Discovering Le Grand Nord: Eastern Canada and Rebellious Boston

28 August - 17 September 2012

Tour Highlights

• Journey from Toronto to Boston with Art Historian Kenneth W. Park exploring 4 exciting Canadian cities (Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec, Montreal). 
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• Tour Highlights include
• • A seven day cruise onboard MS Maasdam along the St Laurence River for 7 days to Boston, with stops along the way at Prince Edward Island, Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia
• • Guest lecturer in Toronto and Ottawa, Barry Lane, will deliver expert, illustrated lectures on a very diverse range of subjects, from an introduction to the European colonisation of Canada to an explanation of the current Canadian political system. Barry will also deliver a lecture introducing the group to Montreal.
• • Guest Lecturer in Québec, David Mendel, will present this French-Canadian city to the group in both an illustrated lecture and a walking tour through the old town centre.
• • Listen to entertaining talks by experts at museums and monuments and join their interesting tours; they will give you authentic and creative insights not available to ordinary tourists
• • Visit some of Canada's very diverse high quality museums and art galleries, ranging from small, intimate private corpuses to the nation's grand collections
• • Learn from experts about the history, art and culture of the First Nations, the indigenous peoples of Canada
• • Explore Canada's fascinating colonial and post-colonial history with its English and French rivalries, and how this history has shaped the identity of modern Canadians
• • Encounter unique displays such as the Titanic exhibit in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic at Halifax, centre of the Titanic rescue operations
• • View some of the world's most beautiful natural scenery along the eastern coast of Canada and visit the awe-inspiring Niagara Falls
• • Delve thoroughly into the genesis of American democracy in Boston, cradle of the United States
• • Be inspired by some of the USA's great institutions, such as Harvard University and the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum
• • Immerse yourself in two of the USA's greatest art museums, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• • Savour local flavours and traditional fare, such as Canada's famous Icewine at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Maine's rustic lobster bake, and lunch at a maple syrup Cabane à Sucre in Québec.

Visits include: CANADA Toronto CN Tower • Casa Loma • Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre • Art Gallery of Ontario   (Toronto) • Royal Museum of Ontario • Distillery District • Dundurn Castle, Hamilton • Niagara Falls • Lunch at tour of Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston; Ottawa Canadian Museum of Civilization • Parliament of Canada • National Gallery of Canada; Quebec The Garrison Club • The Citadelle • National Gallery of Art • Musée de La Civilization; Montreal Musée de Archeologie et d’Histoire de Montreal • Basilque Notre Dame • Musée des Beaux Arts • Oratoire Saint-Joseph; Prince Edward Island Green Gables House National Historic Site; Nova Scotia Alexander Graham Bell Museum (Baddeck) • Fortress of Louisbourg (Sydney) • Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Halifax); USA Boston Harvard University • Bunker Hill • John F. Kennedy Library and Museum • Boston Museum of Fine Arts • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

About the Tour

Eastern Canada is blessed with abundant natural riches that supported many indigenous peoples. It became the arena of intense French and British rivalry that resulted ultimately in the British achieving hegemony in Canada. The Gallic dream of establishing New France in North America although thwarted, nevertheless gave birth to a rich and stimulating legacy of French influence that remains a force to be reckoned with in contemporary Québec. Be prepared for awesome natural sites and to encounter the rich, diverse and at times entwined cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples, France, England and the United States of America.

On this spectacular tour we travel through the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Québec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and the US states of Maine and Massachusetts. You will savour the ambiences of several extraordinary cities: the leading and modern commercial centre of Toronto; the showcase Canadian capital with its splendid monuments and public buildings that is Ottawa; the very inviting, cosmopolitan metropolis with a distinct French feel - Montréal; the UNESCO listed and spectacularly situated walled Québec City, and the city that has a leading place in the history of the American war of independence, Boston. A tour highlight will be a seven-day Canada and New England cruise on the Holland America line ship, MS Maasdam sailing from Montréal. This sea journey features spectacular coastal scenery and historically fascinating ports of call including Sydney, Charlottetown and Halifax. We disembark in Boston.

The tour is filled with highlights that include walking tours that bring life to the histories of cities and towns and opportunities to see dramatic natural wonders like the Niagara Falls, St Lawrence River, Gulf of St Lawrence, Prince Edward and Cape Breton Islands, and Acadia National Park. You will explore an impressive catalogue of historic houses and sites: Casa Loma, Dundurn Castle, the Citadelle in Québec City, the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and Bunker Hill to mention but a few. The tour, of course, visits major museums including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Museum of Ontario in Toronto, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Musée de La Civilization and the Musée des Beaux Arts (Museum of Fine Arts) in Quebec, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. We also visit several institutions that are deeply entrenched in national identity - the Parliament buidings in Ottawa and the Royal Military College in Kingston, as well as walking the Freedom Trail and visiting Harvard University in Boston. In the colourful season of Fall, this tour is a celebration of natural and human heritage in Canada and New England.