Quebec City

Had a lovely day with our car - thanks to the Satellite Naviation fella - who even spoke mostly English. We managed to get out to a waterfall, really only about 20 minutes from Quebec City - The Montmorency Falls - these are actually higher than Niagara Falls apparently. Quite a lot of water going over the top, but hard to imagine what it must be like after the snow is beginning to melt. And absolutely impossible to imagine the entire thing frozen, but there is much pictorial proof that it freezes every year, and forms an amazing ice-climbing challenge for some people!!



About 45 minutes further on there was a really spectacular Canyon - called Saint Anne!!! Brilliant canyon with a stunning amount of water barrelling down, crashing into the walls, and turning corners as it rushed to the bottom. Several suspension bridges over the canyon, and many stairs to climb. This is also a major downhill skiing area for the locals, with many ski runs carved out of the nearby hills. Excellent day, and well worth the nightmare drive on the wrong side of the road!! We also drove around the Island of Orleans which is accessible from the mainland by bridge. Very sleepy little communities - didn't actually find one place to have a coffee... Tiny little houses on very small blocks of land, almost always two storey, timber, brightly painted, with lots of tizzy bits here and there. Great lengths of clothes line from the house out to some shed, or pole, and the line on pulleys as they do in Asia... Such neat washing you wouldn't believe... Everything hung in order.... No fences anywhere, around houses or paddocks. Obviously no pets, or they are kept indoors.

Arch had his first visit to the ubiquitous Tim Horton's (Canada's doughnut king).... Very average, VERY sweet, and once was enough - even for Arthur!



Drove for about 3 hours the next day too - absolutely nothing to see really, and pretty much a waste of time. Took the car back early - too hard to park, and wasn't needed!



Thursday - our last day in Quebec City. Decided to do our own thing after breakfast.. I managed to find the Observation Tower for a look over the town, and took some photo's of some photo's someone else had taken, of the St. Lawrence River frozen. Absolutely impossible for me to imagine... After pounding the pavements, decided to have a couple of hours at the pool. Nice. Hot spa and a cold beer. Some American woman decided that with my accent I must be Canadian - they really have NO idea..

We happened upon a restaurant which specialised in Mussels for dinner - they came every way you can imagine, and then some. Nice.. Then nearby there was then a laser produced visual display of the history of Quebec, shown on the side of some Silos at the port - brilliant effect.

This year is the 250th anniversary of the English "victory" over the French in Quebec, and this might be the historical truth, but in fact, Quebec is so French it's bizarre.... And it will never be any other way.

Before we got on the train, we had one last look down to the waterfront, there was another Holland America ship in port - actually the one we were originally scheduled to sail on. Amazing to see how small it is in comparison with ours.

Train to Montreal - okay, but the elderly gent in front decided he needed to lie down all the way, so I got to inspect the top his bald, scabby head for 3 hours. Nice....


Nice little hotel in the old part of Montreal, just one block back from the waterfront again. Lovely for walking about. We got a room upgrade (just because we're gorgeous Aussies) - now have our own lounge room, looking out over a garden/restaurant (we're on the ground floor). Had a late afternoon walk, and happened upon a pedestrian mall, lined with bars on both sides, and a very good busker doing his thing singing, so before we knew it, we were settled in for Happy Hour!! Thought we might as well stay for dinner, so hadn't moved for a few hours by the time we struggled home!


Gorgeous croissants (and chocolate ones too) for breakfast, and then set off on one of our famous marathon walks...... Covered the entire city centre of Montreal, saw McGill University, the major shopping centres, all buzzing with shoppers. Very sunny, warm day again (we have been so lucky with the weather) and we found ourselves on the top of the highest point in Montreal - a large park called Park Mont Royale - their Central Park really. A sad little lake in the middle, lots of lawns, lots of natural parkland, and an enormous, imposing, empty house overlooking the city... Possibly used for grand events occasionally, but with the exception of a tiny room which sold postcards etc., actually echoingly empty!! Great view over the city, but it's not really a very pretty city anyway. We had walked up major inclines for a very long time to reach this peak, and after we had walked through it, we left via some stairs - to get half way down, we walked down 287 steps(!) and then walked downhill again for 15 minutes!!! At least we walked off the croissants! But, the knees are a bit sore!


Came home through Chinatown - rather sad, very small area - pretty grotty, and not the sort of place which would attract you for a meal. Having been to San Francisco's China Town, everything else pales in comparison!! This made us decide to try to find an Italian restaurant for dinner - nice food, and a nice change!


Today, Sunday 13th, the Montreal Marathon was run. We stood on a corner just near our hotel and cheered the runners on for half an hour or so, and then the cyclists joined in (on the other side of the road!), so we stayed for about 45 minutes more. Quite impressive really, some old farts running who should have been home digging in the garden we thought... Have no idea how many actually finished, but we walked off, and about 45 minutes later came across them again, and a sign which said they had done 19 of 42 kilometres!!! Some not looking too flash, and had a long way to go!!


On our way back to the hotel, I stopped to ask a Policeman a question about the Marathon route, and he didn't have enough English to give me an answer. How appalling..... There are many English speakers in Montreal, I wonder how this bloke would deal with an incident involving them? Once again, really shocking to think this is Canada......


I'm off to have my hair cut in the morning (will have a few weeks to grow out if it's a disaster), and then we catch the train to Toronto. Will post again eventually.

Cheers everyone...