French Canadian

by Rosemary West

Walking in Old Montreal, I felt as though we were in a European city. Around us, everyone was speaking French. The narrow cobblestone streets, architectural details, and incomprehensible signage, all contributed to the sensation of having been transported across the Atlantic.


One of our first stops was the Notre-Dame Basilica. Although it was built in the early 1800s (on the site of a much older church), its gothic-revival style is reminiscent of the Middle Ages.

The blue and gold color scheme is stunning.

The pulpit is elaborately decorated with sculptures.

We saw many old churches throughout the city. One that particularly impressed us was the Cathedral of Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World), built in the late 1800s as a scale model of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and topped by enormous statues of 13 saints representing the parishes of Montreal.

And what major city would be complete without Chinatown?

All over the city, we came across monuments and memorials. As usual, most of them commemorated rulers, politicians, military leaders, and casualties of war, but there was the occasional artist or humanitarian.

Queen Victoria

Robert Burns

Raoul Wallenberg

Leonard Cohen

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve

Admiral Horatio Nelson

Jean Vauquelin

The dead of three wars

In addition to all those monuments, Montreal has plenty of art for art's sake. Not far from the Notre-Dame Basilica, we saw "The English Pug and the French Poodle," a pair of sculptures by Marc-André J. Fortier, satirizing the snobbery of two nations.


Sherbrooke Street, between McGill University and the Museum of Fine Arts, has many artworks on display. As soon as we glimpsed this installation, "Walking Figures" by Magdalena Abakanowicz, we had a sense of deja vu. We had seen her very similar (but much larger) work, "Agora", when we were in Chicago.

"Dancing Nana" by Niki de Saint Phalle certainly looks cheerful.

The side street immediately adjacent to the museum (Museum Avenue) serves as a sculpture garden. When we were there, it was partly closed to vehicles in order to display a temporary exhibit made of colorful traffic markers ("Flower Power" by Claude Cormier).

Dale Chihuly is everywhere! His gigantic "Sun" sits in front of the museum.

Up to this point in our trip, the weather had been warm ‑‑ often uncomfortably hot ‑‑ everywhere we went. Montreal was no exception. But on our last day there, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees, and we began to feel that fall was finally on its way.

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Note: We were here near the end of September.
 

Tacoma

by Rosemary

Perhaps Tacoma would not have been on our list of places to see, but we needed a city near a major airport, where I could enjoy plenty of activities while Steve went back to Los Angeles for a few days on business.

Our favorite part of the city was Point Defiance Park. It has a lovely rose garden, beaches, a marina, a zoo and aquarium, hundreds of acres of natural forest with hiking trails, and Five Mile Drive, a scenic road around the periphery.

One of the many beautiful hiking trails.

We saw plenty of raccoons in the park.
They are so much cuter when they aren't digging up your garden!

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, as viewed from Point Defiance.

Downtown Tacoma was on the quiet side. Traffic wasn't too bad, and parking wasn't a problem.

We saw quite a few old industrial buildings being converted to loft apartments and offices. The old Union Station is now a U.S. courthouse.

Glass sculptor Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, and he is celebrated here. His "Bridge of Glass" is a pedestrian bridge that crosses Interstate 705, linking the downtown area to the Museum of Glass. The bridge includes two 40-foot crystal towers, a covered pavilion whose ceiling seems to be filled with sealife, and an 80-foot wall of display cases containing over 100 individual artworks. There is no fee to enter the bridge, which is open to the public 24 hours a day.

More of Chihuly's work is on display inside Union Station, where several very large installations can be viewed inside the rotunda.

Not far from Union Station is the Tacoma Art Museum, which emphasizes art of the Northwest. It isn't a large museum, but the collection is interesting, with both historical and modern works, and, of course, more Chihuly.

 

In a small hallway-like gallery was an exhibit of jewelry from the collection of the late Mia McEldowney. Jewelry in museums often makes me feel a bit sad. These objects were created for a very specific purpose, to give pleasure in the wearing. Looking at them in drawers and cases isn't nearly as much fun as it would have been to see them being worn.

The museum has signs warning visitors that "touching harms the art". Of course, they are right. Yet I couldn't help but feel that this multimedia piece (U is for Utopian by Dennis Evans) was meant to be interactive.

It's hard to find any art that can rival nature in the Pacific Northwest. I took a day trip to visit my friends Sue and Arnor in Port Angeles. Sue and I visited Olympic National Park and hiked up to Sol Duc Falls. The views around every corner were amazing.



Driving around Tacoma, I would suddenly catch sight of Mount Rainier, 40-some miles away, but seemingly right on top of the city. It was always breathtaking.

Next: We cross the border.
 

To Seattle and Beyond!

by Steve W

After leaving Portland, we headed north to Seattle. We had been there a couple of times before, but only for short periods. We hoped to be able to spend more time and see more this trip.

One of the things about Seattle is that there is one main freeway that runs through the city, which means that everyone has to use it. Even though we passed through about 1 PM, you would have sworn it was rush hour.

Rushing to lunch?

We settled into our hotel in Shoreline at the northern end of Seattle and had dinner. The next day we went to the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP), which was formerly the Experience Music Project, and Chihuly Garden and Glass.

Dale Chihuly is a world renowned artist who creates incredibly colorful and wild glass sculptures and pieces of art. He has had installations all over the world and this is the largest collection of his works.

Looks like a plant but is made of glass.

Someone is having a bad hair day.

The Seattle Center is a large park-like facility that has many features in addition to the ones listed above, and serves as the city's cultural center. On the day we were there, it hosted a Polish Festival, the Sikh Youth Association's 4th Annual Turban Day, giving away free turbans, and a beer festival.

After cruising the park, we took the monorail downtown, avoiding the traffic and parking issues, and went to Pike Place, the marketplace for fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and meats of various kinds, and arts and crafts designed and made by local artists. Pike Place is right on Puget Sound and near the football and baseball stadiums for the Seattle teams. One of the sights you can see from many parts of Seattle and the surrounding areas is the peak of Mt. Rainier. Here is a picture taken from the edge of the Sound, with the frame of a stadium in the foreground.

Across the street from Pike Place is the original Starbucks, with lines of people waiting to get in and others having their pictures taken outside.

The next day we went to Discovery Park, the city's largest park with miles of walking trails and access to the beaches on Puget Sound. It's a steep climb down to the beach on trails and lots of wooden steps and, as you might expect, a steep climb back up. Rosemary's Fitbit gave her credit for 31 staircases, but I gave her more credit just for getting up and down the steep stairs.

When we were there, it was low tide, so a large portion of the beach was exposed, as were the shells for some sea life. And still more great views of Mt. Rainier looming in the distance.

This could have been someone's dinner. Or maybe it was!

We went to Mercer Island the next day and visited a couple of the parks there. All very beautiful and peaceful. Walking along the shore of Lake Washington, there were signs about the quality of the fish in the lake and how often they could be eaten. Yikes!

Who said fish is good for you?

Next: off to San Juan Island and a visit with good friends and our former cats!