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There are a few things that I wish we’d known before renting a car in Quebec - for example, something that I already mentioned - that Vieux-Montréal translates to Old Montréal.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but driving and navigating in a land where everything is in a foreign language can be confusing. For the entire US visit, we never took a wrong turn or got lost - even for a second. In Quebec, by comparison, we drove for a fraction of that time, and took two wrong turns. Luckily, the ugly industrial area outside Montréal is very small, and after driving for just a few minutes, you find yourself in the beautiful countryside.

Tags: countryside, driving, farmland, horses, Montréal, Quebec

These shots were taken on a farm just north of Homestead, Florida. Homestead, you may remember, was the area that Hurricane Andrew destroyed in a matter of a few hours back in 1992. If you look closely, scars can still be seen on the community.

Tags: farming, fields, Florida, Homestead, Hurricane Andrew

There is a new gallery online over on the wedding site - Nine.

These are just a few samples. I’ll be working on overhauling the galleries in general over the next few weeks and perhaps rounding it out with Number 10 - haven’t decided yet.

Here’s an idea - check them all out from the gallery index page and tell me in a comment which one you think should be chopped or spared, and why.

Tags: new wedding gallery, Newfoundland Wedding, wedding photos

These were taken in the old core, right along the waterfront (top) Chinatown (middle) and in the newer part of the city (bottom).

Tags: Chinatown, graffiti, mural, Old Montréal, Vieux-Montréal, waterfront

…translates to “Old Montreal” in English. It’s actually a fairly small part of the very large city, with the core only covering about two square kilometers. I got these shots during our stop over.

Tags: city hall, Hotel de Ville Montréal, Old Montréal, Place Jacques-Cartier, town square, Vieux-Montréal

The story of Key West over the last few hundred years is filled with colorful people and architecture.

Much of the interest stems from it’s remote location. The 200 + km of bridge that connects the linear string of islands to mainland Florida is something to behold. But even more impressive is the train link… completed nearly 100 years ago.

The Overseas Railroad was a massive engineering effort, and at the time, it was generally consider folly to attempt such a link. Sadly, it was destroyed in 1935 by a massive storm, 23 years after competition. Much of the original construction is still visible, although deteriorating. In some cases, it continues to be used - foot traffic - walking “trails” and fishing piers. There are also some unintended uses - in one stretch for example, as you drive beside it on highway US 1, you can see that tents have been pitched and several trees are growing.

Key West had at one point the highest per capita income in the US, thanks mainly to looting of ships that ran aground on the treacherous reef just off the coast. Within a few hundred years, that changed drastically - it was home to one of the lowest average incomes - the loot ran out and, after the railroad was destroyed, the isolated location proved to be a liability. During our visit, we saw many characters that I imagine could easily have been pirates in a past life.

I’d really like to go on with a little more history, but I’ll save the last bits that I can recall for another post…

As you can imagine, today tourism is the lifeblood of the Florida Keys. Much of the path on route is crammed with tacky shops and developments, but the payoff at the end is well worth the trip.

Tags: Key West, Overseas Railroad, pirates, shipwrecks, wrecking

I mentioned yesterday that we had taken a return flight, but we didn’t make it all the way to Newfoundland before making a quick stop over in Montréal.

I’d been there many times in the past, and even though most of those memories are a little blurry, I still have a deep fondness for the city. It’s one of the few places on the continent where you can find a decent croissant, make out in public without turning heads or stomachs, and take a horse and carriage ride through some of the oldest streets in North America.

Now, I should say that I have a bit of a problem with their liberal use of the word “oldest”. It seems that they have this idea in Quebec that they pretty much have the “oldest everything” and it’s kinda pissing me off. As you walk around, you can overhear hear many a tour guide tout Quebec City is the oldest city in North America. What the hell?

I’m afraid that Newfoundland tourism is falling short, perhaps lead by the short sightedness (or total lack) of preservation efforts on the part of the the provincial and municipal governments. I guess if Quebec is smarter about preservation and promotion, then they get the crown. And rightly so. If Newfoundland continues on the route it’s going we’ll have little more to promote than ridiculously colourful shores peppered by disproportionately large whales that surface on very convenient schedules.

We were around a couple hundred years before these guys, but we’re slowly pissing it away. And, in any case, I don’t think a settlement that was stolen from the natives should count.

Anyway… I digress. Here are some damn pictures.

Tags: Montréal, Newfoundland, oldest city in North America, Quebec

From a quick trip to St. Pete’s Beach on the eve before our return flight.

The two little cuties on the bottom are actually brother and sister. Their mother was making them clean up after an evening of swimming. I happened to be walking by just when the light was perfect and they were having fun… she welcomed me to get a few shots.

These shots were taken from the road-side in the Everglades.