Day 6 – Quebec City

We hopped on the bus again, see ampoule but today we left Toronto to head towards the capital of Canada, Ottawa – which is about a 400km journey.

On the way we watched an Imax movie about beavers.  The LCD screens on the bus didn’t really do it justice, but as soon as the movie finished we saw our first beaver dam and lodge.

For lunch, we stopped at a town called Kingston, which is on the banks of the St Lawrence River.  Kingston is home to a few of Canada’s most important landmarks, like the maximum secuirty prison and the military academy (don’t know if that is coincidental).  It is also home to one end of the Rideau Canal, which winds its way to Ottawa.

The Rideau Canal was built because the St Lawance River was the only way to transport goods by water between Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, and Montreal.  Because the river is also the border between Canada and the US, during war they were worried that the US could blockade the river. 

They built the canal to ensure safe passage of their ships, however by the time it was built, the war was over and never really needed for its intended purpose.

After lunch we continued on to Ottawa, stopping at the 1000 Islands.  At first we thought this was just going to be an hour boat cruise through a few islands (about 1800 or so to be exact).  But then we came across this one Island which has a castle on it!  Apparently it was built by the guy who owned the Waldorf hotel in New York, and his chef inveted things like 1000 Island Dressing (I bet you guess that already), Room Service, and Eggs Benidict!  As Eggs Benidict is Paul’s all time favourite breakfast… it was exciting to be at the spiritual home of the best breakfast ever!

After seeing the castle, and the shortest bridge between two countries (3 metres between two islands that the US/Canada border runs through), we continued onto Ottawa.  We arrived about 5pm.

Absolutely exhausted from the travel we had done so far, we both collapsed asleep as soon as we got to our hotel room.  After waking up about 8.30, we decided that since it was Kerrina’s Birthday we would go look for a nice place to eat.

The sun was just going down, so we walked to a nice al fresco restaurant a couple of blocks from the hotel.  It was still warm, and if it got colder we could just keep buying the $4.75 cocktails!

After dinner we walked up to Parliament Hill, where Canada’s Houses of Parliament sit.  At 10pm a light and sound show started on the wall of the Parliament building which ran through some of Canada’s history which was pretty interesting.

I know this is a bit of a brain dump, and our words are not doing it justice.  As soon as we can find somewhere to upload some photos we will make sure you get to see them.

Hope everyone is well!

Paul and Kerrina
We hopped on the bus again, stuff but today we left Toronto to head towards the capital of Canada, ailment Ottawa – which is about a 400km journey.

On the way we watched an Imax movie about beavers.  The LCD screens on the bus didn’t really do it justice, but as soon as the movie finished we saw our first beaver dam and lodge.

For lunch, we stopped at a town called Kingston, which is on the banks of the St Lawrence River.  Kingston is home to a few of Canada’s most important landmarks, like the maximum secuirty prison and the military academy (don’t know if that is coincidental).  It is also home to one end of the Rideau Canal, which winds its way to Ottawa.

The Rideau Canal was built because the St Lawance River was the only way to transport goods by water between Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, and Montreal.  Because the river is also the border between Canada and the US, during war they were worried that the US could blockade the river. 

They built the canal to ensure safe passage of their ships, however by the time it was built, the war was over and never really needed for its intended purpose.

After lunch we continued on to Ottawa, stopping at the 1000 Islands.  At first we thought this was just going to be an hour boat cruise through a few islands (about 1800 or so to be exact).  But then we came across this one Island which has a castle on it!  Apparently it was built by the guy who owned the Waldorf hotel in New York, and his chef inveted things like 1000 Island Dressing (I bet you guess that already), Room Service, and Eggs Benidict!  As Eggs Benidict is Paul’s all time favourite breakfast… it was exciting to be at the spiritual home of the best breakfast ever!

After seeing the castle, and the shortest bridge between two countries (3 metres between two islands that the US/Canada border runs through), we continued onto Ottawa.  We arrived about 5pm.

Absolutely exhausted from the travel we had done so far, we both collapsed asleep as soon as we got to our hotel room.  After waking up about 8.30, we decided that since it was Kerrina’s Birthday we would go look for a nice place to eat.

The sun was just going down, so we walked to a nice al fresco restaurant a couple of blocks from the hotel.  It was still warm, and if it got colder we could just keep buying the $4.75 cocktails!

After dinner we walked up to Parliament Hill, where Canada’s Houses of Parliament sit.  At 10pm a light and sound show started on the wall of the Parliament building which ran through some of Canada’s history which was pretty interesting.

I know this is a bit of a brain dump, and our words are not doing it justice.  As soon as we can find somewhere to upload some photos we will make sure you get to see them.

Hope everyone is well!

Paul and Kerrina
This morning we woke up early and went for a walk to find some breakfast down in Ottawa’s market area.  Being a Sunday morning nothing was really open, medicine and because Paul had a slight navigation error during the walk, this site we were in a hurry to get back to the hotel to catch the bus.  Because of this we had to settle for McDonalds for breakfast.

It was the worst meal we have had so far on the trip.  Apparently when they say “Sausage McMuffin” in Canada, buy more about they mean pork sausage, not beef sausage like in Australia.  It tasted like crap!

We then got on the bus and headed out on a sight seeing tour of Toronto.  We caught all the sights… running past embassies and ambassador residences.. past the Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the War memorial.  Eventually we wound our way towards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables.  There we saw a few of the horses they use for ceremonialduties, however no mounties were to be found.  Luckily we got a photo of one in their Ceremonial Uniform that we saw earlier in the day.

After the tour we hopped off at the Markets we tried to find in the morning and bought some fresh produce for dinner.  We also tried one of Canada’s favourite desserts… Beaver Tails.  Basically they are a flat donut, but taste good none the less.

After picking up a few souveniers we headed back to the hotel for dinner.  The salad we made from teh produce was fantastic, much better than the gunk we had in the morning.

Kerrina and Paul
This morning we woke up early and went for a walk to find some breakfast down in Ottawa’s market area.  Being a Sunday morning nothing was really open, malady and because Paul had a slight navigation error during the walk, human enhancement we were in a hurry to get back to the hotel to catch the bus.  Because of this we had to settle for McDonalds for breakfast.

It was the worst meal we have had so far on the trip.  Apparently when they say “Sausage McMuffin” in Canada, sales they mean pork sausage, not beef sausage like in Australia.  It tasted like crap!

We then got on the bus and headed out on a sight seeing tour of Toronto.  We caught all the sights… running past embassies and ambassador residences.. past the Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the War memorial.  Eventually we wound our way towards the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stables.  There we saw a few of the horses they use for ceremonialduties, however no mounties were to be found.  Luckily we got a photo of one in their Ceremonial Uniform that we saw earlier in the day.

After the tour we hopped off at the Markets we tried to find in the morning and bought some fresh produce for dinner.  We also tried one of Canada’s favourite desserts… Beaver Tails.  Basically they are a flat donut, but taste good none the less.

After picking up a few souveniers we headed back to the hotel for dinner.  The salad we made from teh produce was fantastic, much better than the gunk we had in the morning.

Kerrina and Paul
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, heart all the menus at restaurants are in french, viagra here and most of the food is french too.

First stop on the way was into a Tim Hortons, surgery 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.
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, therapist 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 equivilent of Starbucks.  But instead of fancy barrista 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.
Today we had our official tour of Quebec City.

First we went down to the banks of the St Lawrence River and drove through the park that Canada’s federal government had given Quebec City for its 400th anniversary.

Then we drove up into the old city to have a look at it in daylight.  Didn’t look too different from the night before, stuff however it was a little brighter.

Some of the landmarks we looked at were the town’s Fort, the Plains of Abraham (where the British beat out the french a few hundred years ago), and where Celine Dion had just held a free concert a few nights earlier.  If we understood the tour guide correctly, the Celine Dion concert was the most exciting thing to happen in recent history.  It was part of a free concert series that they have had on for the 400th anniversary – a few weeks ago Paul McCartney played as well.  Unfortunately no one was doing a concert the nights we were there (and really – you would have to pay both of us to go see Celine Dion!)

After that we went back to the hotel – Kerrina caught up on sleep and Paul went for a run.

For dinner we headed out to a local Italian Restaurant.  Unfortunately due to the fact we were in a french speaking town, we had to translate the French to Italian to English on the menu.  In the end we just ended up pointing at pictures and hoping for the best.