Driving to Gaspe

Good day everyone! This morning we had to buy some groceries so we drove to the nearest Metro. It took us 2 minutes to get there from the university and was attached to a large shopping centre. Inside, there was Holt Renfrew, Zara, Simons, and many other brand name stores. It was very nice and clean.

Soon after, we were on the road. We entered the Bas-Saint-Laurent Region. First we stopped at the tourist centre at La Pocatiere to get maps and more information. Then we drove to Mcdonald’s and ordered a Mcpoutine and 2 junior mcchickens. Jon was ordering through drive-thru. We didn’t see poutine so he tried to ask if they sold poutine. It was very cute as he struggled to find the words. The poutine was no bad. Jon liked the poutine. It was about $3.50 for one.

Then, we drove to Kamouraska. The lady at the tourist centre said that this village has been said to be one of the most beautiful villages in North America. It was very nice, quaint village.

As we were driving, we noticed that the churches in the villages looked very similar. They all have a silver top and with a brown walls. We were driving mainly along highway 132 which is
along the coast. It has been a nice drive for us.

We also had a nice view of the St. Lawrence River at Riviere du Loup. There were also 4 wooden circles by the water.

From there, we drove to Bic which is a little past Saint Fabien. We went to the Bic National Park. We wanted to take a shuttle to the top of the mountain but we arrived too late. There were main areas in the park. We chose to go to Cap-Caribou area. We walked on the trail “Les Anses” which brought us to “l”anse aux Bouleaux Ouest”. When the tide is low, you can spot seals. However, the tide was high so we didn’t see any. There was a nice view of the water. Jon wanted to take pictures of the splash that a rock makes when thrown in water. It was funny seeing him carry large pieces of rock and throwing them because people though he was crazy.
We’ve spotted lots of large windmills on our drive. In fact, we took a picture of the largest windmill in North America.

We are now in Gaspe. The air here is quite cold and nippy. It's quite refreshing. Jon enjoys photography now. He took lots of artsy shots and they look fantastic.

Have a good night everyone!
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Quebec City: Citadelle, Plein Art, Marche du Vieux Port

Good day everyone! Jon and I woke up at 9am to see the changing of the guards at 10am at La Citadelle. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and it was about to rain so they didn’t have the changing of the guard ceremony. They didn’t want to the guards’ wool jackets.

Anyways, Jon and I took a tour around la Citadelle. You need to join a tour group in order to see the grounds as it is an active military base. La citadelle was built by the British to protect against American invasion. The Americans had tried to invade twice prior to building La citadelle. It is in the shape of a star because at the tips of the star, the soldiers could use a cross fire (an X) pattern so enemies couldn’t hide. At the tip of the star, there are large cannons that could fire up to 5 kms. La citadelle was also built along the St. Lawrence river so that they could defend against attacks from the river. There is only one passageway that goes into the fort. It only fits one vehicle at a time. There were soldiers who live in the fort during summer. There is also a place for the governor general to stay.

In addition, we saw 2 military museums. One of the buildings called “a fort inside a fort” had narrow slits on the outside which face the passageway. This is where the soldiers would hide when the fort has been overtaken. The narrow slits make it hard of people on the outside to fire in. However, when you look from inside the building, it is much wider. It looks like a V shape with the narrow on the outside and the wider part on the inside. This place also used to be a jail for soldiers who disobeyed orders such as possessing alcohol.

Last but not least, I saw the Caucasian version on my family. They had 7 kids, two of which were girls. The girls were either the 2nd oldest or the 2nd youngest, like my family.

Afterwards, Jon and I walked around Old Quebec that was located behind the walls. We ate grilled sandwiches. Jon had an italien sandwich and I had a blt sandwich. It was delicious but, we only had granola bars, peas, and fortune cookies for breakfast so we were hungry.
We walked into Chateau Frontenac but didn’t want to pay to go on a tour. It had a nice interior though. Afterwards, we walked around Old Quebec some more. We went into the gift shops but couldn’t afford anything there either. I really liked this shirt which had fleur de lis and the word Quebec underneath. It reminded me of an ADIDAS logo. However, they mainly came in men sizes but the women sizes that we did find was more expensive.

I did manage to go to Simons. This is a large department store found only in Quebec. I bought a yellow girly shirt. Jon was really good! He didn’t whine or complain when I was shopping. In fact, he asked if I wanted to look in other areas too. Ha ha. However, he reminds me that it’s only because we’re on vacation...but we’ll see.

We later had an oreo mcflurry. It was quite expensive compared to at home. It costed $4.50 for a large. Oh well! We also saw people eating Mcpoutines.

Afterwards, we drove to the Old Port and walked around Plein Art and Marche du Vieux Port. Plein Art was a marketplace for local artists. We saw lots of nice jewellery, leather bags and baby clothes. Marche du Vieux Port is like Granville Island. It’s a market that sells produce and other foods. We bought rubbery cheese curds that are used in poutine. It had such a weird texture because when you chew, you would hear squeaking noises.

We walked around some more. However, we were quite tired by then. So we found a bench and took a nap for an hour. In that area, there was a play area with cannons and wooden cut outs. After that, we took the funicular, a slanted cable car, from lower part of Quebec to the upper part of Quebec. Then we returned to our car, and bought food from Metro, a supermarket.
We made tortellini pasta with vodka sauce. We also had a Caesar salad with chicken, bacon and croutons.

Jon and I have decided to travel to the Maritimes. We’ll be spending about 13 days there. We’ll come back on Sept 5th. Just in time for school.

Anyways, have a wonderful night everyone!

Quebec City: Old Town, Les Fetes de la Nouvelle France, Parliament, Wall Climbing, Chateau Frontenac

Bonjour tout le monde! Jon and I left Montreal at around noon. Before we left, we walked to Metro, a supermarket, and bought apple pastries and milk. The pastries were delicious but they were made with butter so probably not the healthiest thing.

It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Quebec City. We checked into our accommodations at the University of Laval. The residence building where we checked-in was quite nice. There was a little garden in the centre of the building and some rooms even had balconies. However, that’s not where we’re staying. Our place is a lot larger than it was in Montreal but compared to the registration building, it’s just a plain old dorm.

Soon after, we drove down to Old Quebec. It’s absolutely beautiful here. The houses and shops here were old-looking but had very nice decorative trim. We were stuck in traffic for 20 minutes before we found free parking at a park close by. The park was about a 15 minute walk to the main area so we took our scooter and skateboard with us. Fortunately, we came on the last day of “Les Fetes de la Nouvelle France”. This is a festival that brings New France to Old Quebec. People were dressed up as if they were from the 17th/18th century. To attend the events, we would have had to pay $12 each to attend. However, they were allowing free entrance an hour before closing which is when we arrived so we didn’t have to pay. Lucky us!

The events were quite well done. There were wooden areas where you could sit, chat and listen to live music. There were also wooden booths that sold food. We had chicken skewers, veal sausage wrapped in tortilla, egg with butter and chives on a bun, and a large maple ice cream cone. Jon really liked the chicken skewer because it was something he has never tasted. It was quite tasty. The ice cream cone came in 2 sizes: regular or bite size. The bite size one was so small. If you’ve ever seen/had marshmallow ice cream cones, that cone was the size of the
bite size cone.

We also saw an old fashion marching band which was quite nice. There were also drunkards and cannons. For the restrooms, they had port-a-potties but cover the front of it with beige linen to continue the theme. It was very well done. Jon and I walked up and down the streets. There were lots of souvenir shops as well as ice cream/gelato stores. There was also a funicular which is an inclined cable car. It carries you from Old Town Quebec to New Town Quebec. We walked Chateau Frontenac. We walked along Cap Diamant which has a wooden walkway by the water. We also walked along the walls of Old Quebec.

Afterwards, Jon and I walked to the Parliament building. Half of the building was under construction but it had a covering with the image of what would have been there. There was also a circular water fountain.

Jon and I walked down Grande Allee which had lots of restaurants with patio seating. Even Mcdonald’s had patio seating. Anyways, we went to Chez Ashton which is a Quebec fast food restaurant. We ordered a double cheeseburger with a mini poutine and a coke. The poutine came in 3 different sizes: bite size, mini and regular. The regular size was the same size as those circular, silver Chinese take-out dish.

We’re not back at our residence. We’ll be planning our next leg of the trip.

Bon soir (good night)!

Montreal: Casino, Biodome, Mont Royal, St Catherine, Mcgill, Fireworks

Bonjour! Jon and I had a great day. We drove to the Montreal Casino and the Biosphere. The casino is 7 stories high. It had lots of slot machines and card games. We spent $5 playing Keno and slots but we lost. We did manage to take a handful of wet naps but unfortunately, no pens were to be found. Afterwards, we drove to the Biosphere on Ile Sainte Helene. It’s a large environmental museum.

We drove to Mont Royal to see the park and the highest point of Montreal. It was such a beautiful sight. On one side of the park, you can see the downtown area and on the other side, you can see the Olympic Park. Jon and I didn’t know where we were going. When we went to the tourist center 2 days ago, the lady that was helping us said that la croix du mont royal is where you’ll be able to see the highest point. When we got there, we couldn’t see anything because the area was surrounded by trees. Also, there was a steeper path close to that area so that area wouldn’t be the highest point. We were contemplating where the highest point was. In the area, there is a steel structure. I was telling Jon that if you climb to the top of the structure it’ll be the highest point. Then I noticed that it was the cross (la croix). Ha ha.

We then returned to our hotel and had Mcdonald’s. We ate 2 junior chickens, 2 bacon cheeseburger and medium fries. Afterwards, we took the subway to Saint Catherines. Yesterday, we only walked around the east side so we decided to walk down to the west. There were lots of stores. This area reminds me of Robson. We stumbled upon a Aboriginal festival with dancing performances. We also saw the stage for an outdoor fashion show. We saw the models get their make up done in street booths.

Afterwards, we walked to Mcgill and explored their campus. We then bought dinner from Metro, a supermarket. We had deli sandwiches, apples and Yop, a yogurt drink. Jon and I watched 2 hours of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. We have about 1 hour left.

We walked to Jacque Cartier Bridge to watch the Montreal International Fireworks. Today, France was performing. They were fantastic. They had lots of large and bright fireworks.

Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to Quebec City. Have a wonderful night!