September 1 and 5, 2015 1000 Islands NY

The 1000 Islands (actually 1864 islands) is where the Saint Lawrence Seaway meets Lake Ontario. We visited here on two different days. First with Gene and Linda and then a few days later to see some castles on a longer boat trip by ourselves. Ger can remember visiting here as a child, and he thinks they are using one of the same boats. He knows they are telling some of the same stories because one has you looking for a line in the water that is the Canadian border. He feels better now that Judie, Gene and Linda fell for the same trick!

We stayed at a nice hotel next to the Uncle Sam Boat Tours and ate at restaurants in town. The first day our tour took us past Millionaires Row, around small islands/homes, into Canada and under bridges that looked like green "Golden Gate" bridges. It is a beautiful area.

The boat house and staff housing in back is for the Boldt Castle! This is Judie's favorite little house.

Saint Lawrence

Our tour boat

Certainly the boat taken by Ger and his family in about 1958.

Lighthouse

Boldt Castle: Located on Heart Island, this 127 room vacation home was built as a gift for his wife by George Boldt; head of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NY and the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia. She died 4 months prior to completion and it was never completed. After being vacant from 1904-1977, it is being restored by the Thousand Island Bridge Authority and is open for tours. All money from the tours goes into continued renovation and 2 of the 4 floors are completed to date at a cost of $28 Million.

View from the dock

Main Entrance

Entry Hall

Skylight at the interior stairs to 2nd and 3rd floors.

Dining Room seats 18

Kitchen Part One

Kitchen part two

Maids dining room

Daughter's "Receiving Area"

Power House

3 bronze statues

Statues over the receiving arch with draw bridge to welcome guests. Looks like the "Arch de Triumph" in France.

Singer Castle: Built in 1905 by Frederick Bourne, Chairman of Singer Sewing Machine Co. as a hunting lodge, and remains furnished as it was in it's hay-day. It is still used today for weddings, special events, and for $620 overnight stays if you wish. The Island is called Dark Island due to it's dark trees and foliage. The home is complete with secret passages for the staff to use to move around without being seen, and has a dungeon/jail in the turret.

Simple Main Entrance

Breakfast/Lunch Room

Wicker room for relaxing.

Master Suite with simple furnishings

Female help sleeps on the 4th floor

Library

Brass Lamp is also a fan with a bug zapper!

August 28-30, 2015 - Quebec City

We loved Quebec City. Plain and simple. If they all did not speak French and it was not so cold in the winter - it would be a great place to live. The locals speak French and some English, but will tolerate tourists speaking English IF they try to use French first. In one restaurant where the menu was in French with English subtitles for a description of the item, Ger pointed at an item on the menu but the waiter would not write it down until Ger tried to pronounce it in French - then he was happy to help. The city is old, historic and yet blended very nicely with government buildings and modern hotels. Crime is reported to be second low in all of Canada and unemployment at 4.1%. We did drive into the neighborhoods outside of the city center and everything was well cared for.

Churches: Yes, but not as many. Somehow we missed the prosperous ones. The first church, near the hotel, was in an up-and-coming area but in need of a lot of maintenance. Beautiful golden statue of Jesus on top. They were actually leasing out areas in the basement for shops and small boutiques.

Church with a "retail" basement.

Our first small church

Bridge support painted like a church!

For sale - $1.8 million.

We called this guy "Biiiiiggg Jesus"!

"Big Jesus" church we spotted driving the neighborhoods.

Government Buildings. There were many and so big it was impossible to see them in one photo, and all well maintained and looking good. Sorry, I do not know names or function.

Old town areas: There are several areas of the city that represent old Quebec City. There are closely constructed homes and shops - about three stories high, and filled with shops and places to eat. A much more intimate area that in Montreal and it felt like you were in Europe as all locals were French speaking. We walked our legs off the second day by starting at the top of the hill, "The Plains of Abraham", and working our way down.

At one time - English housing - in the mid 1800's.

The Opera House

Lots of Statuary.

An alley of artists.

Many spots to dine!

Judie's favorite street lights in a "young people" area.

An example of varied architecture.

We started our second day with a visit to the St. Joan of Arc Gardens. A quiet area on top of a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway full of colorful flowers.

Mostly locals enjoying the morning.



Saint Joan



Gerry, Gene and Linda checking it out.



The last thing we did was to drive out to Montmorency Falls east of the city and enjoy a nice walk to a beautiful waterfall. The park has a small fee but you get your monies worth! This is the location of the very first "Ice Hotel" in North America.

Higher than Niagara Falls, but not as wide. Note the walkway bridge across the top of the falls.

You can walk to the top and hike a trail to the falls - not!

You can take a cable car.

Or you can walk to the base of the fall like we did.