The Croissantarie

South Burlington, Vermont
NoLL

Our day expedition to Canada was a big success. (See our photo album here.) Jenny, Libby and I drove about 1 hour from Burlington up to Saint Jean Sur Richelieu Quebec. We had two bicycles in the back of Jen's truck.

Our goal was the Chambly Canal bike path. It runs 20 km from Saint Jean Sur Richelieu to Chambly, right along the canal the whole way. Obviously, the canal was original the mule path for towing the barges. We were sandwiched in, with a road to the west, then the canal, the bike path, and then the Richelieu River to the east. The canal was built in the 1800s to bypass white water sections of the River. It seems to have been built on the side of a hill above the River.

Along the canal we saw many beautiful and interesting unique houses for wealthy people. Apparently, as each new house is built, the builders appeared challenged to create something more beautiful and uniquely different from all the other houses. That brings out the very best creative juices in the designers. We greatly enjoyed the results visually.

I also learned a new word in French; a word I'll treasure forever. It is Le Croissanterie. You can translate it yourself. Let it be said though that whenever I come to see a Le Croissanterie. sign, I'll stop. During the day we also went to the Chocolaterie shown below.


We stopped in Chambly and ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe. The town of Chambly is absolutely charming.

I don't understand why that region of Quebec is not promoted more for it's tourism. It is like going on a bargain tour of Europe and France. The rural region of Quebec is very unlike the hustle bustle environment of Montreal or Quebec City. It is laid back, charming, naturally beautiful, and the people are friendly.

However, friendly, many of them don't speak English, not even a little. It was a bit of a shock to go in to a donut shop only a few miles from the border to find a young girl unable to wait on us in English. Today, one has to look pretty hard in Europe to find people that unfamiliar with English. It would be sad indeed if language hostility was the reason that Quebecers don't promote themselves as a tourist destination for Americans.

Language aside, we had a wonderful day up there. I would recommend it to all our friends as a great place for a day trip or a weekend trip.