July 12: Montreal

We had breakfast this morning sitting outside overlooking the lake and saw a majestic blue heron fly over. Success! Our destination today is Montreal, we are headed south southwest, away from the Atlantic – it is amazing to think of us cruising the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The weather is incredible with warm sun and crisp breeze; I have my fleece jacket on again but am barefooted. The sky is a keep blue decorated by puffy white cotton balls.

And we did see the boat race. As we headed south (back past Sorel), the river was full of boats. Some were fishing, but many were spectators waiting for the racers. We were headed in the opposite direction of the race, but it was in open water, and the speed boats come through – aerodynamic, zooming, engines roaring, and wake spray surging. They were very spread out, so we kept seeing them for a while. In what we thought was the middle of the race, a Canadian coast guard boat with its siren booming came flying through along with a couple of boats with yellow flags. These were followed by 8 to 10 speed boats all on plane. We were not sure if that was a separate event; we will have to study up on boat racing.

Late in the afternoon, we decided to squeeze in a short visit to Vercheres. Our guide book talked about the bronze statue of a 14 year old girl on the waterfront there and I wanted to see it. Her father (Vercheres) was given the land by King Louis XIV of France in 1672 and he built a fort and settled there. Later while he was serving in the garrison at Quebec City, the little settlement was attacked by Iroquois Indians. His daughter, Madelene, took command of the local settlers and bravely defended the fort for a week until relief arrived. The statute of a slim young lady wearing a hat and holding a long rifle is in her honor and is quite imposing. There is also an old stone windmill which we also saw dating back 150 years. We docked there at a very short landing with a lot of on-lookers, and asked if it was okay to dock there for a short while. No one seemed to know, so we got our grocery shopping baskets out and stared into town. One of the gentlemen on the dock came up to us and we chatted briefly about our boat and where we were going. He spoke very little English and we spoke very little French. Parting, we headed up the street; then a few minutes later, he came up to us in his car with his wife and indicated that we should get in his car. Apparently he was willing to take us to the store! They chatted away in French, and then indicated that they would wait for us to take us back to the bateau (boat – was a word I knew!). They were very happy and very kind to us. Isn’t it wonderful to find loving people in a distant land.

Coming in to Montreal, we passed the huge loading cranes of a commercial port and several large freighters adding to the rough churn of the river. Then we came under the Jacques-Cartier Bridge where we left Montreal on the train last Tuesday – so have been full circle. Tonight we are docked at the Montreal Yacht Club just under the clock tower. Even behind their floating breakfront, there is significant rocking wave action. But we can already hear the music and know that the French Canadians will be partying tonight. We walked through old Montreal back to Jardin Nelson, the crepe place where we ate before, and sat in the back where there was a jazz quartet playing in the open garden – what a wonderful dinner. Then dashing back to the boat, we had front row seats for the extravagant fireworks show over the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Apparently the local radio station had choreographed music with the fireworks show because all the boats around us provided us with stereo music dramatizing the beauty of the flashing sky. Check out a little sample on Youtube -