Festival Franco-Ontarien

Mostly this blog is about Montréal, about Québec culture, and about an anglo-Canadian learning about la vie franco-canadienne. But occasionally there is something in Ottawa which fits nicely into this picture, and the Festival Franco-Ontarien this coming weekend (13-15 June 2013) is just such a puzzle piece.

My 2009 FFO headband, rescued from the rag bag just to be photographed for this blog.

In "the good ol' days" (i.e. the last time I attended), the festival was held over the St-Jean Baptiste day weekend at the end of the franco-Ontarien (and Quebecois) school year. But this year the festival has been moved up by a weekend and moved to bigger digs at Major's Hill Park.

St-Jean Baptiste Day is the fête nationale du Québec and a significant day for francophones across the world. It corresponds to the summer solstice and is celebrated on June 24th of each year. It became a provincial jour férié (stat holiday) in 1925. Major celebrations happen in Quebec City and Montréal (including the défilé des géants along rue Sherbrooke which is well worth a visit some day).

Sammy de Champlain at the Défilé des Géants in Montreal, June 2011.
By the way, 2013 marks the 400th anniversary of Champlain's first visit to the Outaouais.

Québec artists such as La Bottine Souriante and Les Colocs are as well-known in la francophonie as Gordon Lightfoot and Great Big Sea in English Canada. Newer to the scene is Festival Franco-Ontarien headliner Coeur de Pirate. Do yourself a favour and discover some of the rich cultural heritage of our francophone brothers and sisters by stopping by this festival. Click on the video below for a sneak preview.

See the festival website www.ffo.ca for the complete schedule and ticket information. You, too, can have your own festival bandanna: Full festival passes are $25 for adults; single day passes are $15. The festival is free for children 12 years old and younger.


Related posts:  Montréal for a loonie  ~  Free at the festival de jazz  ~  C'est la vie

Poutine on the BBC

I like to scan the BBC headlines for my dose of world news, and am always intrigued  when Canada makes the front cover page (most recently for the scandal surrounding Toronto mayor Rob Ford). Today I found an article entitled, "How the Quebecois came to love poutine" in the BBC travel section.

St. Albert curds - halfway between Ottawa and Montreal.

What do you think? Is poutine merely an overused cultural stereotype or is it the greatest food in the country? Please share your comments below.

Related posts:   Classic Quebecois Cuisine  ~  Soup-er Spots  ~  Viennoiserie

Free at the festival de jazz

Montréal and Ottawa both have great jazz festivals beginning in late June. However, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal has one big advantage: Free shows.

The full 2013 lineup is available on the festival website (click here) but here are a few free highlights:

• Feist - Friday, June 28 at 9:30 p.m.

• An Ottawa connection - JW-Jones - Tuesday, July 2 at 7:00 p.m.

• Carmen Souza - Tuesday, July 2 at 8:00 p.m.

• Bob Walsh, a Québec favourite blues artist - Tuesday, July 2 at 9:00 and 11:00 p.m.

• Kellylee Evans - Wednesday, July 3 at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.

• The Dynamites feat. Charles Walker - Friday, July 5 at 9:00 and 11:00 p.m.

• Amadou & Mariam - Sunday, July 7 at 9:30 p.m.

Amadou & Miriam - Je pense à toi

There are many amazing paid shows as well, mostly at venues, some with reserved seating. Unfortunately both Aretha Franklin and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have had to cancel their tours, but you can still see Oliver Jones (July 5 & 6), Michael Kaeshammer (July 5), and Madeleine Peyroux (July 6). The Lionel Loueke Trio (July 5) is worth checking out, too.

You can get to the Jazz festival very easily by métro (and save yourself some hefty parking fees, and avoid the closed streets). The Place-des-Arts station (ligne verte) is directly underneath the festival grounds.

Related posts:   Your Blues Name  ~  Le Jazz Hot (2012)  ~  Montreal pour un huard

A kiss is a kiss is a kiss

Le Robert (French equivalent to the Oxford English Dictionary) has added a new word in its 2014 edition: galocher. It is a slang term describing what we anglophones call a French kiss. French students the world over are glad to have a new regular -er verb to conjugate. Je galoche, tu galoches, nous galochons ... Ooh la la !

A kiss by any other name would smell as sweet ... as old boots? Les galoches are galoshes. Your best guess is as good as mine as to how the slang term came about.

Quand il me prend dans ses bras, il me parle tout bas, je vois la vie en rose ... 

When you kiss me, Heaven sighs, and though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose ...

Related posts:   Bilingualism  ~  Je t'aime beaucoup

Montreal Museums Day

Thirty-four museums. All free. Plus free shuttles to travel between them. Sound good? The 27th annual Montreal Museums Day takes place this coming Sunday, May 26th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Mr. Montréal and I looooooooove museums. We don't even care that we are one of the few couples who go without kids. Why should kids get all the fun?

One of our favourites is Pointe-à-Callière in the Vieux Port (red shuttle bus). Pointe-à-Callière is located on the site of the original European settlement in Montréal (then, Ville-Marie) and it is not only a museum but an active archaeological site. Visit the basement and see many different ages and stages of development in that very spot. Upstairs they have an exhibit called "The Tea Roads." There is also a show about The Beatles in Montreal available at a highly discounted ticket price at the nearby Mariners' House.

Excavations in Pointe-à-Callière (courtesy pacmusee.qc.ca).

The new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium (blue shuttle bus) will be open in time for Montreal Museums Day. We peeked in the windows when it wasn't actually open for Nuit Blanche and it looks like a cool building architecturally. While in the area, you really should visit the Biodome and say hi to the penguins.

On a more serious bent, I have heard great things about the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre Museum (purple shuttle bus) but haven't yet been myself. If you decide to go, please tell us about your experience by commenting below.

The full program is available on the Musées Montréal website. This includes shuttle bus information (yes, it is eventually in English) for all the free buses which leave every 20 minutes or so from the Quartier des Spectacles (métro Place-des-Arts, ligne verte).


Related posts:    Jour de la terre  ~  Musee des Beaux-Arts  ~  Botanical Gardens

Carte OPUS

Montréal is infamous for its convoluted parking rules in the centre-ville. For a pleasurable tourism experience without parking tickets, I highly recommend Montréal's excellent public transit system, the Societé de Transport de Montréal (STM).

The métro, the Underground, the subway: in any language, a great way to get around a city.

Every major tourist site (and most of the minor ones) will have transit information on their website. Google Maps includes a built-in travel planner connected to the STM timetables. Also see the Montreal by Métro page on this site.

As of date of publication (April 2013), cash fare for one trip is $3. In Montreal, a trip (un passage) is defined as a continuous one-way trip. This is like Toronto but unlike Vancouver and Ottawa, where you can travel in any direction or hop-on, hop-off as many times as you like as long as you still have time available on your transfer.

At an authorized dealer (mostly métro stations) you can purchase multi-ticket bundles or unlimited-use passes of various durations which will save you money. Some of these are available on paper, as individual tickets or a temporary cardboard pass called L'occasionnelle. But for repeated visits to Montréal it is worth your while to purchase a $6 credit-card-shaped plastic pass called the carte OPUS. (N.B. some museums and events offer a discount to OPUS card-holders in an effort to encourage people to take transit).

With your carte OPUS in hand, you can purchase some great packages to enhance your tourism experience:

• 10 passages for $24.50 (saving 55 cents per trip)
• a 1-day pass for $9 (valid for 24 hours from the point of purchase)
• a 3-day pass for $18 (valid for 3 calendar days beginning the date of purchase)
• a week-long pass (CAM hebdo) for $23.75 (valid from Monday to Sunday)

A new option introduced in January is my current fave for when I visit Mr. Montréal:

• a weekend pass for $12 (valid from 6 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday)

On weekends, public holidays and school holidays (Christmas and March break and all summer), children 11 or younger travel free when accompanied by a fare-paying adult. See the STM website for more information.

Please note that these fares are NOT available for purchase from bus drivers.


Related posts:   Montréal by Métro  ~  Public Transit Info  ~  La Metropolitaine