The Squamidian Report – Oct. 31 / 15
Issue #701
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who sent in an article for last week's 700th. Very nice, it was appreciated.
Many of you knew, and I guess some didn't know, that Lorne, Cindy, and
Gale were out here for a visit, eight full days plus the remains of the
day they got here and the beginning of the day they left. Boy, they
sure kept us busy. I don't think we got through half the things on
their list of 'things they wanted to do' before time ran out. We did
manage to take them to Horseshoe Bay to sit in on one of my motorcycle
group get-togethers, and we took them to Porteau Cove where they could
walk out onto the old dock. We managed to do breakfast in Whistler,
wander through the Native museum, and then tour up through Pemberton
and on up the Pemberton Valley. We did a nice drive up to the Ashlue
bridge in the upper Squamish Valley, along the river as it winds
through the mountains. And watched seals hunt salmon and play in the
current of the river down by the eagle viewing place. And, and this is
a big AND, they were up the gondola 8 times. They walked the suspension
bridge a couple of times and even walked the Panorama Ridge trail
twice. That trail is 1.6km long and takes you out to the lookout deck
that overlooks the Chief as you walk through high ridge trees, moss,
rocks and views.
As well, they were able to watch the conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and
Mars in crystal clear pre-dawn skies on several mornings as well as
watching the full moon both set and rise on the same day. It set over
the western mountains in the morning and then rose in the east after
dark that evening. There was also a couple of evenings they watched the
ISS pass overhead. On one of the passes we had some broken cloud cover
to make it more interesting as well as the 'almost' full moon. The ISS
passed right in front of that moon, from our perspective of course.
We all lucked out with the weather. With the exception of their last
full day here it was quite nice, always changing giving always changing
vistas. Last day was rainy but we still managed to spend time at the
upper lodge, just simply enjoying the location and feel. Kyra was here
for the first few days of their visit due to the fact that her sister
was being born ahead of time. That went just fine, Kyra has no problem
at all with strangers and face it, they don't come much stranger.
Willow likes get-togethers as well so a good time was had by all.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
It’s Halloween and I’m sure there will be lots of tummy aches by Sunday
afternoon! It used to be a lot of fun when we were kids and also when
our son was a “Trick or Treater”. We walked around with him when he was
little and as he aged, we allowed him to walk the neighbourhood with
his friends. We used to put a tombstone I made on the front lawn along
with an old furnace fan that blew out under the partially opened garage
door with black strips of plastic garbage bags taped to the fan to
reach out like spooky witch fingers at the kids as they walked up to
our door. We also had my old reel to reel tape recorder playing with
spooky screams and howls that we had spent several nights recording in
our kitchen. It was loads of fun and the kids loved it. Of course now
there are people that go all out on Halloween with a full graveyard etc
in their front yards and they even make the evening news. Oh well,
nobody has yet to match the saying on my tombstone even if I do say so
myself. I was tired of kids coming to the door and being rude enough
not to even say thank you for the candy handouts so, I put the
following inscription on the 3 foot high tombstone: “Here lies the body
of a neighbourhood kid who should have smiled and said “Thank You” but
never did!” MooooHooHaaaaaa…….!
That’s my bit about this evening’s special occasion for 2015!
*
Next Edition of Our Trip To Europe.
If I recall correctly, we were just taking off from Belfast last week for the next leg of the trip and landing in Paris!
On the day we landed in Paris the weather was once again perfect, sunny
and 16c. The flight was only about an hour and a half long and we only
encountered a few cloudy areas along the way. It was pretty cool to see
the coast of England both on the west and then the east coast as well
as the beaches of France as we approached Paris. Our landing at Charles
De Gaulle Airport was a tad scary as the pilot, as I figured it, came
in for the landing on a bit of an angle to the runway and the plane
jerked and bounced a little as it straightened out in line with the
runway center line. Of course that only took about 5 seconds and all
was back to normal. I guess he was thinking of something else as the
plane touched down but he managed to get it righted in short order. The
ride from the airport to our hotel in central Paris was almost an hour
long as the airport is a fair distance from the outskirts of Paris. As
we rode through the countryside and then made our way into urban Paris,
we noticed that the roadsides became more and more littered with
garbage and loose papers etc. We even noticed old mattresses on the
roadside and began to wonder what sort of mess Paris would be once we
got to the city center. However, we overlooked that aspect of it once
we reached our beautiful hotel right in the heart of Paris. The streets
of Paris became narrower and narrower as we got into the older part of
the city. We checked into the hotel and were pleasantly surprised to
find that our hotel room on the second floor was decorated with amazing
antique French furniture. Not knowing the correct era to describe the
furnishings, I’ll just say that there were chairs, a desk and two large
beds that looked like something out of a room in a French Palace in the
16th century. It was amazing and the rooms in the old hotel had 16 foot
ceilings with lovely satin and brocade style drapes on the almost floor
to ceiling windows that opened to a “Juliet” balcony. The window
overlooked an alley at the back of the hotel but even the view of the
old surrounding buildings was amazing. The architecture in Paris is
incredible! When we walked down the street only a block or two to find
a place to eat some supper, we were mesmerized by the surrounding
buildings. As I mentioned, the streets of Paris are very narrow and
there is parking on both sides of all streets unless posted otherwise.
This makes it very crowed indeed for the traffic that flows in both
directions on most streets. The sidewalks are also very narrow and to
pass someone approaching from in front of you, you must turn sideways
as you pass each other. Otherwise, one of you would have to step off
the curb to allow the other by! It’s quite inconvenient when you are
walking with someone else in a group. At most two of us could walk
abreast and the third one of us had to either lead the way or walk
behind, it was a pain in the neck, especially if you were trying to
carry on a conversation while walking. Oh well, we soon got used to the
pedestrian situation and for most of the week we spent in Paris we
walked everywhere we went. When Carole and Adam were planning the trip,
they picked a hotel that was central to most of the attractions we were
interested in seeing in Paris. We were able to walk to most of our
destinations in less than 45 minutes. The Eiffel Tower was only a
20-minute walk from our quarters and we chose that site as our first
choice tourist stop. After having supper at a corner café that first
evening we returned to our room and decided to turn in early. We had
had a long day and even a two-hour flight is a tiring event, especially
with all of the luggage we were hauling along with us. We had one large
suitcase each, one good sized carryon each and Carole had a fairly
large shoulder purse that was specially designed to prevent any would
be thief from cutting the shoulder strap or electronically copying our
VISA or other valuable information. That bag itself was quite a weight
with all the personal items we needed to have with us everywhere we
went. So, just lugging all these cases and bags was quite a chore. Of
course once we were settled in the hotel, we only had to carry the
security bag and our wallets and passports with us to the various
tourist spots. The bag weighed at least 6 or 7 pounds so Carole and I
took turns slinging it over our shoulders during our walks.
The first full day in Paris was again lovely weather-wise and to walk
to the Eiffel Tower was a good choice. We set out around 10 am after
enjoying a good breakfast at the hotel. I have to tell you that there
are very few long distance views in Paris unless you are looking down a
long street or viewing from an elevated building or structure. The
streets in the heart of Paris are as I said earlier very narrow and the
buildings on either side are characteristically built right on the edge
of the sidewalks and are all multi stories. They are four stories or
taller on most streets so for the most part, you are able to see the
buildings and the narrow strip of sky above! These buildings are very
old and the first floors are taken up by small commercial businesses
with the upper floors containing apartments. There are very few grassy
areas in Paris unless you are in a park. To find a home with a lawn one
would have to venture to the extreme outskirts of the city and even
then, the homes are so old that they are sitting on very small lots.
Almost all of the apartments have “Juliet” balconies and with no green
areas, the residents’ plant beautiful flowers in window boxes of thief
balconies to dress up their homes. We were only treated to green areas
when walking through or passing parks along the Seine River. We walked
that first day to the Eiffel Tower but without realizing we could take
a more direct route, we walked about five huge blocks north from our
hotel until we came to the River Seine and from the wall along the
river we could see the Eiffel Tower. We enjoyed the walk very much and
it gave us a chance to enjoy great views of the river and it’s many
sight seeing boats. There are also many bridges that cross from south
to north along the river and some are decorated with amazing beautiful
statues and concrete or marble carvings. Some of these statues are even
totally covered in bright shiny gold leaf! It’s amazing to see that the
gold leaf has stood the test of time and makes the statues and rooftops
of many of the buildings look like they are actually covered in real
gold, gleaming in the bright sunshine!
I expected to see people chipping chunks off the statues to line their
pockets with gold! LOL! We walked to the east along the river until we
came to a side street one block before the Eiffel Tower park and
decided to walk down that street and see if there were any cafés or
interesting shops in which we could have a tea and a snack or do a
little shopping. Carole was interested in finding little out of the way
ladies clothing shops so she could do her “shopping in Paris” thing! We
did find an interesting souvenir shop and bought a few trinkets. We
looked from the front door of that shop to the east and the Tower
loomed magnificently at the end of the short street that stretched out
in front of us. What an incredible sight to behold! We walked up that
street to the base of the Eiffel Tower and stood staring in awe at the
size and intricacies of the metal monolith before us! It is truly the
most impressive structure I’ve ever seen and it literally made my knees
week to stand at the bottom and look skyward to see the top! We decided
to walk down the huge grassy parkway that stretches out from the base
of the tower so we could have a look at the entirety of what was
confronting us. We walked about a hundred and fifty yards down the
parkway and turned back to see what was truly incredible. Adam took
many great pictures of the tower as well as ones of both Carole and I
standing with the tower in the background. I took a few pics with his
camera of him in that same position so he’d also have a record of being
there. It was cool indeed to actually be standing within sight of one
of the world’s most impressive structures. We wanted to be sure that
the pictures we brought home were plentiful so we had well posed ones
to frame for posterity.
I’ll post some of the pictures at the end of this series of Ontarions so you can all have a look at our vacation of a lifetime!
The lineups to go up the tower were not as long as we expected so Adam
and Carole both decided to go to the top. Although I have spent 30
years climbing precarious ladders and structures I was a tad reluctant
to take on the ascent to the top of the tower. I said I’d just wait for
them at the base. After a little coaxing from them and some lunch at
the base café, I decided I’d give it a go! After all, I’ll likely never
get the chance to do this again! We bought our tickets and you had the
choice of either ascending to the second level or to do both, ascend to
the second level and walk around to see the sights as well as take the
angular elevator to the “Summit” of the tower. We chose to do both and
were totally amazed at the experience! The second level was much higher
off the base than we realized but the addition of the trip to the very
top of the Eiffel Tower was indeed breathtaking! Upon arrival at the
top of the tower, you could also climb a set of iron stairs to the very
pinnacle of the structure. We did so and stood for the better part of
an hour just taking photographs of each other as well as of the
incredible beauty of the city of Paris! What struck us was the fact
that most of the buildings in Paris are “off white” in colour and have
metal roofs, some of which are once again covered in gold leaf. These
are for the most part, government buildings that get the gold
treatment. The white buildings of the city make what is essentially a
dirty big city, look very clean from that elevation.
The city of Paris is huge and has a population of I believe about five
million people! It’s crowded to walk around the streets and it’s even
more crowded when you visit an historical site such as the Eiffel
Tower. I hadn’t realized that the Eiffel Tower was named after its
designer/builder. He even had an office at the summit of the tower and
they have preserved it as it was when the tower was completed. You
can’t enter the office but you can view the office from the deck
surrounding the top of the tower through a set of windows. They even
have mannequins dressed in period clothing that represent Mr Eiffel and
his wife as well as his secretary and his engineering assistant in the
office. It’s a true look into the history of the Eiffel Tower.
We enjoyed our visit to the Tower and once back on the ground took a
leisurely stroll back along the River Seine taking in the sights of
Paris. There were many pedi-cabs with their drivers begging you to let
them pedal you along the rivers edge. We turned down their invitations
as we were enjoying our walk in this historic setting. We checked out
the large low barge style riverboats that take tourists up and down the
river pointing out the sites of Paris. They were very crowed and of
course commercial. Having had enough of crowds for that day we decided
not to take the cruise but to find the interesting sites for ourselves
over the next five days we’d be in “The City of Light”. We happened
upon a quaint sidewalk café that Paris is so famous for and totally
filled with I might add. We stopped for dinner at that corner sidewalk
spot and had an amazing meal. Carole pointed out that we couldn’t leave
Paris without trying the “Escargot” in the city that originated such a
delicacy. So, we treated ourselves to “Escargot” and a lovely dinner
but since the weather was cooling off, we decided to sit inside at a
window seat rather than on the sidewalk of the café beside propane
heaters glowing in the evening light. The meal was very enjoyable but
we all agreed that we prefer the Escargot dish that Carole has
perfected at home. After our dinner we made our way back to the hotel
under the moonlit sky of one of the most romantic cities in the world.
The hotel room was inviting and a welcoming rest stop after a very busy
day. I suggested that we might have taken the time after dark to go
back to within eyesight of the Eiffel Tower to see what it looked like
with it’s lights on! Carole said she’d prefer to just stay in for the
evening but Adam and I could go if we wanted. We decided to take a walk
to a park nearby that afforded a good view of the Tower and check it
out. We walked the shorter route to the Military Veterans Hospital
about half way between our hotel and the tower and just take a look at
it from that vantage point. Once we arrived at the Hospital site, we
sat on the stonewall surrounding it and looked at the tower. It had a
couple of huge spotlights that rotated around the summit of the tower
shining into the dark sky above Paris. After about twenty minutes, the
entire tower lit up from top to bottom with thousands of bright white
twinkling lights! They twinkled in the night and made a very enchanting
sight that lasted for about five minutes. They would then stop
twinkling for five minutes and then light up once again for the same
period. This I imagine would have gone on all night but after watching
for about half an hour and taking another few dozen pictures we decided
to call it a night. We returned to the hotel and by about 10pm we were
all out like the lights on the tower come dawn!
I am going to stop at this point and will continue the tour de Paris next week in The Ontarion Report!
*
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
“Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street
with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they’re sexy!”
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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