LES CHOSES CANADIENS QUE J'AIME

Things I love in Canada:

French Fairytale rooflines...

Lilacs

Cottage Gardens

Olde Worlde houses...

Red Cardinals!

Butter tarts

The National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa

Outside the Gallery, well-remembered:

Maman, Louise Bourgeois, 1999.

and something new:

Majestic, by Canadian sculptor Michel de Broin, composed of 10 lamp posts torn from their place by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

In a variety of styles, they are electrically re-wired and the sculpture lights up at night!

It is cleverly complementary to Maman.

Cute Cottages

and best of all:

Grandchildren!!!

Au Revoir!!

XXXX

THE TULIP LEGACY

Hi,

I'm still loving the flowers of the northern Spring..

Every Spring, Ottawa hosts the Canadian Tulip Festival, along the banks of the Rideau Canal and Dow's Lake.

During World War 11, the Dutch Royal Family found sanctuary in Ottawa.

Then Princess Juliana, her husband and daughters lived here and participated in daily Canadian life.

In 1945 the Dutch Royal Family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs in thanks to Canada.  Now Holland sends 20,000 bulbs annually in an enduring friendship.

A Man with Two Hats statue symbolises this friendship between nations - 
there are two, one in Ottawa and one in Holland.

Park Omega, Quebec, where the animals speak French...

We were greeted by this statue of L'Orignal - the moose -
Sadly Spring is not the season for magnificent antlers and this is what we saw:

It's just not the same, is it!

The Arctic Fox - tiny and pretty

Lac des castors

Still no sign of red cardinals, so I bought Un foulard orange decore d'oiseaux!
(with thanks to Grandmama)

Bonjour!

xxxx

VIEUX MONTREAL

We have crossed the Ottawa River and been to Quebec - 

in fact, the French Grandparents took us to Montreal at the weekend...

The old port area was the place for action ...

Singing the Blues ..

Artists Alley

It was Dollard-Des-Ormeaux Day -

Adam Dollard-Des-Ormeaux was a garrison commander who saved Montreal from attack by the Iroguois in 1660, so I am told..

which seems reason enough for a show of firepower on a Sunday afternoon..

I was heading into the Cathedral and nearly jumped out of my skin when those guns were fired!

Facing Place d'Armes Square, the famous Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal.

A symphony of gorgeous blues, it is unusual in that the stained glass windows, rather than biblical scenes, depict scenes from the religious history of Montreal:

While in Montreal, we also visited St Joseph's Oratory, one of the world's tallest basilicas, built on the slopes of Mount Royale in central Montreal.

It was founded by Brother Andre, a humble brother of the Holy Cross Order, whose duties included visiting the sick.  He was devoted to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of Canada, and his prayers came to be associated with many miracle cures of the sick.

In 1904 he founded a small chapel on this site, which has since expanded to a huge basilica built in Italian Renaissance style.

The interior has been remodelled numerous times, and has a rather austere feeling of grandeur, very different from Notre Dame.

There are large displays of crutches and walking sticks, left by the cured.

Brother Andre became Saint Andre Bessette when he was canonised on 17 October, 2010, in the same ceremony as Australia's first ever saint, Mary MacKillop.

Still loving crabapples and lilac.

More later ...

XXX