MOre pictures


The lobby of the Royal York in Toronto. That's Mo working her way up the spiral staircase in the green parka.	We hopped a VIA LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) train for the ride from Toronto to Ottawa. After checking into our hotel, we walked around the town on a crisp evening. The Chateau Laurier is adjacent to Ottawa's Parliament buildings, so we had some great night building views. This is the tower on the main Parliament building.	This is our Ottawa hotel, the Chateau Laurier.	Ottawa's train station right across the street from the Chateau Laurier. The VIA station has since been relocated to the outskirts of town, so this building is no longer in use as a rail terminal. While in Ottawa, we had dinner with Jan and Bob Meldrum. Bob said the reason given for relocating the terminal was to keep the trains out of the city so they wouldn't divide it up so much. He pointed out that now there's a freeway running pretty much in the same place. Hmmh....

Rideau Falls in Ottawa, as they begin to thaw out. Three rivers run through Ottawa: The Rideau, Gatineau, and Ottawa. Check out the ice chunks that hang at the cornice of the falls.	Mo on the bridge over Rideau Falls. That's Bob LaFraugh from Tacoma right behind her with a concerned look on his face - he must have a premonition about the dogsled ride I'm going to take him on in a few days. More about that later....	On a bus trip out to the "sugarbush", we passed this five-arch stone bridge across the Ottawa River. Note the church steeple in the background. There's no shortage of churches (almost all Roman Catholic) in the Eastern provinces!	More four-legged friends at Fulton's Pancake House & Sugar Bush about an hour out of Ottawa.

Lorraine, fourth generation on this sugar maple plantation (sugar bush), explains how maple syrup is extracted from the trees. Surprisingly as it comes out of the tree, it is virtually tasteless. Only after concentration does it begin to have the thick, sweet taste we associate with maple syrup.	Gone are the wood or steel taps and hanging buckets. A network of plastic tubing extracts and accumulates the sap, which is transported to an evaporator by vacuum.	Sid and Max Frye from Pennsylvania snuggle up like a couple of high school students. Sid is an elementary school teacher; Max is a high school math teacher.	The dogs have treed a squirrel. Lorraine told us that squirrels are a nuisance to their operation - they have figured out how to chew the plastic tubing open to drink the sap.

Jim Frederickson, our tour escort, with camera in hand as we board a horse-drawn sleigh. As the horses bolted away, they nearly knocked Jim down!	Our sleigh ride through the sugarbush.		An unusual treat - warm maple syrup poured directly onto snow to form "taffy".

The maple sugar taffy is sure tasty!	I thought I was being discreet about petting the dog, but Mo caught me.	Lorraine shows us the evaporator/concentrator room. There's absolutely nothing in maple syrup except the sap from the trees with some of the water removed. Larger commercial installations use reverse osmosis to do the concentrating, which should be more energy efficient.	Back in town, we took a quick walk around town. This is the Rideau Canal and locks. On the right is our hotel (Chateau Laurier), on the left is Parliament Hill. The building in the distance along the left side of the canal is said to be the oldest building in Ottawa.

Parliament Hill. I was able to walk freely around the buildings, and right up to the doorways. While police were generally present, there were no restrictions or barriers preventing me from walking.	This is a house for stray cats on the Hill.	If my memory and notes are correct, the building on the left is the Senate building, and the Chateau Laurier is the lighter colored building on the right. We were as close to Parliament as you can possibly stay! My civics lesson - In Canada, the Senate is appointed rather than elected.	The Ottawa VIA station. Remember that this was recently relocated from the downtown location, which explains its decidedly modern construction.

In early morning, we board new Renaissance equipment for the trip from Ottawa to Montreal. This equipment was originally built for service on the Chunnel between France and England. We found the Renaissance equipment to be very comfortable, offering a more controlled ride than the LRC trainsets. Maximum speed with Renaissance or LRC equipment on the corridor runs is 110MPH.	As we began our tour of Montreal, we passed city crews painting the green line down the street in preparation for a huge St. Patrick's Day Parade.	The unmistakable outline of Montreal's Olympic Stadium, taken from Mont Royal (the highest point in Montreal).	A closeup of Olympic Stadium. Note the elevator on the tower. The original purpose of the tower was to house the cables and mechanism that supported and operated the removable roof. Operating the roof proved problematic - it is no longer used as a removable roof stadium.

The breathtaking interior of the Basilica de Notre Dame in Montreal. Operation and maintenance of this church has been taken over by the City of Montreal. You can imagine the staggering cost of maintaining this kind of facility today. The craftsmanship displayed in this structure is magnificent.	Just one of dozens of stained glass panels in the church. This church is where Celine Dion's wedding was held.	The pipe organ in the rear of the main chapel.	After touring the Notre Dame, our group headed to Reastaurant de Veux Port in Old Town Montreal for lunch. Our tour guide for the day was Lise, who was fluent in three languages (English, French, and Spanish).

Outdoor sculpture in downtown Montreal. At the front of this sculpture, the artist depicts optimism and forward-looking.	While at the rear, the group has degenerated to mayhem. A depressing story, but I find outdoor art sometimes very interesting.	On the campus of McGill University in Montreal. Montreal has four Universities - two that are English (McGill is one) and two that are French.	Mo on Avenue de President-Kennedy.

More outdoor sculpture in Montreal. It was very cold here!	Here are our "Prom Pictures", taken on our short train trip from Montreal to Quebec City. This is Vicky & Reinaldo Becerra from Georgia.	Sid and Max Frye from Pennsylvania.	Sue and Bob LaFraugh from Gig Harbor. Bob is an engineer specializing in concrete structures. I can still hear him explaining (good naturedly) to one of our VIA attendants: "Cement is to concrete as flour is to cake." This was after she mistakenly identified "cement" ties on the trackbed.

Helen and Bob Whitney from Tacoma.	Shirley and Tony Mahar from Fircrest. Tony celebrated his 72nd birthday on our trip.	Elinor and James Pippin from Georgia.	Our escort, Jim Frederickson.

In Quebec City. The "castle" on the hill above us is the Chateau Frontenac, our hotel for two nights!	We observed two of these 3-D murals while exploring Lower Town in Quebec. Chateau Frontenac is again in the background up the hill.	While sorting through our pictures, I found numerous shots of Pascal, our handsome Quebec guide. Nearly all of the pictures of Pascal were taken with Mo's camera. I'm not sure what this means.	Here begins our collection of signs in French...