Day 5 – Ottawa to Quebec City

Today we hoped onto the bus and started the 400km or so trip to Quebec City.

It wasn’t too long until we crossed the border into Quebec – and it felt like we went to a completely different country.  For those that don’t know about 95% of the population of Quebec speak French – so all the roadsigns are in french, all the menus at restaurants are in french, and most of the food is french too.

First stop on the way was into a Tim Hortons, which are basically Canada’s equivalent of Starbucks.  But instead of fancy barista coffee, you just get the perculator stuff.  The Canadians go mad for Tim Hortons and their bagels/cookies.  I didn’t quite get it though.

Then we drove around the outskirts of Montreal – we could see the old Olympic Stadium in the distance, but that was about it.  We come back to Montreal later in the trip so no big loss.

We continued down the road closer and closer to Quebec City – and stopped at a place beside the St Lawrence River which is essentially a big shrine.  I could tell you some story about what the shrine is for (they get pilgrims there all the time)… but to be honest I can’t remember what the story was (Wikipedia anyone?).  Instead I will tell you about my lunch.

We had been told earlier in the trip to try some “Poutine”.  It apparently is a Canadian Favourite (up there with the beaver tails we mentioned earlier).  Basically you get some chips (french fries), jam some cheese curd into them, and then drown the lot in gravy.

Well today Paul had a go at it.  Upon reflection, I think Poutine is a French word for “Instant Heart Attack”.  But it sure did taste good!

Eventually we made it to Quebec City.  Our Hotel was in Saint Foy, which is about 15 minutes from the old city.  This year Quebec is celebrating 400 years – so there is plenty to see and do.

We went into the old city for a tour of Quebec City’s landmark – the Chateau Frontenac.  This is an amazing hotel built by the railroads to make lots of money out of their rich passengers.  The tour guide was an actor playing a message boy – the Aussies and Kiwi’s in the group were laughing at all the jokes – the yanks didn’t understand though.  We all had a good time.

After that we walked up to the Cafe de Paris… a french restaurant in an old street in the old city.  Basically it could have been a restaurant in Paris.  Paul had the Snails, Kerrina had the Pate, and we both had the Beef.  The Snails were good, the Pate was dodgy, and the beef didn’t stack up to what we have in Australia.

Then we had a few minutes to roam the old city one last time at night before heading back to the hotel.