Go Fraincis Ceanada

Ag taistil ar thuas, thíomaint Léna agus mise go Stáit Nua-Eabhrac go dtí i mbaile d'aois i Montréal. Ar dtús, tháinig muid go dtí an h-óstán fíneáil ainmithne ina dhiadh file tSiombhalachais de bhunadh Cheanada-Fraincis agus Gaeilge Emile Nelligan. D'fhoghlaim mé tar ais filleadh abhaile go raibh Quebecois ó h-Éirinn atá thart ar cúig faoin gcéad na n-inimirceach ansin; bhí fhormhór mhuintir na hÉireann go leor chomhshamhlú leis an Caitlicigh na Fraince ann. 

Tá reir bhrí "baile" maidir do "Cheanada" as Iroquois, ach tá talamh an-mhór, gan amhras; bhí duilleogaí mhaiple go leor ach bóithre folamh lasmuigh den séasúr ann. Go deimhin, i Stáit Nua-Eabhrac ina h-Adirondacks agus i Québec anuas ar teorann go Maine, ní raibh muid ag éisteacht comharthái raidió ar chor ar bith. Ar ndóigh, chuala muid an teanga Fraincise go minic chomh mar as mháthair-theanga ghnáth gach cearn den Ceanada.

Anois, b'fhéidir, beidh mé ag foghlaim roinnt Fraincise roimh an chéad am eile go bhfuil mé ar ais ansuid. Bhfágfadh mé i gcónaí é sin a dhéanamh féin. Thosaigh mé leis Duolingo ar mo fón cliste chéana féin.

Shiúil muid ag imeall Montréal ina tstráideannaí cloiche cúngaí le solas gáis--agus "malls" siopadóireacht faoi talamh. Bhreathnaigh Léna agus mé an Abhainn Naomh Labhras síos na tór ó na séipeal Naomh Máiread Bourgeoys agus Ár n-Bhean de Maith le Cuidiú aici (Notre Dame de Bon Secours. Chuir cuairt muid go An-Mhéara (Chateau) Ramezay faisnéiseach fós: tá "rotisserie le madra atá a gcumchachtú" ansin sa céistin boghtach thíos air.

D'imigh go cathair eile d'aois na Fraince: Québec. Chonaic muid an músaem mhór na sibhialtachtaí agus na céimeannaí géar ar lár sean-bhaile. Bhí sé Oíche Shamhna, ach bíonn go leor na baistí; agus riamh turas de uair a chlog ina calèche ag tharraingt le capall timpeall an dún agus catha Machairí Abraham ag rith muid le taispeantas soilse féile uaigneach in sa gceo in aice leis an abhainn fuar. Ith muid cócaireachta Cheanada le linn oíche fuar ar an-sean bialann Aux Ancien Canadiens, go nádurtha.

Chodail muid ar Manoir d'Auteuil. Ansin, cosúil le áiteannaí eile go raibh le feiceáil a muid riomh (Áit Montgomery i nGleann Hudson agus Chateau Ramezay mar shampla), bhí i láthair fhilleadh an Cogadh Réabhlóideac. Ina theannta sin, cuireadh léirítear Benedict Arnold, Ben Franklin, agus General Richard Montgomery i thaobh éagsúla, triu shúile na Fraincis Cheanada, dílseoirí Mheiriceá, nó Breataine ina ionad.

To French Canada

Traveling north, Layne and I drove from New York State to old town Montréal. We first arrived at a fine hotel named after a Symbolist poet of Irish/French-Canadian origin, Emile Nelligan. I learned after returning home that Irish Quebecers were about five percent of immigrants there: most Irish assimilated with the French Catholics there.

The meaning of "village" for Canada is in Iroquois, but it's a very large land, no doubt; there were maple leaves galore but empty roads off-season. Indeed, in New York State in the Adirondacks and in Québec to past the Maine border, we listened to no radio transmissions at all. Of course, we heard the French language often as the mother tongue normally all over Canada.

Now perhaps, I'll have to learn some French before the next time that I return back there. I've always meant to do so. I started through Duolingo on my smartphone already.

We walked around Montréal on stony narrow streets under gas light, and in shopping malls underground. Layne and I peered down on the Saint Lawrence River from the tower of the chapel of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and her Notre Dame de Bon Secours. We also visited the informative Chateau Ramezay too: there's a "dog-powered rotisserie" in its vaulted kitchen below.

We went off to another old French city, the town of Québec. We saw the grand Museum of Civilizations and the steep steps of the old center of the city. It was Halloween, but there was lots of rain; after an hour's journey by horse-drawn calèche around the fortress and battleground of the Plains of Abraham we passed the lonely festival lights in the mist near the cold river. We ate Canadian cuisine during the chilly night at the venerable restaurant Aux Ancien Canadiens, naturally.

We slept at the Manoir d'Auteuil. There, similar to other places that we saw before, (Montgomery Place in the Hudson Valley and Chateau Ramezay for example), at present the Revolutionary War returned. Moreover, we were presented with Benedict Arnold, Ben Franklin, and General Richard Montgomery from a different side, through eyes of French Canadians, Loyalists, or British instead.