Day 82: Still in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec
Day 82: Wednesday, July 6th: Bill was up early, rented a car (took a long time) and drove what turned out to be about 60 miles to get close enough to the U.S. to "update roaming" on his Verizon cell phone so we could post on the internet and check email again.
Back at the boat, Ruth was polishing the isinglass on the top. Bill joined in when he got back. To prove that Bill actually does do work, Ruth sneaked off the boat and captured him polishing the forward windshield.
While the top-enclosure was now crystal clear, we were distressed that the brown mustache on Integrity was back. This will keep happening until we can wax the hull. Oh, and we had moved her again along the wall to a quieter spot:
After the chores, we went for lunch at the "Violet Angel" a beautifully decorated artsy resto-bar that served great pizza. We split one and it was better than anything we had in the states!
On the way back, Ruth noticed a street named after her family name "Christie" and had to have a picture:
In the little canal, there was a tugboat that had been moving barges down through the lock for two days. He would bring down one or two barges, tie them to the far wall, go back and get a couple more and repeat the whole process. Finally, he made them all up together again and moved on. Two days to move this little set of barges! Wait until we get to the Mississippi to see BIG BARGES!
We decided to go for a walk to the nearby campus of the local college. We started out and stopped at one of the stores along the main street of town, G. D'Aoust & Cie. It was a total delight! We just happened into it. Three stories tall, it was a department store that started in the early 1900s but has survived to this day.
They still use a curious string-driven box carrier that is similar to the vacuum "bunnies" some of us old folks remember from the early days. It took cash to the central office where they made change and sent it back. No cash drawers on the floor eliminated many problems.
It is very difficult to get a picture of how the system works, but in this picture taken at one of the sale stations, the big wheel is driving the "string" and the "bunny" is the silver looking thing at the bottom, waiting for cash. For perspective, the wheel is about 9" in diameter:
Further along our walk we began to see lovely front yards and nice old homes:
Here's an old one built in 1880 according to the number over the door:
This sign along the street tickled us; do you know what it says and why?
We figured it says, "No parking from midnight to seven am between December 1st and March 31st". This is probably because the snow plow will bury your car if you are there. It was 90 degrees while we looked at the sign!
Back at the promenade Ruth tried to get some pictures that showed the restaurants and the spirit along the way. A couple shots of the terraces full of diners and the flowers that line the walk help:
Canadians love their ice cream and we saw almost everyone walking by eating it! This trio was particularly special in their zeal for their "crème glace":
Looking forward to tomorrow, we will go through the lock and onward to Ottawa!
Position tonight: N44 59.800 W073 21.517
To return to our Main Page simply 
close this window.
