Evening in an office building near old town Montreal.
Surrounded by structures built in the 1800s this window stood out one evening.
You can see many other interpretations at the original post. Or check out a few of my favorites (so far anyway) here, here and here.
And don’t miss this one, it’s a little different!
You have until next Friday to show us the grids near and dear to your heart. I’d love to see what you come up with!
Card catalog at the Parliamentary library in Ottawa Ontario.
Old City Montreal.
I’m getting behind again, I can just feel it. So many photos, so little time. Let me try to give you the abbreviated version of what we saw in Montreal. You already saw two places in yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday; the Notre Dame church and the City Hall, both lit up during the night.
We enjoyed walking around the old city in the lovely warm night air, listening to musicians singing and playing instruments, the notes echoing from the beautiful buildings up into the starlit night.
As we wandered the narrow streets many restaurant and bar windows were open, the customers turning into advertisements for the fare inside.
Waiting for a table or just enjoying a drink?
Evening darkened the square in front of Notre Dame; a horse and buggy team stopped for a rest and a chat.
Break time.
We had a wonderful dinner at this restaurant and I loved how the lights were glowing as we walked back out into the street.
Warm light on a warm evening.
Then we wandered down by the river, enjoying the lit buildings as we people watched the other tourists.
More lights.
In the morning we walked one last time through the narrow streets. There weren’t so many people out and about as the night before.
Out for a morning stroll…or on their way to work?
We stopped to see the inside of the Notre Dame Church. It’s spectacular.
Awe inspiring.
Then we headed over to the Biospehere, the old Expo 67 United States Pavalion which is now a museum discussing how humans have changed the world’s ecosystem.
Memories of 1967
It wasn’t all good news. There are several exhibits including one that snows and rains on you. Another one has designer clothes made out of material that had been headed for a landfill.
Wonder what’s in that purse?
For all my dog friends, this dress was made out of what appear to be doggie bags…and not the kind you get at a restaurant. If you know what I mean.
But the best part about visiting the Biosphere was sitting out on the deck up top and looking at the Montreal skyline through the structure of the sphere.
There’s a nice cool breeze up here.
The skyline was pretty….but soon enough we had to move on.
Quite the view.
Gotta get some sleep. Tomorrow is Quebec.
Ottawa:
Montreal:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Ready, aim, fire!
Getting wet at Cave of the Winds.
But today we got up extra special early and have already walked 7 miles (11.3K) and we’re back at the hotel taking a nap before heading out for the evening. So I’ll see if I can give you the short version of what we’ve seen. (Click on any photo to see more detail.)
Riding Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls.
Do you remember the trip we made last October where we saw all sorts of lighthouses? Well this trip, once we got past Niagara Falls, where we played under the American Falls and took the boat ride into Canada’s Horseshoe Falls, seems to be all about forts built in the early 1800’s.
Learning about family life at Fort Henry; kids went to school until 14, then boys had to find a job in town or join the army. Girls had to get married.
And about the war of 1812 where, according to the Canadian guides we’ve heard, America invaded and wasn’t very nice to Canadian villages.
Fort Wellington never saw a battle, but sent troops out to fight in other local villages.
We’ve been driving up the St. Lawrence River through Ontario, headed to Montreal and Quebec. We saw a couple of freighters on the river, and, near Kingston, lots of houses out on quite small, rocky islands. Seems a romantic way to live until winter arrives.
Headed west on the river.
But right now we’re in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. We toured the Parliament building this morning.
Parliament Hill, with Peace Tower.
It’s beautiful inside, designed much like the National Cathedral in Washington DC.
Stone arches everywhere.
And it has a library that reminds me somewhat of the Library of Congress in Washington DC as well. Absolutely stunning.
It was very quiet in the library. We were in awe.
After the Parliament building we walked a couple of miles to the Laurier House, where two Prime Ministers of Canada lived, Wilfred Laurier and William King, 12 years apart. Lots of history here too.
Prime Minister King ran the country during WWII from his office on the third floor, preferring it to his office in the Parliament building!
And after that…we sat on the house veranda for a spell, letting it all sink in. Then we wandered back to the hotel, noticing the beautiful buildings of a beautiful city.
Built in different centuries.
Many different cultures and influences are evident in this city.
And a river runs through it. Actually a canal.
And now it’s time for a nap.
Resting our feet.
We are traveling, so I’m taking lots (husband says hundreds and he is right) of photos. I’m going to pick out a few from our first three days to show you monochromatic on vacation.
The first one is from our visit to Fort Niagara on the American side of the river.
Window with basket.
The second is from our visit to Niagara Falls.
Boat in mist.
And the third is from a marvelous spot in Ontario Canada called The Big Apple Pie Factory.
Green in red.
I knew about the challenge when we visited the apple pie store, so I took that last one on purpose. Even rearranged the apples in the barrel to my liking while no one was looking. I took full advantage of the permission granted to use a splash of color to set off the main values, especially on the apple shot, though I like the brown of the basket against the grey of the window too.
Looking through my photos I’ve learned that I take quite a lot of monochromatic shots. I think it’s something I’m drawn to, but I didn’t realize that until this challenge. You can go to the original post to see other people’s versions of monochromatic.
Thanks for stopping by!
See you soon!
I interrupt this delightful Canadian travelogue to show you something disturbing. Traveling on Ontario’s highways yesterday we thought we saw a very long combination truck. But it was getting dark, and we were trying to find something and neither one of us was sure that we had actually seen what we thought we saw.
Today we confirmed that yes indeed we had seen a very long truck. We came upon another one, this time we were behind it. It had a big sign across the back saying “Long truck.” And it certainly is. Here’s a photo of a third one we saw, this time parked at a truck stop.
Imagine trying to pass this on the freeway.
The trailers on single trucks in the United States are 53 feet long. The long trucks we saw here in Ontario have the 53 foot long trailer, and attached to the back is another trailer that is 41 feet long. It takes forever to pass it, and it’s inherently less stable, harder for the driver to control.
To give you an idea of the difference in size, here’s a photo of the same long truck, with a typical American sized truck parked in front of it:
See the difference?
The typical 53 foot trailer is attached to the red cab. Behind it is the long truck being pulled by the yellow cab. It sticks out in front of the red truck, and far, far out behind it.
In the US the American Trucking Association wants to get 33 foot long doubles approved. That’s up from 28 foot doubles allowed now, ten feet longer than what we have on the roads today. If Canada is allowing 53 feet + 41 feet (plus the space in between and the length of the cab towing the whole thing) I think it’s likely they’d like to be able to drive those right across the border and through our states as well. But the US laws are tougher than Canada’s laws, and we need to make sure they stay that way.
Twenty-eight foot doubles that we already have on our roads are scary enough. Thirty-three feet doubles are even worse, and might be the beginning of a push toward longer trucks. I didn’t know such long combinations existed, but I can tell you, having driven beside these things, that it’s scary to even think about them being on our roads.
And that’s why we have to keep fighting.
We started our trip near Niagara Falls, spending a lovely evening walking on the Canadian side of the river enjoying the falls, the lights, the beautiful night air.
Do you see the falls back there?
We even rode the giant ferris-wheel and got a fun view of the falls just as they were lit up for the evening.
Very large ride…and they sent us around 4 times!
We started today at a town called Niagara on the Lake. It’s unbelievably beautiful, especially this time of year. They have flowers everywhere! And the annuals are at peak right now. They have huge gardens in the medians, and along all the store fronts.
Let’s sit a spell.
I could spend this entire blog just showing you photos of flowers. But we must move on. On to Fort George, on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.
Our guide Courtney explains about life at the fort.
There we learned about life in the fort, especially during the time of the 1812 war. Life wasn’t easy. And though this fort and the fort across the river on the American side started out friendly things got rough when the British and the Americans decided they both wanted Fort Niagara for all sorts of political reasons.
Ft George was built of wood, never meant for defense. It was burned and the entire town also burned by the Americans.
It was interesting to hear the story told from the British point of view. On our way over to visit the American’s Fort Niagra we stopped at a monument for General Brock. It has 235 steps to the top; a narrow winding spiral staircase.
This is in a beautiful park.
You know we had to do that. It was a bit like running a marathon without training. Now I know for sure I’ll never sign up for the race they do up the stairs at the empire state building. As if there was any thought of doing that. Which there has not been.
After we found our way back down we headed over to Fort Niagara to hear the American’s version of the war.
Standing on Canadian soil looking across the river at Ft Niagara.
Our guide there talked about how the fort was designed. It was built of stone, by the French as a fur trading operation, then taken over by the British to control traffic on the river.
Notice our American guide is more casual than the guide in Canada.
Fort Niagara is beautiful, especially the officers’ quarters. There’s a room there, up on the second floor with a view of Lake Ontario that was begging for me to stay the night.
Guest room with my name on it.
We had a wonderful day. We more than met our 10,000 steps and 10 flights of stairs. I think tomorrow will be more of the same. My heart says go for it. My feet say take a break!
Stunning stone building protected by cannons.
I hope you will enjoy this trip with us. I wish I could show you all the wonderful things we saw. But I guess for you to truly understand you’ll have to head on up here for yourself!
Pretty in blue.
I’m a lucky person. I’ve had hundreds of good days and I’ve photographed many of them. Some of the very best days happened during trips; you’ve seen lots of them right here on this blog. It seems impossible to pick just one day, much less one photo from one good day.
Still, that’s the challenge.
Yosemite grandeur
So here’s a photo from a trip to California. We wandered Yosemite National Park during a misty chilly day. It was stunning, and not just at the famous and often photographed spots. Oh sure those were amazing, the waterfalls, the mountains, all were perfect even in the mist, but it was stunning everywhere we looked. And that’s what made that day a very good day.
Go to the original post to see other interpretations. Or check out a few of my favorites here, here and here.
Now take a moment and think about your life. What makes a good day for you? Share it with us, we’d like to see!
Walk into beauty
Tuesday evening I was lucky enough to be in northern Michigan watching the sun set. This is a closeup of the water as the sun sank below the horizon.
I couldn’t resist showing it to you.
Change Is Hard 