Au revoir Montreal, au revoir mes amis!

25th August

We had received notes saying we had to move our own baggage to the cabins we would be permanently in. So the whole lot of us, at the same time, were struggling with our enormous suitcases, backpacks, rolling duffle bags etc on to crowded elevators and staircases. It was particularly difficult for some women faculty travelling alone, especially to manage their forwarded boxes of books which are of course a dead weight. I think/hope busy stewards did eventually carry some of those. We were not officially told our room numbers until 1 pm when we had to queue up for new ID tags. The stewards were rushing to prepare cabins left by guests to the Forum for us, and those we had occupied had to be readied for students. We did not feel valued or significant during these hours believe me although we were thanked by the CEO of the Institute for Seaboard Education Les McCabe at a meeting later!


Brenda came on board. I had earler helped Life Long Learners find their cabins and took some round the ship. They seem like a really nice crowd. Went back to my cabin popping downstairs every now and then to look out for Brenda until I received a phone call from her cabin saying "I'm here!" It was lovely to see her smile again and we sat and chatted in our cabin for some time....catching up on the gossip!
Took her round the ship and went into the Lazer lounge for 5pm Happy hour. Mandy the bar tender was his usual miraculous self dealing with 36 Faculty and 59 Life Long Learners.

Off the ship for our old Montreal supper. 'I want French food please....at least Quebecois' I had said when G. went off wandering to find the best restaurant. He came back triumphant, 'Great restaurant about a 15 minute walk from the ship' he said proudly...'Wonderful!' I responded, 'French? Quebecois?" 'Portuguese.' Ever wondered about being heard?!

Had a great meal with Brenda(1, only because she arrived first!) and Steve,(Business) Amy (Music) Patrick (Religion) and Jane, Brenda(2), George and me. We were the only occupied table inside so had superb service and the food was good. The best part was the good company and much laughter. Unusual situation really...the Canadians outnumbered the Americans by 5-3!

Slept well!

26th August

Brenda, George and I strolled the streets of old Montreal drinking great coffee, buying (me) a beautiful little Buddha (I love and collect them) and ultimately, of course (this is predictable) ending up in '3 Breweries' a large ale house pub. While George enjoyed wheat beer, Brenda and I ordered "samples", 6 small glasses of different tastes and flavours....magnifique!

I love the mixed architecture of the buildings and churches and hearing the French language on all sides. I hope Canada never loses Quebec because the loss of this wonderful, colourful, creative and dynamic culture would be a mortal blow. I particularly love the theatre and the music....but it's the atmosphere and of course memories of France. When I was stunned by the beauty of Quebec city from the water |I remembered my very first visit to Paris and Tours. I went with my Scottish boarding school. We were driven by bus from the ferry into Paris. It was again nearly dusk and the setting sun was catching the gold tips of domes, lighting up the spires and roof tops....again it was pure magic... particularly for this 15 year old who had spent all her formative years in Africa. I nearly burst with excitement...I'm actually in Paris! I thought. To misquote Kipling "from the desert of Sind to the Towers of Zimbabwe.....and on to the domes and spires of Paris!" Spending time there and seeing the chateaux of the Loire was the beginning of my love affair with France.

Back to the present: We barely made it back to the ship by the mandatory 1 pm and walked extremely fast over the last few hundred yards! 450 students had made it on to the ship by then with only about 5 stragglers as far as one could tell from the overhead speakers on board. We had a busy afternoon with boat drill again and whole shipboard gathering in the Union last night to introduce faculty to students.

We sailed out of Montreal promptly at 1700 hours after our 2nd life boat drill at 1600 hours...we're on the 24 hour clock now. I had taught Brenda how to put on her life jacket. She knew from us to wear a hat, long sleeves and closed toed shoes so was fully prepared to make her way from her cabin to Lifeboat 3 A on the 5th deck. We are lifeboat 5 on the same deck. Our life boat officer is Mandy so we were naughtily quipping of the advantages of having a great bar tender with us! (we are supposed to be silent!)

I had unsuccessfully tried to phone my daughters from the ship....they were all out living their lives, how dare they?! Finally managed to speak one sentence to my preoccupied grandson Bryn and his father John. Did receive apologetic emails from Tessa and Fiona last night. It's OK you two you have my permission to go ahead and live your lives!! We still love (and miss) you very much!


It's doubly difficult to leave Canada..I can cope with saying goodbye to the Bahamas or San Diego, but to Canada? It was lump-in-the-throat time for me I'm afraid. However it's au revoir not farewell as we head out to our next great adventure.