COSMO POLITIQUE

"Encore je ne veux pas trop en parler, les Parisiens n'auraient  qu'à se mettre à aimer mon petit coin" 

Marcel Proust, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, Sodome et Gomorrhe p.972 ed La Pléiade 

Canada was my first stay away from home for more than a year in 1984 and it has always remained close to my heart. As a kid, I grew up humming La Complainte du Phoque en Alaska

… Which to this day is still posted on my wall thanks to my friend Marie-France…and Robert Charlebois' song (Northern, Eastern and Panamerican….)

I have been back to Canada several times since 1984, I even planned a meeting in my beloved Montreal when I was a conference organizer in the 1990s, and since 2013, I've been coming back every year.

Thank you, Marie-France, for taking me to the Delta of the St. Laurent … I never seem to get enough of this amazing perspective on this Majestuous river!

For a woman traveling alone, Canada is simply fabulous! People are friendly, hospitable 


and helpful, roads are sure, drivers are civilized yet civilization hasn't killed the environment,

nature is fabulous and sites are simply breathtaking. 

Whales are everywhere yet not easy to see…I just glimpsed a couple of tails here and there but beware….This year, apart from the usual tiques, rabies was menacing and a white shark was sighted near St Andrews…adding up some adrenaline to a 12 degrees Celsius daily swim….!

I have now reached this point in my life where I enjoy returning to a home away from home and this is definitely a little stone cottage on a remote island called….Grand Manan and its delightful spots such as Dark Harbour, the Anchorage, the Swallowtail lighthouse and so much more….every corner here hides a gem!

And to finish some glimpses of the various activities and harbors depicting GM way of life, with a tribute to the herring weirs which is a unique technique inherited from the Indians and only to be found in Grand Manan and nearly Fundy Islands

What I love on Grand Manan Is the simplicity of life the choice between at a maximum of four restaurants [on the tube in the evenings!], No invasion of the commercial companies, The total security of the place where no one looks his doors, the simple life! 

The only cultural event I attended where the very informative evenings organized by the Grand Manan Museum. All I do there is relaxing, reading, writing, swimming and a bit of hiking…. It's a kind of a retreat surrounded by friendly people such as my landlords who make sure I only eat organic vegetables 😉

However, before reaching it this year, after my traditional landing in Montreal and short stay in Sutton which always includes a moment of delight at Balnea resort

I crossed most of Quebec under heavy rain to reach Rivière du Loup 

I then spent one night in Truro where I visited a very interesting first Nations Miq'Maq cultural center 

and two fabulous days in Antigonish exploring the nearby Isle Madame and subsequent tour of the amazing Cabot Trail, then heading back to my island via Grand Pré and Digby all pictures of which are just a click away!

Then after 3 weeks which went away in a blink of blessed bliss, with the notable visit of my always intellectually stimulating friend and New Brunswick neighbour  prof. Fernand de Varennes (Dean of the Moncton University Faculty of Law)

I reacquainted myself with mass tourism (and readily available expresso coffee 😉 in St Andrews

But my last visit to that part of Atlantic Canada prior to reaching Sutton to gain via the US at the Maine boarder was again for an Acadian site, the very first settlement of the French community in the region, Sainte Croix:I have posted most of my Bangor visit on my school blog and here are some final glimpses of my…. I seem to be lacking superlatives to describe the beauty experienced…so here it goes,

 with a final glimpse on a glorious GM sunset