Day Fifty-six - Trois Rivieres, Quebec

 At Trois Rivieres we visited a sugar shack, traditionally a place where maple sap was boiled to make syrup.  Robert du Boise the owner, produces about 150 gallons of maple syrup per year from his 5,000 maple trees.  Because there is a "cartel" which controls the production and price of Maple syrup in Quebec, small producers like du Boise only sell their product directly to retail customers.  

Robert's business is more than selling bottles of syrup, his joint is a local hang out where on Friday and Saturday nights he serves traditional "sugar shake" family-style meals: pea soup followed by bacon, ham, sausage, potatoes and biscuits all smothered in maple syrup!  The syrup is, of course, produced from his own sugar bush.

After the sugar shack, we visited the Basilica of Notre-Dame-du-Cap. It is a national shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of five national shrines in Canada. Each year, the site is visited by thousands of Catholic pilgrims.

A wooden church was first built here in 1659.  That structure was replace in 1720 by a field stone structure.  The current basilica, replacing the stone church, was opened in 1964 and can accommodate up to 1,660 people. Reinforced concrete arches outline the building.

After lunch we boarded a zodiac to view wildlife along the river.

Our zodiac headed north up the Saint-Maurice River, a tributary of the St Laurence. The area was wooded, remote and a great place to spot migratory birds.

Jeff Skivington, the expedition's ornithologist, was aboard our zodiac.  He is an amazing specialist who can mimic bird calls which bring feathered friends from afar. 

Jeff's ability brought a pair of pileated woodpeckers within view.  Nearly the size of a crow, it is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent.  

Returning to the ship we crossed the "meeting of the waters".  This is at the confluence of the  Saint-Maurice  and Saint Laurence Rivers.  In the photo, the colder blueish water of Saint-Maurice (left) contacts the warmer brownish water of the Saint Laurence (right).  The waters eventually homogenize and continue to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The wind picked up creating white caps that occasionally sprayed cold water over the bow of the zodiac.  After being the victim of a rogue wave, Jan expressed her displeasure of being photographed. 

After sunset, we sailed passed the beautiful skyline of Montreal.  The casino is prominent in the foreground.  The Biosphere is the purple dome on the right and the downtown skyscrapers are behind.