St. Flavie 4, Quebec, Canada

Yesterday was a full day and very interesting.  We went into Rimouski to tour the submarine and the memorial museum for the Empress of Ireland – it sank in the St.  The Port-u-Père lighthouse was closed for repairs and getting it ready for July 1st which is Canada Day and Canada’s 150th anniversary.  The lighthouse is the second tallest in eastern Canada at 108 feet.

The submarine is the only one open to the public here in Canada – tourists are guided through the sub with a phone like devise that is programmed in several languages.  There were 24 stations that are explained in the audio presentation.  We were amazed at how narrow the passage way through the sub was – there were 70 crew on board and quarters were cramped  with little privacy as you can see three narrow bunks in the left picture.

There were 3 cooks on board and they really went over the top to prepare real quality food.  The galley was open 24/7 – the military went out of there way to  each man is allowed a 20 second shower each day and they could not accumulate time.  The rest of the military which has a strict dress code, allows the sub crew to wear cut-offs and T-shirts or whatever else they wanted.

The bow or forward part of the sub is where the torpedo room is and the sub had the capacity for 18 torpedoes – 16 in the front and 2 at the stern to launch if under attack from behind.  The forward torpedo room was the largest and coolest place on the sub so when space was available crew members would move their bunk into this area as it was also not as much noise.  The operational part of the ship was lit by red lights at night so the crew had a sense of night and day – it was also used so that if the sub had to surface during the night the eyes of the crew members who exited the ship would adjust quicker to the dark.

The other exhibit we walked through was a museum/memorial for the Empress of Ireland – while leaving the St. Lawrence for Liverpool it was hit by a coal freighter and sunk around 1:00 am in a fog bank – of the 1,472 passengers and crew aboard 1,012 perished.  After the ship was hit it only took 14 minutes to completely sink beneath the waves.  The museum had a movie presentation of the facts surrounding the history of the Empress – like a Ken Burns PBS special.  This presentation had sounds, cold air, heat when they showed the boiler room, etc.  It was very well done – so well I half expected them to fill the theater with water for the final effect – but they did not.  The disaster with the Empress of Ireland is often referred to as Canada’s Titanic.

We’ve were driving down the road to a little village for coffee and pastry or something like that and I look of to my right and there is a herd of buffalo – we stopped and took a picture – would not have expected buffalo in Quebec.  Of course the herd belongs to a local rancher who imported them from someplace but it was an odd site nevertheless.  I was sitting at our table and looked out the window and a couple were riding down the beach on horses.

A squall blew through the RV Park the other night – the wind went from 0 to 60 in about 5 seconds and lasted about 15 minutes.  Our neighbors left their awning out and the wind caught it and ripped most of it off their small RV.  They were inside and when they realized what was happening they opened the door and lost control of the it.  The door slammed against the side of their RV and shattered the glass window.  They had to scramble to keep everything inside the RV under control – one of them said it was like a tornado inside.   PRC

What did I do on my birthday yesterday?  Well, this trip is my birthday present. And Peter’s also has his birthday is at the end of this month.  Nonetheless, I did have a good day.

We went to the submarine museum an audio visual presentation and all the artifacts explained everything in great detail.  You might have noticed that the crew were referred to as “he.”  It was a male crew at the time of this submarine.  The Onondaga was commissioned in 1967 during the Cold War.  I had to check and apparently two female sailors in 2012 were qualified for US submarines.  The crew had very cramped quarters to live in.  I’ve never been in a sub before and probably never will again so it was a fascinating experience.

Included in our tickets was a tour and documentary of the Empress of Ireland.  The Empress of Ireland sank two years and 44 days after the infamous sinking of the Titanic. It was an ocean liner that sunk in the St. Lawrence River after colliding with the Norwegian coal ship the SS Storstad in the early morning hours of May 29, 1914.  The ship had barely started their North Atlantic Route between Rimouski, Canada and Liverpool , England.  Apparently many improvements had been made since the Titanic two years earlier.  The downfall for the Empress was the heavy fog of the St. Lawrence River.

We had dinner again at Restaurant Capitaine Homard.  This time we did not have lobster.  I had Linguine de le mer and Peter had Fish and Chips.  Both were good choices along with Escargot Provence for an appetizer.  The problem with the lobster the other night was that we were given a female lobster with her eggs.  It was not the most appetizing specimen, especially at $20 per pound. I learned that we can specifically order a male lobster. I wish I had known that before.  There was a table next to us with ten people who all ordered four pound lobsters.  Do the math on that dinner bill…

My birthday dinner was particularly special as we were joined by a very nice couple from the US we had met the day before.  Not only was it great to speak English, they were an engaging and interesting pair. They are full time RVer’s.

And, the day wasn’t over yet.  Peter built a bonfire on the beach.  Rose and Jim joined us and we continued our most enjoyable conversation.  We finally had to retire to the “Buen Camino”, our travel trailer because of the wind and cold.  A most wonderful birthday indeed.

EVENING CAMPFIRE ON THE BEACH – SAINTE FLAVIE, QUEBEC

Today has been a good day also. We went to the most charming little village, St. Luce.  We walked along the boardwalk and stopped for a bowl of café (vs a cup) and split a “gateau aux pommes avec sauce au rhum” (apple cake with rum sauce) at L’Anse Aux Coques.  It was delicieux.

We were very excited to hear from a French Canadian couple we met in Quebec City on our blog. We were able to translate their message in French on the translation app on our phone.  And of course, send a reply in French to them.     JY