Quebec City, here we come. 
We headed off to the train station this morning in Montreal to catch the 12.30pm to Quebec City. If a train station can be nice, this one certainly was. See Dan below doing the hard yards backpacking with his laptop and chocolate croissant!! 
It had a massive food area in the main foyer of the station (the platforms were underneath and it didn’t feel like a train station) where we stocked up on some supplies for the trip. (The food here is to die for).
The three hour ride went fairly quickly. The scenery was lovely with many lakes and cornfields on the way. But surely the most breathtaking part was seeing the change of colours of the trees as fall commenced in Canada. Now when I say the change of colours, this isn’t an Australian autumn. We were starting to see the change of colours from green to brilliant reds then onto oranges and yellows and eventually the trees will become bare ready for a long cold water. 
We arrived in Quebec City which is a UNESCO area and the old city housed within walls. The view up the hill looked fabulous but first we had to tackle the enormous hills to get to the top. Normally probably not too bad but when you are carrying around a combined 50kg between two people it was hard work! We finally made it to our hotel “Au Petit Hotel” in a lovely quiet area but still only a five minute walk to downtown. We were right at the top and in true French fashion, no elevator, so another three floors to walk up and we were there. Yah! 
It was late in the afternoon and we decided to make the most of the light and go for a quick wander around the town. Quebec City, it became obvious, is the sort of town where you leave your map behind and just go wandering. Everything is just gorgeous and this would have to be the most beautiful town we have seen in Canada so far. We wandered down Rue de Tresor, which was a narrow alley which housed many local artists and their art. 
Whilst there were still quite a few tourists around, but it wasn’t over run with the end of the summer season here. We wandered to the Dufferin Terrace, a massive timber boardwalk along the waterfront part of the town and looked back at the Fairmont Chateau, which although undergoing renovation, was still beautiful. 
Actually, much of the town is undergoing renovation as it will celebrate 400 years in 2008. The boardwalk housed some of the many cannons left behind in the town by the British and I had to do my best Cher pose. 
With the sun starting to set we wandered along the streets and came to one of the gates that allowed entrance into the city and just admired the beautiful buildings and streets.
Later that night we went on a search for the pub with Dan declaring "he could sniff our a pub a mile away". It took us a while and we found it and struggled through in our limited French to order drinks. 
It was here that we discovered this important 1st festival that will be held. The toasted cheese festival – go figure?? Some people will have a festival for anything.
We headed off to the train station this morning in Montreal to catch the 12.30pm to Quebec City. If a train station can be nice, this one certainly was. See Dan below doing the hard yards backpacking with his laptop and chocolate croissant!! It had a massive food area in the main foyer of the station (the platforms were underneath and it didn’t feel like a train station) where we stocked up on some supplies for the trip. (The food here is to die for).The three hour ride went fairly quickly. The scenery was lovely with many lakes and cornfields on the way. But surely the most breathtaking part was seeing the change of colours of the trees as fall commenced in Canada. Now when I say the change of colours, this isn’t an Australian autumn. We were starting to see the change of colours from green to brilliant reds then onto oranges and yellows and eventually the trees will become bare ready for a long cold water. We arrived in Quebec City which is a UNESCO area and the old city housed within walls. The view up the hill looked fabulous but first we had to tackle the enormous hills to get to the top. Normally probably not too bad but when you are carrying around a combined 50kg between two people it was hard work! We finally made it to our hotel “Au Petit Hotel” in a lovely quiet area but still only a five minute walk to downtown. We were right at the top and in true French fashion, no elevator, so another three floors to walk up and we were there. Yah! It was late in the afternoon and we decided to make the most of the light and go for a quick wander around the town. Quebec City, it became obvious, is the sort of town where you leave your map behind and just go wandering. Everything is just gorgeous and this would have to be the most beautiful town we have seen in Canada so far. We wandered down Rue de Tresor, which was a narrow alley which housed many local artists and their art. Whilst there were still quite a few tourists around, but it wasn’t over run with the end of the summer season here. We wandered to the Dufferin Terrace, a massive timber boardwalk along the waterfront part of the town and looked back at the Fairmont Chateau, which although undergoing renovation, was still beautiful. Actually, much of the town is undergoing renovation as it will celebrate 400 years in 2008. The boardwalk housed some of the many cannons left behind in the town by the British and I had to do my best Cher pose. With the sun starting to set we wandered along the streets and came to one of the gates that allowed entrance into the city and just admired the beautiful buildings and streets.Later that night we went on a search for the pub with Dan declaring "he could sniff our a pub a mile away". It took us a while and we found it and struggled through in our limited French to order drinks. It was here that we discovered this important 1st festival that will be held. The toasted cheese festival – go figure?? Some people will have a festival for anything.
We decided to try China Town (we’re discovering that most countries we visit have a China Town) for a bite. After walking through some dodgy areas including the sex industry street, we walked through the lovely lions at the gate to China Town (again they are in every country) and found a place. We looked at the menu (below). What might you have – my French in poor but my Chinese even worse!! 
We decided on a lunch special including Dim Sum (fixated with that after the San Francisco experience). If we thought it was difficult navigating around Montreal in French, Chinese was no easier. Dan got out he wanted a beer. The man gave up trying to find out what sort and Dan just said “anything” – generally a bad move in any country, but luckily a good move today! It didn’t let us down and we rolled out of the Chinese place full as. 
We decided to walk through the Latin Quarter of Montreal along Rue St Denis which has heaps of funky shops and restaurants and many of the old buildings in Montreal. A lovely area. 
However, the grey skies were closing in with rain threatening so we headed back to town. We went past this funky statue which looked quite eery with steam rising from the water. As soon as we took this photo the steam disappeared, but the exhibition buildings still provided a nice backdrop. 
As we had forgotten to pack old “cheap and nasty” (the umbrella). We had to do the run back, but still managed to get soaked.
A quiet night in and we ended up having dinner and playing a music quiz on facebook. You haven’t heard of facebook???? Get on line 
Bonjour from Montreal (Montreal is in the province of Quebec, the French Canadian part of Canada for those that didn’t know it). The Auberge de Jeunnesses (youth hostel – backpackers) does a great cheap breakfast. After some brekkie Tan and I soldiered through downtown and onto to Old Montreal. We stopped off at the Basilique (Cathedral) and checked out the tomb of some of the bishops, some frescoes and an altar piece much like the one in St Peters in Rome. The cathedral also had Jesus and the twelve apostles as statues adorning the façade of the building (once again like the Vatican). The paintings within and the history were far from that of the Pope’s church. 
Then another church, St Pat’s where the coolest thing was the squirrels in the car park. The Lonely Planet has a walking tour of Old Montreal, an area which we mosied on through. Another church, this time the Notre-Dame Basilique (the windows weren’t the same as Paris). If you want to see good churches go to Europe is our call not that we are aficionados and hang out in churches in our spare time. 
It was a mix of old and new and the bronze Inukshuk looked like it was dancing!
Near the third churches there was a small square, Place D’Armes, where the early settlers battled it out with the local Iroquois and another old building, built in 1685 and is now a seminary (and in state of restoration). Up the road was three different courts, old and new, and then the gently sloping Place Jacques Cartier. This was lined with restaurants and we didn’t break our rule of “Don’t eat in piazza!” Here there was a column dedicated to Nelson after his success in the Battle of Trafalgar and a riposte with a French one of Admiral Vauquelin opposing him. Hotel De Ville, now the city hall had a Verdi gris copper green roof. The garden across the road was a period garden and we had a few of the raspberries, not knowing this was linked to the museum behind it. 
Next off the cab was Marche Bonsecours, with a large silver dome. We looked at the shops and galleries and Tan fell in love with the fur coats. There was one for $3000 and a matching hat for $350. Honestly though, Tan doesn’t like furs at all. Walking the cobble stone streets and the French architecture did remind us somewhat of Paris and surrounds. Actually some of the souvenirs here they are trying to sell are absolute rubbish but then again most places including Australia are loaded with lots of tacky shite.
We stopped off for a late lunch of beer and wine. The service was crap, he forgot to bring out Tan’s wine and when we tipped low the guy complained. Oh well…. Next stop was the quays across the road. We watched two guys on jet skis rip around the calm water and could see the torrent of the st Lawrance river in the distance. It was quite turbulent. Across the other side of the water was these wierd looking houses that were stuck together like shipping containers though made of concrete.
We walked back home in time for tea at the hostel. Tan beat me at pool but the table had a curve nearly as bad as the Kerrigan’s table near Tullamarine.
We headed off the airport after jagging a cheap flight to Montreal from Halifax and we were off (again, another plane, another timezone, another day!!!). At the airport we indulged in coffee from the famous Canadian "donut" chain (Tim Hortons)and it is unequivocally the worst coffee in Canada. Some Canadians may hunt us down like a bull moose for this statement but it wasn't too flash!!! We have made a pact never to drink coffee here again. Here is the picture off the back of the seat crossing the US (hello US and A!!!) on the way to Montreal.
Off we took into the air and landed in Montreal. We had to get used to reading the speaking French again!! We caught the shuttle bus into town with the 65 year old bus driver demonstrating road rage to another limo driver who cut him off. He was shouting in English “you are too old to be driving, go home and retire” giving him the bird – quite funny when the man was the same age as him.
We met an Australian, Katherine, traveling through, and swapped travel stories. Australians are few and far between in this side of Canada. 
