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Posts from the road

What Happens When You Forget Your Camera?

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(Lenk, Switzerland)

Monday, March 5 was a beautiful day on the Lenk-Adelboden slopes.  The sun was shining and the day should have been one long “Kodak Moment”.  Alas, since I inadvertently left my camera’s memory card in my laptop computer (which was back at the hotel), I was unable to capture any of it!

View of Regenboldshorn, from Metschstand

Still, this was another reminder that it is important to live in the moment.  I figured we would probably have other photo opportunities during our week in Lenk, so I just focused on enjoying the excellent ski conditions.  The photographs in today’s post are all from subsequent days.

Good times at Metschstand, high in the Berner Oberland

After a couple of days of skiing in Lenk-Adelboden, I have grown fond of the almost non-existent lift-lines, the long and wide pistes, and the quintessential Alpine scenery.   For sheer Alpine drama, nothing can compare to the mountains around Wengen.  However, the pistes themselves at Lenk are certainly comparable.  And the snow conditions have been great, considering that we are now well into March.

The restaurant at Aebi: we had a rustic lunch here

Alas, no discussion of Swiss skiing can ignore the high costs.  Even in Lenk, the prices are still much higher than those in Italy…although I think they are slightly lower than in Wengen.   So, in an attempt to control my food budget, I continue to eat lots of mostly meat-free dishes such as rösti and spätzle.  Any main course featuring meat is often in excess of 30 Swiss Francs…or more than $40.00 (Canadian).

View from my hotel room, first thing in the morning: looks like a great day for skiing!

Despite high food costs, our accommodation costs in Lenk are relatively reasonable.   Wages are very high here, so the lack of 24-hour staffing at our hotel helps keep the costs in line.  In addition, the (included) breakfasts are still plentiful, so we don’t need to eat quite as much for lunch in expensive mountain restaurants.

Riding the Luegli lift

It also costs a lot of money to get from the airport to the ski resort.  Overall, however, I think we’re close to achieving a nice balance of world-class skiing without world-class crowds.  The lift ticket prices are near Western Canada/U.S. levels but, with no lift-lines, we are getting far more skiing time than we would at similarly-priced resorts in North America.

View from the top of Luegli

My next post will be about an especially dreamy day at Betelberg, Lenk’s other ski area….where all of the high costs were quickly forgotten!

Posts from the road

Starting My Week in Lenk

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(Lenk, Switzerland)

It wasn’t easy to leave Wengen:  the jaw-dropping views exert a very strong pull.  However, it was time to meet up with the rest of my posse for a week of skiing in Lenk.

A final view of Hotel Bellevue, our base in Wengen

Lenk is a small town located in the upper Simmental and is probably best known as the smaller half of the Lenk-Adelboden ski area.  Adelboden is more famous, partly because it annually hosts a World Cup slalom event.  However, Lenk has special meaning for me:  it is my “Heimatort” (place of origin) and, as a result, is the community where I vote in Swiss elections and referenda.

Hotel Sternen: our base in Lenk

Determination of a Swiss person’s Heimatort can be complicated, but Lenk is my Heimatort essentially because my ancestors in the 19th century called it home.  As you can imagine, I am quite happy that my Heimatort is a ski town!  But I also still have relatives in the area and I was able to combine everything with a special day of skiing on Sunday, March 4.

My cousin and her family – at the summit of “Lavey” near Adelboden, Switzerland

My cousin (and her family) was visiting her parents in nearby Reidenbach for the weekend, so we all agreed to meet for a day of skiing on Sunday.  We had never gone skiing together before, but I figured that they would be able to give me a good introduction to the Lenk-Adelboden area.

A church in Lenk – I wonder what important family events took place here?

I was correct! They were all excellent skiers and, within a few hours, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect on the Lenk-Adelboden slopes over the next week.  It was also great to reconnect with my cousin, who I had not seen for many years.  I am sure we will be able to ski together again in the not-too-distant future.

Only in Switzerland: a vending machine for cheese!

I didn’t take a lot of pictures that day, as I was quite focused on the skiing…and on speaking German, since not everybody could communicate with me in English.  If you have no choice, it’s amazing how much you can recall from a single university course taken 30 years ago!

Berner Rösti at the Restaurant Zum Gade in Lenk

After a very enjoyable family day on the slopes, I began looking more carefully at things in Lenk.  I wondered if my ancestors had celebrated special events in the nearby church, had done business in the downtown buildings that surrounded my hotel, or escorted livestock up to the remote summer barns (now drowning in snow) on the mountains high above the town.  Echoes of the past were everywhere:  I recognized many local surnames from my Swiss family tree.

Lenk, as seen from the Betelberg Gondola

But I can’t forget the cheese.  Not only was there a vending machine with the top two rows devoted entirely to cheese, the local restaurants served up Rösti (essentially, shredded potato that has been fried and also slathered with other local ingredients) in a dazzling variety of ways.  I opted for Berner Rösti on my first night, but it was by no means my only encounter this week with either Rösti (or copious amounts of cheese).

Stay tuned for the ski reports on Lenk-Adelboden and neighbouring Gstaad!

Posts from the road

Skiing with James Bond

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(Wengen, Switzerland)

For our last day of skiing in the Wengen area, we undertook a journey that thousands (millions?) of visitors have made:  the thrilling trip to the top of the Schilthorn.  At 2970 metres (about 10000 feet)  above sea level, it is by no means the highest mountain around:  several of its neighbours soar beyond 4000 metres.  However, several things about the Schilthorn make it unique.

The Schilthorn is in fact 2,970m (nearly 10,000 feet) above sea level

Firstly, the cable car ride up is absolutely astounding.  This has to be one of the highest and  freakiest I’ve ever seen.  Secondly, on a clear day, the views across the valley to the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau are unparalleled.  You can even see all the way to Germany on the clearest days.   Alas, the weather was already deteriorating by the time we arrived (after one train, one bus, and 4 different cable cars that took us from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg to Gimmelwald to Mürren to Birg and finally to the summit).  There would be no Wunderfotos today.

Start of the only piste down from the Schilthorn: these skiers are about to encounter a 75% (!) gradient

Thirdly, the skiing is more challenging than at Grindelwald and Wengen.  For example, there is only one (official) way to ski down down from the top of the Schilthorn:  a black-rated piste with a maximum gradient of 75%!

I always pictured James Bond as being taller: this is on the Schilthorn viewing platform

And finally, this mountain (and the revolving restaurant at the top) was the location of the James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.  It was released in 1969 and was the only James Bond movie to feature George Lazenby in the title role.  The movie includes, among other scenes, the destruction of the mountaintop building and a ski chase down the Schilthorn (known as Piz Gloria in the movie).

The restrooms for “Bonds” and “Bondgirls” at “Bond World” on top of the Schilthorn: is this really necessary?

Although the James Bond-Schilthorn connection was exploited to some extent in the past, it has now been taken to a new level.  An entire floor of the building is now devoted to “Bond World” and the outdoor viewing platform  now has (more or less) life-size cutouts of James Bond for your photographic pleasure.   The movie runs continuously in the theatre.  And the washrooms are not labeled “Men” and “Women”, but rather “Bonds” and “Bondgirls”.  Ick.

The Schilthornhütte in a blizzard

While I remember being intimidated by the 75% incline on prior visits, it wasn’t so bad this time because there were hardly any other skiers and the icy sections were kept in check by the significant recent snowfall.   Speaking of which:  the overcast day was quickly turning into a full-blown blizzard.  By the time we finished our lunch at the remote Schilthornhütte, we could hardly see anything.  We were sometimes forced to slowly descend from boundary post to boundary post, so that we wouldn’t accidentally ski off a cliff.

Another view of the Schilthornhütte

The slopes were *really* abandoned now but we pushed on, determined to take advantage of our lone day on the Schilthorn slopes.  We did a pretty good job, although we didn’t take any pictures for the entire afternoon.  I would have loved to share some photos of Mürren but we were strongly motivated to keep moving.  There has been little “development” of Mürren and its untouched-for-centuries appearance really contrasted with the unrestrained exploitation of the top of the Schilthorn.

It’s now time to move on from Wengen…but there’s another full week of skiing to go!

Posts from the road

Dramatic Wengen

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(Wengen, Switzerland)

You can’t have it all.  While the weather in Grindelwald was splendid, the weather for our day of skiing on the slopes above Wengen was…not so splendid.

There is now more than one “Tipi” at Kleine Scheidegg

It was a very cloudy day and, with the slopes above Wengen being generally a little more difficult than those in Grindelwald, the skiing was quite a bit more demanding.  We could more or less see where we were going but sometimes the dim light played tricks on us.  However, we still managed to hit most of the highlights.

The Eigernordwand (North Face of the Eiger) towering over Kleine Scheidegg

The “epicentre” of Kleine Scheidegg looks the same as it has for decades:  the old hotel is still there, along with the “Tipi” that has been a meeting point for almost as long.  However, the difficult conditions forced us to delay our journey to the legendary “Black Rock” and “Oh God” pistes until mid-afternoon.

Looking down the Black Rock piste to some skiers “on the edge”…skiing into that canyon is exhilirating, especially when you are also skiing into the clouds!

Perhaps they are just legendary in my own mind.  But when the skies cleared just a little bit, we quickly went to the Eigergletscher station and made our way to these parallel black-rated pistes.  The Black Rock piste is memorable for me because you plunge into a dramatic canyon with huge black rocks.  “Oh God” is memorable because at one point it has a vertical grade of 71%.  Hence the name!

Lower on the Black Rock piste, below the clouds

For about 15 years, I always named Black Rock as my all-time favourite ski piste.  It was still as steep and visually stunning as ever.  While I think it has some competition now (there is a great piste at Cortina d’Ampezzo that comes to mind), one of my ski posse members was also suitably impressed when he tried it for the very first time today.  The weather wasn’t great but I hope the photos convey at least some of the drama.

On a gentler slope, the mini-posse celebrates the better-late-than-never arrival of the sun

In a bizarre but happy coincidence, we ran into one of my former Swiss ski instructors when we were skiing down “Oh God”!  It was great to see Simon W. again in a place where we used to ski together.  We may be older now but we both still have the same enthusiasm and respect for these awesome mountains.

View from our hotel of Wengen (and beyond to the ski area)

As the day drew to a close, the weather rapidly improved.  Under the soft glow of the late afternoon sun, we skied down the famous Lauberhorn World Cup downhill piste.  You can see the starting gate in the photo at the very top of this post:  I think I had my photo automatically taken as I took off through the gate, but will need to track it down online!

Will the sun remain?  Will we encounter Bond…James Bond?   Stay tuned!

Posts from the road

Fun and Flashbacks on the Grindelwald Slopes

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(Wengen, Switzerland)

Our first day of skiing was epic. This was mostly due to the sunny skies, amazing scenery, and lack of other skiers. However, it was also fun to tap into memories I didn’t realize I had.

I took this photo while riding the Hohwald T-bar just because the sky was so blue

While skiing non-stop from the top of the Gummi lift to Grindelwald (more than 1200 vertical metres…and by no means the longest piste here), I found myself recognizing landscapes, buildings, and even smells from the ski camps I attended in Grindelwald from 1999-2002. On more than one occasion, I suddenly expected to smell dairy agriculture…and sure enough, I did!

Picnic tables at the Bärgelegg Hütte (high above Grindelwald,Switzerland)

I looked for (and found!) chamois grazing on the inaccessible cliffs in the Schilt area of the Grindelwald/First ski area. The slalom course was still set up at the top of the Oberjoch lift. The signage was still poor at the  Hohwald T-bar and the snow was still above the roofs of the summer farm buildings. It was really cool to have it all come flooding back despite being away for so long.

The piste passes by the Wetterhorn, just above Oberer Gletscher

Another surprise memory was the Bärgelegg Hütte (see photo at the very top of this post).  We were looking for lunch and just went to the nearest “crossed fork and knife” we could find on the piste map.

Waiting for the ski bus at the Hotel Wetterhorn (Oberer Gletscher, just above Grindelwald)

On arriving, I immediately recognized it as the place where I had an outdoor lunch nearly 20 years ago.  On that day, I enjoyed a simple but satisfying lunch on a picnic table looking out towards the Eiger in the brilliant sunshine.  And that’s exactly what we did this time too:  two warming bowls (each!) of Bündner Gerstensuppe, a traditional Swiss barley soup from the southeastern canton of Graubünden.

Ski buses in front of the Hotel Wetterhorn…and the Wetterhorn itself

We later skied all the way down to the Hotel Wetterhorn on the outskirts of Grindelwald.  To do so, we slalomed past the actual Wetterhorn…one of many peaks here that towers more then 2km straight up from the surrounding landscape.

Looking south on Wengen’s main street

We took the train from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg and passed directly under the mighty Eiger.  Photographs simply cannot capture the simultaneous immensity and insignificance of being directly underneath a sheer vertical wall of 2km (rising to a height of 3970m – more than 13000 feet).  But that doesn’t stop thousands of visitors from trying!

Looking north on Wengen’s main street

Alas, the weather changed quickly (as it so often does in the Swiss Alps) and I couldn’t take any quality photos of the Eiger.  This was not a problem:  we knew we would be back the next day and have another opportunity to take photographs.  Stay tuned to see what happened!

Posts from the road

Return to Wengen

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(Wengen, Switzerland)

After being away from both Wengen and Switzerland for many years, I am finally back in the mountains where I spent so many holidays learning (hopefully) how to ski like a real Swiss!

Our hotel in Wengen, overlooking Lauterbrunnen far below

The initial version of this post contained a fairly lengthy diatribe about the airline industry and their ongoing shrinkage of seats.  While this is certainly a topic that merits discussion in a travel blog, I’m going to defer it because I’ve just returned from a day of skiing and I am feeling much sunnier now than I was on arrival in Switzerland.

View from our hotel in Wengen

Besides, most of my pain was forgotten by the time the train has travelled from Zurich to Spiez and the peaks of the Berner Oberland come into view.  It never gets old:  just when you think the topographical riot can’t get any more spectacular, it somehow does.

One of only a few skiers in the Grindelwald-First ski area

You can’t reach Wengen by car:  the only access is by a cogwheel railway that ascends ridiculously steep inclines.  Our hotel in Wengen, like every other building there, is perched on a narrow ledge hundreds of metres above the valley floor in Lauterbrunnen.  While my hotel pictures were taken on an overcast day, I think you can see that the setting is spectacular.

A group pauses before descending from Schilt (Grindelwald)

On our first day of skiing, the sun was shining brightly and the air was crisp:  cooler than usual, perhaps, but by no means uncomfortable. And yet we were able to board the Männlichen Bahn cablecar immediately.  We then had our pick of the Männlichen slopes, all to ourselves.  Where was everybody?

Can’t have too many photos of the Eiger!

It was the same story on the slopes above Grindelwald, where we spent most of the day. The only logical explanation is that the strong Swiss Franc is scaring people away from Switzerland.  This doesn’t surprise me:  that’s exactly why my ski posse’s last 4 ski trips were to Italy.   So, while this trip is not going to be cheap, I’m also foreseeing terrific skiing with no line-ups.

Stay tuned for all the details:  as a taster, I’ve included a few pictures of our first morning on the slopes.

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Christmas in Toronto

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(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My second trip to Toronto this fall was entirely different from the first.  This one was focused on Christmas shopping and the entertainment district:  I didn’t get anywhere close to Bloor Street or The Annex this time!

Pulled Pork and Goat Cheese Pierogi at “Loaded Pierogi”

We stayed in a hotel very close to the St. Lawrence Market; lunch was at a popular new restaurant called “Loaded Pierogi”.  The menu here is essentially confined to pierogi, but the toppings are the real attraction.  I went for the pulled pork and goat cheese pierogi, while my wife went for the bacon and caramelized onion pierogi.  These sustained us for an entire afternoon of Christmas shopping.

Christmas Market in Toronto’s Distillery District

Toronto’s Distillery District (see also the photo at the very top of this post) is transformed into a European-style outdoor Christmas Market for the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Perhaps to control the crowds, there is a cover charge of $6.00 on Friday evenings and weekends.  As with most such charges, it does not add any real value but we didn’t have any choice with the timing of our visit.

The Dutch Shop, at the Christmas Market in Toronto’s Distillery District

Fortunately, to set off any ill feelings about the cover charge, there were some vendors from the “old countries”.  I enjoyed the Dutch kiosk and there were also some Swiss treats at one of the German kiosks.  We focused only on the “must-have” items, as we still had some unusual shopping lined up for the following day.

A Dutch restaurant in downtown Toronto

As I had enjoyed my visit to the Second City comedy facility in Chicago in 2014, we caught an evening show at the Toronto location.  We enjoyed the show itself but the leg and shoulder room was abysmal. We didn’t really have any choice for our seating, but you will definitely want to avoid the front row if you are of even average height and width.  Unfortunately, the advertised free improv session is after the *second* show of the evening, so you will have a long wait if you attend the first show.

19th century baking at William Lyon Mackenzie’s house in downtown Toronto

On Sunday morning, we had a fun shopping experience at the Swedish (!) Christmas Market.  I have never seen so many Swedes in one place outside of Sweden before.  The line-up for the food stalls was massive, as this market takes place only on one weekend and the “regulars” knew exactly what they wanted.  However, there was no cover charge and we ended up getting some really interesting items for Christmas.

Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto – starting to look like Times Square!

Thanks to some corporate sponsorship, a number of historic sites in Toronto had free admission that weekend.  We visited the William Lyon Mackenzie House on Bond Street:  besides being a forefather of one of Canada’s longest-serving Prime Ministers (William Lyon Mackenzie King), Mackenzie was also the first mayor of the city of Toronto and was a leader of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.  We enjoyed some authentic baked goods, prepared the 19th century way in a very unpredictable gas-fired oven.

Evening view of the CN Tower and Union Station, taken from just outside the Royal York Hotel in Toronto

For lunch, we went to “Real Mo-Mo’s” and had some Tosti Hawaii.  Despite the name, it is in fact a largely Dutch restaurant with dishes ranging from Dutch pancakes to Bitterballen and Uitsmijter open-faced sandwiches.   It was hidden away on a small street just north of the St. Lawrence Market – yet another place to check out on a return visit.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with some details on my 2018 travel itinerary:  I’ve got trips planned for both the winter and summer months!

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Eating in Toronto: from Chile to Korea, via Hungary

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(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My October trip to Toronto was only for one night, but I made sure I took advantage of some of the great food that the city has to offer.

Inside Jumbo Empanadas, on Augusta Avenue in Toronto

My first stop was an old favourite:  Jumbo Empanadas in the Kensington Market district.  I go here for pastel de choclo (corn pie) whenever I can…and the translation of “corn pie” really does not do it justice.  I  wrote about its awesomeness in a previous post and I am happy to report that it was just as good this time around.

The corn pie (pastel de choclo) from Jumbo Empanadas in Toronto’s Kensington Market

The setting is not fancy.  The view from the front window is colourful (see photo at the top of the post), although you can see little else but other Latin American shops and restaurants in this part of Kensington Market.  But it’s the food that matters, and the addictive mixture of sweet, savoury and spicy (I went for the special salsa as well this time) proves that the Chileans know a thing or two about complex flavours.

Madison Manor, in The Annex

As the concert hall was at the edge of a neighbourhood called “The Annex”, I stayed at a B&B called Madison Manor located just off Bloor Street West.  I have a special affinity for this part of Toronto, as I lived within walking distance of it in the early 1990s.  I wandered by my old apartment on Avenue Road and was amazed by how much “intensification” had taken place in the area in the past 25 years.  But the building is still there and the location is still excellent.

Hungarian Renaissance in The Annex?

As for the Annex itself, another favourite haunt of mine was the Country Style Hungarian restaurant.  As you can see from the photograph, it’s still there too but I didn’t have a chance to stop in this time.  However, if you’re ever in the mood for a big Hungarian meal after a long day of wandering around the city, this is your place.  It’s still family-run and the only remaining Hungarian restaurant in this part of Toronto:  there used to be about a dozen.  Happily, it appears that a Hungarian pastry shop has sprung up next door…perhaps a renaissance is taking place?

Honest Ed’s: a landmark in The Annex

The evolution of the neighbourhood is ongoing.  I never actually bought anything at the legendary Honest Ed’s bargain emporium…and it is now too late, as it recently closed.  I snapped the above picture to visually capture it before its almost certain redevelopment.  Like the downtown Sam the Record Man, this is a long-standing landmark that people still talk about even though it is no longer open.

This is where I had lunch in Koreatown, Toronto

Immediately west of The Annex is Koreatown.  This was just a bit too far for me to visit on a regular basis when I lived in Toronto, but was perfectly situated for lunch on this trip.  It was difficult to pick one restaurant over another (there are a *lot*), but I eventually settled on the Jin Dal Lae simply because it had recently opened.

My lunch at Jin Dal Lae…not including the soup (and after I started on the spicy side dishes)

I ordered the Bulgogi Bento Box for $8.95 and wasn’t expecting much for that price in a city where eating out can be quite expensive (by Canadian standards).  I was very surprised to receive eight small side dishes, ranging from fried tofu to kimchi, before the box itself arrived.  In addition to gyoza and a heaping helping of tender bulgogi, there was also soup (which didn’t make it into the photo)…and I utterly failed in my attempt to have a light lunch.

While this trip took place about 4 weeks ago, I will find myself in Toronto again soon.  Stay tuned for details!

Posts from the road

The Final Journey

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(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Like most Canadians, I awoke on October 18 to the news that Gord Downie (the front man for Canadian music icons The Tragically Hip) had passed away from brain cancer.  Shortly after announcing his diagnosis, Downie and the Hip embarked on a 2016 farewell tour of Canada that featured sold-out concerts and an outpouring of emotion.  The final concert, in my hometown of Kingston, was an especially monumental event and was broadcast live on national television.

Many thousands of words have already been written about Downie in the days since his passing.  Rather than add to that total, I have decided to write about something else that also happened on October 18:  I attended Johnny Clegg’s concert at Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.   Sadly, there is a tragic  parallel between Clegg and Downie.

I first wrote about Johnny Clegg in this post from late 2014.  He is one of South Africa’s greatest musicians and played an important role in the fight against Apartheid.   His songs were generally sung in both English and Zulu, he fully embraced Zulu culture, and he had racially integrated bands at a time when racial segregation was the law.

View from the back of Koerner Hall, prior to the concert

I wrote about Clegg again in the spring of 2016, when he unexpectedly performed a concert in Kingston.  At the time, nobody knew that he had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

After his most recent course of chemotherapy earlier this year, Clegg announced that he was in remission and wanted to embark on one final tour called “The Final Journey”.  This brief and highly selective tour would take him to some of the places that had strongly supported him through his career.  In Canada, one of his biggest markets, concerts were scheduled in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

Attending Clegg’s concert gave me an idea of what it must have been like to see The Tragically Hip on their final tour.  Knowing that this was his final tour added exceptional poignancy to the entire evening.  That feeling intensified when Clegg dedicated a song to Downie.  It became almost intolerable when Clegg sang songs such as Osiyeza (The Crossing).

Clegg wrote Osiyeza after the premature 1992 death of bandmate Mntowaziwaio Ndlovu.  it was extremely moving to hear Clegg sing it on this tour, as the lyrics comment on how a person can affect others even after that person is no longer alive.  During this song, as with several others, the woman seated beside me was wiping away tears.

View from my seat at Koerner Hall. No zoom lens – I had a great seat!

Another poignant moment was when Clegg performed Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World.  Clegg wrote this song in the late 1980s for his then-newborn son Jesse.  Jesse, who is also a musician and has had six Top Ten hits of his own in South Africa, was the opening act at this concert and joined his father onstage for a couple of songs.  It must now be hard for Jesse to hear lyrics such as “One day when you wake up, I will have to say goodbye”.

It certainly wasn’t all sad, though.  You could hear a pin drop when Clegg talked about the anthropological inspiration for Scatterlings of Africa:  as always, his stories were fascinating and didn’t insult the intelligence of his audience.  How many other musicians refer to mitochondria during their concerts?  And songs like Dela, always a live favourite, exploded with joy and excitement.

Clegg put a lot of energy into the concert.  It may have been energy that he didn’t really have.  I considered waiting around, as I had met him at the previous three concerts I had attended.  However, I then overheard that his post-show energy level made it unlikely that he would appear for a meet and greet.  At that point, I decided to leave the concert hall.  I reasoned that Johnny Clegg had already given enough.

O siyeza, o siyeza, sizofika webaba noma
O siyeza, o siyeza, siyagudla lomhlaba
Siyawela laphesheya lulezontaba ezimnyama
Lapha sobheka phansi konke ukuhlupheka

(From “Osiyeza (The Crossing)“, by Johnny Clegg)

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Pembroke’s Hidden Treasures

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(Pembroke, Ontario, Canada)

From the Château Montebello, it would have been a fairly easy drive back home to Kingston.  However, we were looking forward to seeing some old friends near Pembroke before returning home…so we took a long drive on the north side of the Ottawa River.   After passing through Thurso (birthplace of Guy Lafleur!), our progress became quite slow.  We didn’t want to go on the Autoroute, but construction and congestion were the order of the day.  Finally, some distance west of Ottawa, the road opened up.

Downtown Shawville, Quebec

This seemed like a somewhat forgotten corner of Québec.  There were few towns and I don’t recall seeing a stop sign or traffic light until we reached Shawville.  Although Shawville was clearly the largest town around, even it was very quiet.   After stocking up on some Québec-only provisions, we crossed the mighty Ottawa River back to Ontario.

Wildlife in downtown Pembroke

Our first impressions of Pembroke were lacklustre.  The skies were grey and the main street was under considerable construction:  perhaps because of this, there were also some vacant storefronts.  Just over a block away from the main street, we saw a fox relaxing on a pile of gravel!  We weren’t expecting this in a city of 16,000 people, especially at the beginning of rush hour.

The Nook Creperie in Pembroke, Ontario

However, our concern soon dissipated.  We walked by the waterfront campus of Algonquin College (see photo at the top of this post) and saw signs of life.  Then, returning to the main street, we saw a lot of locals entering a restaurant called “The Nook Crêperie”.  We were assured by a couple of patrons that this would be a great place for dinner.

One of the crepes at The Nook

They were absolutely correct.  Our crêpes were appealing inside and outside; the soup and dessert were both also excellent.  We never would have found this place if we had followed our initial instincts to avoid the downtown construction zone.   We then found our B&B:  just a few blocks from downtown, it was a charming Victorian red brick home in an equally charming neighbourhood.

Our B&B in Pembroke

We met our friends the next morning…and made only a small dent in the huge amount of spruce beer (biére d’épinette) that we had each stockpiled in anticipation of this day.   The strange obsession with spruce beer is a long story.  It has its roots in a long-ago Ottawa River canoe trip from my friend’s house to a general store in nearby Fort-Coulonge, Québec.  I don’t think either one of us particularly likes it, but the tradition has taken on a life of its own.  If you ever want a soft drink that is ridiculously high in calories, cloyingly sweet, and redolent of Pine-Sol, then spruce beer is the beverage for you.

Biére d’épinette: available in name brands AND store brands!

And that seems like a fitting way to end our summer vacation.  We saw a lot of Québec, enjoyed a lot of sports, and ate very well…or at least had fun with our food.  How can you not have fun with pizzaghetti?

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a special report on a very special event!