, on the steps of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (more about this below). However, on the day of his hanging, the hangman dropped dead. Given the difficulty in finding hangmen due to the antipathy the community felt towards them – they were despised and ridiculed by everyone – the warden came up with an offer. The farmer could wait in prison until the hangman was replaced and he would be hung, or he could become the hangman himself and be set free. Naturally he took the latter option. This meant his family was looked down upon and so had to settle outside the walls of the city. Also, due to the community outrage and their treatment of the family, some of the kids became thieves, and on one date the hangman had to put his own wife in the stocks and watch the community throw rotten fruit etc at her. Obviously the role of hangman had some other duties.

Another story was a proposed murder of Samuel de Champlain himself, to allow for the taking over of the fledgling colony by the murderous crew with the aim of delivering Quebec to the Spaniards. The planner of this plot was by the name of Jean Duval, a locksmith, and he had plotted this with 3 other ringleaders, however there were also a large number of others aware of the plot. However, one of these others, another locksmith by the name of Antoine Natel got cold feet and had word sent to de Champlain about the plot. De Champlain met with Natel to confirm the details, and then set his own plan in motion. He had the 4 ringleaders invited to a ship of his that was in the harbour, on the pretext that it was to share alcohol with a group of Spaniards to congratulate them. All 4 attended the event, and were seized by those loyal to de Champlain. Duval’s body was then hung from a gibbet at the top of the embankment as a warning to others. At this time, the tour guide turned around and pointed to the spot the body, and then after, the head, was hung from.

One of the interesting stories told for mine was that of the Empress of Ireland (I was the only visitor who was aware of it due to my visit to Halifax). The Empress of Ireland is otherwise known as Canada’s Titanic. The tour guide talked through the story from the point of view of a couple of the passengers of this ship. It set out from the port in Quebec City on Saint Lawrence River at around 1630 hours on 28 May 1914, and included a theatrical team of husband and wife who were finishing a show and heading back to England. The wife was very worried about the journey as this was only two years after Titanic had set sail and sunk. After much justification and reasoning, her husband convinced her to take the trip. At around Rimouski in the early morning hours, the captain, Henry Kendall (promoted to captain of the ship earlier that month), and crew sighted a Norwegian ship (SS Storstad) on her starboard bow several miles away. SS Storstad acknowledged also sighting the Empress of Ireland. Fog then came down to cover the area. The ships continued to communicate using fog whistles. However something went wrong as at around 0200 hours on 29 May, Storstad ran into the side of the Empress of Ireland. Storstad remained afloat however the Empress began flooding and listed to starboard. It sank within 15 minutes, resulting in the deaths of 1012 people (172 crew and 840 passengers). The Empress had watertight doors, however there was insufficient time to close them in the 14 minutes. The reason that this story is part of the tour relates to Captain Kendall. In 1910 (four years earlier), he captained the SS Montrose for the Canadian Pacific Line. He spotted on the ship a disguised Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen (Dr Crippen being known and wanted for the murder of his wife and her burial in their basement) and his lover Ethel Neave, who was dressed as a boy. Kendall sent a message through to the British Authorities of his suspicions – the first ever use of wireless to capture a wanted person – they dispatched the Chief Inspector from Scotland Yard, who had interviewed Crippen before he fled. The Chief Inspector boarded the ship as it was coming into port, in the uniform of a ship’s pilot. He then made himself known to Crippen, and he then arrested him. Crippen then swore a curse on Captain Kendall. It was believed by some that the sinking of the Empress of Ireland was that curse being fulfilled. Except that in this instance, the captain did not go down with his ship. Captain Kendall was thrown from the ship when it keeled over, survived and lived to the ripe old age of 91.

The last story was set in The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, which was consecrated in 1804 and was the first Anglican Cathedral built outside the British Isles. We were able to sit in the pews inside the Cathedral (in the dark except for one candle) as the story was told. Apparently the Cathedral is haunted by a ghost. The ghost is a female who has been spotted by many people, especially organists who generally play at night when the building isn’t used for other things. At one time, the papers of the organist have been blown around on the floor, even though there is a screen to stop this happening. In the upper balcony is a seat reserved for the Royal Family, who have sometimes visited. And Queen Elizabeth the Second is said to have commented to the bishop of having seen a women in black walking around on a visit in the 1960s. There are a number of stories as to the woman’s history. One is of a nun who became pregnant, knew she would be unable to retain her position and so sacrificed the baby and buried it in the grounds of the Cathedral. When one of the ghost experts visited and spent some time in the Cathedral, after an organist raised this, he said that the ghost meant no harm and that to placate it the organist just needed to bring childrens’ toys with him when attending. The organist quit instead. Other stories of who the ghost is relate to the cholera epidemic. This covered a period 1832 to 1866, when there were a number of short epidemics. The story goes that a woman was so scared of catching the epidemic that she refused to go outside (cholera passed from person to person contact). When her husband had to go away for two days, he stockpiled enough for her and so she locked the door when he left and refused to open it for anyone. When the husband returned, his neighbours informed him that his wife had died from cholera and so they buried her. He refuted their claims as he said she would never go outside, or come to the door, so it could not have happened. Their belief that it did happen made him more upset, and he demanded that they unbury her so he could see for himself. They dug her up and found that she had died, but there were many scratching marks inside the container she had been buried in. The belief then was that she was so worried about cholera, that when her neighbours knocked on the door to check on her, she went into a shock where she was temporarily paralysed (it has been confirmed as possible), the neighbours thought she had died, and so they buried her alive.

So that was a spooky end to an interesting tour of the haunted properties and spooky stories, just in time for me to wander back to my hostel and jump into bed.

Today I head off to Quebec City. So after breakfast I packed my suitcases and caught a taxi to the Montreal Central Station. I had a coffee and read the newspaper until my train was called.

I boarded and loaded my suitcases and camera backpack in the shelves at the end of the carriage, and then sat down for the 4 hour trip. Mostly on the journey I listened to my “Your Deceptive Mind” course from The Greater Courses collection. I have about 25 of their courses on DVD or mp3 and am slowly working my way through them. This particular course is very interesting, and the lessons I listened to were mainly on pseudoscience, grand conspiracy theories, and denialism – rejecting science.

I took a few pictures out of the train window with my iPhone during the trip. One is of some houses beside the railway, another is of the mighty (iced-up) Saint Lawrence River alongside which Quebec City is nestled.

We arrived in Quebec City on time (1615 hours) and so I lined up with the masses in the cold to await my taxi. It came after about 20 minutes and so I caught it to my accommodation – Auberge Internationale de Quebec (the International Inn or Hostel).

After unloading, I headed down the hill (literally) to have some dinner. By this time it was 5.30pm. I chose an Italian Restaurant.

I had an entrée of Camembert croutons with honey and walnuts, followed up with a spaghetti and meatballs with vegetables (sliced capsicum and red onions), all washed down with a 2015 Chianti rouge. I only remember Chianti from my younger days being quite bitter, but this one was delicious.

I then headed back up the hill and went to bed.

 

 

 

Today is my last full day in Montreal, and my trip was to Parc Olympique (buildings mainly built in early 1970s to host the 1976 Summer Olympic Games). The buildings include:

• the Olympic Stadium (which after the Olympics became the home for various sporting teams, including Major League Baseball, Canadian Hockey, North American Soccer League, and now the Major League Soccer as home of the Montreal Impact;
• the Biodome (built as the velodrome for the 1976 Games);
• the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium (opened in 2013 – built to replace the Montreal Planetarium which closed in 2011.

Across the road are the Botanic Gardens, so that was also part of my plans.

I caught the train out to the Parc Olympique, and decided to head for the Botanical Gardens first, as they were furthest away, plus they and the Biodome closed at 5pm and I wanted to see through them both prior to that time. The photo here is partially the Olympic stadium with the Biodome in the background.

Visiting a botanical garden in winter, when there is a lot of snow, may sound like a silly idea, since there’d be no flowers, or water ponds / fish, etc. – everything would be (and was) covered in a good 30+ centimetres of snow. But they did have both an Insectarium and a Greenhouse open, and I wanted to see those.

I got into the Insectarium and went over to the bugs and butterfly section. As usual these are made up of display cases filled with insects pinned to the back board. I always like to see the butterflies and moths given their delicate nature, multiple colours and designs. I especially like the ones with what look like eyes on their wings. The displays were split between insects from tropical, temperate, and other zones as well as those that are generally out during the day separate from those out at night. I did enjoy browsing through the different zones and the glass cases with live insects of different sizes (including spiders and ant colonies).

I then headed over to the greenhouses. Like most of these that I have seen, it started with a tropical rainforest (which reminded me of the forest areas north of Cairns in Queensland), and then moved into different zones. Given the greenhouse was around 500 metres from the insectarium, my camera showed its displeasure of moving from very cold to the warmish temperatures and humidity you get with tropical gardens, by deciding to constantly fog up and therefore be of no use in this area. So I took it out of the bag and just let it slowly settle to the appropriate temperature – and used my iPhone to take some photos.

One of my favourite sections was in the arid zone, where there were a significant number of succulent species. I had not realised that the trade in these items had gotten so large that it has made it onto the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. I have been wanting to start a succulents as well as a native wildflower section in my garden next year, so I’ll be more wary of where the plants come from.

After this section I went into a zone that included bonsais and a Japanese and a Chinese garden. I was surprised to read that bonsai actually came from China (as penjing) and were introduced into Japan around 1000 years ago. The Chinese version apparently can have more than just one plant, sometimes a mini-garden, and sometimes miniature furniture. The Chinese penjing plants are also allowed to grow a little wilder than the bonsai, apparently. So I sat down for around 15 minutes to contemplate nature.

After I left the greenhouses, I headed back to the Olympic stadium. It was about 300 metres away but took a little over half an hour as a severe snowstorm with strong winds decided that that was the perfect time to come down. Luckily after about 5 minutes I came across an enclosed bus-stop to rest in.

Once I got back to the site, I entered the Biodome.

The Biodome has four sections with the aim to recreate the ecosystems from the Americas: tropical rainforest, maple forest, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Laborador coast, and Sub-Antarctic islands. It houses over 4500 animals from over 250 species, and includes 500 plant species. It was a very interesting tour, starting with the tropical rainforest (again) but this time with a range of animals including beavers and capybaras (a large rodent – hiding behind the tree trunk below) – again my camera decided to fog up so I took iPhone photos here too.

This section of the biodome (the Gulf of Saint Lawrence) had a range of animals, plants and aquariums in it to show a broad range of what it is like. I then headed into the aquarium section, which had a massive curved tank, I would estimate around 10 metres wide and 12-15 metres deep (front to back), and around 3 metres from the floor to the top of the tank. It had a wide range of fish of all different sizes (it wasn’t the only tank in the biodome), with a rocky section in the middle. There was a school of fish that swam around the aquarium, and so I took as video of them that I am thinking of putting to music. They took around 1 minute and 20 seconds to get from one side of the tank to the other.

The next section was set up with an “ocean” and rock mounds in the water, with a large mural of the ocean, sand and some hills as a background, with many seagulls and other birds inside. This one you would walk through, and some of the birds flew onto the wooden planking as I walked across. I reminded me of the beach (and I guess it was the area that represented the Sub-Antarctic islands). There was also some seating in this area, but no touch screens like in the previous sections to learn more about the plants and animals.

All in all, a very interesting experience and well worth a visit. When I exited the biodome, it was 4.30pm, and my first Planetarium exhibit was not starting until 5.30pm, so I had something to eat at the biodome café and then headed outside to take photos of the buildings with the sun down. I made the major mistake of deciding to leave my gloves off for this period, so I could take photos without having to take my gloves off and on and off and on, etc. . The air was extremely cold, and by the time I had finished taking photos, I couldn’t move my fingers, they were like ice. I raced into the Planetarium with visions of having to amputate some fingers off both hands, and it took 15 minutes of rubbing and massaging them inside before they would work again. I can now partially imagine how bad it is for those people who freeze to death on Mount Everest and other spots in the cold.

Whilst waiting for the first Planetarium exhibit (it would be a film) I wandered around the lobby and looked at the various bits of asteroids, mars rocks, etc. that they had in cases. There were some interesting stories of the finding of some of these fossils and bits of rock, as well as a replica of a piece that was around 275 million years old. Next I sat down at a screen with a lever and a button, and drove the Mars Rover vehicle around on the screen (with visuals of being in a crater on Mars) looking for water. It was quite fun, and I can imagine in a decade or so as Virtual Reality makes these games more real.

I then headed into the first of the theatres to watch a 25 minute film titled “Asteroid: Mission Extreme”, narrated by Sigourney Weaver. The theatre had a semi-spherical roof, with one row of seats on the rim and a bunch of bean bags in the middle. I chose to lay on a bean bag and look up at the screen. The premise of the film was that asteroids as well as posing a threat to humankind, also create an opportunity. With specialists having decided that humans cannot take a trip to Mars and return, due to the inability to take along the amount of fuel required for the return trip – could asteroids be used as supply points for future space missions? They could include some bits of infrastructure and either be cut through or blown through to access water, and convert it into hydrogen, or they could be like a mini-space station storage facility which could then be used to access the fuel – obviously needing the asteroids to be going in the right direction and travelling past at the right time to access the fuel. It is believed this may be necessary for us to colonise new worlds.

After that finished, I headed out to the café for small carton of milk to drink and then awaited the next exhibit. It was in another theatre, which also had a semi-spherical room, but with seats in about 5 circles, on an angle to look up at the screen. This exhibition was narrated by a gentleman in the middle of the room next to a large spherical object. It turns out that this was a large projector, and was used to project the Montreal night sky onto the roof / screen. It looked so clear, much better than you’d get looking outside even on a clear night. Two other projectors then overlaid other information, including the constellations, the milky way and various planets, and showing the different ways to find where you are and to find the planets at night. It was extremely interesting, however I’m still happy to use maps and GPS to find my way around. But I may look at taking some photos of the sky in the Pilbara when camping just to see how they go.

After this, I headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

 

 

Today was a rest day. So I used the morning to catch up on my blogs. I’ve found that whilst I can write in the evening, the photos will not upload into WordPress then – maybe due to me using the hotel wireless which is more likely to be used by many others at the same time. So now I do that in the mornings.

The only plan I had for today was (a) go back to Au Summet Place Ville Marie to take photos if the sky was clear (it was when I got up but was overcast and snowing by the time I got out of my shower),

and (b) take a walk down to the Old Port in the afternoon with the intention of being near the ice rink as the sun goes down for some photos.

So at lunchtime I headed down to the Old Port. There are lots of the old buildings from the 1800s and it looks great. In the right light, the photos come out well to but by this time the clouds were very grey. I did get some nice shots of partial buildings which again I’ll have a play with stitching together when I make some time to do so.

When I reached the Old Port, I headed over to the “fun” area. On the way, I took a photo of the berths that had all frozen up.

Then I reach the fun placed. They have lots of great things to do when the weather is fine, including a flying fox (zipline), jet boats, various other water craft, large shore-bound sail boats to play on, and smaller ones to hire, ferries, ice skating rink etc. Herewith one of the sail ships that you can play on. There was also a large black pirate ship, but I could not get to that.

And here is the ice rink when I arrived.The wires at the top right of the frame are for the zpline.

I then went and had a hot chocolate whilst waiting for the sun to go down. Then I wandered around and took a few photos.

This first photo is of the Point Jacques-Cartier Bridge – with a projection on the tower (there were short films of images moving, rather than pictures just rotating through), so I stayed to watch some of those.

Somebody had made a snowman (not me, my hands were too cold).

The Biosphere, musee de l’environnement. Unfortunately this was closed during my visit.

And a couple of photos of a part of the city through and including the ice rink. In the second photo you may just be able to see some of the snowflakes come down as another snow shower had just commenced.

After this I headed home. On the way, I popped into an Italian restaurant close to the hotel for dinner. I started off with my first taste of one of the great Canadian foods – mac and cheese (truffle infused of course). I had it with a side salad.

I then had a main course of mushroom risotto, finishing with a chocolate parfait and an Irish Cream coffee. The perfect end to a lazy day.

The sky was blue when I got up today, so I decided to head up to Parc Mont Royal (Mount Royal Park). I knew that there was predicted snowfall late this afternoon so I wanted to get up the hill before midday. It’s only a few kilometres from my hotel, and apart from the ice and snow turning into sludge on the footpaths, it would be a nice walk.

It looked like more snow had fallen overnight. The snow moving machines were still out this morning.

I took some photos as I ascended the tracks to the top of the Park. It was heavier going than I thought. There were nice easy pathways around the mount with very low gradients, but I wanted to get to the Chalet du Mont-Royal to get some good photos with a bright blue sky. Thus I took some of the steeper trails. At the bottom of the mount, the sky was about 80% blue, and 20% cloud. By the time I got to the Chalet, it was 100% cloud. Bummer.

But the reality is that I got so much enjoyment from the journey, that was what counted. So many couples, groups of friends wandering along the pathways, some skiers too. And on the way back, more skiers and a cyclist. They have bicycles with fat wheels that ride really well on the snow. Unfortunately the cycle hire shops are usually closed in December so I have not been able to hire one myself.

Some photos from the journey upwards.

 

In the second last photo (also in the last but not as easy to see), is the separation of the track for skiers (to the right) from those on foot or bicycle.

Some photos from the front of the Chalet.

 

The first of the above photos shows a plaque to Jacques Cartier (1494-1557). He was a French explorer who is known as being the one who claimed Canada (Iroquois word “kanata” meaning village) for the French.

I had unfortunately not layered my clothing properly this morning. My outside top was inside against my skin, with my inside top being outside. The role of the inside top is to keep the moisture inside so my outer top would be dry. Instead, after an hour at the summit, I was soaking wet and this was giving me chills, so instead of wandering over to the iced up pond on the top of Mont Royal, I headed into the chalet for a coffee and biscuit and then headed back down to my hotel to change.

I swapped gear for a new set of thermals and different jacket, and then headed off to the Underground City. Not having been there before, it took me a little while to work out how to get into the underground city. In the end, I just took the stairs of a hotel down to their basement and looked around for some direction signs. I was then able to follow a group of other people until I got my bearings (I had a map of the underground city on my phone to follow).

All of the large buildings in the city area have underground shops, linked together by tunnels, mostly filled with more shops (including some multistorey shopping centres) and the underground railway, but some being literal tunnels. These are linked together so that you can get around half of the city underground without having to walk along the streets with the snow, cold, wet etc.

I walked about 4 kilometres through the various shops and tunnels and train stations.  I don’t know how busy it is in spring and summer, but it was certainly extremely busy when I went for my walk.

I ended up at the Eaton Centre which is a 5 storey shopping complex with a food hall taking up most of the lower floor, and a max museum at the very top. I wandered around for about half an hour and then bought a newspaper and headed off to the food hall for dinner. I ended up at a Japanese stall and bought a beef noodle and vegetables plate.

The one thing I notice about the pricing here is that, even though Canada has a 15% VAT like our GST, unlike in Australia they don’t add it into any pricing that is advertised. You have to remember to add it yourself or they will ask you for it, and sometimes it takes a couple of seconds to remember why they are asking for more money that they advertise the good or service for.

The main items in the newspaper were Liberal fundraising, University hazing and initiation rituals and how bad they are, what voting system they want, and agreeing on the terms under which Canada is going to legalise marijuana. So nothing really different from Australia. The university initiation has been banned for a period of time due to one of the events being quite out there. But they don’t seem to want to ban them forever, instead only when the media gets hold of a story. So next year, it’ll all be on again in all likelihood.

I then wandered back to the hotel. On the way I took a few shots of Christmas decorations, and a pile of snow (scraped up by the machines into piles along the side of the road – presumably waiting for it to melt and flow into the drainage), outside the Bell Centre (home of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team). The rotating beacon that throws the light at the top of the first photo sits on the top of the Place Ville Marie, where the Observation Deck is also situated.

 

When I woke up this morning, it was snowing! And obviously had been when I looked outside the hotel and saw a large amount of snow on the streets, and some equipment driving along the pathways and the road moving the snow into piles by the side of the road.

The sky was covered in clouds, so I decided to take the opportunity to go out and take a few photos of some cathedrals no more than 6 blocks from my hotel. I had a plastic camera cover so I decided to take one camera, with a single lens, and my tripod.

The closest was Cathedrale Marie-Reine du Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral). Here are a couple of photos. Even though it looks like an old concrete building, in reality it has a spectacular presence.

 

I then headed downhill to the Eglise anglicane Sainte-Georges (Saint George’s Anglican Church).

I then moved on to Basilique Saint Patrick (Saint Patrick’ Basilica). This is a very well known Basilica in Montreal. And as I was pretty well covered in snow, after some outside photos I headed inside, removed the outer gear, then took some inside photos after which I sat down in the pews for 20 minutes of quiet contemplation.

The last of these photos is of a confessional. The Basilica has 6 of them. The woodwork was just magnificent.

Whilst each of these old churches / cathedrals are now physically dwarfed by modern buildings around them, they all stand out due to their architecture and overall magnificence compared to the glass and steel they are surrounded by. And to see them in snow and whilst snowing was just such a pleasure.

I decided after this to head over to the Summet Place Ville Marie (Observation Deck at Ville Marie Place). Normally this Observation Deck would provide amazing views. However, with the snow coming down, the visibility was down to around 40%. But the snow is due to fall for at least the next couple of days and I couldn’t see everything I wanted to see without going out during the snowfall. So I headed up there and below are a couple of photos. The visibility was definitely relatively short, and very grey visuals. But there was only a couple there, so I had space to sit down and watch the snowflakes as they floated past the windows.

Again, the outside looks a dull grey – which it was for me too. But I think this tells its own story. The snow has caused a significant amount of chaos in Montreal – fire trucks being used at accident sites, police officers directing traffic, tow trucks transporting vehicles for repair etc., so this is a snapshot of what it is really like in Montreal at this time.

After leaving the Deck, I wandered over to Quartier des Spectacles, to see the much maligned Christmas Tree. I guess it’s harder to see what the tree itself looks like with all of the lights etc. on it, but I think it seems fine. I also walked through the square, looking at the various animal features and little huts that are set aside for weekend festive events, and took a few shots on the way. It’s a really nice setup, and the snow makes such a big difference to the display. Getting here today was well timed.

This is the much maligned Christmas Tree. The tip broke off during transport. But it is a real tree and I think the locals want to keep it as is. Because it’s real.

After wandering through the square, I headed over to The Club for dinner. Most of the retail sector in Montreal is primarily conducted in French. The welcome is always Bonjour (Welcome), and as I indicate that I speak English by saying G’Day or Hello, the discussion changes to English. However not every discussion works out exactly as planned. For example, I requested a bitter beer for a drink to go along with my meal order, and I received a pitcher (ie. a jug of beer). I then ordered a meal of a Cuban sandwich and plate of poutine. This is my first sample of poutine, the mix of chips, cheese and gravy allegedly invented in the 1970s. It tasted exactly what you’d think it would taste like.

Anyway, I stayed on and finished the pitcher of beer, it tasted okay as a beer, and then walked back to my hotel (16 blocks) and then again headed off to bed.

Today was a beautiful day (minimum temperature -12C, maximum -3C so it was time for a wander around Montreal. I had breakfast at the hotel and then headed off to the Old Port to visit the Pointe a Calliere Museum of History. The museum is built on archaeological sites, which are able to be walked through in the basement.

The museum was named after Louis-Hector de Calliere, the Governor of Montreal from 1684-1699, and then the Governor of New France from 1698-1703 until he died at the age of 53. New France was an area that partly covered by what is now Canada and United States of America. He built a chateau on the Point. The museum also had artifacts from the building and the tools used by the family.

The first item I come across is the Fort Marie-Ville Bell (the Fort is one of the archaeological sites presented in the museum which was placed in this area of Montreal). The bell is a replica of that which was situated at the Fort’s chapel.

The next item I came across was an exhibit on the treaty of 1701. The main indigenous peoples of the area were the Iroquois, and they had ongoing battles for decades with the French. Governor Calliere issued an invitation to the indigenous groups (around 1300 representatives of approx. 40 of the First Nations groups attended) in the hope of achieving peace. With behind the scenes negotitations, bartering of goods and some famous speeches, agreement was reached and a treaty was signed on 4 August 1701.

A big part of the underground displays were showing a series of the lives of the Iroquois and artifacts of tools etc. that they used. Herewith below a photo of the kinds of cooking, heating and other day to day activities, especially by the women who were the heads of the family.

There were also some displays of the role of male Iroquois in their society.

Another interesting point in the underground display was an actual part of the original sewerage system created in the 1700s. It smelt sooooooo good.

They also created some under glass presentations of what the Point looked like based on their archaeological findings across 6 different time periods. It wasn’t possible to get photos directly over these displays, but I did get one from the front, which I can hopefull’t possible to get photos directly over these displays, but I did get one from the front, which I can hopefully manipulate on the computer some time in the future. For example, here is one from 1734.

Here is a display of a pirates ship, made mainly for kids to play on and demonstrate the different skills of pirates etc. This is part of an exhibit called “Pirates or Privateers”, which is meant to allow people to see whether they have what it takes to become a privateer. The privateers were armed private vessels authorised by the King of France to engage with enemy merchant ships during the period around the British-French war. The kids seemed to be having fun. I had to wait around for a while to get a couple of photos without them and their parents in it. I hadn’t brought my Photo Release forms.

I then headed off to the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal on the other side of the city. On the way there, I stopped off in an upmarket mall to take some photos. It seemed others had the same idea. There was a bunch of people in different character outfits who were having photos taken. I also saw Medieval Santa, North Pole (20th Century) Santa, and 21^st Century Santa.

Medieval Santa was from 12th Century Europe where he travelled on foot from his hamlet to deliver gifts, at a time where castle doors were left open to welcome weary travellers.

North Pole Santa is the one that generally we have been brought up with, the jolly grandfather figure who keeps his list of naughty and nice children, manufactures toys and gifts with his elves, and distributes them across the world on Christmas Eve.

21st Century Santa has advanced because his job is international, using technology such as a smart phone and iPad (see his left hand) to keep track of children, toys, and events. The silver thermal flight suit apparently helps fly quickly through the night air.He now travels in a sleek ultra-hovercraft.

I then continued on to the Musee des beaux-art (Museum of Fine Art). There were 4 different exhibitions, so I went into the Robert Mapplethrorpe – Focus: Perfection exhibit. Having seen some of his later work and recall reading somethine at the time (1990) of the Cinicinatti Art Gallery being charged for onscenity by displaying some of his photos at the time.

It was interesting to see his early  interest in photography and also in its use for design – since that’s what he studied before getting into photography. And his friendship with Patti Smith, a great singer in my opinion – I saw her last week in a tribute to the late Leonard Cohen. Who was from Montreal. There is a tribute concert here for him which I tried to get a ticket to, but it was sold out in about 10 minutes.

Anyway, back to the Mapplethorpe exhibition. Here are a few photos from the exhibition. I haven’t included any of his later work with the gay community or BDSM as they weren’t really my cup of tea. He had quite a good range of skills and by (a) having patrons relatively early in his career who could procure him the top quality equipment to undertake what he wished to do, and (b) by understanding that he would succeed better by controlling much of his photography in his own studio, including working with and placing the subjects, developing and printing his own outputs, he was able to oversee his own career. His ability to communicate with different society groups from the gallery owners and purchasers of art to the more bohemian subcultures, allowed him to expand his horizons and build quote a strong career, and also to experiment in areas outside the normal range of photography. Herewith a couple of more of his clean photos.

After the museum, it was getting dark so I headed back to my hotel.

I decided that I would like to grab an English language newspaper to read at breakfast the next morning so I went downstairs to the front desk and found that they were all in French. So I went on line to look for grocery stores and headed out to grab a newspaper. The first one didn’t sell papers, the second only had them in French, the third had them in French and Chinese, and the fourth only had French. That was two and a half kilometres of walking. Luckily I did in the end find one that sold English newspapers, and it wasn’t on my list. It is also open 24 hours per day so I can go and buy one before breakfast if I want.

I then found a nearby Taiwanese restaurant selling main meals for $10, which is fine with me, so I had dinner there and read one of the newspapers I had purchased. One of the articles was a story about a Buzzfeed article and whole social media story that has grown up around the “tall, skinny’ scraggly” Montreal Christmas Tree being voted the “world’s ugliest Christmas tree”. So I will be heading over to the Quartier des Spectacles to check that out.

After dinner I headed back to the hotel and off to bed.