View of Quebec Parliament from Hilton Hotel
We leave Canada tomorrow, and we’ll revert to the dull American dollar. The Canadian dollar doesn’t go as far as the U.S. dollar, getting only 80 cents on exchange, but it is more colorful. The dollar coin features a loon on one side, so it gets called a loonie. The two dollar coin could be called a two-nie, however toonie is the name it’s known by.The larger denominations are banknotes in gorgeous colors and with clear plastic windows with silver representations of something important but unrecognizable to me. Counterfeiters have to be stumped by these high tech bills.
Ironically Canadian businesses don’t have to accept Canadian bills or coins. At least one quick food place is opening a store where cash will not be accepted. The young crowd that frequents that chain prefers to “tap the phone” or use a credit card. Handling cash is a bother for everybody, it seems. Could an American restauranteur refuse to take American dollar bills? I don’t think so!
At the moment we are in Québec, staying in a hotel very close to Old Town. On a tour this afternoon I was intrigued by several pieces of art, including a magnificent elephant by Salvador Dali. Another installation looked uninspired at first glance, yet it is the one that I will remember most. It was a tree, an ordinary tree that was perhaps 30 feet tall. It was planted in a sidewalk grate, and anyone rushing by wouldn’t have noticed what was unusual about it. If you stopped and looked at it, you might observe that it moved. As a matter of fact, it rotated slowly in a circle. The point of this installation is that preconceptions can interfere with perception.
Quebec is the birthplace of poutine, a dish I had to try. Some things sound good but don’t taste good. Others don’t sound good but they taste good. Poutine neither sounds good or tastes good. I’ll describe it so that you can judge for yourself if it sounds good. You’ll have to take my word for it that this artery clogging dish is not something most people would order more than once.
Poutine is a large mess of French fries to which cheese curds are added in great quantity. A thin brown gravy is ladled on top. I can tell you that this dish was served in the White House at a state dinner when Obama was president. My guess is that the kitchen staff nearly rebelled when told to prepare this stuff. It was, however, something appropriate to serve to Justin Trudeau.
Goodbye, poutine. Goodbye, loonie. Goodbye, toonie. Tomorrow we’re traveling to the United States of America.
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