Wednesday Winter Wonderland
We woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine in Trois-Rivieres. The temperature was 22º. Coldest day yet but gloriously sunny. And Trois-Rivieres had snow yesterday and during the night. The view from the ship when we got up was a Winter Wonderland. Pictures from the ship.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.
A little about Viking Expedition ships. There are two – Octantis and Polaris. In addition to normal crew (250) and passengers (378), the ships also carry an expedition discovery team of scientists. It has a 380-square-foot wet and dry lab, developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge, that allows the scientists to conduct meaningful research and encourages guest interaction. They give lectures but also carry out scientific research. Today the team was releasing a weather balloon in conjunction with hundreds of other teams around the world releasing similar balloons at the same time. Shivering more than a little, we watched the balloon launch at 8:00 am.
After breakfast we departed on an excursion that drove through Trois-Rivieres on the way to two stops. Here are some scenes shot from the bus:
The first stop was at the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Basilica where two miracles have supposedly occurred. We did have to get inside a church on this trip, didn’t we? It’s quite an impressive building (despite some scaffolding) and is especially beautiful inside. Worth the stop. Elaine lit a candle.
The second stop was at a Cabane a Sucre (Sugar Shack). Maple syrup at its best! Great tasting of maple syrup and maple syrup taffy. Not great pictures, but we heard all about maple syrup production. Québec produces 75% of the world’s maple syrup. There was even a maple syrup heist and scandal. The story is here. The photo of the race track painting was taken in the Sugar Shack. I thought it was weird that it was there.
Finally some scenes from our walkabout once we got back to the ship. Elaine didn’t want one of the dresses. Icicles are self explanatory. And me and my ship.
Back on board, we sailed at 2:00 pm. The plan is a sea day tomorrow with the only remaining stop in Toronto where we disembark. This involves sailing right through Montreal on the St. Lawrence River, then through a series of locks to take us onto Lake Ontario, The locks are busy and you have to get a slot. So we ended up docking in Montreal for the night and will head for the locks in the morning. It was possible to go ashore in Montreal at 9:30 pm. Maybe back in the day we might have as Montreal is a favorite old haunt – we used to drive up every Columbus Day weekend when we lived in Melrose. But we stayed on board. A few pics of a beautiful sunset and some shots of Montreal and its Ferris wheel, La Grande Roue de Montreal. The first picture is the King Fish that was the specialty in the World Cafe for dinner. It was delicious.
Final big news of the day. We booked another cruise for next year! More on that tomorrow. There may be a day’s delay on the next posting as we have to pack, disembark, pick up a rental car, and drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls. So don’t be surprised if there is a delay before the next post.
Truly a winter wonderland. How interesting that this ship is an expedition ship. And very cool to watch a weather balloon launch. Beautiful stained glass windows in the church and an amazing organ.
It was a bonanza of a maple syrup season here this year especially in February and early March when the nights were very cold followed by bright sunshine during the day. Loads of houses had buckets tapping their maple trees. Not us this year, but we used to tap our maple trees every year and boil down the syrup over an outside fire while drinking lots of beer. Aah, the good old days.
Love the pictures of a very cold Elaine and you and your ship. Very nice pix of the sunset and Montreal’s Ferris wheel. Can’t wait to hear about your next year’s cruise.
Hhhmm, you never gave us any maple syrup! Did you? You did give us moose.
I think we brought some back to Melrose at some point but you may not have been around. Or Mom chose not to share!! We only processed about a gallon or two of sap at a time which only yields a little over one cup of syrup.
Congrats on booking another cruise! We happened to be doing the same thing here, but ours will be in 2027! Already booked for 2025 and 2026.
Cheers!
We never do two years ahead. Too much can happen.
BRRRR that looked cold! Love the stained glass windows, so beautiful! Nice that you got out and about. Another cruise does not surprise me. Gorgeous sunset.
The candle was for you 😎