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Show Byways and Backwaters by Pat Whitfield A bit of Brittany off the Canada coast you go by dory to catch the cod while trout lure you to the lakes and rivers of Langlade and Miquelon. Miquelon, too, serves as home for several hundred seals who bask at the Grand Barchois, a massive, nearly landlocked lake. Peaceful pastimes like clam digging, painting, biking and strolling abound in these islands but there isn't total escape from the beat of today's society. At night, you can disco in one of St. Pierre's newest innovations. The islands can be reached by air from New York and Boston, via dialy flights on Air Canada and Eastern Airline's to Sydney, Nova Scotia and then by daily flights on Air St. Pierre to the city of the same name. By sea, there's a daily crossing from Fortune, Newfoundland New-foundland during the summer sum-mer tourist season, Sunday excepted. While visitors may enter these Fiench possessions posses-sions without a passport, they will be asked for identification such as a driver's license in order to clear customs. For lodging, there are more than twenty-five twenty-five hotels and pensions mainly located in St. Pierre, most offering breakfastswith the room and quite modestly priced: Although the franc is the currency here, both U.S. and Canadian dollars are accepted. And the shopping for perfumes, liquers and other imports is duty-free and boundless. For a trip into a Cezanne painting, try these islands! Two small chunks of France sef adrift to churn their way across the turbulent turbu-lent North Atlantic jar to a halt just off the east coast of Canada and come to rest there. A poetic if not entirely accurate description of St. Pierre and Miquelon two miriiscule islets still belonging belong-ing to France, which nestle snuggly south of Newfoundland. Newfound-land. The two islands are r actually three with the largest and most populous, St. Pierre, bobbing alone while Miquelon maintains a tenuous holdon wild, deserted deser-ted Langlade through a sandy isthmus. For a taste of Brittany without the distance, dis-tance, these,' easily reached islands are the answer. Entirely French in every sense, the islands exude a keen aura of every Impressionist Impres-sionist painting you've ever seen depicting fishing boats anchored in a sheltered harbor. Of nets and shanties and rainbow-hued dwellings climbing the rocky shores of the major city, also called St. Pierre. It's a place for strolling, not for bustling, where you can sip or sup at a sidewalk cafe, sniff the pungent aroma of freshly baked baquettes or join in aV viorous ball game of local ' -flavor: And on July 14, Bastille Day, to experience the fullest fervor of French patriotism. Fishing is not only the main occupation for its hardy natives who daily brave the sea, but it's a strong tourist attraction. Both deep sea and inland. For deep sea fishing, |