Mont Tremblant, Quebec

I took a short side trip to Mont Tremblant for a couple of days, the bus trip there went through the Laurentine mountains and all the colours of Autumn were coming out in the trees. I stayed a few minutes away form the pedestrian village of Tremblant and the main ski area in the winter, I took the gondola up what would be the ski hill, which is the highest in the Laurentine mountains, and although it was mostly misty it was an amazing view, it was a very quiet place in contrast to the big cities I have been in.

Montreal, Quebec

The bus trip from Quebec City to Montreal was beautiful as the trees are starting to turn in colour coming into autumn! Montreal is nothing like Quebec City, it is way more modern and cosmopolitan and there is 20 miles of underground shopping malls underneath downtown.

I walked along Rue Sainte-Catherine a few times as it is the main street, it is always so busy and great for people watching from one of the cafes! I visited Old Montreal and the Old Port, which was far less modern and had lots of old buildings and museums.

I walked round Mount Royal Park and saw the Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, it is one of the worlds most visited shrines, and the basilicas dome is 97 meters high and second only in height to Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

I took the metro to Ile Sainte-Helene and Ile Notre-Dame, this is were EXPO 67 took place and where the F1 Grand Prix of Canada is held every year, the track is open to the public, so I walked round part of it.

I visited City hall, where the French President Generale de Gaulle famously said in 1967, Viva le Quebec Libre, long live free Quebec!

Quebec City, Quebec

Vieux-Quebec is surrounded by a 4.6 km long defensive wall, built to protect the city from attack, the city of Quebec was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlan and is celebrating it’s 400th birthday in 2008, because of this the city is having a lot of restoration work carried out at the moment, despite the work, it is still such a pretty place, the streets are really narrow and cobbled and very like France, there are little cafes on the streets and the architecture is amazing!

I walked through Saint-Jean Baptiste and Saint Roch areas and to the Quartier Petit Champlan and Place Royale, you could just walk about for days on end the place is amazing and so beautiful, it’s hard to believe I am still in Canada, I have not seen any where else like it in the country.

I took a boat on the Fleuve Saint Laurent, which gave a fantastic view of the Chateau Frontenac and the Old City! I visited the Citadelle, which has been the second home and work place for the Governor General of Canada since 1872 and she was home when I visited, it is also one of only two citadels` in Canada, the other being in Halifax which I visited a couple of weeks ago.

I took a trip on the Route de la Novelle France, which is possibly the oldest area of New France in Canada! I visited the Shrine of Saint-Ann-de-Beauprie, which was absolutely amazing to see, it celebrates its 350th anniversary in 2008, and it is enormous and so beautifully decorated! On the same trip I visited the Montmorency Falls, which are twice as high as Niagara Falls and Isle d` Orleans, which is a beautiful island just outside of the city.

On my last day in Quebec I went up the Observatoire de la Capitale to get a view of the city from 221 meters up and what an amazing view it was!

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