My Lodgings in Lanoraie - Images of Le Belle Province Pt. 4

On my recent travels to Quebec and the eastern USA, I mostly stayed in motels and hotels.  But in the small town of Lanoraie I got to stay in a charming old house.

It has a plaque showing the original owner of the house. 

When you are in the house, you know you are in an old house, at least by Canadian standards.  The house is primarily made of wood and has fairly low ceilings and a very narrow stairwell to the attic where there are two large bedrooms.  There is also a bedroom on the main level as well as a living room, kitchen, dining room, office and bathroom. I think there was also a basement but this would likely have been an addition to the house when it was moved from it's original location to it's present one

 in Lanoraie.

I slept in the attic.  There were two beds in my room. The bed in the photo below is made of wood but I  chose to sleep in the antique metal bed which I did not capture in a photo.

I did get several photos of the various nooks and crannies in the room.

 There were beautiful prints all over the room and many things to draw the eye.

 I thought this little bedside table with the "rabbit lamp"was cute.

 There were lots of books too in every little area where there could possibly be a small bookshelf.

 I had a wonderful sleep which I very much needed.  But the night was all too short as we went to sleep very late and had to leave very early in the morning.

However before we started on our journey, we had breakfast in the dining room.

The house has been modernized with the necessary conveniences but the room sizes and ceiling heights have remained more or less the same.

A view into the kitchen from the dining room.

The grandfather clock.

 

The office and television area. 

 I didn't get a good photo of the living room area or any of the other bedrooms and bathroom.

This historic house was featured in some kind of  exhibition along with 3 others historic houses in the towns of Lanoraie and Lavaltrie.

I really enjoyed my night in this historic house. Apparently while I slept, I was oblivious to the pounding rain, thunder claps and lightening. I had the windows open in  the bedroom for a cross breeze and it was such a welcome relief to have a breeze to help me sleep through the humidity of the summer.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

You can find some of my other travel posts on Quebec in the Blog Archive to the right of the screen. I also have some posts on New York from this trip. More to come.

Night Images of La Belle Province - Pt. 3

All these photos were taken in the Town of Lanoraie, along the St. Lawrence Seaway at night. We had spent the day in Louiseville & Lavaltrie & had come back to rest in Lanoraie. We quickly went for a walk along the waterfront before the light faded entirely. It was lovely there except for the mosquitoes which were thick. I dislike mosquitoes immensely but wanted to see what I could before the light was completely gone.

My French relatives were very much involved in the planning of the tourist information and the art works that now exist along the waterfront. They also helped to plan for a small stage (I didn't get a good photo of it) so that productions could be presented on  the waterfront.

My 80 year old relative wrote and produced a historical play which was enacted on this small waterfront stage. She was a bit younger when she did this creative work.  All in all it was a real treat to see the work the relatives (all sisters) had been involved in and to hear their passion for the cultural work they seem to do so much of. Her and her two sisters have a passion for history, geneology and writing. She says she has about 4 more books (in her head) but is running out of time to put them on paper.

Church on main street near the water front.

It is said that when the French explorer, Jacques Cartier passed through Lanoraie in the 16th century, the Iroquois had already been established in the area. They called place Agochanda or Agouchonda, which means a place to stop and eat and rest.

The parish in this area was established in the late 1600s but development of the village didn't really occur for another few hundred years.  The small town is steadily growing with the current population at about 5000 people who predominantly speak French.

My next travel post will feature the historic house where we spent the night and then we will drive north to Quebec City and farther. Join me later.

Join in with others for Skywatch Friday here.

Images from La Belle Province - Pt. 1

When we arrived in Joliette on an early summer's day, the sky was partly cloudy and partly sunny. It had rained earlier in the day and it was very humid.  I was so tired from the overnight flight and had absolutely no sleep on the plane.

I took these sky photos in anticipation of Skywatch Friday but never got around to using them for that purpose.  I really didn't feel up to photo taking on my first day but felt I needed some photos for the record. Hopefully my photos improved as the trip went along. I will be posting more in coming days if you want to come back and take a peek. Thanks for visiting!

 

My cousin took us for lunch at this chain restaurant in Joliette. It was incredibly busy in there and it was non-stop line-ups right up until we left.

A relative we crossed the country to visit.  She is well into her 80s and can still run several blocks without getting very winded! I also got a chance to meet her younger sister who is 80.

The lobby where my cousin lives.  It is a good thing we didn't stay with her as she had originally planned.  The heating in her apartment was on full blast and the temperature outside was hot and humid.

It is always interesting seeing what you can see in the village streets. There had been a bit of a flood as we arrived in town and a diversion of traffic going on as they repaired the town streets.

In these next set of photos we are on the way to Lanoraie, another small town. I may have these photos mixed up as to where they are but the three small towns in close proximity are: Joliette, Lavaltrie and Lanoraie.  We first went to Lanoraie and backtracked for dinner to Lavaltrie.

 

The map below is interactive. You can click on it and find out exactly where we were.

This sign was very common throughout the province. It means "For Rent". It is a sign you will seldom see where I live.

You will see large, beautiful churches in every city, town and village in the Province of Quebec.

The Catholic Church is the predominant church in the Province of Quebec. It is common to see large grave markers in Catholic cemeteries.

I love seeing the signage in French.

The country side around these parts is very beautiful and also very near to the St. Lawrence Seaway (which you can see peeking out in the background).

There are many beautiful homes in the area too.

 

This beautiful driveway leads to the waterfront home of a very wealthy person in the area.

 

This home is lovingly kept by one of the family members for other relatives who currently live abroad. I got to stay here overnight and absolutely fell in love with it's quaint charms.

I'm joining up with Our World Tuesday this week.