Liking French in Gatineau

Quebec and Moi in Gatineau

Bonjour mes amis!

I have crossed over into Quebec Canada! I love it. Let the adventure begin. My first destination is Gatineau, Quebec which is located on the north shore of the Ottawa River just across from, you guessed it, Ottawa. Once I crossed the bridge, there was no turning back. Once I crossed the bridge, everything changed.

Once you are in Quebec, there is no grace period, from English to French. You jump in with 2 feet and hope you can swim. Right off the bat I was confronted with street signs in French and in different colors. After looking at the map, it was hard to remember which street was my next turn while driving.

Stop lights were tricky at first. They are horizontal at times and instead of green lights there have green arrows pointing which way you can go. My own self imposed adjustment period as I began to read stores signs and street signs, picking up a word here and there. Still… on many, many occasions I  had to pull over to adjust my compass.

I was told that Gatineau has grown to include Hull. I remember Hull from my Pee Wee AAA  Hockey Coaching days. I basically only had time to see the inside of the arena and hotel room. This time I drove around Hull and Gatineau taking pictures of buildings and parks.

Biking Voyageur's Pathway

What I was impressed with is that Gatineau’s biking and walking trail system is connected  to Ottawa’s which I thought was super cool. Tourists can bike, roller blade and walk the trails and experience both French and English Canada. There was the Ottawa River Pathway in Ottawa and in Gatineau there is the Voyageur’s Pathway. Both follow the waterfront. Both spectacular sightseeing trails. Both, a small piece in a very large trail network.

In Gatineau I visited Beauchamp Lake (Lac de Beauchamp), Lemay Lake (Lac de Lemay), Parc de Jacques Cartier) and Gatineau National Park (Parc de la Gatineau). Most of the parks are connected by the bike and walking trails. The Jacques Cartier and Lake Lemay Parks are connected by the Voyageur’s and Lemay Pathways.

Gatineau Park was the highlight. It was all about enjoying the wilderness again for me. The smells and sounds of the outdoors was a welcome home coming for me. The park reminded me of the BC parks again – I mean in how they operate. I have learned a ton on how we operate tourism as a country. And most of it is pay, pay and pay all the time. It seems in every province you are always paying for access. While in BC and Quebec parks provide free access day use areas and then also have paid sections. This is fair. This is how you draw in new tourists. This is the right way to operate a park.

Part of the park includes free access to trails and lookouts via a roadway. The roadway itself is shared by cyclists and vehicles. It is a sightseeing tour worthy of your time. At one point the road climbs to 3 viewpoints overlooking the Ottawa River Valley. There are hiking trails free to explore like the Hickory, King Mountain, Wolf Mountain, Pioneer and Pine Lake.

Other parts of the park are accessed via toll booth like paid admissions. I am OK with that. People can enjoy the park how they would like. The free access areas attract people to the park AND many end up paying for access to areas OR even better yet they like what they see and come back and pay for camping, canoeing, fishing, etc  on one of the pristine lakes.

Pine Lake Reflections

Pine Lake Lookout and Hiking Trail were one of my highlights. It was good hiking all the way, climbing stairs, up and over cliffs, and back down to the lakeshore.  At the peaks there were lookouts. On the lakeshore I enjoyed views and shade from the trees. The 2.5 kilometre loop trail was a treat for me – a back to nature moment along a long road of researching cities.

I listened to my French CDs again, playing catch up, while I drove back to the campsite. Along the way I was reading French signs frantically learning a new word every block. French sounds so beautiful when locals speak. Somehow mine sounds a bit harsh. If they would just slow it down a bit or, more importantly, if I could just speed up my comprehension we would have a workable plan. They speak such a beautiful language and I can only listen at this time.

Jusqu’à ce que nous en reparler!