8/3 – La Baie, Saguenay in the rain

A misty overcast chilly morning greets us on our way into the Saguenay Fjord. Tons of people (as usual) missed the time change – Windows is quite busy for this time of the morning and the gym fills up really fast. We get through our routine quickly, showering and heading up to Mosaics to hang out, with forays out on deck to see the Beluga whales which look more like dolphins swimming down the fjord. (See the little white dot out there in the water? That’s a Beluga. Yeah, well, best we could do, even with our great phone cameras!)

It is a slow morning, as we sit, blog, read and alternate between running outside for photos, and staying inside in the warmth. Gorgeous sail in, but a long, slow one where we are generally just wasting time until we arrive.

Although, one highlight of being this late in the morning – we are on the balcony when the Horn-Happy Captain blows the horn so we can hear the echoes in the fjord. That was actually a good use of the f’ing horn! And then we get incredible views of the Virgin Mary statue on the cliffs of the National Park (where we wanted to hike) above the fjord. So there is that.

At 11 we go to see Captain Les’ last presentation – a Q&A and his thoughts on the Air India wreck. Actually a really informative back and forth with passengers about his job and the planes, as well as more knowledgeable information regarding Air India. Captain Les never made any determinations as to responsibility – of course – but he did shed a lot light on how the engines were actually turned off, and then turned back on a few seconds later, essentially dooming the aircraft. Very nice lecture/session to end out his series.

Finally arriving in La Baie a little past 1pm, our original plans – as mentioned – were to drive down to the National Park and hike the trails near the statue – but A) they are calling for rain, and B) since we are arriving so late we really don’t have enough time to get there, hike and get back. And tonight, we must be back for our dinner hour – which is our Filipino dinner. Finally!

On a weird and annoying side note, arrival time in every port along the St. Lawrence river has changed. Here in La Baie, we were originally scheduled to arrive at 10a, giving us plenty of time to go to the Park; in Quebec, the time has been changed from 9:00 to 9:30a – not normally a big deal, but we made Citadel reservations for 10a and don’t know if we’ll make it; and in Montreal – from 6a to 8:30a. We think it is Corporate not planning correctly for speeds in the St. Lawrence river, but we can’t confirm that little nugget of info. Regardless, it is totally annoying trying to plan itineraries with moving target arrival times.

The gangway procedure takes far longer than normal, as this is first time Quest has been here and there is a lot of back and forth between the shoreside guys and our ship guys down by the gangway. We end up standing on the steps leading to deck 3 for about 10 minutes – actually having an excellent time talking to the J’s from our Chef’s Table, and Bonnie, another hysterically funny lady who is going on a tour with the J’s and others (to where? She doesn’t know, but they had 2 extra seats! Favorite quote from Bonnie, “I make myself laugh all the time, hopefully I’m that funny to others too!” My feelings exactly!). Eventually we are released out into La Baie, finding the National Car rental guy sitting in a corner reading his phone. He is sort of incredulous that we still want the car – making sure we know we have to bring it back before 6p – his closing time (as opposed to what the girl on the phone told us when we called the other day!). We’re good – we have Plan B – driving over to Saguenay to go to the La Pulperie de Chicoutimi Regional museum – a museum in the old paper factory.

Totally great Plan B, as it turns out! It is cloudy and overcast, the Captain and the car rental guy have told us there will be torrential rains in the afternoon, and we are in a totally interesting museum, undercover and out of the elements (both rain and smoke! Those Prairie fires – which are way in the Northwestern part of Canada – have totally spread their smoke all the way here; another reason not to go hiking today, it is sort of hard to breathe, let alone hike and breathe!).

Housed in the old Chicoutimi Pulp Company’s enormous factory buildings, the museum has exhibits ranging from the history of Saguenay (Chek8timi) to current and avant garde exhibits on a 3 man play that ran for 38 years (Broue [Brew]. Of Taverns and Men), a contemporary art exhibit of Jean-Jules Soucy (an incredibly creative and playful local artist), Leon Brassard’s mechanical innovation models (with real, working suspension) and the fantastic Far from Naïve – an interactive exhibit that traces the career of the painter Arthur Villeneuve, including his entire, full size moved here just for the (permanent) exhibit house!

Starting in the Broue room – we watch a video of the play, all in French which none of our apps could translate for us – learning about the characters by motions and expressions. It looks like a hysterically funny adaptation of a tavern and the people who are loyal clients – played by just 3 actors in 18 roles. After a few minutes of watching, we wander through the exhibit where there are scripts with side notes, posters and pictures, and the full set! Full-sized, everything, from backstage to props to wardrobe to a cool multi-media (French only) dressing room set up where each actor talks at you from their mirror from their last performance in 2017. Concise overviews throughout the exhibit explain that the play started in an 80-seat theater in 1979 and grew to be the greatest success story in the history of Quebec theater, even being performed at one time in the Port Royal Theater in Montreal. It became a must-see show, presented 3,322 times and seen by over 3 million people.

Moving on, we head into the Saguenay history section, where you walk in through the fjord – water painted on the floor, both sides of the rugged landside cliffs hanging above you (couldn’t get a good picture). Here we learn all about Quebec (although to be fair, Dr. Jannie has already taught us all this!): How Father Laure discovered the area and called it Chicoutimi – where the water runs deep; the creation in 1920 of the Chicoutimi Pulp Company, at one time the world’s number 1 pulp and paper producer; That beaver was used as currency, the First Nation hunters refusing money in exchange for their beavers, instead trading for knives, guns, and tools and utensils they needed – even displaying a huge beaver pelt from 1885 – which is so much bigger than we ever expected a beaver to be.

The Leon Brassard exhibit held most of his models, fully functional motorized vehicles with suspensions, beginning with his first creation from when he was 14 years old. A local mechanical marvel, he even designed and built a life-size vehicle that actually ran and cavorted all around Lac-Saint-Jean in it with his friends. On a whimsical note, he used discarded scraps of wood to create “Little Women,” just because he hated to throw anything away and as the display says, was “a reclaimer before his time.”

The Jean-Jules exhibit is basically another recycler gone wild! He used different materials – milk cartons, tin cans, and the like – to create very imaginative art. Thousands of small chairs placed around the perimeter of the room and in the center in something called “circumference,” 60,000 milk cartons pressed into a piece called “Rug Under Pressure.” It just goes on. He created 2100 duck heads from tinfoil, then painted and plastered them – called Duck Flight – then invited the public to steal them to inspire reflection on the role museums play in conserving artwork and the public’s own role in preserving nature.

Sadly, the fabulous Arthur Villaneuve house was not allowed to be photographed. It was an amazing display of art – the entire outside in different scenes from around the area, the inside full of vibrant artwork. There were display panels that chronicled his life – he was a barber once – and how his neighbors weren’t all too pleased with his painted house, as well as a great video showing how they moved the house here to the museum. Totally cool.

From here, we were able to go outside and wander through the old Pulperie factory grounds. Winding our way up and around all the remains of the old buildings – which ceased operations in 1930 and then were damaged in the 1996 Saguenay flood. Even though it is ruins, and just a pulp and paper factory, the contrast between the green foliage, the black Saguenay stream rocks and the multi-colored stones used to build the factory still make for a really pretty and nice stroll through the grounds. On our way out, we pass by the memorial to the former workers of the pulp factory – created from a remnant of the concrete retaining wall of the old factory. And then we are off to the Flood museum, just down the road.

This museum is contained in the one remaining house that survived the 1996 flood. It is a start reminder of the power and capriciousness of water. The grounds and the Little White House (as it is called – for obvious reasons) make for good photos, but it is a little too close to home for us, even after almost a year since Helene, so we make the decision to skip going inside and head instead to an overpriced “general store” gift shop were we quickly leave empty-handed. Nothing of any interest or value for us there. Although there was a cool church (note the smoke over the sun in the background) on the side of the road there!

In the car we debate about going to the La Voie Maltee brewery, where we have a 15% discount coupon from the museum, but the discount is only for food – which we definitely don’t need – and we also don’t need overpriced drinks, thus we head back to the port, dropping the car off earlier than expected, but with our sweet rental agent right there on the curb waiting for us. Nice day, even if not the expected itinerary.

Back onboard, we realize that we are in time to see the first of the Azamazing Evening shows – which we hadn’t actually planned to do, figuring we’d be outside too long – but since we were back, we figured, what the heck? And went straight to the Cabaret from the gangway, grabbing 2 seats with a table on the starboard side of the showroom. Not the best seats for a view, but in a good space where I could stand up to take photos and not block anyone.

Sadly, as it turned out, photo taking was limited. I mean, why bother? The show was put on the Grand Anse band, 5 local musicians (who CD Martin oversold when he tried to hype up the event by introducing them as “this is as destination immersive as you can get, all 5 musicians are from Saguenay!” – uh huh, well, where else would they be from?), an emcee (who was the tour guide for the J’s and Bonnie’s tour today and who boarded the ship at the exact same time we did) and a choreographer, Louis, who had passengers come up and dance with him. Really? The emcee talked and talked about the history of Saguenay, the English territory, how the cultures merged, with the Celtic influence still strong (and it was – you could hear it in the music), blah, blah, blah. The lady in front of us was playing games on her phone, the guy across the aisle answering emails, at least 25% of the audience left before it was over – including us as we were bored out of our skulls. Totally Az-NOT-amazing. Sorry to say, but the trend here is not looking good for Azamara brand promises. Plus, we heard later that there were supposed to be local dancers, but they didn’t make it for the first show. Come on! That’s just not a good look at all. Yikes.

Onto dinner (after a shower and change of clothes) where Vicson looks at us with his sweet sad eyes and says, “Mr. and Mr. Stevens, we have a problem.” Yep – TSA, although another set of TSA – who obviously have decided they want our table. This is getting old. Never fear though, Vicson is here. He sets us up in a 4 top for only the 2 of us in Joel’s section – which actually works better due to the feast that is set before us! So much food, all so, so good. The chef’s have gone above and beyond with this – as well as Charles who chose the menu for us! – garlic rice, shrimp Pancit, Chicken Adobo and whole fried shrimp in spring roll wrappers (not necessarily Filipino, but so good all the same). It was a true feast with Joel and Charles and Ryan all over to serve us and make sure everything was working as it should.