Saturday, August 29, 2015

Edmundston, New Brunswick 8/ 28-30 /2015


We were rather late at arriving in Edmundston, New Brunswick.  We have had a broken slide cable and have been limping along with it.  We finally were able to get it repaired in Fredericton on the day were leaving, however, it took them six hours to accomplish the repair.  That made for ten hours living in the truck for our Tiger Boy and he was not a bit happy about that.  But thankfully, his memory of such offenses seems to be short.

Our late arrival gave us one day to look around Edmundston.  We began our day by heading over the border to the US to pick-up the repair cables we ordered (this was our back up plan).  After that we were off to the city of Edmundston.  Our first observation was that we had truly passed into the French area, even though we were still in New Brunswick.  Almost all business signage is in French and little effort is made to have both English and French signage as we found true in the rest of New Brunswick.

The main industry here centers around the wood pulp industry with the Edmundston Pulp Mill piping wood pulp directly across the St. John River to the Twin Rivers Paper Mills in Madawaska, Maine USA.  These two sister towns, from different countries are both small and very dependent upon one another.  We also found their public education to be somewhat unique.  They have two francophone k-8 schools, one anglophone K-12 school and one francophone high school. Their population of approximately 16,000 is about 94% French speaking, 5% English speaking and less than 1% speaking both English and French.

We began our tour through Edmundston at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception.  Built in 1924, there are 1900 families that attend.  The church is beautiful, yet because all its history seems to all be in French,  unfortunately we have little else to share except the pictures shwoing its beauty.  We did find much of the art inside unique, most notably the stations of the cross.

Next we were off to see Fortin du Petit Sault.  This fort was originally erected in 1841 during the Aroostook Bloodess War between the United States, and Great Britain.  Later August 9, 1842 the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed  which resolved the various border issues between the United States and the British North American Colonies.  The fort which was destroyed by lightning in 1855, was later rebuilt in 2000 to the original specifications.

After some random pictures around town (enjoy), we last visited Residence Hotel Dieu.  The community of Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph was settled in this area in 1873.  Its roots, however, trace back to France.  The congregation was first founded in 1636 to take care of the poor sick at Hotel Dieu  in La Fleche.  Other Hotels-Dieu were later founded, first at Laval and Bauge France in 1650, and in 1651 at Moulins.  In 1659 expansion was made to Montreal.  Two hundred years later small groups of sisters left the Hotel Dieu in Montreal.  They first went to Kingston, Ontario (where we have been) and established a Hotel Dieu in 1845.  Later some of the sister would  travel and establish four more institutions all named Hotel Dieu St. Joseph to teach and take care of the sick: Tracadie in 1868; Chatham in 1869; Saint-Basile of Madawaska in 1873 and Campbellton in 1888.   It is the Hotel Dieu Saint-Basile of Madawaska that we viisited.

The religious Hospitallers at Saint Basille took in a few orphans and established a girls boarding school.  In 1885 it became recognized as a public school and also took in day students. In 1902 expansion was completed to include a boys boarding school.  In 1947, the boys boarding school would close, but soon after expansion would include a woman's college- Maillet College.  In 1972 the boys college in Edmundston would merge with  Maillet College, creating what would later be known as the University of Moncton.

The health care given at Hotel Dieu began in 1873 and would continue to serve the poor through the 40's when a larger hospital was built in Edmundston.  The facilities have slowly transformed into nursing home and low income housing.  We found the buildings to be not only beautiful, but the history within its walls quite intriguing.


Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Stations of the Cross
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
Stations of the Cross
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
A Neat Tree at the Rectory of the
Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
 Fortin du Petit Sault
Fortin du Petit Sault
 Edmundston, New Brunswick
Edmundston, New Brunswick
Edmundston, New Brunswick
Random Fun
Edmundston, New Brunswick
Yes this is the same Colonel
only here it is called
'Poulet Frit Kentucky'
What fun!
Residence Hotel Dieu
Our Beautiful campsite in Edmundston


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Fredericton, NB 8 /25 -28 /2015


Fredericton is the Capital of the Province of New Brunswick.  The Legislative Assembly Building was built in 1882.   The day that we visited it was pouring rain so we did not see the stone lady at the bottom of the outside dome.  Had we seen her, we would have asked our wonderful docent Alex what she was supposed to symbolize.  Regardless, the next day, with better weather, we took pictures of the outside  and we posted her just the same. 

After having our Driver's licenses researched on our visit, we proceeded into the portrait gallery. The first one shown is a painted portrait from 1806 of the Earl of Sheffield.  With being over 200 years old, we thought this was pretty awesome to see. We then proceeded up the self supporting spiral staircase, supported from the walls only, to the Assembly Chambers.  The Assembly Chambers reflected the Victorian era when it was first created.  Young Alex, our knowledgeable docent, shared with us how New Brunswick is the only province with both English and French as their official language and we saw the translator machines that were at every seat, including in the gallery.  We learned how New Brunswick also uses the Mace, like in Nova Scotia.  We also visited the Senate Chambers(within the assembly building) and like Nova Scotia, it is no longer active within the Provience.  In New Brunswick their last Senate session was held in 1892.  We have included a picture of that last session.  Alex shared with us for 1 and 1/2 hours  about the various things going on in the parliament today and within the various parties too.  Bob was so in his element with young Alex.  Alex was impressed by what Bob knew about how their process worked and about who is running and Alex was also eager to hear US stories concerning politics as well.  We all learned so much Bob, Teri and Alex too.   The Legislature is in recess until December, so sprucing and cleaning was going on when we visited.  Still it was great to see the Legislative Building.  What a fun day, while rainy,  we felt that we saw and learned  a lot, and we had a great lunch at the Blue Door, all while our truck was being serviced!  Our tour was supposed to be 20 minutes and Alex spent well over 90 minutes with us.  By the way, while we seldom put in a plug for restaurants, the Blue Door was so tasty that we returned there on our second day in Fredericton, and had the same thing to eat too! The Blue Door

Next we visited the City Hall in Fredericton.  What a beautiful building.  We went upstairs where we were treated to a view of the working of the clock ( that is seen outside) and also where the city council meetings are held, as well as 27 tapestries, all done by one person, covering 200 years of history of the area.  She was one busy lady!

From here we were off to the changing of the guard.  Not only was the changing of the guard shown but also various techniques used in the early days including bayonet training, the square and the skirmish line.

Next we were off to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.  We had hoped to see a Dali painting they were supposed to have there, but they were in the process of changing exhibits, so we were able to view what they had on display on a donation basis only.  One of their exhibits that were on display that we did enjoy, however, was the Doc Edgerton (1903-1990) exhibit.  It was entitled 'Freezing Time' and the things he accomplished with photography in the years indicated we thought were quite amazing. Enjoy the pictures.



Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Earl Of Sheffield
Painted 1806 and received from England
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
 Staircase Looking Up
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Staircase Looking Down
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB 
Senate Chamber
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Last Senate Chamber Session in 1892
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Mace
Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB
Wilmont United Church
Having been built in 1851
we just had to take a picture
City Hall In Fredericton
City Hall In Fredericton
The Tapestry
City Hall In Fredericton
The Tapestry
City Hall In Fredericton
The Tapestry
City Hall In Fredericton
The Tapestry
City Hall In Fredericton
Changing of the Guard Demonstrations
Fredericton, NB
Changing of the Guard Demonstrations
Fredericton, NB
Changing of the Guard Demonstrations
Fredericton, NB
Changing of the Guard Demonstrations
Fredericton, NB
Antique Gun Firing
Edgerton 1936
Dali Photo
Edgerton
Tumblers 1942
Edgerton
One Dancer, thrown in the air for a summersault
Edgerton 1936


Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Five Islands, Nova Scotia 8/20-25/2015


Five Islands while we were here was both hot and humid, with rain as well.  We have been blessed with such wonderful weather on our Canada adventure that we did not complain.  Five islands was our last chance to once again experience the incredible Fundy Tidal Bore before leaving Nova Scotia, and Experience we did.

We also headed out one day to visit the Ottawa House.  The Ottawa house was the summer home of Sir Charles Tupper.  He was an accomplished pharmacist, physician and one of the fathers of Confederation.  The house was named Ottawa house because  Dr. Tupper was the Prime Minister of Canada whose Capital is Ottawa.The house, amazingly enough, was built in 1770. Tupper owned the house from 1871-1895.  He was an interesting fellow as is the house.  More can be read at Ottawa House for those that are interested.  When we visited the house it was undergoing renovations, but still interesting to see.  At the Ottawa house they also had a Mi'kmau display.  Their alphabet sort of reminded us of Hawaii's alphabet as in words need to be long due to the limited letters available.  

Lighthouses.  We visited two while here.  But it seems the lighthouses get moved occasionally, due to erosion.  

We also visited FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center) while here.  They are doing some cutting  edge things to harness the energy from the Tidal Bore.  In general we found that Nova Scotia is doing great things to harness both wind and water for energy.  Those further interested in FORCE we will direct to their website at: FORCE

On the morning of our move day, we were so blessed to see a local Bald Eagle.  He was so close, but we respected his home and did not approach, not wanting to spook him.  We hope you enjoy the distant picture just the same.


High Tide at our Campsite
Low Tide at our Campsite
Tidal Bore in Action Once Again-
Still Amazing
The Ottawa House Circa 1770
The Ottawa House
The Ottawa House
Five Islands Lighthouse
Lighthouse Near Five Island
What a special treat, taken from our campsite
the morning we were leaving.
Sorry the picture is a ways off, but Teri was trying to
respect HIS (the eagle's) home and not scare him.