Truly the land of the northerly summer. Typical of Canada, and so many other northern regions of the globe I have seen, most recently the archipelago east of Stockholm in the Baltic Sea. Cottages on water, the warm but fast fading sun of late summer, bright days, light shimmering on wavering blue waters. Vast lake expenses between forest-covered mountains. Perfect sunsets watched from wooden-framed floating quays; the sound of waters lapping the rocky shores. Dipping in the cold but so refreshing lakes, in the (rather) cool morning air or in the late afternoon sun; sipping wine sitting on the edge of a rock overlooking the waters, from which you have enjoyed a few dives. Oh so wonderful!
Explored Lake Muskoka on jetski; 2 hours. It’s a huge lake, full of bays and islands; did not managed to get all the way to top of the lake from Muskoka Bay where we started – even at 35km/h on average. Great way to discover the lake, and to see some of these gorgeous cottages on its shores. We were to see the lake also from the top of nature trails we took, one in particular, the Huckleberry Rock Lookout Trail, on the east side of the Lake. Many trails around; we did a few at the Taboo Resort (where we ended up spending more time than we would have thought, having a glass of wine and early dinners at The Boathouse, overlooking the Lake and the sunset). Trail building is very much of actuality in Muskoka, especially the challenge faced in developing them without undermining the very idea behind them: discovering and enjoying nature without tempering too much with it – a full story on one of these builders, Hap Wilson, and his views on all of that, in the local magazine www.muskokamagazine.com
Gravenhurst is well-anchored in my mind as it is the site of Norman Bethune’s memorial, his birth place. The home of his parents has become a shrine to the Canada-China relations. The place is managed by Parks Canada http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/bethune/natcul/natcul1.aspx; all sort of Bethune mementos (many given by the Chinese – only a very small fraction on display we are told). We take a tour of the house where he was born and brought up. 90% of visitors are Chinese – just to show, while we are there, a bus-load of Chinese, these from Shandong province I asked, arrived!) Always a thrill to relive moments of this remarkable man’s life (we just saw a few weeks ago an exhibition of photos at the McCord museum in Montreal of his ordeal in Spain during the Civil War, caring for wounded Republican fighters – putting together the first ever mobile blood transfusion service all the way to the front). For the Chinese, a national hero, and a favourite of mine – so iconoclastic, so full of life! I reread while there the eulogy Mao wrote a month after Bethune’s death, one of the three texts signed by the “Chairman” that became compulsory reading for millions Chinese schoolchildren, and that made him a household name in China to this day (perhaps less now, supplanted very likely by Dashan, this young Canadian no doubt the best known contemporary performing westerner in China, which all started with his TV performance as one of two protagonists in a Chinese traditional form of "crosstalk" comedy, known in Chinese as xiangsheng – but I digress!) (While writing, listening/watching on DVD Karajan directing Beethoven’s Symphonies. The one opportunity I missed to see Karajan live in action was in Beijing in October 1979; was on a mission outside the capital. He came in China with “his” Berlin Philharmonic for a series of 3 concerts. I remember 2 things though: 3 of his musicians were reportedly harmed when the “passerelle” collapsed while the orchestra disembarked the plane; and how Karajan insisted and waited for some 5 minutes to start a concert until the people in the audience quieted down and stopped “clearing their throats”, not a small feast when the better part of the population suffered from the infamous “Peking cold”!...and I digress again...)
The “culinary discovery” of the trip was “one fifty five” in Bracebridge (the “heart” of Muskoka – a much more appealing place than Gravenhurst, 10-15 kilometres further up on Route 11). We went twice. A happier lunch than dinner though. Just opened no more than a month or so ago. The Chef is local boy Michael Rickard (which I first associated to the French name Ricard; but no, he is from good old British stock – his father who helps out on the floor is the living undeniable proof!) Well traveled young man, we find out; New-Zealand, and South-East Asia. Very promising table, and hopefully it will last. Great lunch around a Caesar Salad and the Vegetarian Quiche of the Day, and a glass of Chilean Echeverria Sauvignon Blanc (...and couldn’t resist their decadent “Rich Warm French Chocolate Tart”!) Dinner was less successful with an average chicken supreme and an overcooked halibut; dommage, but I am sure that this was only a small accident de parcours...Wished Michael all the best with his new venture (see a review by local magazine food critic, and a list of the better restaurants in the region at the bottom http://www.muskokamagazine.com/sitepages/?aid=1815&cn=TASTE%20OF%20MUSKOKA&an=French%20cooking%20meets%20New%20World%20flair%20in%20Muskoka
By the way, don’t make the mistake of referring to the region as “The Muskokas”, in the plural form – an insult the true and blue Muskokans won’t take lightly. The local “in-résidence” historian Patrick Boyer (also former MP of the region and 4th generation Muskokan) wrote a hilarious piece on the subject in this month local magazine!
Muskoka, September 7, 2009
