Roci and I – Back in Canada

Back in Canada, as in the English+eh speaking part, driving fairly quickly back thru Newfoundland from Fortune to Channel Port aux Basques… on the way to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick! Woohoo!

As I wait for the ferry to cross from Port aux Basques to North Sydney, I have time to kill. A lot, as it seems Port aux Basques is not that touristy. I went sightseeing, and nada. This wait however, allowed my brain to solve a huge mystery, but I’ll post that after I cross into the U.S., as it pertains to Canadian state secrets. The wait will be short, albeit I know you’re itching to know😜🤪😜!

Until the revelation (nothing short of a true revelation!), here’s what Roci and I did.

We stopped in St George’s, and it was awesome. My city namesake has a garden! And not only that, check this out!

They also have a tower! For something or another purpose, I’m sure! You can’t see, ‘cause I’m unfortunately blocking the pic, but Roci is smiling too!

And the amazing stuff doesn’t stop here!

Check this humongous attraction marked as such in Google Maps!

If you are in Eastern Canada or even in the northern hemisphere, you need to stop in St George’s and witness these world wonders (I think 8,9 and 10 – as they also have a Umchatka-Mitchamatcha-or-something museum, too! Unfortunately closed today – and I can only assume because they received and are in the process of displaying the Mona Lisa from Le Louvre and some beautiful stolen Egyptian art from the British Museum).

Well, this stop was a huge highlight of my 5-week or so trip, and being stuck in the ferry building for a few hours did wonders to my creative drive…

Until we reach Nova Scotia, Roci and I sign out… Good night!

Friday Oct 18th, Anno Domini 2024. The 7-hour overnight crossing was uneventful. Kind of.

I was so looking forward to travel by ferry, but with this last ferry trip I’ve got it out of my system.
I don’t think I slept more than two hours the entire night, in the arguable comfy reclining chair. The crossing was calm, and even on the observation deck on ship’s level 10 the wind was not overpowering as in other ferry crossings. The full Moon made it quite romantic, as it was fighting (and winning) the sparse clouds. I’m getting poetic, kinda.
Romantic indeed.
But, and it’s a big butt (minus one ‘t’).
People. Oh, the humanity…
Shoes off. Smell.
Snoring. Almost as bad as a bad AC unit in a rundown Best Western.
Snoring. You’re transfixed to find out if the fat guy recovers and pulls through what seems to be the final gasp for air before dying. And repeat. And repeat. Then repeat some more. If you’ve never understood sleep apnea, I recommend an overnight ferry crossing.
Coughing. You swear this is a TB hospital ship. Everyone seems to be sick and on the verge of dying. Expected to see bits and pieces of lung tissue on the floor (I’ve checked, but nothing).
All things considered, it was an interesting experience. And I’ve got a jumpstart on my steps for the day with 2000+ steps up and down the stairs and walking on the observation deck while admiring the Moon.

Thank God for Natasha St-Pier and noise canceling AirPods. And detergent (another name for Purel sanitizer). Maybe Trump was onto something suggesting to ingest it…
I’m done with ferries. For now.

Hmmm…. Reading the above I realize how exhausted I was. But the snoring was really annoying…

Roci and I drove a bit around, as our fancy commanded.

While passing thru Merigomish, Roci and I found some land for sale, and we think this is where we’ll build the one room house over 100-car garage I always wanted (and Roci subscribed to):

Whew… a few days, full days, passed and as I write this bit, I’m in Kennedy’s house in St Andrews. OK, not Kennedy’s, but Kennedy. Last night in Canada, for now.

But, before St Andrews, let’s cover first Lunenburg, Peggy’s Cove, a chance encounter on the side of the day with joy, Moncton, and St John. Actually I’ll skip St John, as it wasn’t my cookie.

Lunenburg is extremely pretty, one of the nicest sea towns I’ve seen. And the food-drought is definitely over in Nova Scotia. These guys know seafood. All the chowder I had (at least 4-5 times) was excellent, and Lunenberg’s wasn’t an exception.

Here’s the original Bluenose story. Fastest ship of the time!

Picton Castle is a famous tall ship. I’ve never heard of it until now, but we’ll chalk that to not paying attention. Per the harbor tour boat skipper, you pay $50k for a year of training on how to operate all posts on a tall ship. Hard work, and $50k! Canadian, but still…

Now, the 1932 $100 bill wasn’t that big, this is just an oversized replica. So the reason I display it proudly is because the bill picture is Lunenburg in 1932. I may have the bill year incorrect, but I think that’s the harbor boat skipper said. Maybe.

Unfortunately my new love had a wooden demeanor, so I’ve left it in the harbor.

I can see myself spending an entire vacation here. I’m told sailing is really good here… when do I go?

And since life is all but predictable, how’s this for a chance encounter?

This is my all time favorite classic car, the Jaguar E Type. This is a 1970 4.2 coupe, and my fave-fave would be the 1972-ish 4.2 coupe, in British racing green. But this dark red totally works, too!

And what a great background message! The two Nova Scotians, or Scottish-ians?? I was talking to were oblivious to the sign in background. The owner of the Jag was visiting his friend who is restoring a muscle car. Forgot which one, as I don’t care that much about muscle cars (except the Mustang, of course). And the muscle car’s owner, to my statement that it’s a big project, he retorted, “I only need to live long enough.” Awesome!

Nice guys.

And onto Peggy’s Cove next.

I took a bazillion pics here as this lighthouse and its surroundings are sooo pretty! This is one of my fave pics, as it captures the essence of its beauty and the sailboat just complements it so well. Lucky to see a sailboat, as East Coast sailing is pretty much over for the year.

Seriously, other than Moon pics, my iPhone camera capabilities are phenomenal.

Had to drop one more pic of the Jag. Sooo pretty.

Magic formula = lighthouse + sailboat + E Type

I was always good at math…

After reaching Moncton, Roci remained parked to talk to the cruiser, and I went to see the tidal bore (thank you Mike for telling me about it, and also about the Bay of Fundy humongous tides).

And I was lucky to see the tidal bore with surfers!

Just before we left, Roci went to give an interview to the local TV station.

I wasn’t allowed in the studio, but apparently the discussion centered on the topic of V8 superiority over electrical appliances, sorry I mean cars, especially for road trips. Apparently rave reviews on the interview… That’s what Roci told me!

And now we’ve arrived in St. Andrews, just a stick’s throw over the border with the U.S.

Well, it looked like a stick throw on the Google map when I was looking for a hotel, but in reality is about 20 km detour. Totally worth it! Very pretty, although not Lunenburg-pretty. Great food, and for a change I had a glass of wine, to celebrate our last night in Canada. What a trip! What a country!

I think I’ve got one of the nicest rooms, and the hotel is just in front of the pier.

Roci and I went for a stroll in St. Andrews, and here are some pics:

Roci wanted to go whale-watching, but alas, the season is over.

And since tomorrow very early morning, at about 10 AM, Roci and I will cross the border and be back in the U.S., I can conclude with the following notes, written as mentioned a few days ago.

And it’s safe to publish these notes now, as it’s Sunday late-evening and the Canadian security is paying no attention to travel blogs until Monday late afternoon, after plenty of good coffee and croissants. Perhaps some Tim Horton four cheeses, too. By then, Roci and I will be safely back in the States, far from the reach of the polite, but firm Canadian secret services.

Next section in italic was written before crossing making it into Nova Scotia, while on the ferry, and with little sleep, and little knowledge about the last two Canadian provinces we visited. A final wrap up fixing some of the italic content will follow.

Canada grand finale and final thoughts

Today I drove from the middle of Newfoundland (Gander) to Channel Port aux Basque. Based on my awe-inspiring deducting powers, I’ve been able to pierce the veil of secret these seemingly nice and trustworthy Canadians are perpetrating on the suspecting world, and their own kids, too!

A full day of driving and not a Moose on sight. They even told me at a road repair stop to have my camera ready because there is a beautiful white female Moose – and nothing. I am convinced the Moose is the Canadian equivalent of the European Unicorn. 

The Moose is a fake, made up beast, to enchant kids and tourists alike. One cannot believe how elaborate this deception is. Sign after sign on the highways, tshirts and caps with the Moose silhouette, Moose coffee mugs and so on and so forth… the level of effort and the inconceivable level of success at fooling the tourists and the kids… Canada spends $27.3B Canadian dollars, which is about $1M in American money on pulling the wool on the worlds’ eyes. And how did I figure out the exact amount you ask? You glossed over my awe-inspiring deducting powers mentioned in the section above, aren’t you? Yes, my friend, a simple back of the napkin calculation for me, which would have taken a Uni math professor months, gave me this completely reliable number.

And dear friends and relatives, if I disappear after posting this final note about Canada, you’ll know why. Their CSIS (the Canadian secret service, and yes, they do have one as funny as that sounds) has paid me back for destroying this elaborate myth. It’ll be a very polite execution, but an execution never—the-less. At my obituary, please come with your best Moose jokes – to spite the CSIS! 

In conclusion, Canada is an awesome country, stunningly beautiful, populated by very nice people and with the exception of Quebec, with the shittiest food one can actually eat (at least in the Eastern smaller cities / remote-ish locations). One may think what if the French would have won against the Brits (I know it’s preposterous, but like Elvis or maybe Lennon said, Imagine…). A huge country as gorgeous as it is, speaking the most beautiful language in the world, and with great food?!? Would have been unstoppable! But, c’est la vie…

And one more gripe about this wonderful country. Wtf is wrong with you people that buy in mass the ugliest car after the Aztek? Hyundai Tucson’s design is atrocious (those lights!) and every third car on the road is one of these abominations… I’m sure it’s a good car, but man, it is fugly!

The Aztek redux..

So, Canada, with all my love, I have a very simple 3-part plan for you, and if you follow my suggestion, you’ll be the greatest country in the world. After USA and Romania, of course. Btw, France is not a country, but an idea. Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Vive la France!

Persuade America to join you in invading France (as in ask the American soldiers to add a Canadian pin on their uniforms). After a prolonged 20 minutes’ invasion, divide the spoils as follows:

1. – Canada gets 90% of the cooks and move them to Canada to get rid of your awful food. Give the Americans the rest of 10%, as the U.S. food, while not nearly as bad as yours, may still benefit from the French savoire faire in this area.
2. – convince the Americans to abduct Macron and make him the U.S. emperor, so nobody in the world will have the guts to oppose America. The little guy has huge balls (the sole current European leader as endowed) and with a real country and real military under his command he’ll be like Caesar+Spartacus+Rommel+Eisenhower+Alex-the-Greatest in one! Let’s see Mr Putin and Mr Xi and Mr (forgot the North Korean’s guy name) how you deal with Macron’s balls! He’ll b..h slap the hell out all of you! Plus, what an improvement over either Kammie Harries or The Trumpster!
3. Send your Tucsons (definitely all the black ones!) to North Korea or Mars and buy only the pretty Santa Fe’s from now on! 

Update to the above plan, after passing thru Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The invasion of France could be limited to Paris and surrounding areas. There are enough cooks there to double Newfoundland and Labrador’s population, and get some real food into those poor people!!

Since the seafood I had in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was excellent, no need to switch en masse to French cuisine. Although it may not hurt…

And I think they have passable food on the Canadian West Coast. And Toronto. Special mention to Vancouver’s gelato. Apparently Vancouverians invaded Italy…

And with that, this is the end of Roci and I blog. In Canada, as we still have…

The long way home…