Vicki
2012/06/02

Mont = mountain, real = royal, Montreal is an island city that has a high hill (they like to call it a mountain). It has always had mythical qualities for me, and French is such a flirty language. But this has not been the easiest place for us to visit. Can I whine for a moment? We pushed hard for two days to get here and arrived at 10:00 pm when we had left at 6:00 in the morning, long hard day of boating. The last two nautical miles is up (UP!) the river with such a strong current that with the engine going full bore we only had 1.2 knots of speed. You can walk faster! So the next day we were tired, but we did manage to tour around on bikes. The picture is of the Buckey biosphere. Paul fell with his bike (toe clips didn't release) so that was kind of sucky.

Second day it rained most of the time. Paul was sore so it took us a while to get going. We did have a nice lunch at a beer brewhouse. Then we took two subways and a bus to get to the overlook on Mount Royal. Walking in the rain with umbrellas, about 50 feet from the overlook, I noticed that I was missing some important items from my purse. Drat. Didn't get to see the view (what view with the rain?) and had to leave to take care of some important details. Like going to the police station. I did try to keep the pen as a souvenir (the female police officer had such a nice laugh). We have to scramble to replace some items but otherwise are OK.

So tomorrow we head out. Montreal is lovely, but I am not so sorry to leave. I think we are going to find a nice quiet anchorage to relax and regroup.

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Vicki
2012/05/29, Eisenhower lock

Between the 1,000 Islands and Montreal there are seven locks and four lift bridges. We met another couple on sailboat Rolaro at the Eisenhower locks and they snapped this picture of us. My heart always starts beating fast, and I have to do some deep breathing to relax as we go into the locks. But by the end you begin to feel like de javue all over again. Now that we are done with the locks we have to learn about and plan for tides.

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Vicki
2012/05/28, St. Lawrence

Yup, this area is gorgeous, a wonderful place to boat in. Most of the islands (1,700 of them) have homes on them, even the little ones people will build a home on. We went by the Singer Castle, but didn't stop in for a tour. That is one problem with this trip, because of the weather window we need to cross the Atlantic to Ireland, we can't dawdle too much on the way. So we see what we can, and then move on. We did stop at the North Canada Village, an open-air museum. They moved in buildings from small towns around the area and try to do everything as it would have been in the 1860's. Flour mill, saw mill, spinning and weaving mill, blacksmith, etc. Paul and I love this kind of place and spent a lot of time with the people working there. Very friendly and were so proud of the work they were doing.

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Vicki
2012/05/27, Kingston

Paul fixed one side if the galley sink (and broke the other side even worse) and I worked some more on the bimini panels and did laundry (yes, it still needs to get done). All work and no play does not make for a happy Vicki, so we played in the afternoon. We took off on the bikes for more exploring and ended up touring Fort Henry. A bunch of college age kids do a good job with the tours and the re-enactment. Kingston is the home of the Royal Military College, so you do see quite a few people in military clothing around town. The fort and a fortification system were set-up after the Way of 1812, guess they didn't trust the USA after that war. They also had a special ceremony for the troops in front of City Hall - Freedom Celebration - including the national award winning town crier.

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Vicki
2012/05/25, Kingston, ON

I managed to catch another yoga class, this time it was Bikram Yoga, full-on 106 to 108 degrees. It is in an older, charming part of town, in an older, charming building. The room was full, with over 30 people. Did I mention it was hot? I went into class early to relax and let my body adjust. Sweat dripping just laying there. The teacher was a very nice young woman, but I think she has taught the class a lot. She spoke very fast without much inflection and all I could hear at first was blah, blah, blah. I just followed along and eventually I could start understanding her. She did know her stuff and gave a lot of helpful hints. I did find as my body heated up it could do some of the poses better than when I do yoga in a normal temperature. I assumed the class was an hour long, and geared up for that, but it kept going! I had to readjust my assumptions and go with the flow. I do admit that I spent some time lying on the mat, doing some deep breathing. Worth the trip!

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Vicki
2012/05/24, Kingston, ON

We did a day-long slog to Cobourg and then an overnighter to Stella Bay on Amherst Island. I spent the day at Cobourg sewing on the side panels of the bimini, modifying them to keep water out and so we can roll them up out of the way when we want the breeze. No electricity, so it was turning the wheel by hand, my right arm is sore today! Stella Bay was a quiet, cozy anchorage, the only noise was all the birds singing.

We did get to sail to Kingston. However, the yankee sail would not roll up on the roller furler, so we had to take it down. Paul is so proud to sail into harbors and take down the sails at the last minute. This time it was very embarrassing getting it down. Another sailboat had to tack to give us maneuvering room. For you non-sailing types, the analogy I can come up with, is going into a quiet library and accidentally ripping a loud one. It was that embarrassing. And then, when we set the bikes up, the tire pump would not work. Paul gets to fix the roller furler and I get the tire pump. I think we will be here a day longer than planned.

I went from Monday morning to Thursday evening before I could take another shower, which is why we like the bidet so much. And why my four bottles of shampoo and four bottles of conditioner will probably last the whole trip. I was going to take a shower in the cockpit at Stella Bay, but as you can see from the first picture, we were anchored very close to people's backyards. It did not seem appropriate to shower in the open. If you think that many bottles are strange, consider this: 14 containers of dental floss (my dentist would be so proud), three bottles of nutmeg, four bottles of chili powder and 5 bottles of cinnamon. We are going through the ship's stores (think pantry) trying to get squared away and we seem to have extras of some items.

At Toronto we were docked right at the public sidewalks where many people stroll right by. As you can tell by the middle photo, at Kingston we are so far out on the end of the docks that it takes five minutes to get to shore and the showers. And it is not very crowded this early in the season. Privacy we have.

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