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

Montreal

On the 9th of July, we took an early morning flight into Montreal from New York on Air Canada. Ahhh, finally to be back flying a good airline again. The service and comfort was impeccable.

When we arrived, Montreal airport was clean, ordered and all in French! It was raining heavily outside and for the first time we really felt like we were in a foreign country. Montreal is the largest city in the only French-speaking province of Canada, Quebec. Being a major city in Canada, we half-expected it to be like very much like a US city however Montreal is quite a lot older than many cities in the US and has kept a lot of its European charm. The capital of Quebec, Quebec City is even older and is celebrating it's 400th birthday this year.

Place Jaques-Cartier

The flag of Quebec is clearly visible along this pretty cobblestoned street in Old Montreal

Place de-Armes was built in the 1700s. The statue of Paul de Chomeday in the foreground was erected in 1895.

Montreal is also a very modern city

We had a couple of days in Montreal to begin with and our plan was to return at the end of our Canadian leg. We checked out old Montreal which is what we imagined Europe will look like. Cobbled streets, beautiful shops and lot's of culture. We also checked out Montreal's underground network of tunnels that link a majority of the buildings together in the city. It was really quite strange, yet at the same time a brilliant idea. The tunnels link train stations, banks, shopping malls and office blocks together. The main purpose being that in the winter it gets really cold in Montreal so instead of venturing out into the snow one can just use the underground pass.

The underground network

While being one of the world's largest Francophone (French-speaking) cities in the world, Montreal is very bilingual. We made the effort to learn as much French as we could but realised that most people had excellent English and were more than willing to help us out.

Quebec is unique in the sense that it is a French-speaking province with deep English roots as well. While lasting as a French bastion for so long, enduring long wars with English invaders, the King of France finally ceded it to England in the early 1700s (even before the French revolution). So while Quebec has strong cultural and linguistic ties to France, its political, governance and military ties lie with the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of Quebec and you will find statues, streets and buildings named after English monarchs as well as other notable English-speaking people who have contributed to the development of the province.

Today Quebec is the only French-speaking enclave in North America and is surrounded by English-speaking territories. The question of Quebec independence has long been a point of contention for the Quebecois people. The last referendum was held in 1994 and the population voted for Quebec to remain in Canada by a slim majority of only 1%. It is rumoured that it was Montreal which saved the vote as most people here wished to remain Canadian.

Completed in 1878, City Hall has seen turbulent times. It was from this balcony that French President General de Gaul uttered his infamous "Vive le Quebec libre!" (long live free Quebec!) during a state visit in 1967.

While walking around Montreal we discovered to our suprise that Canada also has IGA supermarkets! We thought, surely there couldn't be Independent Grocers of Australia out this way! Apparently it stands for "Independent Grocers Association"

Candice outside our local IGA

Our hostel, Le Sous Bois was really different to the ones we had been in previously. Its even worth mentioning how cute it was! They had little wooden caravans outside for couples to sleep in and bunk beds made out of recycled timber with quite an open plan. It was very relaxing! Internet was actually free and there was a free phone to anywhere in Canada or the US.

The courtyard, a caravan and our bunkbed

Here are some more snapshots of Montreal:


We ate at Tim Horton's a fair bit, Canada's favourite fast-food chain. Mmmm!

We visited the massive Basilique-Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary Queen of the World) in downtown Montreal. As is tradition in many European cathedrals, important clergy are laid to rest within the actual church. The second photo is the Bishops' Mortuary Chapel, the last resting place of the Archbishops and Bishops of Montreal.


A ship moored at King-Edward pier


In the heart of the city


We thought this was funny. I suppose it means something else in French


The Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal


Chinatown just didn't seem Chinese enough with everybody speaking French

After our time in Montreal, we took the handy Canadian VIA Rail train down to Ottawa, the nation's capital in Ottawa.

For more pictures of Montreal, visit: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44328&l=c72f9&id=681501850