“What raises travel writing to literature," wrote William Zinsser, "is not what the writer brings to the place, but what the place draws out of the writer. It helps to be a little crazy" ( The Writer Who Stayed, 2012).
As our trip drawing closer to the end (we have one more week to go) I am wondering about how it has changed me. I am certainly not the same person as I was when I started the trip. The new places, new knowledge and new experience drew something out of me which wouldn’t have seen the light of the day had I not ventured out.
One such thing is - travel writing. I have been wondering about it a lot as I was writing the daily account of places I saw and things I did. I wondered whether there was any value in documenting and sharing what I did. It was not real travel writing and more like a touristy account and yet a hundreds of readers consumed it and left notes to let me know how much they were enjoying reading my travelogue.
Which made me wonder what travel writing actually is. Seems like there is no general consensus on the definition. Authors, journalists, and others have attempted to describe it but failed to nail it. Although they agree, at a minimum it requires a sense of curiosity, awareness, and fun.
In the absence of a proper definition I like the Thomas Swick thoughts on the subject.
The best writers in the field [of travel writing] bring to it an indefatigable curiosity, a fierce intelligence that enables them to interpret, and a generous heart that allows them to connect. Without resorting to invention, they make ample use of their imaginations. They do what many of their compatriots find impossible: They speak another language (or two). They have a solid grounding in history, culture, religion, politics, economics, architecture, food, plants. You would think this wide range of knowledge would earn travel writers respect (if not a loyal following), but in an era of specialization it tends to do the opposite, painting them as irrelevant generalists. - ("Not a Tourist." The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2010)
Yet travel writing continues to be written and published. Each autumn The Best American Travel Writing appears like a national health report confirming the surprising robustness of the genre.
Assuring myself of the value of my travelogues (although brief and general) here is what I did in previous week:
On Friday, we (my husband, his friend and I) drove from New York to Montreal. It took us almost whole day even though boarder crossing was smooth and swift and wasn’t like what we had to go through at Niagara Falls. My husband shared some driving while I caught up with sleep on the back seat (and when not sleeping stared out of the window without blinking at the corn field, passing towns and different sky).
Our original plan was to go to Quebec City but we couldn’t manage to get any accommodation there due to long weekend and Pride festivities. Pride is a LGBTQ celebration that includes a pride parade. Even in Montreal we had to pay five time the normal price.
On Saturday morning we went to Montreal’s top attraction - Mount Royal - a hill with a 360 degree view of city. Almost the whole city decided to climb hill on the same day and the same time (perhaps to beat the heat as the temperature went soaring that day while the hill and the forest around it was cool). We enjoyed the view, took photos like the many others and plucked some wild apples (my attempt to follow William Zinsser‘s advice of acting crazy).
Next, we went to St Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal. It had top marks from me. Five story high and sitting at higher ground, it looked majestic and is the highest church in Canada. At 97 meters it’s dome is the second highest in the world, behind only Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
But the crowd gathered around the statue of a boat full of immigrants erected there to celebrate the Immigration Day.
In the evening we went to the Notre Dame Basilica in the old port neighbourhood. Built in 1829, it is the first Gothic Revival style church in Canada. We found two very interesting statutes in the square - the English Pug and the French Poodle. A plaque next to them has the following description.
A dashing looking English man, holding his pug giving a superior stare at Notre Dame Basilica, symbol of the religious influence on French Canadians. 210 feet away at the northern corner is a woman in a Chanel style suit holding a poodle shoots an offensive look at the Bank of Montreal, a symbol of English power. With their masters oblivious to each other, the two dogs on the alert have already sniffed out the opportunity to unite. Inspired by the Commedia dell’arte and Two Solitudes from novelist Hugh MacLennan these two snobs set up an ironically touching scene of the cultural distance between English and French Canadians.
We spent the evening in the entertainment district known as the Quartier des spectacles, watching street shows and having dinner at a fancy restaurant.
Montreal had lot more to offer - Museum of Fine Arts, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Biodôme, Botanical Garden, Insectarium, and Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. But lack of time and being on the tail end of our trip we decided to take it easy. Maybe I will come back some day and see all these places.
For the next two days we were in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.
I wasn’t to keen to visit Ottawa but was pleasantly surprised to see the neo-Gothic style buildings dominating the skyline. Once there, we parked the car in a nearby street and went to see the Parliament House.
Perched on a hill by the Ottawa River it is an impressive Gothic style building with three wings. The central building is going through renovations, so the Parliament and the Senate are sitting in the north and south wings.
We were taking stroll of the premises when it started raining. Within minutes we got completely drenched. We had to take shelter under a tree and under a alcove.
From there we drove to the BayWard Market. It is the oldest and largest farmer market in Canada.
Four square blocks are full of fresh food, craft vendors and unique eateries. We tried Canada’s speciality called Poutine at Smoke’s Poutinerie. The dish was basically potato fries and curd cheese covered with gravy. It was too bland for my taste.
We stopped by at Hogh’s Back Falls on the way to our accomodation.
Also known as Prince of Whales Falls, these were a series of artificial falls created on Rideau River where the Rideau Canal splits from the river. In winter, the Rideau canal freezes and becomes the world’s largest skating rink that stretches 7.8 kms (4.8 miles). Ottawa is surrounded by many stunning waterfalls, but Princess Louise Falls are the most spectacular ones.
The next day we drove from Ottawa to Kingston, merely two hours drive.
Kingston is a city situated on Lake Ontario at the mouth of two rivers. It is known for Queen’s University, Royal Military College and Penitentiary where Canada’s most notorious criminals were locked up.
We were going to take a boat tour around the Thousand Islands but at the time of cruise there was 70% chance for rain. We decided to skip the tour and walked beside the lake and then through the streets of Kingston soaking in the vibes of the city.
In the evening we drove back to Toronto, ending our road trip.
We spent the last two days of the week recovering but still managed to see a few landmarks.
On Wednesday we went to see Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. It is build by the same organisation (BAPS) that built the exquisite Akshay Dham Mandir ( the largest in the world) in New Delhi.
The Shri Swaminarayan Mandir was built in India too. 24,000 pieces Italian carrara marble, Turkish limestone and Indian pink stone were hand carved in India and shipped to Toronto, where it was assembled according to guidelines outlined in ancient Hindu scriptures (without any nails).
It’s largest temple of its kind in Canada. Its grounds are spread over 18 acres and includes a haveli and a Heritage Museum.
Next, we visited Hindu Sabha Mandir which is a blend of modern and ancient architecture. It has three shikhar (peaks) which have glass tiles which reflect neon lights at night.
On Thursday, we went to see Hamilton. We were told it’s the top broadway show at the moment. It lived up to its hype. A great history lesson about the person, Alexander Hamilton, I knew nothing about. I spent the whole flight time from Toronto to San Francisco reading the history files on American forefathers.
I am on holidays at the moment. This means you are hearing about my adventures in US and Canada.
That’s all from me this week.
Neera Mahajan
Whenever you are ready, there are three ways I can help you.