DougDavidoff
In France, Saint-Malo is a walled city and port on the coast of Brittany. It’s the home of Jacques Cartier, discoverer of Canada and original explorer of the Saint Lawrence. In Quebec, Saint-Malo is a high-up small town, unwalled and expansive, with a sea of verdant hilltops and countryside. About 500 people live here.This observation tower at Saint-Malo is located at an elevation of 585 meters (1,920 feet). It’s close to Quebec’s highest point (at 640 meters) on the ridge that separates the St. Lawrence River basin and waters that flow north into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean from the Connecticut River basin and waters that flow south into the Long Island Sound. Hall’s Stream, the northwestern-most tributary of the Connecticut, is the boundary established by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 between the U.S. and Great Britain as the divider between New Hampshire and Quebec. That makes this little corner (a) the only place in eastern Canada where water flows anywhere other than into the St. Lawrence and (b) the only place in the Connecticut basin that’s not in the U.S. It’s where “la rivière Connecticut” flows in French.That’s the history. Climb the 10-meter-tall tower (33 feet tall) and get fabulous views in all directions. Many signs will explain this topological and visual feast. Unfortunately for a monolingual Anglophone (will we Americans ever learn?), the signs are all in French. I’m getting better and better at reading and hearing French, but I confess I rely on and expect English translations; in this part of the Eastern Townships, accommodations to Anglophones are not made as often as elsewhere.No matter. Study the signs and make your way through. There’s lots to see, lots to learn.]The structure is tall, maybe four stories. It’s soundly built out of steel girders; it’s not at all rickety or rinky-dink. But it’s like a four-story walkup apartment. You’re just glad to get there when you get there. You don’t head down until you’re good and ready.If you’re traveling south into Vermont, you might consider visitingBrownington (100 kilometers, or 65 miles, southwest, approximately 1½ hours of drive time) to the observatory in that town, just near the Old Stone House Museum, north of the church.Okay: A true — very true — traveler story and a warning. There’s a (I presume) home across the road from the observatory. A Stafford Terrier (a.k.a. ‘Pit Bull’) lives there. She was outside and not leashed. She eyed me, came across the road, and snarled at me. Turf-wise, this was still her land. She wasn’t Saint Malo’s friendliest ambassador.I was there by myself, on a rather cold and clear January day. I had left my car without a jacket, hat, or gloves; I was only planning to check out a sign and park before putting on my overcoat, hat, and gloves. The dog positioned herself between the automobile and me. I was trapped. I quickly but without anxiety (I hoped) walked up the stairs of the tower. She did not follow me. She became bored and walked back across the street. I shivered — shivered!! — at the top of the tower for about 20 minutes. I walked back down and managed to make it back to my car before the dog came across the street to assert herself again.I think the dog was pregnant or nursing. I wonder if it was a maternal instinct at work.
