Wandering Secrets

I wanna go to Trois Rivières, I wanna go to Trois Rivières, I wanna go to Trois Rivières.

Sometimes I have these kind of obsessions. I want to go someplace just because it sounds nice or because I saw a picture. Well this time, I saw the town on a map and the obsession began. I wanna go to Trois Rivières. I don’t know, it looked like a nice location.

But when I told that to my hosts in Montreal they just laughed. Heartedly. “There’s nothing to see, there’s nothing to do, there’s no one, don’t waste your time, go to Quebec city…” A bit disappointed, I agreed and forgot about it. Until the next day: I wanted to go to Trois Rivières! I looked for car sharing, buses, trains but it seemed impossible to go there without spending the night there. So we rented a car and, without telling anyone, went to Trois Rivières.

It was quite the ride, I think it took us 1h30 to get there. While driving we thought “Ok, let’s have a look and if we don’t like it let’s just keep on driving to Quebec city”. So we did.

There was nothing to see between Montreal and Trois Rivières, that’s for sure. Only large agricultural fields on a cloudy day of November. And then, we started to approach our destination. It was horrible. Old concrete houses, dirt and highroads. We looked at each other and thought “Omg I just want to get out of here!” But we drove into town anyway and it wasn’t getting better.

To be fair I think that the weather has a huge impact on your first impression. It was windy, cloudy and quite dark. I think that on a spring day it wouldn’t have been so creepy…   But back to the story. So we drove until we reached the old town (which seemed to be the nicest part of the city). Well, I didn’t think it was nice, I just wanted to go. But Guillaume went straight to the Tourism information and had a chat with the lady.

I don’t think I’ll say this again (considering how I hate touristic tours) but it was a brilliant idea. She showed us a tour inside the old town and we followed it closely. There were anecdotes and stories for every place we went and the explanations were really interesting. We got to see tiny details on certain houses and each time we entered a building there was a nice and joyful person to show us around. I’m specially thinking about an art museum held in an old mansion. The lady was really friendly and seemed quite happy to have visitor at this time of year… we talked for about an hour! The museum itself was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Not because of its size or the content, but simply because I am not an arts person and I usually don’t understand it unless someone explains it to me. But here, everything was… “accessible” and “understandable” which for me is something to be happy about, especially when it comes to contemporary art. And it goes without saying, the art was fantastic. I didn’t even need the guide although she was fun and chatty.

At this point I can’t help to think: see how the locals can change your point of view. We arrived with tourists’ eyes and a negative impression; but as soon as you talk to people and try to understand what they like about their hometown, things change. Your vision changes.

We left Trois Rivières relaxed, with such a good feeling, pictures and memories! In the end, it’s been one of my favourite places in Quebec.

What I liked the most about the town: The colonial-style houses, the small streets (and the people of course)

About the museum: Galerie d’art du Parc, hosted in the Manoir de Tonnancour. 864, rue des Ursulines. Free admission and guided tours are at the discretion of the visitors. Website: http://www.galeriedartduparc.qc.ca

All opinions are ours. We didn’t benefit from any kind of discount or favours.