Off to Canada

Jo and I spent last week visiting our neighbors to the north.  Our main stops were in Quebec City and Montreal with a lovely drive in between.  We were experimenting with taking a more relaxed approach to our vacations by not packing every daylight hour with something.  My analysis, we were moderately successful.  We did manage some down time but we still seemed to be on the go a lot.



In Quebec we stayed at the iconic Frontenac hotel which really dominates the skyline - as evidenced by the countless pictures Jo had to shoot of it - and provided a really convenient location to explore Quebec.  We enjoyed visiting the old town and we found the food both delicious and quite speedily prepared (always a plus for me).  We learned a lot about the history of the area, especially their problems with the English during the early 1700's, and found the tour of their provincial parliament especially informative.  The boat cruise up the St. Lawrence river was fun and the Museum of Civilization ranked number one as our favorite museum stop.

After several days in Quebec we rented a car and headed to the Ile d'Orleans (an island just down river from Quebec) for a couple of nights at a bed and breakfast.  We spent one of the days hiking in the Laurentian mountains nearby - Jacque Cartier National Park specifically.  We had time for two hikes - one tough and one easy - that provided some spectacular vistas, although only a couple of squirrels to hold up the fauna department.  We also got soaked touring the Montmercy falls which rival Niagara for the height from top to bottom.

Next on our itinerary was a drive down to Montreal stopping in Trois Riviers on the way - small sleepy town on the St. Lawrence, although with a really nice park.  We braved Montreal traffic and turned the car in before heading to our hotel in the old town.  We then had a few days to explore Montreal.  The highlight of which was taking a jet boat cruise on the Lachine Rapids on the river.  I had done this 20-25 years ago while in Montreal for an ACS conference and it was just as exciting this time as last.  Our last day we hit some of the food spots, that had been recommended to us by Bruno and Sheri (Bruno lived in Montreal before his Pfizer days) and hiked to the top of Mont Royal to enjoy the views of the city.

We had a wonderful trip and would recommend either city for anyone thinking of visiting.