last day in Montreal

We're back after solving a technical problem with the modem.
Together with the Elblings we visited Andy Warhol exhibition in Montreal museum of fine arts. It was a very good one, threw us back in time to the 60's.

Autumn leaves
Later in the evening Gabriel came for a sleepover in the supermarket parking area(-: The kids were excited

The following morning the Elblings came over to pick up Gabriel and to have a farewell breakfast. From there they continued to south Ottawa and we went north bound to Quebec City. We succeeded to squeeze 6 adults and 3 kids into the rv and serve breakfast.

We had great time with our friends and it was sad to say goodbye. We hope to meet again soon!

Montreal with the Elblings

We would like to announce that our star of the week in Montreal is....
FAMILIA ELBLING, who made a long way from Brazil to Canada by plane and car, only to meet us (at least we would like to think so) for 3-4 days. Kudos!
in the picture above, on left are Joe and Jacquelin, Peter's amazing parents.
And for the story in details:
We met the Elbling family yesterday, in downtown Montreal. We parked the rv in front of their hotel and then we thought it would be a good idea to stay at the same spot for the night. The kids joined the Elblings for a 'fancy' night in the hotel while Dagan and I slept in the rv. It felt neat to sleep between all the big hotels in the middle of downtown in our little cube. Adi and Gabriel - best friends ever, were very excited to see each other after 3 months.In the evening Joe (Peter's dad), an ex-montrealist, took us to some of the city's Jewish culinary institutes. First we had dinner at Schwartz . The place is famous for its smoked meat since 1928. It's a very simple place with great food - smoked meat, bread, pickles and fries.
After that we visited a bagel bakery St-Viateur Bagel Shop ( since 1957). It was pretty late at night and the place was busy as if it's the middle of the day.We enjoyed listening to Joe's stories about his childhood in Montreal and how his family immigrated from Poland to Canada over 70 years ago.

Today morning we had brunch together and then we split, each family for it's own plans.
We took the bikes and rode along a canal. The city is known for its excellent bike trails and we certainly enjoyed them today. On the way we saw the municipality truck watering the street plants.

After a while we arrived to a food market - one of our weaknesses...


Aviv sits on meat scales in the market
We bought some local cheese and baguette and went back to the hotel to meet the Elblings for a cheese and wine afternoon.
All in all Montreal is a beautiful city. It has old buildings, it's truly bilingual and we're glad we're not staying for the winter!

French lesson in Quebec

Since we arrived to Quebec we feel like we're in Europe. It's all in French and we now realize how similar it is to Portuguese. We're able to understand most of the written language and as for talking - in most places there's someone to speak English. Not only the language is French, also the culture and gastronomy are very much Frenchy (and smoking habits too!). We enjoy shopping at the supermarket. The first time we entered IGA (a local chain) we spent 2 hours just exploring, tasting and smelling. It's more like a deli.


Huge selection of cheese, pastry, chocolate, pates, seafood... mmm.... and we have to stick to our limited trip budget... not easy. Look at the cauliflower - it comes in 4 different colors

We're in Montreal. Later today we're meeting the Elbling family!!! How EXCITING!!!

Refuge Pageau

In our 'hunt' for the northern lights we stayed north in Quebec, even though it's getting colder all the time. In the small town Amos we visited Refuge Pageau. Mr. Pageau is a special man who saves wild animals that were hurt in nature and then, if possible, returns them to their natural environment. Meanwhile he's taking care of them according to their needs in his refuge. We went on a guided tour to see the animals. It was very very cold but not so rainy.
We saw 2 cubs, 4 months old.
Then Dagan had a casual conversation with a baby moose 'Leon'Aviv also had a word with him
They also have a livestock - hens, rabbits, goats, etc.
They grow mice to feed the owls. They were fun to play with
But most of all we liked the moose!By the way, according to the northern light forecast, they were active last night. We made a long way to see it but... unfortunately the weather was so rainy and cloudy that it was impossible to see anything! Well, at least the kids saw some snow this morning!
We're done with the aurora boreal adventure and we're heading south to Montreal today. It weill take us few days to get there. On the way we will have to be lucky to find a place to stay, now that we're off season.

Rosh Hashana in Aiguebelle Park

Since it's getting cold and the camping season is over, it becomes harder and harder to find open campground. In Rosh Hashana evening (jewish new years) we wanted to find a place as early as possible so we can cook a decent dinner. After trying many places, we found an open campground in Aiguebelle Park. We were the only ones there but we didn't mind. The place is beautiful now with all the leaves changing colors.
We hooked up the rv and started cooking.

דבר ראשון הכנו חלה עגולה שבעצם יצאה בצורת מגן דוד

ואחרי אפייה
כמובן שהיה תפוח בדבש

והאוכל...

חג שמח ושנה טובה ומתוקה לכולם!!!

The next day we saw a bit of the park itself. In the morning it was foggy between the woods and it looked like fairy land. It was 7C degrees and the night was even colder (3C).
Later on we went to see (and cross) a suspension bridge. The way there passed in the woods again. We were all alone in the whole park (or at least it felt this way) and there were some creepy parts, like a fresh bear footprint we found on the muddy trail.
We saw how high above the river the bridge was and how long it is and Aviv and I started to have doubts...
But we were all brave enough to cross to the other side and continue the trail. (I'm not in the pictures but I did go on the bridge!)
After a long walk, a little rest
Mushrooms growing out of a tree trunk
Look how spactacular the fall colors are

Temagami

We're back after about a week of no internet. We've done so much during this time... We're in Quebec Province at the moment but I will go back to our last day in north Ontario. Since the beginning of the trip we've been planning on how we're going to see the northern lights. There's a web site with forecast of the lights activity and where you can see it from. According to that, we decided to head north as much as possible (within temp. limits). On the way north we stopped in a beautiful little town, Temagami. At the visitor center we got a recommendation to visit Beaver Pond and the fire tower. Temagami is located between many lakes that freeze completely in winter time. Then, the lakes become a highway, and those who live on islands and can no longer use their canoes, ride their cars on snow.
We climbed up the fire tower. Aviv and I felt dizzy pretty quickly and Dagan and Adi continued all the way up. It was very windy up there
We also stopped in 'Beaver Pond' where we expected to see many beavers but all we saw were their houses and constructions