- Armchair tourism and virtual tourism: not travelling physically, but exploring the world through internet, books, TV, etc.
- Dark tourism: is the travel to sites associated with death and suffering. The first tourist agency to specialise in this kind of tourism started with trips to Lakehurst, New Jersey, the scene of the Hindenburg airship disaster.
- Hobby tourism: tourism alone or with groups to participate in hobby interests, to meet others with similar interests, or to experience something pertinent to the hobby. Examples might be garden tours, amateur radio DX-peditions, or square dance cruises.
- Space tourism: traveling in outer space or on spaceships.
None of these definitions quite matches up with our style as Ottawa tour guides. We take visitors to some of the most prominent spots in town (ie: Parliament Hill), but we get equally excited about going to our favourite places to eat -- places like Cora's (yesterday) or La Belle Province (today).
La Belle Province is another Quebecois restaurant chain, but this one specializes in fast food. They give you LOADS of tasty, greasy food for a low, low price. Some of the best items on the menu are poutine and smoked meat sandwiches.
Poutine is a Quebecois classic. Freshly-cut French fries, cheese curds and loads of gravy. We go across the river to Gatineau, Quebec, to get our fix. Each element has to be just right.
I always thought "Smoked Meat" was an eerily unspecific term. It's clearly beef, so it kind of threw me off that they didn't just call it "Smoked Beef". The best places give you a sliver of bread, piled with several inches of meat and sprinkled with mustard. The toothpick is essential to keep this piece of heaven together.The picture with the smoked meat sandwich was taken in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, on the way home from Quebec City in October. Unfortunately, Ottawa was too far away to deserve its own franchise, so we would have to stop in whenever we were traveling through Quebec.
Just before Christmas, I was thrilled to discover that the restaurant had finally appeared in Gatineau, just 15-minutes from our house. We took R's cousin out there when she was visiting, but we were disappointed to learn that they didn't have the smoked meat sandwiches. The franchise regulations must be pretty lax. Apparently, they had so many people asking about it, they're going to bring in the smoked meat in February. There are plenty of other places to get the sandwiches, so we're all set until then. When we took R's mom and sister there today, we weren't disappointed with the size of the family-sized poutine (in the middle picture).
So, what do you call this kind of niche tourism, where you stuff your guests with meaty sandwiches and cheesy fries? Pou-tourism, perhaps?
That doesn't sound so appetizing, for some reason.
2 comments:
I liked your different types of "tourism" especially since we seem to specialize in three of them! Want to know which ones? Of course you do. # 1 Arm-chair-tourism: we do that often with the MANY videos that I shot of all of you over the years, and it is so fun! # 2 Hobby-tourism: we have done this for about 60 years - going fishing, of course! Grandpa's idea of this type of tourism is FISHING and mine is READING. He also has to take me to some plays to make up for my sitting around while he fishes!
# 3 Space-tourism: I am in that nearly all day every day. Outer space is not so bad, unless others notice it!
I am a poutine convert. I really like the stuff--it is such a interesting combination of foods. Does it have some interesting historical beginning?
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