So where I have been? I've been exploring and checking out new sites to the point of exhaustion. That is why there have been a distinct lack of daily blogs. Not to worry, I'll go over everything we did, but I'm think I'll keep this blog to every couple of days.
So what have we done? As you read in the last blog, we had just settled into our hotel room in Quebec City for the night. That was Sunday night, today is Wednesday. On Monday we enjoyed our lovely continental breakfast supplied by the fine folks at Travelodge. It wasn't the greatest selection, but we also showed up towards the end of service. Next we walked to the local mall and picked up some RTC Quebec day passes. These allowed us unlimited travel on all buses in the capital for only $8.50 each. When you visit Quebec City, you immediately realise that the language barrier is a whole lot bigger than Montreal. It felt like we had entered another country and it was awesome. Despite not knowing French, we still managed to get lucky with people who talked a bit of English. In Montreal, 65% of the population are anglophones and speak English as their first language. I couldn't find the same type of data on Quebec City but only 1% of the population have English as their mother tongue.
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| The Glorious Montmorency Falls |
The first place we decided to head with our bus passes was the Montmorency Falls. The entrance itself isn't very well marked, but there is a bus terminal. After a short walk down a forested trail, you're greeted with a suspension bridge. This bridge goes over the very top of the falls. At 84 meters, these falls are the tallest in the province and a spectacular sight that needs to be seen. After a whole lot of snapchat, photos, and Facebook livestreams (
here &
here) we grabbed some lunch and headed downtown.
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| #Selfie |
After a short bus ride we boarded a ferry and crossed the St. Lawrence River to
Levis. We were greeted with an awesome view of Old Quebec and downtown. The weather was a little rough, with tons of rain and wind, but we made the most of it. We crossed back over to the city and contemplated what we should do next. It was decided that we would hang around Old Quebec for bit. After another short bus ride, we went to the Chateau Frontenac Hotel and took lots of photos.
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| Chateau Frontenac |
Our day in Quebec City was rapidly winding down, but we had one last thing to do, go to a baseball game. We boarded another bus and made our way to Stade Canac to watch the Ottawa Champions take on the Quebec Capitales in Can-Am league action. The ballpark had a very nice atmosphere and the game was a blast. That was it for our time in Quebec City. What an amazing place, I'm definitely going back at some point.
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| Stade Canac |
On to the next morning. After a late night at the baseball game you'd normally like to sleep in, right? Well not us. Our train was at 5:53 and we'd have to Uber there. After roughly three hours of sleep we were back on the road. Where will it take us next? Montreal, that's where!
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| MONTREAL! |
We arrived at Montreal Central station just before nine and grabbed some breakfast. Our hotel check-in was not until three, so we brought our bag in to drop them off. Much to our surprise, we were offered a room right away with no early check-in fee. The hotel was centrally located a couple of blocks from the train station and directly between two metro stations. Our first stop in Montreal was a roadside attraction that Sonia read about online, Gibeau Orange Julep. It's basically an old school walk up fast food restaurant shaped like and orange. The food was pretty average, but the unique selling point was their orange drink. It kind of tasted slightly like a creamsicle.
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| An Orange |
After lunch we made our way on the
metro over to Parc Jean-Drapeau. It's a couple of islands in the St. Lawrence River that were used as the site of Expo 67 fifty years ago. Think of it as Montreal's version of the Toronto Islands. There is a ton of green space and panoramic views of the city. We spent an hour or so j
ust sitting on a bench looking at the city. Next up was way up to the top of the city.
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| Biosphere |
After some metro and bus action we were atop Mont Royal. In previous trips we visited a lookout point that had some amazing views of the east end of the city, but not downtown. We discovered on this trip that if you stay on the bus for one more stop,
you'll end up and another lookout. This one with the best views of the city you can get. There is about a 600m walk from the road, but it is completely worth it. There is a very large patio like area for viewing that gets very hot and sunny. Also beware that the pop is $4 for a bottle on the mountain.
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| A great lookout |
Once our fill of city viewing was completed, we went for some dinner. Name a place you have to eat at once every time you visit Quebec. My answer is St. Hubert. Very much like a Quebecois version of Swiss Chalet, I find St. Hubert is much better.
It was getting late and our time in Montreal was coming to an end, so we went back to the hotel. After a very refreshing sleep we enjoyed some hot breakfast from the hotel. Next it was off to the train station. As I write this blog going 160 km/h on a train, I ask you where am I heading next? You'll have to read the next blog to find out.
