Wednesday, June 16th Quebec City to St. Anne De Beaubre Performance

Wow, did I ever know that Anne was the Mother of Mary?  I guess, being a convert and not being instructed in the Baltimore Catechism would account for that.  In the Baptist Church we read the bible a lot, and we heard the story of Jesus's genealogy, but never heard of Mary until the Gospels and the Annunciation.  Didn't hear much about her after the resurrection either.......wonder where Mary went/what she did after she lost her son.

St. Anne is the mother of the Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus. Mary's parents are not named in the Bible, but a very ancient tradition gives their names as Anne and Joachim. St. Anne first appeared in Christian writings around the year 150 AD, when her cult first took root in the Middle East. Devotion to St. Anne developed in the West after the 8th century and was very popular in France at the time of the settlement of Quebec.  (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/canada/sainte-anne-de-beaupre)

Well today we went to the shrine of St. Anne De Beaupre.  It was beautiful.  We sang and had a tour of the Basilica. I would love to return to this shrine.

On to Ottowa

Another long day on the bus........we all played the "napping game".  Stopped at for a prearranged lunch at the "Freight House Restaurant" in Syracuse.  To save time, and get us to our destination (Ottawa's  and the tour director couldn't find anyone home.  The restaurant was in an old train depot, which from the backside looked like the pigeons had inhabited it for over a decade. 
So we wheeled the bus around very narrow streets to a fueling station so that we could find out if this truly was the right place.

Napping Camp

What a very Very long day yesterday.
We got into our hotel about 10:30+ after a dinner at the "Sugar Shack".
This was to be a traditional meal treat.  It was a long way to go for a
bunch of Wisconsinites to Learn about Maple Syrup.  There was a
lot of music and

Quebec City

I have to tell you that I was very, did I say "VERY", tired when we had free time in Quebec City.....I napped during our free time.  Most of the choir did "napping camp" on the bus; but, I missed walking one of the most beautiful cities that we stopped at for the need to rest.  I will add some of the photos that I took while on the city tour from earlier this day.  Hope you enjoy.

If this is Thursday, where in Canada are we?

Back on the bus...........and on to Montreal!  Again pressed for time, the bus stopped at he hotel just to drop off our bags, then we went on to the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum.  We learned about a pioneer woman who helped bulld the city of Montreal.  She was a nun who cared for the sailors, taught the children, took in young women and prepared them for pioneer life.  The museum tour was very well presented and the view from the top was magnificent.  69 + 20 -89+ 24, but who is counting stairs anymore?

This Evening we went on a Dinner Cruise.  We were late for the bus pickup which had the driver speeding thru evening & construction traffic.  We were told the Boat wouldn't wait for us, but we stood on the dock for about a half hour before being escorted into the boat, and then waited for another group of people who were quite a bit later than us.  : )  The evening didn't start out very well, and didn't end very well either.  The noise level was about 20 decibles above deafening.

The quote of the day:  after being served our drinks at the table we all raised our glasses to toast the evening;
                                 one of the members raised his empty glass and said, "this is Very Dry White Wine!"

St. Anne De Beaupre

With a lazy morning under our belts, we hopped on the bus and rode out to the shrine of St. Ann De Beaupre.
We got there a little early and needed to wait until our scheduled time to perform.  We were able to explore (and take photos).  We gathered to warm up outside of the building and it felt good to be singing again.  We then were invited into the church for our performance.  I think it was well received.  Visitors sat and listened and also clapped after each song.  After the performance we enjoyed a guided tour of the shrine.

We then doubled back and had lunch at Mannoir Montmourency which is at the top of a very steep hill.  We all got on a gondola at the bottom and were enjoying the Montmourency Falls (which are higher than Niagara
Falls, but not as large) as we ascended.  We did a little walking and talking and taking photos before lunch.  As always the meal was very very good and a pleasant sharing.

Upon returning to the hotel, I promptly took a three hour nap, waking just in time to join the group and eat yet once again (this eating is becoming a bad habit, but a very delicious one).

He Haw, Rickshaw Rides

Many in our group were concerned about having the rickshaw ride, only because they worried about those "kids" pulling us around Ottawa.  It turned out to be a very pleasurable experience.  We had about a 45min.
ride and lots of laughs.  The "pulling team" were great to work with, young people all in college working for
the summer in this very creative job.

Quote of the Day:  As one of the rickshaw drivers was going over a curb our tour director asked if it was
hard to go over the curbs?  "No, he said, " it's a shallow curb".........oh, she said, "So it's a MAN curb!"


 
We then re-embarked on the bus and road across the highways and byways to Quebec City.  A very nice young man gave us a walking tour of the old city, and answered many questions.  He was dressed in period clothing from about the 1600's and gave a very complete overview of the history and settlement of Quebec.
 

This tour lasted so long that we remained on the bus and went directly to dinner.  This made for the third day in a row that we were on the bus from early in the morning until very late in the evening.  People were very tired, and somewhat crabby (me more than others, so I have insight on the mood of the evening).  Dinner was at La Sucrerie  Blouin.  The Sugar Party was all things maple sugar.  We had a very late beginning, dinner didn't get started until after 8:30pm and therefore a very late ending to the night.  I overheard the tour guide report to someone that the group was tired and crabby  .As a result of the natives being restless we were blessed with a later wake-up call for the morning, and we need not put our luggage out as we were staying at this hotel for 2 nights!

Quote of the day.........."Be sure to put Maple Sugar on it"!

On to Ottawa

Another long day on the bus.  Most of us played the "napping game" very well.  We were running behind our time line and so the tour guide called ahead to the "Freight House" restaurant and inquired about menu selections so that we could decide and order ahead to
save time.  She dutifully offered each member of the tour the choices and took all our orders.  She then phoned the restaurant and informed them of our choices so they would be prepared and we could be "in and out" with sufficient speed.

As we arrived in Syracuse and found what we thought was the freight house, it looked from the street as though it had been deserted for a Loooooong time.  The tour director jumped out of the bus and went pounding on the door with no answer.  "What is this, I just talked to them on the phone?"  Are we at the right address?  All backseat drivers agreed that it was the correct address, "but let's just have a look around, maybe they moved".  So we took this very large bus through very narrow streets of small town America and found a gas station.  There were two nefarious charactors on the sidewalk and we suggested that the tour director ask them where the restaurant was.  "No, she said, I am going into the station".  As she stepped off the bus a very loud miniature Cujo dog, jumped out from behind the bushes barking viciously at her and "scared the crap" out of her.  Well, she was informed that we were at the correct place and we found a different door open and gracious waitstaff anticipating our arrival.  We had a great and speedy lunch and headed on to Ottawa.

We arrived at the Notre Dame Cathedral about 4:00pm with a wonderful
docent there to give us a tour.  This man offered us a unique look at the
magnificence of this place of worship.  We were there for about an hour and could have
stayed all day listening to the history and being awed by it's beauty.

OH Canada, OH You BEAUTIFUL Falls!!

Nothing can outshine the beauty/power/magnificence of the Niagara Falls.  Riding on the Maid of the Mist was absolutely breathtaking.  It was as if the falls were coming down to nuzzle you on the cheek.  The mist wasn't always gentle, but definitely enfolding one in the embrace of the Church's most significant symbol,

water. 

Many miles spent overland on the bus bringing us all closer to each other as a choir and as a community.

We sang for mass at St. John's Cathedral in Cleveland Sunday Morning.  At that time many of our Choir Director's family were there to share the music as we sang, Sing Joyfully.  It is a magnificently beautiful Cathedral and it was a beautiful expression of our music.

Gotta go, the bus is humming..........
Quote of the day.........."what is the tour director doing in the back of the bus with Him for so long?
                                    She is debriefing him!!!"

Going into Amish Country on a big, did I say BIG BUS?

Our bus was late, cause our tour director lost her wallet.......was frazzled, but regained her authority and was after us for the rest of the day if WE were late.  Arrived at the Blue Gate Restaurant for lunch at 1:00pm.
Had a large lunch, but I skipped out on desert (no, had Liz bring it in a carryout) and took some photos of the area.  Hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and arrived in Cleveland in time for a fine Italian restaurant. 

Quote of the day:  "We're a perfect couple she gets the cucumber and I get the tomato."
                            
well, I left my external hardware on the bus-so no pics until tomorrow.........
I brushed my teeth with body lotion
and lost and found my passport.

Had a great day!

Program Information