Trois Rivieres

Heather and I left Apps Ridge after breakfast and picked Don up in Paris. It took us about 9 hours to reach Trois Rivieres (stops for lunch, coffee and bathroom). Neither Toronto or Montreal were too terrible, traffic wise. We stayed with Heather's sister, Judy, overnight, walked the residential neighbourhood in the morning and set out for our tour of Trois Rivieres at about 11am. We needed to do a little shopping and then lunch at La Belle Province - Poutine.

La Belle Province has a bit of an over the top diner vibe.

Don't tell the French language police (the French is supposed to be larger than the English)

Heather and Don, and of course Judy, had eaten here before and knew about the portion sizes.
We ordered 2 smalls, shared them between the 4 of us and were stuffed. The fries were crispy,
the curds were abundant and squeaky and the gravy was hot and delicious. Hope I'm making
you drool.

After lunch we headed downtown, parked the car and walked. Downtown Trois Rivieres has a nice but small downtown area with stores, restaurants, bars, cafes with patios and most of the buildings are dated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are also modern buildings scattered through. Judy told us that there has been quite the push to beautify the city especially as cruise boats are now stopping there.

Everywhere evidence of the up coming election.

The bridge across the St Lawrence that we will go over tomorrow to enter the southern shore
of Quebec before entering Maine.

Looking East, along the St Lawrence.

We walked along the waterfront and through a park full of sculptures.

A nunnery

and the attached college

with its ice cream cone spires.

The old section around the nunnery was built around the 1700s. Lovely wrought iron work.

Sun dial on the side of the building.

A new rendition of the traditional silver coloured metal roof.

A square with waterfalls.

Cathedral of the Assumption. Seemed dim when we first went in but we had been outside in
the bright sunlight.

The stained glass windows were magnificent and all featured Mary. It was the first
church I have been in that had a female focus in every window.

Trois Rivieres was bustling but not overly busy, clean, modern and historic. The waterfront was wide and has cruise ships and freighters docking. There are lots of examples of traditional Quebec architecture; stone chimneys, metal swooping roofs, wrought iron.
Tomorrow we leave early to cross the St Lawrence, drive through Quebec for 2.5 hours and then through Maine.