Québec City Part Duex

 Happy Halloween! I wan't sure if Halloween was a thing in Quebec but it sure was. 

The morning walk was just beautiful, clear skies and sunshine but still cold in the 30s. You can see evidence of melted snow every where. Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is in the background. 

One of many shopping squares.

This picture was taken after dinner which seemed even colder to me with no sun and the clouds were back. I had my hat pulled down as far as it would go. 

I told Michael I was not leaving Quebec without eating crepes so tonight we went out for crepes; one savory and one sweet, Nutella of course. A sweet ending to a perfect vacation. Au revoir!

Québec City, Canada

Bonjour! Bienvenu Quebec. We spent the day with Michael's childhood friend Charles and his wife Chantal, they could not have been nicer. We were treated to a wonderful day. It was so helpful to have friends with a car as it kept us warm since it was snowing most of the day. 

We started our day at a local cafe that was off the beaten path. My cappuccino was so pretty I had to take a picture. 

Chantal took us shopping at all her favorite shops. We picked up ingredients for our lunch. It was very helpful to have French speaking friends. 

Shopping in the snow which was light but still cold. 

We got one nice snow picture. 

This was our lunch feast. We bought 4 kinds of cheese, 3 kinds of bread, pâté and salami. Chantal added grapes, olives, pears and wine from home. It was all good and we ate too much.

Chantal explained that these dishes were her great grandmother's, they are Victorian china. Nice piece of history. 

Charles and Chantal treated us dinner at a new trendy restaurant. This was our starter and it looked like a work of art to me so I took a picture. It tasted as good as it looks. 

The four of us at the restaurant after dinner. It was a perfect day. They were so sweet and giving, inviting us to their home and taking us places. Michael and Charles are plotting our next visit. To be continued. 

Saguenay, Canada

We are on the home stretch now, stop number four in Canada, in the city of Saguenay pronounced suh.goo.nay. Winter showed up early in Canada and it was snowing slightly and the temperature was 37 degrees 🌨 In the morning we walked around a bit but it was so cold, I was wholly unprepared for winter weather. In the afternoon we had a tour, in a warm bus, about local artisans.

Despite the hat, coat and gloves I was still cold. I had to borrow some wool socks from Michael and one of his wool sweaters.

First stop was glassblowing. Master Giuseppe Benedetto did a demonstration of a glassblown Beluga whale and a hummingbird. Michael and I were fans of the Netflix show Blown Away so we were familiar with the techniques. 

Next stop was Fromagerie Boivin, a family enterprise that produces nearly 5-million pounds of cheese annually. We got to taste three kinds of their cheese. 

Last stop was the Alpaca Bersi where we fed alpaca, met some cute goats and kept warm by the outside fire. 

These goats looked suspiciously like cows. 

Finally, these were our table mates Diane and Jim and they were wonderful. We enjoyed having all our dinners with them. They were so generous, they gave us 2 bottles of wine and some sodas. They are from Ohio and we are already cooking up a trip to see them. 

On our last night at sea, our travel agent gave us a surprise, we were gifted dinner at one of the specialty restaurants on board Chops Grille. It was a wonderful meal with 4 courses and the service was great. And this ends our cruise portion of the trip. 

Portland, Maine

Michael says "This is a cute town" and he was right. I thought this park was charming and showed the fall foliage.

Downtown Portland. This statue is Our Lady of Victories erected 1891.

My ongoing library project. This Portland library was recently renovated in 2010 at 7 million dollars. It was an impressive and lovely library. We looked around inside and visited the Why We Make Comics  Reflections on Storytelling exhibit. 

Eastern Cemetery is one of the oldest and best examples of colonial graveyards in New England. The burial ground for Portland's earliest settlers (mainly English colonists who began arriving in 1632), it was declared a public burial ground in 1668 and was in use for almost 200 years. It is on the National Register of historic Places, and is designated an historic cemetery by the City of Portland. 

Evidence of Fall Foliage in the cemetery. 

Lincoln Park established 1866. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Portland Freedom Trail. There were statues throughout the city documenting the history of the freedom trail. 

The Maine Jewish Museum was also a working synagogue. We learned there are 8 thousand Jews in Portland. This synagogue contained 3 congregations; one Reform, one Conservative and one Modern Orthodox. I am not sure how they balance it all. The museum which also has art exhibits helps fund the congregations. 

It was a lovely building with stained glass windows, beautifully maintained wood and the ceiling was painted like clouds. 

Lunch was at a place called Duck Fat. We had these fries that were you know fried in duck fat served along side some truffle ketchup. Michael washed it down with some beer. We also shared a lobster roll. 

We really enjoyed our time in Maine and look forward to coming back someday. 

Boston, MA

 The weather was beautiful in Boston, no rain and plenty of sunshine. It was cool in the 50s but comfortable to walk around, made for a very pleasant day. 

We started our day at Michael's selection, the MIT Museum for the geek in all of us. We expected science history but we didn't expect so much art. 

This was cool. Whale sings its own 200-year-long song inspired by the compositions of Hildegard von Bingen and the songs of bowhead whales. 

This I thought was funny by Arthur Ganson called Machine with Wishbone2.0 from 1988. The wishbone actually walks forward, very funny. 

tRNA Model 1975.

We spent a bit of time in Boston Common area which was founded in 1634. 

We wizzed through a historical grave site which included Benjamin Franklin's grave and John Hancock's. 

We ended our day at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It was wonderful and we enjoyed seeing all the history. 

Redding California

 Michael ever the tour guide planned our trip with these adventures...

First stop Behrens-Eaton House Museum. The home was built in 1895 and sold to Charles Behrens in 1898. Richard Behrens Eaton was born 1914. He graduated from high school in 1930 at the age of 15. He attended Stanford earning his law degree. Richard served in the military from 1940-1946 and remained in the reserves until 1974. In 1951 Richard was appointed a Superior Court Judge of Shasta County a position he held for 25 years. He died in 2003 in this home at the age of 88 after living here for 84 years. Since he spent so much of his life here, he wanted his home to be preserved as a Victorian museum. 

Continuing on my quest to visit local libraries, this is the Redding Library which was quite big and impressive. 

Sundial bridge

Sacramento River

Debra's backyard. She has a lovely deck with a table and chairs. We enjoyed our time outside.  

Our attempt at a selfie. 

On our long journey home, we stopped in Sacramento for the day. We did the self-guided State Capitol Museum. I don't think I have ever been before or at least I don't remember any school trips here. We also went to the Museum of Medical History which is run by Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. There was a lot of stuff.

A good time was had by all. We look forward to going back and visiting again.