Quebec City and back to Montrèal

Quebec City




A poor shot of part of Quebec City's skyline


After bidding our American friends goodbye in Toronto, we took a plane to the heart of French Canada, Quebec City. When we landed at the newly upgraded international airport, we immediately felt like we had entered a different country.

Quebec City is even more French than Montreal. It's the oldest city in North America and quite frankly, we felt like we were somewhere in Europe! Quebec's stately and historic capital is celebrating its 400th anniversary as a city this year and so both the Canadian government and the provincial government have poured bucketloads of money into promoting tourism to Quebec City in 2008.

The old part of Quebec City is surrounded by a fortified wall originally built by the French in the 1700s and then fortified again by the British when the American Revolutionaries attempted to capture Quebec City.





View from atop the wall


Visiting in summer, it was difficult for us to find accomodation that wouldn't blow our budget, but we managed to score a couple of nights at a hostel in the old walled part of Quebec City. Before we arrived we were warned by many people that we would find it difficult to get around because nobody would be willing to speak English to us, but we found that with so many tourists in Quebec this year, people were friendly and more than willing to help us get around - especially if they could see us making an effort to use what little French we knew.



St Louis street, and one of the entrances into the walled part of the city




Quebec City reminded us of what we imagine Paris to be like




Assemblée législative du Québec (National Assembly or Parliament). It's really only a provincial assembly, but don't tell that to a Quebecois!



The National Assembly room




St Jean-Baptistè Church




The cheapest meal for two ever! Despite everything being overly expensive in Quebec, this meal at a bakery only cost $4.41



Hope Gate



The pier where the 400th year anniversary celebrations are happening



View of the wall from the harbour




Pigs in Quebec City



The Château Frontenac, which is now a hotel



The streets are very European



Jetstar jumps in Quebec City!


Every night at 10pm the best light show we had ever seen was put on at the Espace 400 (harbour). A bunch of silos were used as a backdrop for the images. Coupled with an awesome soundtrack, it told the story of Quèbec City over the last 4 centuries. It was basically like sitting in front of a very, very big movie screen!



Due to the lighting at night, it was very difficult to get a good photo of the light show.



Welcome to the classiest McDonalds ever



As part of the celebrations, huge big name artists perform all year round. Paul McCartney was performing a free concert the night of the day we left (hence the reason there was no accomodation). We took a walk up to the park in which the concert was going to happen just to have a peek.



The stage where some soundchecking was going on



Posing with one of the unflinching guards at the Citadelle

Back to Montrèal

We left Quebec City to spend our last few days in Canada just chilling out in Montreal. We decided to relax over the next few days, meet some people at our hostel and try and catch up on this blog.

The train ride across Quebec revealed some amazing Canadian countryside.




Our view as we thunder across a bridge


A river



Farms littered the countryside between cities



Despite the fact that most people out here only speak French, this could be any North American farm



As we leave the tracks behind

After a few days in Quebec City, Montrèal seemed so much less French than it did the first time we were in town.




Montrèal



The Montrèal Metro




At Mont Royal Park



We pose at the Chateau lookout on Mont Royal



View of Montrèal from the lookout



This little squirrel at a whole apple core



A Jetstar jump at Mont Royal



Every Sunday, Sunday random people (mostly hippies) gather at Parc Jeanne-Mance to play drums, twirl sticks and generally hang out. We decided to check out the action.



Some of the drummers were good, others were truly in their own little world



This is officially the most random dude we saw. He was a terrible drummer but was probably high on something. He has a mop to die for.


A view of Mont Royal from Avenue du Parc



We met some really cool people back at our lovely hostel and made some great friends. One rainy day a bunch of us decided to try our indoor rock climbing.



Our first attempt at this sport left us sore for days


The rock climbing gang (Kelly, Patrik, Curtis, Nat and Candice)



Hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil (with monopoly money)

We left Montreal feeling refreshed and ready to discover Europe!

For more photos, please visit:-

Quebec City: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45929&l=c86d4&id=681501850

Montreal: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45930&l=0e4aa&id=681501850

Buffalo (USA), Niagara Falls and hanging out with Stacy.

Our next stop was Buffalo, a city in New York state very close to the Canadian border. Buffalo, once a thriving city of industry is now sufferering from a population decline however much of its beautiful art-deco architechture still impresses.

We made our way down from Toronto on the Canadian Greyhound bus (which was a much nicer experience than the US Greyhound busses we took). The actual distance between Toronto and Buffalo is not far at all and usually takes about 1 and a half to 2 hours to drive it. However, we had to cross the border which meant that we had to deal with American immigration again!

The bus pulled up at the border and we all had to get off one by one and be interrogated by US Border Control. What was strange about the whole process was the amount of time it took and when Nat was questioned the officer was quite happy to have a dandy old conversation about the fact that we were travelling around the world. She was quite intrigued and asked many questions not because she thought we were a threat but because she found the whole trip around the world concept foreign and strange that we could afford to do it! So we got through fine. Unfortunately one girl in front of us from Thailand had been living in Canada for over a year without a visa and uh-oh!! Entry denied. As our bus left to continue on into Buffalo, she was taken away to a special room for questioning. The poor thing had no idea what was happening or what she had done wrong!

Crossing the border from Canada into the USA. Much less busy than the Mexican crossing.

As the border crossing took so long the bus trip took an extra hour! We arrived in Buffalo to be greeted by our wonderful friends Stacy and Aaron! As we were super hungry by this point they decided that we should go for some gold ol' traditional Buffalo food - the famous Buffalo wings and Buffalo Chicken Finger Sub. The Buffalo wings were amazing! I have no idea what was put on them to make them taste like that!


Nat's picture of the Buffalo Skyline. He has to take a picture of every cities skyline! Obssessed!


Buffalo Wings! Delish!


Aaron, Stacy and I chowing down on Buffalo wings!

After our amazing Buffalo Wings we went to see Niagara Falls at night. We were amazed to see how built up the Falls were. There are casinos and massive hotels on the Canadian side. At night the Canadian side puts on a light display which is shone onto the falls! Quite imprressive, even if it was slightly tacky!

The Canadian side of Niagara Falls

Our night in Buffalo didn't end here! After Niagara falls we went bowling for 0.75 cents a game!! How crazy is that! It was 0.75 cents a game and then 1 dollar shoe hire! Aaron and Marcy, two of Stacy's friends also joined us for a couple of games!

Bowling with Nat, Aaron, Stacy, Marcey and other Aaron!

Technically Stacy is from Grand Island, an island on the Niagara River between Canada and the US, but these days it's pretty much a suburb of Buffalo. Being on Grand Island meant we had great river access!.The next day Stacy's friend Aaron took us wakeboarding on the Niagara River! The water was amazing! And the current quite strong! But it was such a great day, and Nat tried wakeboarding for the first time and got up!

Chilling on the boat!

Nat having a dip in the Niagara River!

Can you guess what this is? Yep the Niagara River!

Yay, wakeboarding!

It was such a hot summers day!

Kissing a buffalo in Buffalo! Loving a buffalo in Buffalo!

Downtown Buffalo

After a great day on the Niagara River we went to see Stacy play a show. Aaron played as well under the name Standing Audition. You might remember from our LA Blog that although Stacy is originally from Buffalo, she now lives in Los Angeles - so it's a rare treat when she gets to play to a hometown crowd.

After the show we went for some more Buffalo cuisine, becaue we still hadn't tried everything Buffalo had to offer! So the night went for quite some time. I think we ate at around 12pm and then eventually made our way home stuffed full of food to get some sleep for the next day. I must also mention that before we went out to Stacy's gig her Mum also cooked us a massive feed of spag bog. It was amazing! However, this meant that we spent most of our time in Buffalo eating...

Hanging out backstage

Buffalo at dusk.

Aaron a.k.a. Standing Audition (the same guy who took us out on his boat) on the guitar!

Miss Stacy Clark.

On our way to eat more food in Buffalo after the gig!

The crew at Stacy's place - Nat, Aaron, Candice, Stacy and Teddy

The next day we had to go and try some more food in Buffalo. We had frozen custard! which was very nice, some sweet potato chips, also good, with some beef thing on a roll. I can't really remember what it was (Nat: it was called "Beef on Weck"). All very nice but we were starting to wonder how many kilos we were putting on eating all this food.

For the best "Beef on Weck" on Grand Island

After the massive Buffalo food experience, we were back on the road to Canada together with Stacy, Aaron and her mum (Mary-Jane). After crossing the Canadian border at Niagara Falls, Nat and I went on a little excursion to check out one of the wonders of the world. They were incredible. Despite all the people, casinos and hotels, the falls were breathtaking. They are so huge! It is just crazy to think how much water thunders over the edge of the falls each day.

The view of Horseshoe Falls from Canada.

The Maid of the Mist takes passengers right up to the edge of the falls.

The bridge is where we cross from the US into Canada right next to the American Falls

Pigs at the falls

We continued on to Toronto, walked around and had dinner in town

Toronto at night


Stacy and Mary-Jane. Aaron and Nat.

As it got later, we bit a sad goodbye to our friends who drove back across the border to Buffalo. The next morning we caught the tram and the subway to the airport so that we could fly to our next stop, Quebec City.

The Toronto subway

Nat all loaded up with gear waiting for the train

To see more photos of our adventures in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45928&l=7cfcf&id=681501850