Month: October 2012

by

Meteorological Déjà Vu

Seven years ago, I was supposed to be in Virginia or on my way to New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Instead, emergency dental surgery made me delay my trip, keeping me in a safe area.

Tonight, Frankenstorm Sandy is incoming. If the warnings are not hyperbole, then the U.S. faces one of the worst catastrophes in its history. I was supposed to be in Virginia by this time. Instead, the accident that occurred at the end of April has led to the delay of my departure from Montreal, and my being in a safe area.

Everything happens for a reason, huh?

To all my readers on the east coast, I hope you are safe.

by

The Canadian War Museum (Very Briefly)

My eight year old nephew, R, expressed a desire to visit the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. I decided that it would make a nice day out for us and mentioned this to my mother. She came over last night to let me know that today was R’s last day off from school for a while and that he had nothing planned. So if I wanted to go to Ottawa with him, I had to decide immediately. Needless to say, I was on board!

I picked him up at about 8:30 this morning and we set off westward. Getting out of Montreal was tricky enough for R to actually worry about whether or not we’d make it. He was very relieved when we finally hit the open road!

I asked him why he wanted to visit the War Museum and his answer was delightful; he was just curious. He’d been to the Nature and Science & Tech museums already and felt that his education was missing a visit to this museum.

At some point along the way, the subject of lunch came up and I mentioned that we would be eating at a restaurant. His eyes lit up and he said, “Sushi!” Ah, R and I are kindred spirits! 😀

I really should have done some research ahead of time about Ottawa sushi restaurants as I didn’t eat sushi back then, strangely enough. Now that I think about it, I really can’t figure out where my sushi obsession came from, but I digress. At any rate, I decided to just head for the heart of Chinatown, where I knew I’d find several suitable options on Somerset.

We parked at the corner of Arthur right in front of Koreana, a Korean BBQ place that also serves sushi. R said that there was no sense going any further, or crossing the street, so that’s where we ate. We had a great lunch!

I ordered a combo meal with nigiri, tempura, delicious glass noodles, veggie pancake thingies, and more. R asked for ‘shrimp with rice’, which I correctly guessed was ebi nigiri without wasabi, as well as ‘cucumbers with seaweed’, which I also correctly IDed as being kappa maki. I thought that there would be more than enough food for the two of us, but I wound up having to order him another six pieces of the kappa maki, of which he ate four, and I had the last two.

What I most appreciated was that the meal came with a complimentary delicious miso soup and a bunch of Korean sides! I had a chance to try radish pickles (YUM), kimchi (it’s true what they say, the stuff needs to grow on you…), potatoes with a sweet glaze, and some unidentified tasty green veggies with sesame seeds.

Our Koreana spread.

Chinatown is tiny, but then again, so is Ottawa proper. But there’s no mistaking you’re there as the area has the ubiquitous arch:

The second to last time I went to the War Museum I actually left my car parked in Chinatown and hoofed it, a distance of just a couple of klicks, but I didn’t want R to be tired before we arrived. The last time I went to the museum, I lived just north of it in Gatineau, within even closer range, so I just ambled over.

So we piled back into the truck and I drove us down to the museum, which is located at the intersection of Wellington and the John A. MacDonald Parkway (no, dear, he did not launch the McDonald’s restaurants). I didn’t get to take a picture of the exterior, so I’m borrowing this one because the Canadian War Museum is housed in a spectacular building!

http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/cms_images/centennial_images/events/canadianwarmuseumnightview_530x352.jpg

Parking is underground and I worried that my truck wouldn’t fit. My mother scoffed at that, but my fear was justified. I had only a couple of inches of clearance from the lowest points in the ceiling, but my roof rack brushed against the clearance signs! I parked right at the bottom of the entrance since I just fit down the ramp and figured I could just squeeze back up.

There is now an admission to the museum, and it’s not cheap when you factor in parking. Admission for the two of us was $23 and then I had to add another $12 on top of that for parking!

The museum feels like a bunker:

Lobby area.

The theme of the museum is Canada’s place in global conflicts. So it starts right at the beginning with wars against the Native Americans and between European powers before Canada was even a nation, then moves to the Boer and First World Wars, the Second World War, the Korean and Cold Wars, and then modern conflicts. This year, there is a special exhibit about the War of 1812.

R liked this exhibit and the beginning of the main museum a lot because he is currently studying the Iroquois at school and he got lots of information for an upcoming project. He especially enjoyed an activity where we were shown how to do ‘wempum’ style beading like the native peoples did. It was explained to us that the beads and patterns all told a story.

Arts and crafts are fun! I beaded this purple and white key chain. 🙂

The interpreter teaching this activity told us to keep an eye out for a blue and white belt symbolizing two powers (as rivers made from blue beads) sharing one land peacefully (white beads). I dryly commented that Quebec could learn something from that belt and the guy burst out laughing. This is the belt:

We moved on to the US Civil War era, where I found my gaze falling onto a Gatlin gun. I still can’t believe that machine guns like these existed that early on!

the first machine gun, US Civil War era

The WWI exhibit has a fun bit where you can determine if you would have been eligible for service by making you check your height, foot arch status, eyesight (I’m apparently blind), and teeth.

We have normal feet; not flat, not over arched!

We spent some time at a computerized display listing all the Canadians who served in WWI. I typed in Henry Blake and my great-grand-father’s listing showed up:

My great-grand-father’s enlistment papers for service in WWI.

I tried to convey to my nephew that this was his great-great-grand-father and that he, R, wouldn’t be here if this man hadn’t existed, but I don’t think that sank in.

And then came my favourite exhibit. I remember seeing it at the old war museum way back yonder with my dad and it never ceases to fill me with a sense of awe that it is here, in Ottawa:

Hitler’s car

That caption is correct. This is the car you see in photos of Hitler standing in a car saluting his troops. Through some miraculous circumstances, the car survived the war and was shipped to Canada, where it is now available for all to see. That car gives me the shivers.

Believe it or not, R walked into this exhibit area and said, “Oh, Nazis!” He actually had a little bit of knowledge about the era and a sense of who Hitler was (“A very bad man with a little mustache.”) What amazed me the most was when I told him that the car is Hitler’s, he asked if it was “built for the museum to be like Hitler’s car or an artifact?” I was stunned! He casually replied that he’s studying artifacts at school and understands that some things in the museum are reproductions and others are real. Wow!

This exhibit also includes a captured Nazi flag:

captured Nazi flag

I was disappointed to not find the exhibit that completely ruined Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for me. In the movie, there’s a scene where Jones literally runs into Hitler and gets his autograph. ‘Hitler’ signs his name using a pointy A for Adolf. The old war museum had a bunch of documents signed by Hitler, showing that he made round As. (Yes, I’m a history nerd and this kind of detail fascinates me!)

There is also a sad reminder of Hiroshima in this exhibit:

This was a temple roof shingle that miraculously survived the atomic bomb while the temple itself was destroyed.

I rushed us through the more modern era stuff as R reads really well and some of the texts were very graphic, as were the photos. It’s all well and good that he learns about the dark side of human nature and another to bring him home completely traumatized. Moreover, I started to get emotional as we went through exhibits of conflicts that have occurred in my life time, including the Rwandan genocide and the current conflict in Afghanistan.

At the end of the exhibits, you can enter the ‘point’ of the building:

And then you enter a huge space filled with just about every military vehicle ever used in conflicts Canada has been involved in. R said this is what he will remember most, and with good reason. This section is impressive!

Just a tiny corner of the vehicle exhibit.

Me: “I want one of these amphibious German vehicles to tow behind my motorhome!” R: “You’ll need to go back in time and ask the Nazis for one. That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

Both of us in unison: “Hey, it’s the Bat signal!”

This vehicle’s front end was destroyed when it hit a landmine in Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Thankfully, the vehicle was so well armoured that everyone survived.

Just a few of the tanks on display.

R noticed that this tank was missing its chains.

We did a quick tour of the gift shop on the way out (he asked for and received a $1 post card!). By the time we headed for the truck, it was past 4PM and I had said I would bring him home by 6. So I called in with the change of plans and that we’d be getting supper en route.

Getting out of Ottawa was a little tricky because of traffic and construction, but I know that part along the Queensway so well that I just wound and wend are way around until we could finally get onto the highway. It was stop and go to the Orleans junction and there was a bit of construction along the way, so we did not make good time.

By the time we hit Rigaud, R needed a break so I decided to stop early for dinner. He wanted poutine and I decided that he’d had a nutritious enough lunch, so I agreed. We split one, but it wasn’t enough for him, so he asked for something I have seen in years, a pogo:

pogo

I think the English world calls these corn dogs. I can’t stand them, but R was thrilled with the treat. I’m just glad that’s not the first thing he mentioned to his mom when he got home! 😀

Today was completely off the cuff and unplanned, like a proper adventure. R is a great kid and I couldn’t have imagined a better companion today. It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone on a day-long adventure with a youngster and I enjoyed it!

by

Perhaps I Should Have Named My Truck Jekyll and Hyde

Yesterday, I brought my truck into the shop to have several things checked and fixed. I haven’t been driving it much because I knew the front bearings needed work. But, more worrisome, every so often, I would start the truck and it would make a weird electrical-type sound from the passenger side of the engine compartment. When I’d get to my destination, the compartment seemed hotter than it should be and there was an overheated smell.

My mother recommended Centre d’auto Chagnon on Périgny, so I called last week and booked an appointment for first thing yesterday. The mechanic and I went out but we could not reproduce the weird electrical sound. He then did a couple of test drives on his own and also couldn’t get the truck to make the sound. Except for the stuff I’ll enumerate below, he came to the same conclusion as Ken, that the truck is in great condition and he has no reason to believe there is anything wrong in the engine compartment. I basically need to do exploratory surgery (ie. spend tons of time and money running diagnostics) to find what ails my Ranger, if anything. Augh.

My list had:

– The weird sound. Not solved.

– Check front bearings. Checked and only the right one had to be replaced.

– Oil change. Done.

– E-brake light not working properly, please check the fuse. Turns out the e-brake line was shot. They replaced it and now the light is working properly and the e-brake is much more impressive in its ability to keep my truck stationary! 🙂

– Why is the headlight on the passenger side not working when it has been replaced? Turns out it was burned out. So I either didn’t replace it properly, or I have an electrical problem along the lines of my alternator over charging and shorting out things, which could make for an odd electrical sound and cooked smell… The mechanic said that if my light burns out again and the noise comes back, then I should start by having the alternator looked at.

The shop noted that:

– One of my battery posts was broken. Also, the battery failed a load test. I had thought to replace it when I bought the truck, but the load test results were okay, so I didn’t. This time, I went ahead and got a new one, plus a new post.

– My tires needed to be rotated. I had them rotated.

I picked up Moya this afternoon and was advised to take her for a long test drive, at least 50KM round trip, over a variety of roads, and at a variety of speeds to test all my gears. If I got any red flags, I was to either drive back to the garage immediately, or, worst case scenario, call them for a tow.

Of course, my truck performed perfectly on said test drive and I had such a lovely drive through the rural Montrégie under crystal blue skies and coloured trees. 🙂

I took route 112 east all the way to Rougemont, known for its apple orchards. There, I turned around and cut through Marieville to go circle Mont St-Grégoire, site of a lot of érablières/cabanes à sucres (sugar shacks). This mont is one of several that give the otherwise prairie-flat Montérégie its name.

Needless to say, I hadn’t planned on playing tourist today, so I didn’t have my camera. So these shots from my phone will have to do. I’m including a bonus one from an excursion into Montreal yesterday.

There is a Mexican restaurant in Montreal called 'Mex In the City'! LOL

There is a Mexican restaurant in Montreal called ‘Mex In the City’! LOL

Mont St-Grégoire is recognizable as an adorable little lump. The other monts, including St-Hilaire and St-Bruno, are a bit longer and more spread out.

Mont St-Grégoire is recognizable as an adorable little lump. The other monts, including St-Hilaire and St-Bruno, are a bit longer and more spread out.

Mont St-Grégoire

Mont St-Grégoire

I'm just a little late for fall colours, but there are still enough to remind me that we don't get colours like these out west!

I’m just a little late for fall colours, but there are still enough to remind me that we don’t get colours like these out west!

I took this road at random, thinking it would go around Mont St-Grégoire, which it did. But it also took me past one of the érablières I most often visited as a child.

I took this road at random, thinking it would go around Mont St-Grégoire, which it did. But it also took me past one of the érablières I most often visited as a child.

I’m going to make it a point to take the truck out more often in the next few weeks at times when the garage is open in case the noise comes back so that I can drive straight there and have the mechanic listen to it.

Ah, used vehicles are always fun. 🙂 So far, I haven’t had to put anything into this truck that feels excessive, and, even with the cost of purchase, I’m still at well less than what my car would have cost in payments alone for the last year of the loan. All is good!

by

Riding the Montreal Métro

I’ve always loved riding the Montréal subway. It’s called the Métro. When I was in cégep and had a few hours to kill, I would take the Métro in Longueuil and ride it all over Montreal just to look at the different stations.

The Métro has four lines: yellow, orange, green, and blue. Yellow links the South Shore at Longueuil to the Island with a stop in Jean-Drapeau Park where La ronde, a Six Flags amusement park, is located. Orange has a U-shape, running north-south in both the east and west of the city, connected at the south. Green runs east-west in the south of the city. Blue runs east-west and connects the east and west branches of orange in the north.

Montreal got its Métro for Expo ’67, a big shinding that celebrated Canada’s centennial. My mother remembers visiting the Métro when it was under construction. When she told me what station I would be taking today, I replied that it was on the blue line. She argued that it was on orange and that the blue was a recent new addition.

I thought that was weird, so when she pulled a map of the system out, I pointed to the station, saying that while she is correct and it is on the orange line, I was also correct as it is a blue line connector. And then I understood something. Even though the blue line has existed all my life since I started taking the Métro, for her it’s still the new line and therefore that the station is also on the blue line isn’t a fact she has absorbed yet. It’s really rather funny. I’ve never had a reason to ride the blue line, but I used to ride it for fun because it has the prettiest stations. But I digress.

 

Riding the Métro is easy. First, look for one of these signs at street level:

And make a note of the station:

You will descend at least one very steep staircase:

Now, you can either plan your route immediately by consulting one of the many maps of the system available, or you can buy your ticket and figure out your route within the system. I did not need to consult a map, so I bought my ticket immediately.

This is the only place where I noticed a difference from the last time I used the Métro. You used to buy a little cardboard ticket that the operator would slide to you. You then had to return it to him through another slot and he would manually open the gate to let you in. Now, he gives you a card that you have to put into an automated turnstile that will open when you take your ticket back, which you can then use as a transfer if you need to take bus. This eliminates the old system where you had to remember to get a transfer from an automated machine inside the Métro.

Once you are in the Métro system, you can go around and around in any direction for as long as you want as long as you do not take the yellow line and/or do not exit through the turnstiles.

Inside the Métro, I pretended that I did need to look at a map so that I could explain to you fine folks how to figure out where you want to to go.

On the big map above, locate where you are. In my case, I was at Jean Talon, which is a junction of the blue and orange lines on the east side. I wanted to take a bus to Chambly, which meant going to Bonaventure station, on the part of the orange line running east-west. My options were to take the blue line across to the west orange line and transfer, or to just take the orange line around to Bonaventure. The latter was definitely the quickest.

So I had to take the orange line from Jean Talon to Bonaventure. To make sure I got on the right orange train, that is the one going south then west towards Bonaventure rather than the orange train going north to Laval (a new extension to the line), I had to look for the terminus of the line in the direction I wanted, which was Côte-Vértu.

Now, the Métro is super user friendly, so they have another, clearer, way of showing you where you are and where you want to go once you determine what colour line you need to be on. They show the line in a linear fashion:

So now it was just a matter of finding my platform by looking for the orange Côte-Vertu signs:

On the platform, you will always find a map of the station:

And one of the neighbourhood around the station so you know what exit to take, where you’re going to end up above ground, and what buses are available (there is also a full bus map available showing all the routes in the city):

The stations all look pretty much alike, but some have pretty brickwork or mosaics. Jean Talon is ho-hum:

When you feel the rumble, the train is coming!

When the chime rings, the doors close and you’re whisked away.

I had 10 stations to travel and didn’t make a note of the time, but it took less than 15 minutes to get to Bonaventure station.

At your destination, look for the red sortie signs to make your way to the surface:

Bonaventure was aptly named for me tonight as it means good adventure. And a good adventure it was to find the bus terminal for Chambly. This town has always been a bit of the black sheep of the South Shore and the public transportation, and signage to it, has always been horrible. There were few buses on a Sunday night, one at 5:30, one at 7:30, and the last one at 11:30, so I gave myself ample time to find the right gate.

Getting off the Métro at Bonaventure, I exited the system through the turnstile, then used a combination of inadequate signage and memories of 15 years ago to make my way underground to the 1000 de la Gauchetière building, from which I knew I would find my way.

There is now a big skating rink in the atrium there:

In case you have any doubt which country I’m in right now:

Warning: Zamboni crossing

I was an hour early for my bus, so I checked my email as there is free wifi in the atrium, then I went downstairs to the bus terminal because the pounding music of the skating rink was making me feel queasy. Downstairs, I found the correct gate, which was easy since it’s still the same one! I remembered, correctly, that you can’t eat on the buses and when I realised I wouldn’t be home until 6:30 and I had more time to kill, I decided to brave the music to go grab a Subways sandwich upstairs.

The bus arrived on time and cost $7.75, which isn’t much more than I remember it being way back yonder. On paper, the 45 minute drive that passed through the Longueuil terminal and the Promenades St-Bruno seemed long, but it went super quickly. Before I knew it, I was dropped off just two blocks from home.

I wouldn’t want to ride the Chambly bus on a regular basis ever again, but getting back home from Montreal by foot, Métro, and bus Sunday night was fun!

by

Little Italy and Jean Talon Market, Montreal

Blog reader and occasional commenter Thierry wanted to meet up with me today to talk about some of the practical aspects of setting out on the road full-time in Canada. As he is based in a part of the city where my mother shops frequently, I asked if she was due for an excursion, hoping to get a ride in so that I could take public transportation out. Yup. So she dropped me off in Little Italy near the restaurant where I was supposed to meet Thierry.

As I had about an hour to kill, I decided to do some shopping. This being Sunday, a lot was closed, but the Italian grocery store Milano on St-Laurent was open so I decided to go pick up some treats. On the way there, I passed Anatol, a spice merchant. Being out of turmeric, I was tempted to go in, but I had a feeling my budget wouldn’t survive this shop. 🙂

Milano’s is a couple of doors down:

This store reminded me of one of my favourite shops in Ottawa’s Byward Market that I used to frequent often. It was full to the brim with wonderful products straight from Italy, as well as offering a full deli, cheese counter, fruit and vegetable section, and some North American groceries. Mindful that I would have to carry everything for hours, I made some careful choices of pesto, biscotti, gnocchi, Jerusalem couscous, and this awesome multi-coloured pasta:

I’ve been wanting to try squid ink pasta for some time, so this seemed like a non-intimidating introduction.

Heading back to the restaurant, I snapped a pic of iconic Montreal architecture:

Montreal is famous for these row houses with the huge exterior staircases in the front. Common lore from the time when the Church ruled Quebec with an iron fist claims that the staircases are outside so that neighbours could keep an eye on who was going into the houses to reduce moral depravity.

The other, more logical, claim has to do with the climate. While it might not make sense to have a big slippery staircase outside a building where it’s winter six months of the year, it does make sense to not waste energy heating an enclosed staircase.

I met Thierry at the appointed hour where I taught him the first lesson of his future life: that you need to be flexible in your plans. As it turns out, the restaurant was closed at lunch time! We walked around a little looking for a non-crowded place and he ended up directing us to the SoupeSoup lunch counter on Casgrain. It’s a tiny place serving up salads, soups, sandwiches, coffees, and desserts. The food was excellent and this was a great place to linger and chat.

After, we crossed the street to finish up the conversation at Jean-Talon Market, a large year-round market offering some of the best products from all over Quebec.

In the summer, there are a lot of exterior vendors, but there is an enclosed year-round space, too.

After Thierry left, I wandered around for a bit and finally splurged on some creamed honey and maple syrup, and ended up paying several dollars less than the sticker price because the vendor was closing up for the season!

There is something wrong with the maple syrup can. Can you guess what it is?

It was starting to spit after this, so I decided it was time to start heading for home. Tomorrow, I will introduce you to Montreal’s métro system!