Parlez Vous?

We stepped of the gangway of the Viking Polaris into France. The little town of Troix Rivieres feels as though it just got plucked out of Bordeaux and plopped down in the Western Hemisphere.

Our first step took us to the Basilica of Notre Dame du Cap, a large octagonal temple whose stained glass windows alone are breathtaking. The cabinet for the organ pipes is in the form of a maple leaf. As far as the faith is concerned, the main structure on this glorious two-mile long, tree-lined park is the small church adjacent to the basilica where, according to the tradition, a man’s broken leg was miraculously healed in a matter of minutes as a statue of the Blessed Virgin opened its eyes for about three minutes. This happened in 1872. Both church buildings and the massive park surrounding them are peaceful, serene and invite meditation.

Next we went to the Sugar Shack of Robert DuBoisé. In 1978 he bought 175 acres of land and since then has mastered the difficult art of making maple syrup and maple toffee. His legendary product is so good it is not even shipped out of Troix Rivieres. All of it consumed by the local market. Of course there is a little shop on the site to supply up tourists, but since neither Glenda nor I are checking luggage, we had to pass. Up here maple syrup is gold. There are three national storage facilities nearby. In 2012 some of the workers in one of these huge warehouses began siphoning off the maple syrup in the 1 million barrels stored at their facility. Before they were caught, they had pilfered $32 million worth of syrup. It was the largest heist, dollar-wise, in Canadian history.

Three of the four paper plants that supported this town throughout the twentieth century have closed now, but Troix Rivieres is capitalizing on it lovely scenery, its quaint architecture, and its natural beauty, and now it has become a center for tourism. It’s a beautiful place to visit, and we plan to do more exploring in town later today.En savoir plus