Canada Travel Stories

Canada’s Jewel Still Sparkles: Quebec City Celebrates 400 Historic Years

Story by Chris Millikan

A huge excitement surrounds Quebec City’s momentous 400th-birthday this year. Launched by a spectacular New Year’s Eve party and concluded with Cirque du Soleil’s one-of-a-kind extravaganza.

Even Quebec’s native son, performing artist Robert LePage, is onboard with a new masterpiece; an added pizzazz will embellish beloved annual events. We check out just what this fuss is all about…

Monuments, 17th-century heritage houses, churches and museums introduce old Quebec’s alluring past at almost every turn.

Even romantic horse-drawn caleches clip-clop past the venerable stone buildings, quaint squares and old-style manicured gardens, just as they did then.

A European-flavored culture and a distinctively French lifestyle surround us…without jetlag and the expense of flying overseas.

Starting our leisurely stroll in Lower Town’s oldest neighborhoods, we find Vieux Port’s once busy warehouses have morphed into government offices, high tech centers and charming boutique hotels.

Replacing old docks bordering the mighty St. Lawrence River, an extensive boardwalk now hosts an old-world farmers market selling local meats, pungent cheeses, fresh produce and bright flowers.

And Rue Saint-Paul’s brothels and saloons have become antique shops, art galleries and bistros. Enticing alfresco cafes cluster around an open square where a stylized ship’s figurehead soars above a splashing fountain.

Here, we relish traditional Quebecois comfort foods: rich meat tortiere, hearty pea soup and tarte au sucre, luscious maple syrup pie…

Over at the Museum of Civilization, Quebec’s long history of exploration, commerce, conflict, cultural rebirth and controversy becomes clear.

Donning high tech earphones, the voices of New France’s founders recap their accomplishments; authentic artifacts provide compelling visuals of each era.

But it really all began in beautiful Place Royal, where in 1608 Samuel de Champlain established l’Habitation.

The Americas first permanent French settlement, wealthy merchants and fur traders later developed their mansions around this flourishing early marketplace.

Faithfully restored, these stone houses retain steep tin roofs, thick separating firewalls and roof ladders. Two such homes merged into Centre d’Interpretation de Place Royal, retelling past glories through local relics, photos and documented stories.

Dominating this celebrated plaza since 1688 and perhaps the continent’s oldest stone church of its kind, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires stands on the original trading post foundations.

And on the edge of Place Royale, a small park faces one of several murals interpreting neighborhood histories. The Mural of Quebecers brilliantly depicts 15 key historic figures including Cartier, Champlain and Lord Dufferin.

Along the maze of quaint cobbled streets in Quartier du Petit Champlain, the old commercial district to the north, we discover quality Quebec-made products.

Rue Petit Champlain still flourishes with flower baskets, artisan studios, specialty boutiques and sidewalk cafés, where many linger over croissants and café au lait and we come across another intriguing mural, this time illustrating the activities of early Irish shipbuilders and their families.

As others launch upward on Funicular cable cars from the former home of French explorer-mapmaker Louis Joliet, we climb Break Neck Stairs, over sixty wooden steps to Upper Town, ending up on Dufferin Terrace.

Along its promenade fronting the famed Chateau Frontenac’s medieval French-style turrets, sweeping panoramas over the St. Lawrence and Lower Town unfold.

Even higher above stands the star-shaped Citadel, official residence of Canada’s Governor General since 1872. Constructed on earlier French defenses of British North America, regular troops still garrison the ‘Gibraltar of North America.’

After surviving six booming sieges of Quebec in Musee du Fort…including the pivotal battle on the Plains of Abraham…we cross the square to magnificent Notre-Dame du Quebec.

Though destroyed three times by fire since 1647, the basilica’s rich interior decoration renders us speechless. Governors of New France and Bishops of Quebec rest in the crypt below; first Bishop Francois de Laval lies inside.

And now housing Musee de l’Amerique Francaise Canada’s oldest museum, the nearby Seminary of Quebec directed Quebec’s early education systems, starting in 1663 and also shaped the foundation of Laval University in 1852.

Its chapel’s hushed atmosphere and subdued lighting still provide an example of exquisite religious heritage.

Uphill we discover the first Anglican Church built outside Britain. Modeled after London’s famous St. Martin-in-the-fields, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was paid for by King George III.

And opposite city hall, Canada’s oldest English-speaking congregation of Scottish origin continues worshipping at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, established in 1759 for General Wolfe’s Fraser Highlanders.

At Saint-Louis Gate, interpretive panels border sentry paths along the Fortifications of Quebec, a National Historic Site. Although the French began this protective wall, it was completed under the British.

Outside these ramparts and gates Rue Saint-Louis continues as Grand Allee, its popular boutiques, restaurants and nightclubs remind us of the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Southward, heritage homes border Joan of Arc Garden. Formal British-style flower borders and the French martyr’s statue honor those who died in battle on the Plains in 1759. And along the river nearby, Oh Canada rang out for the first time on St Jean Baptiste Day, 1880.

Adjacent, National Battlefield Park stretches over 108-hectares. In this a natural urban recreational area, Wolfe’s British army defeated Montcalm’s French-Canadians on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

Students wearing French blue and British red regularly re-enact this history, flags proudly flying.

Close by, the National Museum des Beaux Arts showcases Quebec’s greatest art treasures, past and present. Marking where he died, Wolfe’s statue inspires my hubby to ask, “Wasn’t this General shipped home to Britain preserved in a barrel of rum?” Apparently, he was…

Now a World Heritage Site…and last fortified city north of Mexico…this little fur trading post has blossomed into one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

It has received accolades for livability, architecture, amenities and services.

Looking superb at 400, Quebec City has good reason to party all this year!

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes Chris Millikan, a freelance writer who lives in North Delta, near Vancouver B.C.

Photos by Rick Millikan:
1: The Chateau Frontenac towers above the Old Town.
2: Place Royale, where it all began..
3: Looking down the Rue Petit Cham

Quebec City Travel Information:

• At www.bonjourquebec.com the Ministere du Tourisme provides tips on travel needs.
• And www.quebecregion.com offers details on hotels, dining, entertainment & arts
• Quebec City’s 40 museum attractions are described at www.museocapitale.qc.ca plus www.museocapitale.qc.ca/cartema.htm presents information on the discounted museum passport, which includes a bus pass.
• Hotel des Coutellier www.hoteldescoutellier.com offers uniquely designed rooms with breakfast and a great location for strolling the Old City
• Old Port’s Cyclo Services www.cycloservices.net rents bicycles with route advice.
• Taxi Co-op www.taxi-quebec.com enables convenient tours without car rentals.
• Scenic train rides www.viarail.ca depart from Quebec City’s chateau-style station on the edge of Old Port. Montreal is less than two hours away.

The Romance of Rail Re-born

by Lauren Kramer

What could be more romantic than hurtling through the darkness in the bed of a luxury train car, the soothing rhythm of the train on the tracks lulling you to sleep?

Train travel brings with it the nostalgia of a yesteryear form of transportation. It has an old-world grandeur, a mystique and a formality you just can’t experience in a ’plane or on a cruise ship.

On most trips, the transportation is the dullest part of the journey, but travel by train and the journey becomes an integral part of the trip, sometimes overpowering the very destination. Though it will always carry a certain timelessness, train travel has changed a lot in recent years.

Just ask Eugene Restiaux, a service manager with VIA Rail. “I started at the age of 18, and realized, some 18 years later, I was a lifer,” he jokes from the bar of the park car. Restiaux and long-standing members of his team have seen the railway adopt a more modern façade, particularly over the last decade or so.

Five years ago, for example, smokers were welcomed on the railway, and the third seating at dinner was reserved exclusively for those who couldn’t resist the habit. Today, there is a zero tolerance policy for smoking on the railway, a rule that has resulted in a cleaner smelling environment on board, but one that annoys many a passenger who happens to be a smoker.

Restiaux well remembers the days when flushing the toilet on board meant its contents were splattered at high speeds on the tracks.

It wasn’t difficult to persuade passengers who insisted on sticking their heads out of the window to come back inside, back then. “I’d say to them, do you feel that water on your face? That means someone on board just flushed the toilet,” he says with a smile. “They’d retract their heads pretty quickly!”

The method of disposing of human waste on VIA’s trains changed five years ago, when vacuum toilets, not unlike those on an airplane, were installed. Today’s toilets store their contents in retention tanks, discharging them in a more hygienic manner every four days in Toronto or Vancouver’s terminals.

There have been other changes, too. In 1989, steam generators were exchanged for electric. In a 1999 cosmetic overhaul on VIA’s cars, hot showers were installed, as well as thicker mattresses and new upholstery on the seats.

Traveling by rail has not lost its romance, its mystique or its simple pleasure over the years.

Time becomes deliciously irrelevant when you’re on the train. Sealed into a fast-moving capsule, there is time enough for anything.

Time to lounge in bed over a decadent breakfast. Time to read a riveting book cover to cover. Time to mull over the ultimate word in a game of Scrabble, and time to have long, uninterrupted conversations with your traveling partner, or the people seated opposite you at dinner, or the service managers and staff, as they begin to relax at the end of a long day.

That’s when the stories come out. Like the one about the young guys hired by drug dealers to ship their narcotics east in December 2006. “There were red lights going off all over the place for us,” says Restiaux, whose team undergoes Jetway training to learn to recognize suspicious activity.

“They paid for their tickets minutes before boarding, in cash, but were suspiciously young to be carrying so much money around,” he recalls. “They checked in two large hockey bags that were disproportionately heavy, and they had no hockey sticks.

And as soon as they came on board they starting flashing more money and demanding an upgrade.” Restiaux quickly alerted the RCMP, who apprehended the drug dealers in Winnipeg.

In 31 years on the job, he has seen relatively little passenger misbehaviour on board, as those who choose to travel by rail do so to appreciate a relaxing journey, many of them traveling in VIA’s Silver & Blue service, launched in 1992.

Unlike Comfort class passengers, those in Silver & Blue enjoy fine dining meals in the dining car, hot beverages and snacks in the Bullet Lounge and at night, a turn-down service where their roomette reveals a comfy bed with clean linens and chocolates on the pillows.

The first class experience on VIA is called Romance By Rail, where two roomettes are joined together to permit a queen-size bed to dominate the space. By day the beds are folded away to accommodate four padded chairs and a small table. The suite comes with fresh flowers, his and hers washrooms, snowy white towels and a bottle of welcoming champagne.

A Romance by Rail trip between Vancouver and Jasper return can cost up to $3,767 per couple, but it’s about the experience, not the money, insists Reg Muir, a service manager with VIA who has worked for the railways for 30 years.

“You don’t take the train just to get where you’re going. Rather, it’s a land cruise, an experience in itself,” he says. Restiaux agrees. “Airlines sell a transportation service. We sell a transportation experience.”

I can’t help but agree with him as I look out the window at the blur of verdant forests, expansive lakes and mountains. Anywhere else, there’s a myriad of distractions competing for your attention. On the train, though, it’s just you, your traveling companion, and the scenery.

This makes it a great cocoon of privacy for personal celebrations, a journey that is wonderfully relaxing, as soothing as a long massage, and insufficiently appreciated.

Next time you hear “All Aboard,” don’t think twice.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Lauren Kramer who lives in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, B.C.

Photos by Cathy Lukovich:
1: Enjoying the view as well as relaxing and visiting. Cathy Lukovich photo..
2: Passengers prepare a toast to the trip. Cathy Lukovich photo.
3: Lots of space and comfort aboard. Cathy Lukovich photo.

Now, Isn’t That A Party: The Royal BC Museum celebrates B.C.’s 150th Birthday

by Margaret Deefholts

The crowd at the entrance hall grabs my attention. Some faces are familiar, others not. One or two look me directly in the eye, but many gaze into the distance over my head. Clustered on the dais are glamorous gals, gutsy grannies, solemn dignitaries, artists, writers, hockey stars, movie idols and politicians.

I’m at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, gazing at a huge three-dimensional diorama aptly titled The Party. The folks in attendance are not merely the rich and famous, but also ordinary people—many of whom have lived extraordinary lives.

They have one thing in common: they are all British Columbians and whether they wear Victorian gowns, or the robes of our Salish people, it is their energy, their visions, and their dreams that have shaped our Province and its rich and varied history.

Like the best of party hosts, they invite us to come on in and enjoy the Museum’s exhibit, Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and B.C., a show specially designed to celebrate the Province’s 150th Birthday.

Some, but certainly not all the folks in The Party collage are solemn: Mr. Peanut rubs shoulders with Grace McCarthy—remember Vincent Trasov’s cheeky dig at political pretensions when he ran for Mayor of Vancouver in 1974, rigged out as Mr. Peanut? Not to be outdone by other larger than life personalities in attendance, Lake Okanagan’s very own Ogopogo—towers above the rest.

The glass showcases circling The Party, reveal some surprising facts. How many of us can recognize our B.C. tartan, or have actually worn the rather hit-me-in-the-eye jacket on display? You’ll never guess who sported this back in the early ‘70s. And do you know that the rare white Kermode bear is our provincial mammal?

An entire section of the museum’s Free Spirit exhibit features that most sociable of all human activities—the joy of eating and drinking together. At a long banquet table, in the ‘50s kitchen area, glass domed “memory boxes” showcase food and customs from all over the world.

Peering at a traditional Chinese wedding feast, a woman excitedly recalls her own marriage ceremony in Hong Kong, and further down the table, a dark eyed little girl with beribboned braids grins at a familiar sight – a “thali” table setting which many East Indian families still use today.

Whether served up ceremoniously in Japan, or sipped from Royal Albert porcelain, or drunk as East Indian “masala chai”, tea remains the universal choice of beverage the world over, and at a shop counter displaying a host of canned and packaged (fake) food several people watch intently as a pot of (real) green tea is brewed and offered around for us to try.

The exhibition showcases about 400 artifacts, many of which have never been previously seen by the public. Some are quaint, others odd. But whatever they are—paintings, carvings, photographs or objects—all of them tell a story.

Like the heart warming tale of “Theodore”—possibly the oldest teddy bear in B.C.—gifted to Eleanor Goddard in 1908 when she was bed-bound with tuberculosis. Eleanor recovered and lived to celebrate her 100th birthday at the Empress Hotel in 2002 with Theodore by her side. She then gave her beloved teddy to the Museum for safe keeping.

In another section, a perm machine looks more like an instrument of medieval torture rather than an aid to beauty, evoking disbelieving chuckles from viewers. And how about the wine glasses that once belonged to Francis Rattenbury, the architect who designed Victoria’s Empress Hotel? He came to a violent end (guess why) and some say his ghost still haunts the Museum.

How many of you remember the old drive-in movie theatres? There are only three left in the Province today – plus the replica at the Free Spirit exhibition. The Mighty 90 movie projector rattles away, and the flickering image accompanied by commentator’s voice-over narrative is pure ‘40s. In one of the reels, an old Ford convertible takes the audience on a journey through the Similkameen Valley and West Kootnays—and just wait till you see the size of the Zucca melons they harvested back then!

I meet up with a roving musician singing ballads about fame, fortune, love and loss and spend a while listening to actors on stage recounting tales of courage and misadventure: stories about people like you and me.

Because that’s what Free Spirit is really all about—it’s about you and me and all of us in B.C., so everyone is invited to contribute stories to the Museum’s “People’s History” exhibit.

You can read some of them even now at the imaginatively designed RBCM virtual gallery on the Internet. Click on www.freespiritbc.ca/ and you’ll find it hard to tear yourself away.

Yet, for all that, nothing beats actually being there. It’s worth it just to hear a little girl exclaim excitedly, “Mom, look, look…there’s Gran and Grandpa’s picture up on the wall!”

And then you, too, have to stop and look. For oh…what stories they have to tell!

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes Margaret Deefholts, an author and freelance travel writer who lives in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver B.C. Learn more about Margaret at her website www.margaretdeefholts-journeys.com

Photos by Margaret Deefholts:

1: Mr Peanut, Grace McCarthy, David Suzuki and friends at The Party.
2: Blonde Kermode bear (BC’s Provincial mammal), the Flag That Never Was, and a BC Tartan Jacket are among many memorabilia displays.
3: At practice before going live on the Free Spirit show.

For more information:

Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and B.C. runs till January 11th 2009. As part of the CP Spirit of 150 Rail Tour in June, a special car with a selection of the exhibit’s artifacts will visit 43 communities from Cranbrook to Vancouver along a southern route through the Province. In addition a smaller version of Free Spirit will be exhibited in ten B.C. communities in the fall.

You are invited to share your story as part of the exhibition’s People’s History project. Click on www.freespiritbc.ca/peopleshistory/storySubmit1.aspx and then follow a series of simple directions and voila! your story could be part of their on-line exhibition.

For those who aren’t computer savvy—you’re invited to mail in your memoirs along with copies of old photographs to add depth to your tales. After the show is over next year, the essays, photos and video footage will be kept in the Museum’s archives, as part of our Province’s history: a wonderful heritage for your kids, grandkids and future generations to enjoy.

Fields of Dreams in the Fraser Valley

by Jane Cassie

If you grow them they will come. Well, they did and we have. I’m returning home from Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa after a much needed retreat with two women friends when we stop, and literally take time to smell the flowers.

Over thirty types of tulips that were planted last autumn are now rising on Seabird Island Farms. Vibrant reds, sunshine yellows, and virgin whites hug up to blooms of fuchsia, tangerine, and magenta. The rainbow of colour carpets the Fraser Valley floor and is a dazzling contrast to the distant wintry peaks.

Mother Nature determines when flowers are going to flourish, and during this unusually chilly spring, the tulips have had a tough time raising their pretty heads. Kate Onos-Gilbert would know. As owner of Tulips of the Valley Festival she definitely understands how her garden grows.

Onos Greenhouses is a family run business that Kate married into. In addition to operating greenhouses in Rosedale they have leased land from the local Seabird First Nation Band for the past three years.

When starting out in 1991, they planted around five acres of bulbs in their Rosedale fields. Thanks to the prolific reproduction of these shoots, their planting stock has grown to fill 45 acres of land.

“My goal is two-fold,” Kate explains, as we tiptoe around her tulips. “I want to share our fields with visitors and provide them with Canadian grown bulbs that they can enjoy in their own garden.”

Instead of having to order all of their stock from Holland, these blooming beauties are now home grown in this rich plot, just east of Agassiz.

The bulbs are initially used in their Rosedale greenhouses for cut tulips. They are then planted in the fields and reach full size after three years. They can be purchased at the festival that runs until May 4th (weather / bloom permitting) or by mail order, and are sent out in September, well before the first frost.

Although Kate combats today’s breeze in her wooly sweater, she gleams beneath the brim of her cap when revealing next week’s forecast. “Higher temperatures mean more blooms and more people.”

During this month-long event, she’s hoping to attract ten thousand, a personal quest that will also help others in need. Part of the proceeds during the show will be donated to the local Child Development Centre, a facility where Kate was previously employed as an Occupational Therapist.

“Find nature…just up the road” is the well-known catchphrase for the nearby community of Harrison Hot Springs. After leaving Kate and her fields of dreams behind, ironically that’s what we continue to discover.

When Brian and Faye Minter purchased their property at the base of Mt Cheam, they had a vision. If they built a world class garden on this site, they hoped people would come. And they did. Ever since May, 1980, when Minter Gardens came to life, so did their dream.

The glorious displays, just off Highway #1 at exit 135, sprawl over thirty-two undulating acres. The unique topography, resulting from a massive mudslide centuries ago, left behind a number of hilly knolls, life-size boulders and old growth timbers.

Asphalt walkways lace the manicured terrain like silver ribbons and lead us around twelve uniquely-themed plots. The Fragrance Garden heightens all senses while hosting hyacinths, heliotrope and other heady species.

The Lake Garden’s sculptured pineapples will soon fill in with a vibrant display of marigolds, and by mid June everything will be coming up roses when over seventy-five varieties share their perfume.

Although spring has been delayed this year, our knowledgeable guide, Pamela Garrity, provides us with a Coles Notes version of what’s to come.

“In another month our peacock will have new feathers,” she explains, while we saunter along the Cherry Walk. The bird graces a neighboring hillside and beneath his cocked head is a bed where purple ageratum will become his new plumes.

Two southern belles are also ready for floral finery. These flower girls, donning ivy skirts and lacy forget-me-knots, will welcome visitors to the Alpine and Stream Gardens.

There’s water, water everywhere –gurgling streams, tranquil ponds, bubbling fountains. “As well as muffling the nearby traffic,” Garrity shares, “this natural resource beautifies and relaxes.” After reveling in the aquatic wonderland at our Harrison Resort, where healing mineral pools and spa treatments calmed my crazy biorhythms, I can totally relate.

Our trail leads to the property’s loftiest bluff where a wedding pavilion hosts over a hundred love-struck couples every year. Petals cascade from moss baskets in the foreground and a chapel façade nestles beneath distant conifers.

When the weather warms, the landscape will transform into a kaleidoscope of colour and, while backed by the majestic peak of Mt Cheam, it will be an awesome photo spot for anyone tying the knot.

“We’re the most popular wedding venue in the valley,” Garrity proudly reports. “In our two facilities we can host up to four hundred guests and our Hospitality Manager, Sara Riemersma, can make any wish come true.”

The light-drenched reception conservatories also dub as dining venues and on any given Sunday, live performances entertain satisfied foodies. After all the gourmet grazing we’ve done at Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa this past weekend, we’re feeling like pros.

And with plates piled high we take time out to smell more than just the flowers.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Jane Cassie who lives in South Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver, B.C..

Photos by Jane Cassie:
1: Blooms are on the rise at the Tulips of the Valley Festival.
2: Kate Onos-Gilbert poses in front of her pretty pots.
3: Mintner Gardens peacock will soon boast a new set of feathers.

Where to go:

Tulip Festival:
Chowat Rd: is just off Lougheed Hwy east of Agassiz, B.C.
There’s no road address but it’s close to 3579 Chowat Rd.
604-796-3496
kate@tulipsofthevalley.com
http://www.tulipsofthevalley.com/

Minter Gardens
Exit # 135 off Highway #1
Only 90 minutes east of downtown Vancouver, BC
52892 Bunker Road Rosedale, British Columbia Canada
restaurants: (604) 794-7044
office: (604) 794-7191
toll free: 1-888-MINTERS
www.mintergardens.com/

You’ll “Find nature…just up the road” at
Harrison Hot Springs Visitor information
499 Hot Springs Road, Harrison Hot Springs,
604-796-5581
www.tourismharrison.com

Where to Stay:
Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa
100 Esplanade Avenue, Harrison Hot Springs,
British Columbia, VOM 1KO, Canada,
Reservations 866-638-5075 or 800-663-2266.
Tel: 604-796-2244.
www.harrisonresort.com/

Exploring Victoria’s Eccentric Past

by Chris Millikan

The historic Galloping Goose rail-line once linked Swartz Bay to Victoria; passengers paid 3-cents-a-mile to chug into BC’s capital.

These days it’s a scenic greenway, and we cycle the thirty-five kilometer trail and eventually cross the Johnson Street Bridge into the heart of old town. During several car-free days, we probe some of Victoria’s beguiling eccentricities.

Many visitors to Victoria head straight for the renowned Royal Provincial Museum to stroll through BC’s past. Across the way, a costumed Queen Victoria and Sir James Douglas guide still other folks through the revered Parliament Buildings…but we venture into the chateau-styled Empress Hotel for a tour and some memorable cups of English tea…

From stemmed goblets, we spoon sliced strawberries topped with Chantilly cream. Server Sean pours steaming signature-blend tea from silver pots into exclusive Royal Doulton cups, explaining, “In the 19th-century Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting, Lady Bedford, began this custom, serving thin-buttered bread and little cakes.” With that, a laden three-tiered plate arrives…

Nibbling tiny sandwiches filled with smoked BC salmon, curry-mango-chicken and shrimp mousse with papaya trimmings, we eye raisin scones, strawberry preserves, thick clotted cream and buttery shortbreads on the next tier. Miniature truffles and glazed tarts nestle on top.

As classical piano music floats unobtrusively across the opulent lobby, we visualize Kings, Queens and Hollywood celebrities taking Afternoon Tea at the Empress, exemplifying subdued elegance since 1908.

Greeting us at our table in authentic Edwardian traveling suit with hobble skirt, Mandy regales us with intriguing accounts of the hotel’s eventful past.

She points out where ‘official lobby-sitter’ John Roland sat daily for years, never spending a dime. In the magnificent ballroom below, she beams, “The famous David Foster played here as a teenager…just imagine…”

Dowager-era tales follow, “Some interesting wealthy widows resided here for $300-a-month, including meals: while Lady Swettenham supported charities by contributing baskets of the embossed soaps provided for hotel-guests.

Leah Rogers gave away her entire chocolate fortune, dying penniless. A staff collection buried her like the lady she was.”

When converting dowager accommodations into Romantic Attics during the 1980’s, last dowager Sybil Martin left in a huff…and took a handsome bellman with her to Florida!

Pointing to the receiving balcony high above, Mandy twinkled impishly, “Seagulls often stole the ladies’ bloomers from up there, right where Queen Elizabeth II later greeted adoring crowds and Goldie Hawn sunbathed nude.”

Aboard a foot-ferry next morning, we cruise the Gorge Waterway to Point Ellice House, owned and maintained by the O’Reillys for over a century. Today, an audio taped rendition of their staff leads visitors through their originally furnished, authentically restored upper- middle-class home.

The Chinese houseboy lists our duties as if we’re newly employed servants, carefully explaining ‘modern’ contrivances. The Irish maid chitchats about prominent guests as she conducts us to the ornate dining room; parlor, bedrooms and study prompt family gossip. Entering a daughter’s bedroom, the maid praises Cathleen’s artistic talents…and tells details of her romance.

The Scottish gardener points out heritage gardens and reflects on local politics and goings on. Showing off hollyhock glades ‘fit for an emperor,’ the houseboy concludes the tour by exalting a stately sequoia, flourishing since 1877. As afternoon tea-drinkers and croquet-players gather on rolling green lawns, we re-board the ferry.

Docking below North America’s oldest Chinatown, we stroll to Swans Brewpub for lunch. Surrounded by oak, brick and extraordinary artwork, we sip traditional British-style ales. Buckerfield’s once sold animal-feeds and grain here; today the on-site brewery ferments grains into eight hearty beers.

Beginning an art tour, Char introduces the Swans Hotel’s past owner. “Michael Williams restored this derelict warehouse and preserved numerous other heritage properties in old-town. You’ll also recognize his support for young artists.”

Walking through spacious loft-suites, we spot early works of Tony Onley, Jack Shadboldt and Roy Henry Vickers. She later points out Pierre Trudeau’s portrait by Myfanwy Spencer Pavelic, which also hangs in Ottawa’s House of Commons.

Over 1600 artworks reside at The Swan; Maltwood Gallery exhibits others. Williams died in 2000 and left his entire legacy to the University of Victoria.

On our last day, the Galloping Goose trail leads us up to James Dunsmuir’s astounding castle on Hatley Park Estate. Like his coal-baron father, he built an Edwardian castle outside downtown Victoria, declaring, “Money doesn’t matter, just build me what I want.”

This turn-of-the-century Premier and Lieutenant Governor contracted Samuel MacLure to create Hatley Castle, completed in 1908. Sixty masons built imposing granite and sandstone walls, battlements, towers, carriage gateway and baronial fireplaces.

Twenty-five English carpenters laid teak floors and paneled lavish interiors with golden oak and rosewood. The prestigious, specially designed electric light fixtures remain intact.

Including the Rose Arbor, croquet lawns and formal Italian garden off the spacious terrace where his wife Laura enjoyed tea, this luxurious 565-acre estate employed 100 gardeners. Soon-to-be-restored, the greenhouse once displayed exotic flowers year-round, including Laura’s favorite white orchids from India.

In the masterfully planned Japanese Gardens, original stone lanterns and bowls rest at shaded bends. Guide Joan reveals some sensory secrets, inviting us to touch satiny-red paper bark maples or listen to ‘dark and light sounds’ in the trickling streamlet and to peek under “splendid foliage-skirts to discover venerable gnarled trunks.”

We learn that James often sneaked off to ‘the island of ten thousand years,’ spending shady afternoons catching plump trout from the peaceful pavilion.

Nowadays a national historic park and administrative centre for Royal Roads University, the original outbuildings house various programs. This magnificent campus boasts a wildlife sanctuary in the saltwater lagoon and an urban forest with over 15 kilometers of nature trails.

Taking intimate tours into bygone days in BC’s capital adds intriguing new dimensions to visiting Victoria.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Chris Millikan who lives in North Delta, a suburb of Vancouver B.C.

Photos by Rick Millikan:
1: Mandy regales us with her stories over High Tea at the Empress Hotel
2: The renowned Swans Holel.
3: Overview of Hatley Castle.

More information:

See www.tourismvictoria.com

In the historic heart of the capital sprawls Laurel Point Inn www.laurelpoint.com. Nearby Victoria Carriage Tours www.victoriacarriage.com offer epic rides through historic Beacon Hill Park.

Iconic Empress Hotel www.fairmont.com/empress captures the grandeur of a bygone era. Here you can take a Walkabout Historical Tour with Mandy Kray www.walkabouts.ca

Overlooking the scenic Gorge Waterway, Point Ellice House www.pointellicehouse.ca intrigues visitors with its extraordinary past.

Swans Suite Hotel www.swanshotel.com offers a treasure trove of B.C. art, history and unique accommodations.

Join John Adams www.discoverthepast.com/discvr/gwalks and his team of guides on ghost tours to Victoria’s spooky places.

Hatley Castle Victoria www.hatleycastle.com offers a unique look at B.C. history, gorgeous gardens and more… Joan Looy conducts Garden Tours all over Victoria www.victoriangardentours.com

A Day at Chemainus

by Glen Cowley

People most often visit Chemainus for its murals or live theatre, perhaps browsing the stores and taking a carriage ride. Unfortunate, for they are missing so much more in the “Little Town that Did.”.

For families, singles or couples there is an easy day here; one accommodating any pocket book.

Begin your day early at the downtown parking lot beside Waterwheel Park on Willow (eight hour limit). Stretch, study the map near the churning waterwheel and set off for a full day’s activities, all within easy walking distance.

Five minutes north along Willow and left on Oak brings you to the small wilderness enclave of Askew Creek Wilderness Park.

A tended trail weaves through looming stands of Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Cedar following the sweeping curves of Askew Creek, trickling or rushing as the weather dictates. Within these cool green halls, chittering with song birds and echoing the gurgle of the creek, it is easy to imagine yourself far away from the world of man just a stones throw distant.

Down Oak towards the ferry and left on Maple brings you to Kin Park Beach where at low tide you can walk out to Bird Rock which shelters multi-hued starfish and anemones huddled under rocks and in crevasses.

Entertainment may be provided by synchronized water jets from burrowing Horse Clams, complaining Herring Gulls, flotillas of Buffleheads, nattering yellow-eyed Oyster Catchers, Black-headed Kingfishers, Mallards and the odd Harlequin duck or Loon tarrying along the shoreline.

Occasionally a curious harbour seal pokes its head above water to survey the surroundings. If you are willing to scramble a bit along the rocky shoreline the other side of the boat launch you can spy Cormorants, regal and still, dotted atop old pilings. Or, you can sit back and drink in the long outline of the Coast Mountain Range and the shades of blue-green overlapping islands in between.

The Visitor Information Centre, close by the parking lot, affords all sorts of information, including an official mural map for a dollar. This self-guided walking tour of the famed murals is aided by the painted yellow feet you can follow around town.

The pamphlet provides a short note about each of the murals, now officially numbering 39; the latest being a rare outdoor hockey game hockey at Fuller Lake. Poignant stories lie behind these artistic impressions drawn from the dynamic and ancient heritage of this idyllic haven by the sea.

Statues and fountains, with stories implied or recounted, enhance the atmosphere. The intricately recreated creek, at Heritage Square, with its forlorn statues and the tale of elusive Snipes is worth a special visit.

A leisurely 45 minute stroll can easily double once you allow time to view, ponder and photograph. Nor is it likely your gaze and interest can avoid the attraction of the numerous quaint and colourful buildings and shops arrayed along Willow and Maple Streets.

Keep an eye on the time and the ferry schedule for Thetis Island. It is a short and scenic walk from the parking lot to the “Old Town” running down to the ferry dock at the foot of Oak Street. The pathway through Waterwheel Park offers a long and stunning view down Maple Street to the ocean.

Waiting for the ferry you can stroll the docks at the Marina or tuck back at the Book Nook bookstore and coffee house, browse for used books, fritter away time on the internet or listen to local gossip. An easy going local hangout oozing the charm of “Island Time”.

It’s a refreshing twenty five minute ferry ride from Chemainus across Stuart Channel to Thetis Island, well worth the time and $7.55 per person. A new perspective sweeps into view as you chug out of the harbour past Cormorants lined up along log booms airing their feathers like fishermen telling tall tales of the one that got away.

The idyllic, manicured grounds of Capernwray Bible School, crowding the shoreline, welcome you to Thetis.

A sedate ten minute walk brings you to the long, sheltered finger of Telegraph Harbour lying between Thetis and Kuper Islands. Overlooking the bay and marina is the Thetis Island Restaurant and Pub with its unassuming and relaxed atmosphere. A place to enjoy a coffee or sip a brew at any time but a special place if you get there for the Bald Eagles.

I’ve been told up to forty at a time have been spied circling overhead, hopping along the rocky shoreline, dotting the forest cover on the opposite shore and even staging the occasional courtship dance in dramatic, taloned-embraced spirals over the bay. Every year from mid-May to mid-June they come. Bring your binoculars.

Returning to Chemainus the hour of the day may be gnawing at your stomach or whispering “treat, treat”. Coffee shops and ice cream outlets compliment the numerous restaurants and you can always picnic at Kin Park.

Either way you can keep your day alive lazing back afterwards at the Dancing Bean Café, where musical entertainment adds to the ambience on Fridays and Saturdays, or at the Twisted Sisters Tea House on Maple Street, where you can enjoy whatever is playing on their big screen and an assortment of over sixty teas.

There is more – the famous live Chemainus Theatre, the Hermit Trails, galleries, street musicians, local museum, the mural tour by carriage, and a never ending series of community events – but that requires another day. This is not a place to hurry.

The eagles would say you are missing the show if you do.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer and author Glen Cowley, who lives in Chemainus, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Photos by Glen Cowley:

1: The waterwheel at Waterwheel Park.
2: A “muraled” downtown store.
3: The Chemainus live theatre.

Contacts

– Thetis Island Restaurant and Pub marina@thetisisland.com or 250-246-3464 – to check the eagles and get information on their marina.

www.chemainus.com – provides a calendar of activities and events including what’s on at Twisted Sisters and The Dancing Bean

www.lau.chs-shc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/english/TidesAndCurrents.shtml – to check the tides – Crofton is the nearest reading

The Visitor Information Centre (250-246-3944) is open from 10 am to 5 pm everyday except Sunday.

Public restrooms are located at Kin Park, Waterwheel Park and the train station on Chemainus Road.

If you would like to walk the grounds of Capernwray Bible School they request that you drop into their main building to let them know.

A 30 minute drive south of Nanaimo on the Island Highway Chemainus can be reached by bus, train and boat as well as car. Some boaters like to moor at one of the two marinas in Telegraph Harbour on Thetis Island and take the ferry to Chemainus. Telegraph Harbour Marina can be reached at 250-246-9511.

Dawson City Lives Its History – Where the old is new and the new is old

by Katherine McIntyre

With a wild and turbulent history behind it, Dawson City mines for tourist gold these days.

But, it was mining for real gold that turned this First Nation fishing village, on a piece of swampy permafrost, in the Canadian Yukon into an instant ramshackle city of 40,000 miners and hangers on.

It happened in 1896 when George Carmack, a local prospector found gold in neighbouring Rabbit Creek (now named Bonanza Creek). When the news of his discovery spread across the world; thousands of ‘stampeders’ answered the siren call of riches. They headed north to make their fortune scrabbling for gold.

At the same time, slick entrepreneurs with another vision discovered an easier way to mine for gold. They opened sawmills and built casinos, dance halls, hotels, saloons, restaurants, and houses for the successful.

Then in 1899, it stopped. The Gold Rush was over, the miners moved on. Dawson City reverted into a sub-Arctic community with a difference – a ghostly aura of the dancing girls and fast living hovers over the town.

The wooden sidewalks and dirt roads resemble the town the miners vacated at the end of the gold rush.

Buildings restored by Parks Canada with false facades, painted yellow, blue, green, or buff line the streets. Their windows display the same items that were on show in the glory days when Dawson City was known as the Paris of the North. Mme.

Emilie (Fortin) Tremblay gave up prospecting for high-end fashion. Her store window displays a white cotton blouse with huge leg -o-mutton sleeves. Ruby’s Place, combined a laundry and the last legal brothel in Canada. There is only tin washtub in her window. Other buildings lie empty and forlorn,

Bombay Peggy’s Inn and Tavern is one old house that didn’t want to die. Standing vacant and sinking into a swamp, it flashed a signal to two Klondike women, Kim Bouzane and Wendy Cairns. They interacted with its elegant lines, peeking out from a sorry façade, and envisioned a restored Victorian style inn. Not easy in Dawson City where building by-laws dictate that all renovations must conform to the total historic appearance of the city.

But these were two determined women who met about fifteen years ago. “I was passing through at the time,” said Kim, “and Wendy was a dancer at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall.” As they got the feel of the historic town with its wooden sidewalks, dirt roads and historic buildings, the lure of the Yukon seduced them and they determined to stay.

Uta Reilly and Leslie Chapman have each turned their historic old timers into boutique and craft studios. At her Fortymile Gold Shop, Leslie works natural unalloyed 20-carat gold nuggets, mined from her family’s claim on the Forty Mile River, into unique pieces.

Uta’s jewellery includes diamonds from northern Canada’s booming diamond mines with her Klondike gold at her Klondike Nugget and Ivory Shop. Both shops feature ivory, carved from tusks of the ancient mastodons that roamed the Yukon in ancient times. Now an extinct species, trade in their ivory is legal. Dawson City Museum dramatically explains why mastodons roamed the area thousands of years ago.

Formerly the Old Territorial Administration Building, the impressive stone building is now a National Historic Site,. No one visiting the building should miss seeing the documentary City of Gold in which Pierre Berton recounts the ‘stampeders’ agonizing journey to the fabled gold fields through steep mountain passes on freezing winter trails.

But what makes the whole story of Dawson come together involves a trip outside Dawson, to Claim #6 on Bonanza Creek just about a half mile downstream from where George Carmack found the first gold nuggets in 1896.

Anyone can try their luck with a pick axe, shovel and gold pan provided by the Klondike Visitors Association – and if they find gold they can keep it. Is there gold? Yolanda, our server at Klondike Kate’s Restaurant points to six gold nuggets dangling from a chain around her neck “There’s gold, I found these on my own claim.”

At night, in the eerie glow of the midnight sun, the sparkling lights, the can can girls and the roulette tables at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Gambling Hall beckon.

Named after a dance hall queen, who distinguished herself with a sparkling diamond wedged between her two front teeth, the hall rocks with the jangle of slot machines, and the pounding honky-tonk beat of the musical extravaganza.

On the other side of town Bombay Peggy’s Pub serves up twenty-two varieties of martinis, or twelve different single malt whiskies to the twanging music of a local band.

But no show can compete with the Northern Lights. By late August, when the sun drops below the horizon, they ripple into the night sky in shimmering greens, reds, purples and blues.

Then, in their mystical ghostly glow Dawson City reverts to its mystical ghostly past.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes Katherine McIntyre a freelance travel writer who lives in Toronto, Canada.

About the photos:
1. Searching for gold in Bonanza Creek. Katherine McIntyre photo.
2. “J.A. Greene Establishment” undertaker and embalmer c.1900. Anton Vogee, fonds.
Yukon Archives photo.
3. Where can can girls kicked up their heels. Katherine McIntyre photo.

How to get there:
By Air from Vancouver or Edmonton to Whitehorse
By Car via the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse and then the Klondike Highway, or from Skagway, Alaska via the Klondike Highway

Dawson City Tourism
www.DawsonCity.ca

Places to Stay in Dawson City
Bombay Peggy’s Pub and Inn
2nd and Princess St. 867 993 6969,
info@bombaypeggys.com, www.bombaypeggys.com

The Aurora Inn and Pub
5th Street, Dawson City www.aurorainn.ca

Klondike Kate’s Cabins and Restaurant
3rd Avenue and King Street
www.klondikekates.ca

Things to Do:
Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall
Queen St. and 4th Ave. www.DawsonCity.ca

Dawson City Museum
5th Ave between Hanson and Turner

Claim #6:
Turn off the Klondike Highway and follow Bonanza Creek Road past Dredge #4 and the historic Discovery Claim. Watch for signs on the left hand side of the road – about 14 km

Jack London’s Interpretive Centre
Corner of 8th Ave. and Firth Street

Dznojz Zho Cultural Centre Of the Klondike’s First People
Front St. Dawson City

Visiting the Past: Montreal’s Historic Heart

by Chris Millikan

History buffs love sauntering along old Montreal’s cobbled European-style streets…or wandering her public squares surrounded by grand cathedrals, historic homes and museums.

My hubby Rick and I recently join the curious throng and probe this cosmopolitan city’s earliest days.

At Musee Pointe-a-Calliere’s theatre, a multi-media journey through six centuries kicks off our exploration of Montreal’s birthplace between the St. Lawrence and Little St. Pierre Rivers.

This innovative three-story archaeological museum rises sleekly above the original town site where Paul de Chomedey and thirty-five French colonists settled in 1642.

A stroll through Fort Ville-Marie’s subterranean remains reveals traces of the early palisade, first Catholic cemetery, base of the old customs square…even experiencing the sights and sounds of a lively market day, circa 1750.

And from the third floor open-air Lookout, we view panoramic Vieux-Port’s busy quayside, nowadays a landscaped 2.5-kilometer-long linear park complete with flowers, sparkling water fountains and pools.

Nearby, Place Royale (now Place d’Youville) developed later atop Little Saint-Pierre River. Here a soaring granite obelisk recalls those plucky settlers beginning new lives on this strategic point of land at the foot of Mount Royal.

Two blocks away, an old fire station encloses Centre d’Histoire de Montreal, a small but charming museum reflecting city history through stories of celebrated personalities.

Northward along Rue St. Jacques, the sparkling Trade Center dwarfs sober financial institutions left from Montreal’s early financial Wall Street days, notably the Bank of Montreal, Canada’s oldest bank and the New York Life building, once North America’s tallest skyscraper at 10 stories.

Nearby we encounter Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde whose unexpected grandeur resembles Saint Peter’s in Rome. But here, patron saints of parishes grace the facade rather than apostles as on the famed Basilica.

And elaborate interiors reflect new world history, except for the marble altar canopy imitating Bernini’s work in St Peter’s. In the distance we spot McCord Museum, permanently chronicling Canada’s momentous past in McGill University’s oldest part.

Amid Place d’Armes, a central monument commemorates Montreal’s founders: Maisonneuve, who fought a battle here; Jeanne Mance, founder of Hotel-Dieu-de-Montreal, first hospital; trader and soldier, Charles Lemoyne; major Lambert Closse with his faithful dog Pilote and an unidentified Iroquois brave.

But the magnificent Basilica de Notre-Dame dominates this historic square, her spectacular interiors sculpted in wood and gold leaf. Inspiring stained glass windows illustrate biblical passages as well as parish history. And for over two centuries, seigneurs resided next door at St-Sulpice Seminary, still topped by a clock dating to 1701.

Stretching from Vieux-Port to Rue Notre-Dame, fine 19th-century townhouses and mansions surround Place-Jacques Cartier.

Though Admiral Nelson’s monument towers over this cobbled square, it carries the French explorer’s name. Once a large public market, Victorian streetlamps, tubs of red and yellow flowers, buskers and artists now create a lively ambience in this hillside square, day and night.

Along with locals and hoards of others, we toast Old Port’s panoramas from beneath flamboyant red awnings at one of its many sidewalk cafes.

At the top of the plaza, Hotel-de-Ville outshines a somber cluster of early courthouses.

From the grand balcony of this City Hall, French President General Charles de Gaulle once shouted, “Vive le Quebec libre!” causing quite a stir during his 1967 visit. Behind, we find remnants of a 6.4-meter high wall once stretching three kilometers around old town.

Across the street, Chateau de Ramezay awaits; attendants in ruffled blue dresses, white aprons and poke bonnets greet us.

Built in 1705 for Montreal’s Governor, 15 connecting rooms housed his family of 16 children. With remarkable 17th-century artifacts and furnishings this stone, peak-roofed mansion exemplifies the gracious lifestyle of its esteemed residents.

Behind the house we wander the French-style Governor’s Garden, tranquil and fragrant. Inspired by gardens at Versailles, this spot replicates former seigneurial gardens flourishing with fruit trees, flowers, vegetables and medicinal plants…but on a much smaller scale. “

Then, everyone had gardens; large ones like this covered nearly two-thirds of the old fortified town,” explains the gardener, harvesting pungent chives, young carrots and emerald sprigs of parsley.

Within blocks, dramatized audiotapes guide us through another nineteenth century residence. Fashions and authentically restored, lavishly furnished interiors allow peeks into Sir George Etienne-Cartier’s influential life and glitzy high society of his day.

Fondly remembered as Father of Canadian Confederation, his considerable achievements also included creation of Quebec’s civil code and development of the Grand Trunk Railroad, all documented in his faithfully restored office.

Looping back, we pass Maison-de-Pierre Calvert from 1725, possibly the most photographed of all the heritage houses.

Currently a first rate inn and restaurant, striking wine-red doors and window frames contrast with massive grey rock walls, chimneys and steeply sloped roof.

The original homeowner collaborated with rebels during the American Revolution, holding clandestine meetings here with Ben Franklin, an envoy sent in 1775-76.

In the same neighborhood…and fondly nicknamed the Sailor’s Church, Montreal’s oldest chapel is immortalized in Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne.

Notre-Dame-de-bon-Secours has been a place of pilgrimage since 1665. Mariners believed the 10-meter rooftop Virgin Mary and her glorious angels safeguarded them at sea; some donated tiny ships in appreciation, many of which we notice hanging in the chapel.

Up 92 winding steps, we gaze over old town and harbor. Adjacent, Ecole Bonsecours school was replaced with a small museum chronicling first teacher Marguerite Bourgeoy’s life.

A leisurely walk westward takes us past silver-domed Marche Bonsecours, Montreal’s major agricultural market for over a century. Restored for its 150th anniversary, her long 100,000-square-foot limestone building has been re-established as a modern marketplace featuring specialty shops, exhibitions and sidewalk cafes…

By strolling Montreal’s historic streets and acquainting ourselves with early personalities, we’d traced the development of this little French fur-trading town into today’s happening metropolis.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Chris Millikan who lives in North Delta, a suburb of Vancouver B.C.

About the photos:
1: Vieux-Port’s busy quayside. Rick Millikan photo.
2: Montreal’s old city hall. Chris Millikan photo.
3: Montreal’s old wall. Chris Millikan photo.

If you go:

www.tourisme-montreal.org Tourism Montreal provides detailed information for all travel needs.
www.bonaparte.com In the heart of the historic district, this jewel offers cozy rooms and out-of-this-world complimentary breakfasts.
www.hotelxixsiecle.com A renovated1870 bank, this beautiful boutique hotel provides stylish rooms and comfort.
www.borisbistro.com One of the old city’s most charming bistros offers great food with terrace seating.

In the Wake of the Voyageurs

by Glen Cowley

It is a long way from the St. Lawrence to the Fraser River n’est pas?

History is the foundation upon which the present exists and the future unfolds. Barely visible and little known are the roots of French Canada in the Province of British Columbia in general and the Vancouver Lower Mainland area in particular. Yet, they are here and they are deep.

In May 1808 Simon Fraser, of the North West Fur Trade Company, departed Fort George, today’s Prince George, on the river destined to carry his name, in hopes it would prove a navigable route to the Pacific.

With him were twenty four men, nineteen of whom were voyageurs. History records the names of ; La Chapelle, D’Alaire, La Certe, Jean Baptiste Boucher, Bourbone’, Gagnier, La Garde, Baptiste Proveau and clerk, Jules Maurice Quesnel.

The journey, which proved the waterway ill suited to the fur trade at the time, made them the first white men to see the Fraser Valley. The Nor Westers would not return but the voyageurs would, one in particular.

Sixteen years later, fearing the Oregon Territory would be ceded to the United States, the Hudson Bay Company (which took over the Nor Westers in 1821) sent an expedition north to check the Fraser Valley as a possible site for a post.

Amongst them were Baptiste Proveau who had paddled with Simon Fraser those many years before, Micheal Laframbois and Francis Noel Annance. Three years later the construction of Fort Langley began.

As at other posts, French Canadians provided the bulk of the population and the working language. Metis, Louis Langley, became the first child born at the post. In 1839 the fort was moved several miles upstream to present day Fort Langley. Here Etienne Pepin is said to have been the first man to plow the soil of Langley Prairie.

The restored fort, a National Historic Park, reflects the 1850’s period complete with the only remaining original building, the storehouse, which was rebuilt after the fort burned down in 1840.
Interpretive guides, in period costume, are spread about the various buildings including the blacksmith shop, cooperage, big house, and servants quarters offering detailed information about life and times at the fort. Theatre venues, a fur press, bateau, bake oven, bastions and interactive gold panning sites compliment the sense of realism.

The modern visitor centre, provides further information and a theatre presentation on the history of the fort. The nearby town of Fort Langley, a destination in its own right, offers shopping, dining and relaxing at bistros and ice cream outlets. The cairn-marked original fort site may be accessed by road or by the riverside Fort to Fort Trail.

From here in 1848 Jason Ovid Allard was dispatched upriver to found posts at Hope and Yale little knowing these communities would gain their fame in the 1858 gold rush which spelled the death knell of fur trade dominance and, eventually, Fort Langley.
But the French influence was not to disappear.

In Victoria, on Vancouver Island, Jesuit Bishop Demers began the first newspaper, Le Courier, and the Sisters of St. Anne from Quebec opened the first schools. The church was no less active in the Fraser Valley as St. Mary’s Mission arose under the hand of the Oblate Fathers, an order largely drawn from continental Francophones. And where the church went throughout B.C. it drew upon the legacy of the French Canadian voyageurs.

The population tide moved relentlessly against the French influence, especially in the burgeoning lower Fraser Valley, but not without an important interruption.

In 1909 prospering Fraser Mills sent night watchman Theodore Thereaux to Quebec with an Oblate Father to recruit experienced workers. Recruits were offered free passage by CPR, better wages, cheap accommodation in cottages which they could purchase, 1/2 acre lots and lumber to build their own homes. And, a church with a French speaking cure’. (priest).

On Sept. 27, 1909, 250 French Canadians arrived. The following year the two agents returned with another 166. Maillardville, the largest French Canadian enclave in B.C., was born.

For many years the community, huddled around its central church, Notre Dame de Lourdes, focused upon the mill and benefitted from its isolation in maintaining its unique French Canadian culture. It was not until the tidal swell of greater Vancouver pushed deeper inland that the culture integrity of the community began to be threatened. Yet the community persists and is experiencing a proud rebirth.

The old homes and streets still converge around Notre Dame de Lourdes at Laval Carre’ where Mass continues to be offered in French, street names recall the French heritage and Foyer Maillardville, the seniors home, rises high above it all. And it is a dynamic community.

Every year, in March, the two day Festival du Bois celebrates French Canadian culture and numerous associations and groups have banded together under the umbrella of the Societe Francophone de Maillardville to promote and maintain French language and culture in the community.

Bright new Heritage Carre’ at Brunette and King Edward Streets houses Place Des Arts and the community Musee (museum) along with historical mementoes set in a pedestrian friendly environment. Bilingual interpretive signs dot the Maillardville area of Coquitlam and a colourful brochure, Maillardville Toujours,, complete with photos, provides for a self-guided walking tour of the old town.

The National Historic Park of Fort Langley, lying next to the modern community, is easily reached by car off the 401 highway east of the Port Mann Bridge.

Maillardville spreads north of Brunette Avenue east of Blue Mountain Road in Coquitlam just off the 401.

Neither is far from the Fraser River which first met the voyageurs in song and regalia plying its waters in adventure almost 200 years ago.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer and author Glen Cowley, who lives in Chemainus, on Vancouver Island.

About the photos:
1: The whitewashed storehouse at the Fort. The only remaining original building.
2: Notre Dame de Lourdes in the centre of the old town of Maillardville..
3: The Place des Arts, a focal point in the town.

For more information:

Fort Langley – www.pc.gc.ca/fortlangley
Maillardville – Societe Francophone de Maillardville – www.maillardville.com
Festival du Bois – www.festivaldubois.ca
Mackin House Musee – www.mackinhouse.citysoup.ca

Whistler For Non Skiers

by Lauren Kramer

My first ski lesson, some 13 years ago, saw me clinging to my ski instructor on a Banff bunny hill, sinking my nails into his sleeve lest he try to escape.

His parting words are memorable to this day. “In all my years of teaching skiing, I’ve never seen anyone as afraid as you,” he said flatly. That was it. I headed to the Clubhouse, removed those skis and never ventured back.

But after years of listening longingly to the stories of powdery snow and perfect conditions from skiers just back from the runs, I determined there must be another way to experience the majesty of the mountains.

I headed to Whistler (site of the 2010 Winter Olympics), to find out, and discovered the answer was a resounding yes. Other options abound-many of them a whole lot safer than skiing and snowboarding.

Take snow tubing, for example. With no skill or equipment required, the only prerequisite is that you can get your bum into the middle of an inflated tube and hold on tight. Gravity takes care of the rest.

At Whistler’s Coca Cola Tube Park, which opened in 2006, you pick up your tube and board an escalator-like contraption that escorts you to the tubing summit.

Here, you sit down and with a brisk shove from an attendant, you’re off, hurtling down the slope at phenomenal speed-with no prospect of injury. At the bottom of the slope, everyone wears the same exhilarated grin on their faces, be they six or sixty.

For a more serene glide down the mountainside alongside skiers and snowboarders, you can’t beat the Sno-Limo for comfort, ingenuity and convenience. Just a year old, the Sno- Limo is like a ski stroller for adults.

Strapped securely into a seat on skis, passengers are escorted down the slopes by their limo driver – an experienced skier who knows precisely how to manoeuver the contraption in order to control its speed, angle and the smoothness of its commute.

The day I boarded, snow flurries were everywhere, while a thick fog covered the mountains in a ghostly mist. Still, the mountain was magnificent, and I relaxed beneath a warm blanket in the limo chair, enthralled by the speed, the proud evergreens, their branches heavy with pure white snow, and the remarkable agility of the many skiers we passed.

Trusting entirely in the skill of my chauffeur-driver, there was nothing for me to do but appreciate the scenery. And in a place like Whistler, that’s never hard to do.

“We invented the Sno-Limo as a way to get our mom on the slopes, so she could see how well her grandkids were skiing,” explains co-owner Guy Auger. “Research shows that at least fifteen percent of visitors to Whistler don’t ski. With Sno-Limo, these individuals can participate in on-slope, on-snow activities without learning any new skills.”

Some of the best ways to travel through the snow are those that have been around the longest-like dog sledding. Though not typically available in relatively warm climates like Whistler, local entrepreneur Bob Fawcett decided to give Whistler visitors a chance to experience this ancient form of transportation.

He opened Whistler Dogsledding in 1999 with a team of Alaskan Huskies, a crossbreed of Huskies, Greyhounds and Pointers that function well in the area’s relatively warm temperatures. Today, his team of 282 canines are slightly smaller their Siberian Husky counterparts, but just as eager to run.

While my six-year-old and I cuddled up in the sled, our team of six excited dogs, all yelping and jumping with excitement, was harnessed. The driver, known in dogsled terms as a ‘musher’, hopped on the back, and with a single whistle, the dogs were off, tearing along a snow-covered path with energy that didn’t wane throughout their 14-kilometer journey.

The air was crisp, and once their run began the barking ceased and the canines focused entirely on the job of pulling their three-person cargo, kicking the snow behind them as they raced along a trail in the Soo Valley, twenty minutes from Whistler.

In the absence of gondolas, ski lifts and trendily dressed skiers, the surroundings were pristine, devoid of human fingerprints. Mountains soared from the valley, while glacier-fed rivers tumbled over the rocks, and lakes still wore their icy winter coats.

We bumped along the trail at terrific speed, and as the chilly breeze added a pink glow to our cold cheeks, I couldn’t help but think that this story would trump the skiers-for one night, anyway.

About the author:

This week Traveling Tales welcomes freelance travel writer Lauren Kramer who lives in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, B.C.

About the photos:

1: Snow Tubing offers an exhilarating, fun ride down the slope for people age 6 through 60. Lauren Kramer photo.
2: Six-year-old Jason Aginsky gets strapped into the Sno-Limo in preparation for a trip down the Whistler mountainside. Lauren Kramer photo.
3: A musher directs a team of Huskies, along a track in the Soo Valley, just outside of Whistler. Whistler Dog Sledding photo..

If You Go:

Dog Sledding tours operate late November through May, costing $298 per couple, and $75 per child accompanied by two paying adults. For more information call (604) 932-0647 or visit www.adventureswhistler.com
Accommodation: Whistler’s trendiest new hotel is the adara, located in the heart of the village. Call (866) 502-3272. Or visit www.adarahotel.com
Sno-Limo excursions operate as long as the mountains are open, and range in duration from one to five hours. Prices start at $90 per person; for more information visit www.sno-limo.com or call (888) 568-5466.
The Coca Cola Tube Park, accessible via the Excalibur Gondola at Whistler, is open 10am until 8pm Sunday through Wednesday, and until 9pm Thursday through Saturday. Tickets start at $15 for adults, $12 for youths and $10 for children.
For more information on Whistler, contact www.tourismwhistler.com or call (800)WHISTLER.