Island Life

A day of alternating sun and brief showers sent us out of the city for a driving tour around the Isle d'Orléans, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River just a few miles northeast of Québec City.

In spots, it seems like Canada's answer to Martha's Vineyard, with cafés, artsy boutiques, and antique shops interspersed among quaint cottages, all surrounded by blooming garden flowers...

...but it also appears to be a regional breadbasket, with dairy farms, orchards, fresh produce available at roadside stands, and lush vineyards.

(That's a huge waterfall on the mainland, by the way, that you can see off in the distance.)

And then each of the six small towns on the island has it's own parish church (all six--we learned--served by just one priest)...

...among them, a structure (St-Laurent) designed by an architect named Raphaël Giroux (1860)...

...and another (St-Pierre), that is the oldest standing church structure (1717-1719) in the province of Québec.  (Sadly, this church is no longer in use.)

Island life does have its charms.

And now, one last night in this lovely land of my ancestors...