Trois Rivières ( three Rivers) now we know we are really in Canada

Bonjour!We need our French today!

We woke up and looked out our cabin window this morning and finally we see fall colors! Our morning will start early with a zodiac tour of the center island here in the St Lawrence river. We didn’t get to do the zodiac on the last segment due to high winds so today will be our initiation trip. It seems a little brisk today so we pulled out the Long Johns and sweaters to wear. 

 Here we are waiting our turn to get on.  The important this is to have your life vest , the really cool little thin ones, and a good attitude.. not sure what was happening with Al this morning! Anyway, the other important thing to know is the sailor’s grip.  I instinctively knew it, must be from my father’s Navy genes. Anyway, we were escorted to the side doors of the ship and hopped onto the zodiac. 8 of us in total …

Alex our Zodiac captain helping get passengers into the zodiac

All seated and ready

I didn’t fall!!!!

Pulling away from the ship. Alex took us to sail around the Ile Saint Quentin. The reason the city is named Three Rivers is due to a mistake the early explorers made. They didn’t bother to sail around the island, instead thought it was where two different rivers joined the St. Lawrence River.. They were wrong but the name stuck…We saw beautiful shoreline, a few beaver damns started but no birds. They have most likely all migrated until spring now. It was a fun ride nonetheless. 

An island with just one tree on top

Beaver damn along side the shore

More shoreline with trees turning color

A cross that has been on this exact spot since the early fur traders in the 1700’s.

After an exhilarating 45 minutes on the water, the zodiac captain  started us on the way back to the ship 

Although it was a fun activity, I was starting to look forward to Big cup of hot chocolate/amaretto that I knew would be waiting for me.

After our warm up cocoa we head out to the city of Trois Rivières.

 We are walking through a number of parks on our way to the Cathederal of the Assumption. There were clotheslines hung with white papers in the park. The city is hosting the International Poetry festival and the whites sheets all contain poems hung for the public to read!

At the Cathedral there are 110 stained glass windows 20 feet tall of events in the life of Jesus. These were amazing! The colors were deep and absolutely beautiful.

Each window held 2 stories. 

After a nice quiet viewing of each window we decided to walk to the Main Street and find a little snack..

What might that be???

POUTINE of course! After all we are in Quebec province!!

It was wonderful!!!!

We could now continue on with our walk.

Another park with hanging poems. We didn’t stop to read them figuring they would be in French.

Beautiful fall colors

A church building that was converted into a Theatre.

The provincial prison in use until 1986!

Walking through a sculpture park on the way back to the ship 

Oh it’s so nice to see the fall colors at last.. too bad it has to be so chilly and yet there’s a few bright flowers left to admire.

As we approach the ship the crew is hard at work re- painting the sides of the ship where the locks scrapped it away. 

It’s amazing how often the crew can be found painting.