After leaving Quebec, we drove on clear roads up the Saint Lawrence and then south to the Bay of Fundy.

We are greatly enjoying CBC radio. Very interesting local stories (first nation tribe in BC goes on traditional diet and loses weight/ MacMillin Cup Curling Championship) and then a short snippet about a Canadian recording artist, then a full song. Of course, lots about Eliot Spitzer, too.

Inn on the Cove, Saint John was lovely, if a little kitchy. The main house was built by Alexander Graham Bell for his gardener. We stayed in the annex with a fabulous view of the bay. The lighthouse across the sound flashed in the room every 15 seconds. Not bright enough to be annoying...it was actually very comforting. Just us for dinner with the owner/chef.

The next morning the sun rose right through our window. We walked to the end of the quiet road and back before breakfast when it was still very brisk. The tide was 40 feet below mean water. We hopped in the car for the market in Saint John...one of the oldest in Canada. We picked up PEI muscles for a song, along with garlic, shallots and parsley. Driving up the bay on back roads was a bit touchy. Tough weather buckles the pavement and the plows hammer big holes. We made slow progress, but we were rewarded with great views and managed to keep the oil pan.

We stopped to check out a provincial park boasting some rather odd rock formations sticking out of the murky Bay of Fundy, carved through millions of years of extreme tidal action. It was closed but allowed people to proceed at own risk (and without a ticket!). Recent rains had turned all the deciduous trees into a crystal forest.

From what we have seen, Halifax is gorgeous. We arrived right at that magic, purple-hour after the sunset. Our room at the Marriott Residence Inn is large with a baby kitchen. I ran up the street for a nice (but relatively inexpensive) bottle of white wine for the muscle broth; Polly got us settled in.

Probably against their will, the muscles cooperated, opened up and were delicious. We skipped from American Idol to Dumb and Dumber to Curling (Manitoba giving Alberta a run for their money, eh?).

Off to bed and ready for a new day of exploring Halifax...One more night here, then driving to the Cape to visit Mary Hampton, Newport to visit Andy and the old stomping grounds then off to NYC for a Saint Patty's weekend to remember...or not.

Love
Kenny

After a long night with howling winds and LOTS of plowing outside, we sprung the clocks forward, ate our complimentary croissant-cheese-jam breakfasts (hung in a basket on the door), and ventured out into the snowy, snowy cold. The weather was better, but still challenging (hoods required... excellent stroke of luck that I am now favoring Mom's frumpy-yet-functional Woolrich blue coat from the 1980's) Not as much wind as last night, pretty cold, still snowing. You gotta hand it to this city- they are ALL OVER the plowing. They have plows for the road, of course, but also plows for the sidewalks and the little baby alleys. They love to plow! Quebec is VERY EUROPEAN and VERY OLD... but you probably already knew that. Everything is in French, everybody speaks French, so it feels kind of like Chamoinix, in some very flat French Alps. We wandered all over the Upper Old Town in the morning, checked out the oh-so-imposing Hotel Frontenac, the city hall, Parliament, and a big old walled fort aptly called the Citadel. Did you know that this year is Quebec City's 400th birthday? We ended up in a very snowy park that hadn't been plowed, realized that anywhere we stepped we were up to our hips in snow, and carefully picked (and crawled) our way back to a plowed road. We considered donning our skis after watching a guy hiking the tops of the old city walls in his snowshoes, but by that time most of the city was getting slushy and we figured skis on top of old city walls would be too scary. The locals say this is the most snow they've had since 1950--- 4 meters throughout the winter, and probably 2 meters now (much, much higher in the snowpiles... see photo of Kenny standing as high as second floor of old building). We ate some lunch in our hotel room, had a little rest, then headed out again around 5pm. We checked out the lower part of the old city, wandered around on the banks of the St. Lawrence River/Seaway (which had by then changed directions and, chocked-full of ice, was somehow flowing upstream), and ended another long walk at "Le Patriarch," a restaurant recommended by our hotel. We were one of two couples in the place, sat next to a nice little gas fireplace, and proceeded to try quite a few french-Canadian delicacies.... shiitake ice-cream with foie gras, truffle-egg torte, rare caribou loin, lobster bisque with tarragon souffle, "wild game" consumme, maple/apple marzipan with cranberries, among other tasty treats. We left a bit poorer but quite pleased with the cooking and presentation, and now we're back in our hotel, packing, warming up, and getting ready to head for New Brunswick! Tomorrow we end up in St. Johns on the Bay of Fundy, at a place called "Inn on the Cove and Spa." Don't let the name fool you... winter rates were quite good for a "basic" room. Hopefully the weather will behave as we drive north and then east. We switch to Atlantic time! -Polly