61luv2travel

Part 1


Quebec City (QC) viewed from the ferry crossing the St. Lawrence River


Montreal International Jazz Festival

Je me souviens, “I remember”, is the official motto for the province of Quebec - a fitting title for this trip report about our recent visit to the French Canadian cities of Quebec City (QC) and Montreal. Some of the highlights of the trip include:

• Discovering the contrasting charms of the quaint Le Vieux-Québec (Old Quebec) and bustling Montreal
  
• E-biking Ile d’Orleans - eating our way through the island while simultaneously communing with nature
  
• A delicious dinner at Chez Boulay-Bistro in Quebec City
  
• “Oohing” and “Ahhing” at the fireworks festival in Montreal
  
• Another delicious dinner at Damas in Montreal
  
• Visiting Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal during both the day and the nighttime AURA light show
  

On our most recent past travels, my husband (DH) had generously agreed to an amazing family safari trip to Kenya and Tanzania (To Infinity…andBeyond: A Family Safari Trip to East Africa in Photos). This time around it was his turn to choose and he has always wanted to visit Quebec City and Montreal. We enlisted our trusty travel companions, my BIL and SIL, and timed the trip to catch some of the performances at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Our simple itinerary:

Day 1 - Fly to Quebec City on Air Canada

Days 2-5 - Quebec City - Quebec City Marriott Downtown

Day 6 - Train from Quebec City to Montreal

Day 7-10 - Montreal - Marriott Courtyard Montreal Downtown

Day 11 - Fly home - again on Air Canada

“Je me souviens” this trip as filled with an abundance of excellent food, a great deal of walking, beautiful architecture, outdoor art installations at every corner, an interesting introduction to Canadian history and an overall feeling of elegance. I don’t know why, but when you are surrounded by everyone speaking in French, the atmosphere in general just feels more elevated, more gracious, more cultured.

A cute, whimsical public art installation - “Le mignonisme” - one in a series. We saw this guy everywhere in both QC and Montreal.

Thurs, June 28, Flight to Quebec City

We did not get off to a very good start. The night before we were to depart, a text message arrived in the middle of the night informing us that our flight was delayed by 5 hours, now departing at 1PM instead of 8AM. When we arrived at our gate, we then struggled with the dreaded decision - do we try to get on board with carry on vs gate check? We had originally planned to carry on but the flight seemed packed. At the last second, and against my husband’s better instincts, we gate checked. Unfortunately, he was right.

We arrived in Quebec City and my suitcase made it but not DH’s. It is now past midnight and we are waiting for the Air Canada rep who is assisting another couple. They finish their business and then they start to just socially chat. Finally, the wife says “Oh, we should get out of the way for these poor people (us). “ I was just super irritated (not at the couple) but at the agent. He can see we are the ONLY OTHER PEOPLE in the baggage claim. Finally, he gets to us and tells us that he can see that DH’s luggage was still in Toronto (we could confirm based on the Apple Airtag). He promised it would be sent first thing in the AM and took down our hotel info. To close out this anecdote, Air Canada delivered the bag by late afternoon the next day but sent it to the wrong hotel (despite having the address). Fortunately, we could walk the 2 blocks to go pick it up but we were not impressed. How hard is it to deliver to the Marriott?

We walked forever to literally the other end of the airport to get to the taxis. We confirmed the fixed price fare to our downtown QC hotel - this is a great feature to have it set up this way as you know the price and they accept credit cards. We were checked in by a sleepy reception agent. Our BIL and SIL, already checked in and just 2 doors down, had been nice enough to get us room service food so we could eat something since we had not really eaten dinner along the way.

61luv2travel

Parliament Building - note the perfectly blue sky, such perfect weather!

We were up at 7AM, and though this was the equivalent of 4AM on the West Coast, it was fine as we are becoming the old people who seem to wake up earlier and earlier in the morning. We ate a simple but adequate breakfast at the hotel with our free coupons. Then we walked outside into a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, not too warm, and with no humidity. We headed off to meet Samuel Dubois for the “Free Walking Tour of Quebec”. Starting in front of the Parliament Building, Samuel began the tour by holding up an old battered license plate which carried the motto: “Je me souviens.” This was an intriguing opening as you then ask the question “What is it that you remember?” The overall idea seems to be that the people of Quebec will never forget their origins and traditions from the past - particularly those that come from their French heritage, though it seems as if they are becoming more inclusive of their indigenous origins. In fact, the name Quebec comes from the Algonquin to indicate where the (St. Lawrence) river “narrows” or to indicate a narrow passage. Though the French explorer, Jacques Cartier was the first European to sail the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, it was Samuel de Champlain who continued down the river hoping to find that ever elusive Northwest Passage to China, eventually founding the city of Quebec. Following Samuel (our tour guide) we started at the impressive Parliament Building, stopped to admire the majestic Chateau Frontenac, and traipsed through the cobblestone streets of Old Quebec. Samuel interspersed his historical commentary with a host of bad jokes that we actually found to be pretty funny. In the Place Royale in the lower Old Town, we came across a very large pink balloon man attached to a building as if he was peering into an upper floor window. Another pink balloon man peered at us over a roof line. These public art installations, titled “Le mignonisme” were created by artist Philippe Katerine with a total of 10 "statues" in QC, and an additional 15 in Montreal. They were so comical and whimsical and yes, we saw a few of them in Montreal also. Here is a link that better explains the artist’s thoughts and intent. https://placedesarts.com/fr/evenemen...lippe-katerine


Like I said before, this guy was everywhere.



Place Royal - Lower Old Quebec City

Looking up from the Quartier Petit-Champlain to the Chateau Frontenac

With the conclusion of the tour, we climbed back up an interminable number of stairs from the Lower Town area to check into Parliament and to go through security. Given our ID tags, we then received directions to navigate to Restaurant Le Parlementaire, a beautiful dining room where members of the National Assembly of Quebec may dine. To get to the restaurant, you first walk down a white circular ramp surrounding the agora (a space for both gathering and contemplation and) with an overhead skylight. The whole effect reminded me of a combination of the Guggenheim museum (minus the art) and the Berlin Reichstag Dome (which goes up instead of down). You then walked through a “woo-woo” ever changing multi-color lighted interior (this reminded me of the light tunnel you pass through at Chicago O’Hare with the colorful lights and piped in music, except instead of Rhapsody in Blue you have New Age meditation music). It was all very modern and a huge contrast to the older section of the building where Le Parliamentere is located. After climbing up a staircase to the dining room, the maitre d’ greeted us in French. He then quickly apologized to us in English. He noted that Quebec had passed a law requiring French be spoken first. Even though he knew immediately that we were not French speakers he started with French and as quickly as he could he changed to English. He was very gracious and sincere and this exemplified pretty much our general experience in Quebec. The Quebecois were proud of their language but they didn’t try to beat you over the head with it. Le Parliamentere is located in a small but beautiful room in the Beaux-Arts style. I chose the Tomato carpaccio appetizer and for the main course I chose Agnolottis stuffed with Hercule de Charlevoix cheese and spinach, described as “Fresh pasta cooked in a strong vegetable broth, grilled leeks, fried kale and lemony herb salad.” Both were delicious. Many of the vegetables and herbs were harvested from the gardens located on the grounds of Parliament itself.

The "woo-woo" lighted tunnel within the Parliament Building.

After lunch, we stopped at JA Moisan which is billed as the “oldest grocery store in North America”. I was disappointed as I thought it would have a more interesting vibe but in reality was a small and upscale gourmet store. We also stopped in to see both the Morrin Centre and the Maison d’Literature. Located across the street from each other, these buildings present an interesting contrast. The Morrin Centre is a former prison repurposed into an English literature library while the Maison de la littérature, housed inside a former Methodist church, is a French literature library. We found this to be a recurring theme in both Quebec and Montreal, churches especially were not torn down but used in creative ways - for performance venues, for condos, and even for a workout place.

Maison d’Literature - exterior

and Maison d’Literature - interior

Interior of the Morrin Centre - a former prison


After hunting down DH’s misdelivered luggage, we napped and then ventured out for our dinner at Bistro St-Malo. Despite its location in the heart of Old Quebec it had a very neighborhood feel. DH and I shared French onion soup, while I ordered octopus (which was cooked perfectly) for my main and DH had a tasty seafood stew.

Some overall impressions of Quebec: the Old Town was incredibly clean. It was at its best and most charming in the early AM before the crowd arrived. By the afternoon, it became very crowded and hot. Since Quebec is located on a hill you cannot avoid climbing uphill and/or having to use stairs - you will definitely get your steps in. I felt sorry for the families with strollers. With respect to our hotel, I was very happy with the location as it wasn’t too close to the crowds but was conveniently located to make walking to the various sites a reasonable endeavor.

Just one of the many staircases to climb - this one is part of the "Breakneck Stairs".

61luv2travel

We had been anxiously monitoring the weather as today was the day for our guided e-bike tour of Île d'Orléans. The forecast variably predicted rain but it looked as if it would hold off until the afternoon. We rented a car and off we went over the Île d'Orléans Bridge. Île d'Orléans is an island in the Saint Lawrence River just a few miles east of Quebec. Our tour group also included a newlywed couple. The wife had on high heels which I didn’t think would work but she managed to do just fine. In fact, she never fell off her bike which is something I cannot say about me or DH. Our guide, Herve (which means battle or warrior in French) was super friendly and enthusiastic. He had just turned 21 yo, was originally from Lyon, France and was now traveling the world - having spent 3 mo in Portugal, now working for 3 mo in Canada, and then going to Thailand next to learn muay thai (Thai boxing).

During the course of our tour we learned that in the province of Quebec, Kentucky Fried Chicken could not do business as KFC but only as “PFC” for Poulet frit Kentucky! Remember those French language laws? Also, we wondered about differences between France and Quebec. He mentioned that swearing in Canada was very different. If you say anything religious in an exclamatory hostile manner you might get a punch in the nose, yet you can say all kinds of bad swear words that we would normally think are terrible to say and they don’t seem to care. Herve also talked about the history of Il d'Orleans -

The bike tour was super fun and interesting. We stopped at:

• Ferme Francois Gesselin -a produce stand and had strawberries and then maple syrup tasting - delicious - started from light to dark - became progressively more intense in flavor
  
  The 4 grades of Maple Syrup - golden, amber, dark and very dark.
  
• Bought “white strawberries” though the label says “raspberries”??
  
  Though they look like unripe strawberries, the "white" strawberries on the upper shelf were actually sweet and delicious.
  
• Then went to Auberge Triangle d'été which serves as a silent retreat - open garden area to sit and relax with views of Quebec City
• Stopped at Chocolaterie de l'Ile d'Orleans for another delicious tasting. They made all sorts of cute chocolate figures: dinosaur chocolates and chocolates shaped like high heel shoes, unicorns, etc.
  
  Chocolate high heel shoes
  
  ...and a chocolate purse to complete your look.
  
  Or you can take home a pet chocolate dragon.
  
• Further biked down towards the tip of the island and could see the bridge between Quebec/Montmorency Falls and Il d’Orleans. Currently building another bridge. Didn’t realize that in winter they continue building on top of the ice.
  
• Next stopped at a church that also serves as a performance center -Eglise Saint-Laurent - lucked out that they were going to have a performance so the doors were open and could walk inside. Full concert grand piano tucked away. Kind of a spare beauty to the church.
  
  Eglise Saint-Laurent
• 
  Interior of Eglise Saint-Laurent
  
• Stopped for wine tasting at Vignoble accompanied by a nice charcuterie platter. These wines tasted very young - this wine is consumed quickly, within the year, the vineyards themselves are relatively young. A very different taste profile from the heavy, intense red wines from Napa that we favor. One of their wines is an “Orange wine” - white wine fermented with white grapes with the skins still on.
  
  Montmorency Falls
  
• We were able to relax during the wine tasting with beautiful views of Montmorency Falls in the distance.
  
• Then made a quick stop to walk into a small forest of maple trees where Herve explained how the trees are tapped and then connected with tubing to drain the syrup which is then funneled down to a building where it is boiled (to sterilize) and then bottled.
  
  Our guide, Herve, explaining how maple syrup is harvested.
  
• Final stop for black currant wines - Cassis Monna & Filles - tasting which I loved
  
  Black currant wine tasting at Cassis Monna et Filles.
  

Afterward it started to sprinkle as we returned our bikes, it actually felt refreshing. After we divested ourselves of our bike helmets, Herve served us a final taste of a local cider and a local cheese. By the time we finished we realized that we had returned just in time as it started raining in earnest by this point.

OK - so what about the bike accidents. Well DH and I managed to bookend the tour. First, as we were just starting our tour, preparing to turn into the main road, DH was riding down a slight incline and meant to brake but instead he accidentally pressed the acceleration button. The bike jolted forward and the front tire went into a small hole, he lost his balance and fell chest first into the gravel. He hit his chest on the handlebars and managed to scrape his wrist. He shook himself off and did fine for the rest of the tour. As for me, we were practically at the end of the tour and I had been using what I call the “magic button” for acceleration. I felt kind of guilty and thought I should do a bit more pedaling since we were almost finished. I did not realize it but for some reason my chain was off and when I tried to pedal, I had no resistance and my speed dropped almost to nothing. I started to wobble and not wanting to fall into the traffic I fell over to the side of the road. Fortunately, this happened as I was passing a pile of ornamental grass. I had a very soft landing and was able to jump up right away. I was pretty embarrassed and I am hoping the owner wasn’t home as it was a landscaped area which now looked as if a large animal had tried to make a nest there.

Safely back in our car we drove back to Cassis Monna for lunch. I chose a salad with a large round of goat cheese on bread with black currant dressing - again fresh and delicious. We then drove back over the bridge and headed to Montmorency Falls. We had to pay a pretty hefty entrance fee, so we decided NOT to pay yet another fee to take the gondola up to the falls itself. There is a bridge up there that crosses the falls. You can also walk up approx. 400 stairs which are built into what appears to be a shale mountainside. Montmorency Falls are taller than Niagara Falls, though it does not appear that way. Maybe because we have seen Victoria Falls, Iguazu Falls, Gullfoss in Iceland and Niagara Falls we were not that impressed. We decided to walk along the boardwalk path that takes you closer to the falls and those 400 stairs. The continuing rain and wind actually made it quite exhilarating to stand at the foot of the falls. We could see tiny people walking across the bridge as well as zip lining across (not many doing that). We then drove back to our hotel to drop off our car.

Approaching the base of Montmorency Falls - note the walkway crossing the top of the falls.

After a nice nap, we walked to our dinner at Chez Boulay-Bistro. This restaurant serves a typical French meal but with a Nordic twist. DH had beef cheek which was very tender and I had steak that was cooked perfectly with demi-glace sauce and underlaid with a variety of root vegetables. Dessert was the piece de resistance. We shared both a Maple mousse and a Tiramisu with Boreal spices - OMG so delicious and unique. I really wished they would offer a tasting version of the desserts - would have loved to try all of them. We walked back to our hotel using our umbrellas as it had started raining again just as predicted. Given the rain, our various accidents, bike riding and almost continuous eating we were ready for bed.

Maple Mousse - so yummy!

Daniel_Williams

Hi 61luv2travel

I’ve enjoyed your trip report to my corner of the North American continent. I live in Montreal and have been to Quebec City 6 or 7 times as I had a good friend who lived there. Although I just recently realized it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been to the capital and curiously enough never to Ile d’Orléans or les Chutes Montmorency!

Fascinatingly enough, I have yet to see one of those mignonisme figures, but I’ll be on the lookout when I return. Your comments on Quebec swears was interesting— I think some from elsewhere are surprised by the curse words based on religion (tabarnak, calice, etc…), although in English some religious based swear words do remain (laugh as “damn”). As in English, when such swear words are used, I don’t think people are necessarily thinking about the meaning of the word, but are rather just letting off steam.

Thanks for the report! Daniel

curiousgeo

Enjoying your TR as we are planning our first visit to Quebec next year. We were fortunate one year to attend Christmas Eve service at Notre Dame in Montreal, that was really special. Everyone turned and wished those sitting around them Merry Christmas before leaving.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

61luv2travel

To Daniel Williams - thanks for reading and also for the additional comments. Our e-bike tour guide, Herve was the one who made the observation. Since he had been born and raised in France, we were just curious about what he might notice as differences and maybe as a relatively young person that was the first thing he came up with!

To curiousgeo - I definitely have more to post and hope to get it done by the end of the week. Before our trip I scanned the forum but couldn't find that many recent trip reports of these 2 cities. I'm not sure if everyone is migrating to TA or to their own blogs but I have always loved Fodor's forum as it seems you can get a more personalized take on a place. A shout out to maitaitom's 2019 trip report for Quebec and Montreal - I thought it was really helpful.

Daniel_Williams

H 61luv2travel—I too enjoyed maitaitom’s report and look forward also to the rest of your report on Montreal.

Btw: I observed there was a typo in my last reply (where “such as” became “laugh as”, a bizarre autocorrect I suspect).

61luv2travel

Outdoor art encountered on the way to breakfast.

More whimsical art.

The weather report had predicted rain and it was partly cloudy as we walked to our 9AM La Buche reservation. I was a little regretful that I didn’t make it slightly later.We asked to sit outside on the back patio with the umbrella up to shield us from the sun. I ordered French toast with maple syrup and bacon with maple syrup. I think this version of candied bacon is even better than “Millionaire’s Bacon”. We had almost finished when the rain suddenly came pouring down! We decamped to seats inside the restaurant to finish our coffee. By the time we finished our coffee it had stopped raining again. We strolled around and did some window shopping.


Fun window shopping - see next photo

Flying pigs!

We then walked over for our tour of the Chateau Frontenac - the most photographed hotel in the world. The tickets were timed for a 1PM English speaking tour and then I realized we were supposed to check in earlier. We were a bit frantic trying to figure out where to meet and eventually realized that the tour started outside on the boardwalk below the hotel. We finally arrived at the checkin spot, only to be scolded by an imperious older woman in period costume. I still can’t figure out which historical character she was supposed to represent. We must have stressed her out as she greeted us with, “Are you with me? Yes, yes - the tour starts at one and you are just here now!” I looked at my watch and saw that it was 12:58 PM so technically we were not late. However, all of us were quite put off by her scolding tone and promptly chose to go with the much younger “Lady Van Horne” character as we were broken up into groups. Poor Lady Van Horne was also mildly scolded later into the tour as our groups crossed paths in the Chateau, further confirming we made the right choice to stick with her. As an aside, we witnessed a small exchange during our hotel tour between our guide and a young man walking past with a cleaning cart. She had taught him French (her real profession) when he had just arrived in Canada and was so excited to see that he had now succeeded in getting a job - she showed that she was a true teacher.


Doing our part to keep the Chateau Frontenac in the top position of most photographed hotel in the world.

The tour was interesting as we learned even more about the history of Montreal. However, I had envisioned exploring a quiet and elegant hotel. Instead it was almost like Disneyland. Granted we were visiting during Canada Day weekend but it was so packed and full of guests and even other tourists. You can walk inside without taking the tour. So that part of the tour was not so enjoyable. The Chateau is beautiful and we ended in the famous Rose Room where Churchill, FDR and McKenzie King (the Canadian Prime Minister) - met to continue planning for D-Day. Apparently they had informed the hotel that they needed to empty the ENTIRE hotel for that time period. Everyone was kicked out. We also learned the sad story of poor Louis de Bade de Frontenac, one of the most influential Governors of New France. His wife never left France to join him in Canada. Instead she opted to support his career by staying at Versailles. When he died in Quebec he asked for his heart to be sent back across the Atlantic to his wife in Paris. However, she rejected it and his heart ended up being shipped yet again, back across the Atlantic, to be reunited with his body (so he was never reunited with his wife). Finally, we also found out that the Monument to Samuel de Champlain, sculpted by Paul Chevré, consists of a statue mounted high on a pedestal and which probably does not bear any resemblance to his true appearance since his body has been lost and there are no verified paintings or drawings of what he actually looked like! Nevertheless, this statue serves as the basis for many subsequent paintings and statues created in his honor.


Even if you can't really see the face of Samuel de Champlain, it doesn't really matter since no one knows what he truly looked like. Still the monument is quite impressive.

After our tour we stopped at D’Orsay for lunch, and sat outdoors - people watching, relaxing. I just had a virgin Mojito and a few french fries from my DH’s fish and chips. I didn’t want to eat too much since we had dinner reservations at Bello. Although the reviews of this Italian restaurant were very complimentary, it was very “meh” for us. The conversation was the best part for us as we were located in an area inside the restaurant where we were able to have a conversation and not shout at each other to be heard. After dinner we took a leisurely walk back to our hotel, taking the long way around towards the Citadel. The mood was very serene and quiet. Because we were up on a hill we had great views of a lovely sunset over the city. You could appreciate the French inspired architecture with the steep copper roofs, casement windows, and many church steeples located here and there throughout the city. Also, there were very few mosquitos - not sure why they didn’t come out at dusk, but it made for a very nice post dinner evening stroll.

A beautiful sunset over Quebec.


Parliament Building at night.

curiousgeo

Your sunset and Parliament photos are keepers!

KarenWoo

Just stumbled upon your excellent report! I am not frequently on the Canada forum but I check in every so often. We have visited both Montreal and Quebec City. Love all your photos especially the Parliament building at night and the sunset photos! And love seeing the big pink guy all over!

61luv2travel

This was a very low key day for us. We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, including our omelets made to order. I had wanted to do a walk completely around the Ramparts of Quebec City. QC is the only remaining walled city in North America north of Mexico City. We had learned about the establishment of Quebec starting with the presence of the many First Nations people (particularly the Algonquin and the Iroquois), to the “discovery” and establishment of QC by the French explorers Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, and on to the conflicts between the British and the French as they struggled to control the region. Now it was time to walk around the fortifications to physically experience the layout of the walled city. But because of a slightly later start time, we really didn’t walk the Ramparts as it started to get warm and more crowded. Instead, we experienced a pleasant, relatively uncrowded walk: first we headed towards the Citadel and then veered over to the Plains of Abraham, a site where the French suffered a painful defeat at British hands. We then made our way towards the Saint Lawrence River and came to a viewpoint overlooking the river. We then walked along the Governor’s Boardwalk and reached Dufferin Terrace. At this point we were back below the Chateau Frontenac and the heat and the crowds were beginning to build.

Walking along the Governor's Boardwalk

Dufferin Terrace

We then walked over to take the ferry to Levis. This was just a nice, though very short, 15 min ride across the St. Lawrence River. We sat at the back of the ferry and enjoyed the view of the Quebec skyline as we pulled away from the city. After our mini-hike this was peaceful, calm and a nice rest break for our feet. Once we reached Levis we just turned around and went back to Quebec. There has always been rivalry between Levis and Quebec. Though Quebec clearly won the war as the preeminent city, Levis did win the battle of the ferry buildings with a modern, large and beautiful - practically brand new structure in comparison to the Quebec side. As we were sitting on the ferry waiting to return to Quebec we sat and enjoyed the view of Quebec with a deep blue sky and a flotilla of clouds floating around -a flying pig, a dragon, an evil looking fox, a whale, etc.

View from the ferry to Levis

Umbrella Alley - on our way to Sapristi Bistro Bar

After we hopped off the ferry we stopped at a nearby restaurant, Sapristi Bistro Bar, for a light lunch. Initially we wanted to sit outside but couldn’t find a table with enough protection from the sun. We asked to be seated inside and we ended up upstairs with AC and right next to a big picture window. This worked out great as we had a nice view of the harbor while remaining very comfortable with the AC. I had a “San Pedro”, a mix of Téquila Altos, cassis Monna & filles, jus aloès, lime, ginger ale. The drink was very refreshing and I specifically enjoyed the presence of the Cassis Monna & Filles black currant wine. I did not order food and just had a bit of my husband’s Cesar salad which was light and enough to hold me until dinner. I didn’t want to fill up as we had 4:30 dinner reservations at Le Lapin Saute (The Crazy Rabbit) in the Quartier Petit Champlain. It was the only reservation available by the time I was booking but I really wanted to try this well known restaurant. It was an excellent meal. We shared an appetizer spread and then DH and I shared the grand meal. Rabbit and duck are not my favorites but their preparation was excellent and very tasty. For dessert we ordered honey pie covered with cream. I loved it as it was sweet but not cloying.

This is just the appetizer! Le Lapin Saute

Afterward we walked over to a park near the Plains of Abraham where Canada Day festivities were taking place. We caught the end of a concert by former Canada’s Got Talent Jeanick Fournier and then waited for the laser light show. We had to leave as the lasers kept shooting out just at our eye level - I was worried I would have my retinas burned out! We then walked over to Avenue Cartier and Grand Allee in the Montcalm neighborhood to see the lit up hanging lampshades. The Montcalm area is a more hip area of Quebec. Previously we had only walked around old Quebec. The lampshades did not disappoint. They are “covered with collages derived from MNBAQ (Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec) archive photos and drawings by Montreal-based Abenaki artist Diane Obomsawin.” There are definitely some unusual lampshades, but I really loved the concept and design. Once the sun sets, each set of lampshades provided a very cool oasis of color and light against the night sky.

Lighted lampshades along Cartier Avenue

Derived from photos and drawings by Abenaki artist Diane Obomsawin



Overall I felt that Quebec was cute and charming with a European vibe. While we didn’t visit any museums, there is plenty of architecture, outdoor art, history and excellent French food to enjoy. One major area that I haven’t really talked about in much detail is the importance of the British and French and American conflicts during what I think of as the colonial times. Having grown up in Maryland I was very much exposed to American colonial history and really didn’t give much thought to what was happening up in Canada. However, in Quebec, “Je me souviens” is very important. It was weird to hear that the French Canadians feared invasions from not only the British but also the American colonists.

Next post - On to Montreal!

61luv2travel

Part 6: Tues - 7K steps

Again we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. Checked out and took a cab to the VIA rail station. Even though just under a half mile away, we did not want to drag the roller bags. About $8 CAD to take all 4 of us. Checked in and boarded readily. Then had to listen to an intermittently screaming child for the next 90 minutes - half of the 3 hr train ride. This was very painful which probably was why when we arrived in Montreal we felt as if we were being slapped in the face. At first introduction, Montreal just seemed like any “Big City”: loud, dirty, tons of street construction, homeless - and felt very much like Chicago or Toronto. Checked in to the Marriott Courtyard Downtown which fortunately was just 4 blocks down the street from the rail station. Overall I would highly recommend the train with the stations readily accessible from our hotels and a fairly comfortable trip. Also, it was certainly more economical both in time and cost.

Though the Marriott Courtyard Montreal Downtown is located on the very busy Rene-Levesque Blvd AND they major resurfacing work was ongoing (so quite a lot of dust) we were very happy with the location as it was conveniently located to many of the tourist sites as well as the Jazz Festival venues. We were able to walk to our dinner reservation at Modavie which also emphasized French cuisine. I ordered foie gras and duck confit, both of which were delicious. Afterwards we went to the huge IGA in Complexe Desjardins (a giant shopping mall) located just across the street from our hotel to buy a few groceries. We probably should have taken advantage of the evening to search out some of the jazz festival but we were just too tired by that point.


Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (The Sailors Church)

Part 7: Wed, 18.5K steps
Today we started with the Free Tour of Montreal. As you can see I am a big fan of hitting up a free tour on a first time visit to a new city. It helps me get oriented and becomes a source of bite-sized information about the city’s history, architecture and culture. This tour was super fascinating and because it focused on the Old Town area it definitely allowed us to feel more relaxed after our initial noisy, dusty introduction to Montreal. Our guide continued our history lessons outlining Montreal’s development as it moved from a fur trading outpost through the French Colonial period, followed by British colonization and then through the various waves of immigrants - the Scotts, Irish, Jews, Portuguese, Chinese, Latin American and more recently from French North Africa. (As an aside we met a few Uber drivers who were invariably from Algeria or Morocco, former French colonies. Since French was already their primary language they were more readily able to access higher education in Montreal.) It was fascinating to realize that the original French and British colonists began settling on either side of St. Laurent Boulevard, starting at the riverfront. As each wave of immigrants arrived they settled further and further up St. Laurent Blvd. Another major component of the tour was learning to appreciate the wide variety of architectural styles present from Roman Catholic basilicas to Victorian to French Gothic Revival to Art Deco to ultra-modern “skyscrapers.” There does seem to be somewhat of a chip on the shoulder when it comes to their skyscrapers since Montreal does have height restrictions. Many of the most interesting buildings were actually banks. After the tour we went inside the Bank of Montreal to see the beautiful Italian Renaissance interior. Of course there were many other points of interest. For instance, I never realized that the home of Cirque du Soleil is in Montreal even though I have seen many of their amazing shows in Vegas. It was kind of funny as the tour guide bemoaned the fact that we (Americans) seemed to appropriate all of the best parts of Canada - Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, the best hockey players (they had just lost the Stanley Cup again in the final 7th game). We ended our tour at the Palais de Congres de Montreal ( the Montreal Convention Center, though Palais has a much more majestic sound to it). Of note, a group of Pro-Palestine protesters was gathered in Place Jean-Paul Riopelleone. Because of this, access to the Underground City was somewhat cut off at that site by the police.

Chateau Ramezay

Beautiful gardens behind the "Chateau".



Montreal City Hall

Marche Bonsecours

Beautiful classical interior of the Bank of Montreal.





Afterward, at the recommendation of our guide, we went to Le Petit Sao (Little Star), a cute little cafe style Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I had a fresh and delicious Bun Bowl with Chicken quickly served at a very economical price. Thus began our introduction to the diverse array of cuisine on offer in Montreal. DH and I then decided to check out the venues for the Jazz Festival and realized that nothing was really happening until later in the evening. The Montreal Jazz Festival is reportedly the largest jazz festival in the world. In the weeks leading up to our trip, we decided not to attend any of the ticketed events as we were kind of overwhelmed by the number of options. Plus this festival supports a huge schedule of free performances. We rested up after all that walking. By evening we were able to just grab a table as walk-ins at Chifa, a Peruvian-Chinese fusion restaurant. I ordered a tasty Chicken Pineapple rice dish. We then walked over to the Notre Dame Basilica as we had 8PM tickets for the AURA light show. We thought that the show was definitely worth the ticket price, though some reviewers complain about the 15 min show length. I think that the show length was fine and even though they use taped music the interior of the basilica has great acoustics. As we departed, my BIL noted that he definitely wanted to return during the daytime as even with a brief review he could see that there was much more to examine of the elaborate and ornate interior. So two recommendations: 1) Even though we lined up early so as to enter early, I had read that it was better to sit towards the midpoint or slightly further back to best observe the light show without having to crane your head backward. I would agree that just past the midpoint is the best spot to watch as they project the lights onto the ceiling. 2) It might be more economical to buy the combined ticket if you think you will want to see the church in the daylight. I felt a little guilty as we had to buy a separate admission ticket when we returned.

Lit up interior of the Notre Dame Basilica.

Prior to the show start. No photography was allowed during the actual light show.

Downtown Montreal at the Jazz Festival.

Afterward we walked over to the Quartier des Spectacles, one of the main venues for the jazz festival. We hung out waiting for the next band. Unfortunately, just as a performance began the rain started and having forgotten our umbrellas we decided to make the short walk back to our hotel.

61luv2travel

The obligatory photo of the entrance to the Jean-Talon Market

Today we headed out for our “Beyond the Market Food Tour with Spade and Palacio”. We UBER’ed over to our meeting point at Resto Los Planes, a Salvadoran restaurant variably described as located in the Little Italy or Rosemont or the Petite Patrie neighborhood. The boundaries of all of these areas seem to be pretty fluid. Our guide, Danny, then took us on a 3 hr walking food tour where we ate pupusas, THE BEST CANNOLI I have ever had in my life, a variety of delicious sheep and goat cheeses, mango ice cream (you could choose your flavors), fresh prosciutto, a taste of Syrian cuisine with pita chips and fresh spreads, mushrooms, and finishing with a gourmet chocolate tasting. I have the feeling I am forgetting something as we stopped at many sites with the majority located within Jean Talon Market. Even though I am posting photos of the various vendors, I highly recommend taking the tour as you will have the opportunity to do a large variety of "curated" tastings and learn about the neighborhoods that you are walking through.


Delicious pupusas at Salvadoran Resto Los Planes

Italian bakery with the best cannolis!

I ate my cannoli too fast to take a photo. Instead a tiny glimpse of what else is on offer inside this bakery.




Our cheese tasting - so good we went back to buy more.

Fresh charcuterie - again we went back later to buy more for ourselves





Their stated purpose is to provide Syrian refuge women a first work experience.

Provides both Middle Eastern foodstuffs as well as freshly prepared foods.

Specialty produce is wild plants and mushrooms.


Not sure if this is one of the owners but he had fascinating stories about foraging for wild mushrooms.

While tasting, we could also observe the employees through the large glass window facing onto their kitchen actually making the chocolate.



Chocolate bars sourced from all over Canada and the world.

Danny is actually one of the owners of the tour company and provided a ton of information about the neighborhoods that we walked through. He also informed us that there was actually an ongoing fireworks festival happening in Montreal and that Japan was competing that very night. He also let us know that even though it was actually July 4th, that night’s performance was not in honor of the US Independence Day (all of us on the tour were from the US) contrary to what we might think - LOL. I looked it up and I realized that we had lucked out as the festival is spread out over several weeks and that this was the only competition night that coincided with our visit to Montreal. Danny told us the best place to view the fireworks would be under the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

We were pretty beat after the food tour but we made our way back to the Jean Talon Market to buy some cheese and charcuterie items. We were sad when we realized we couldn’t take the unpasteurized cheese back into the US, but bought some to snack on later. Once back at the hotel we rested up but didn’t really make any definitive plans for dinner. This was a big mistake. We ended up walking over to Hanzo Izakaya, where we had a horribly expensive mediocre meal. We couldn’t understand it - the Yelp and Google reviews are very complimentary. We began to realize our mistake when DH tried to order from the yakitori (skewers) menu and was informed that they didn’t have any of those menu’s items available that day and that he would have to choose from their “other menu”. The food was overpriced and just not very good. We still can’t figure out how they were able to garner such great reviews. Fortunately, this was our only big miss out of all the meals we had.

Fireworks Festival - of course this doesn't do it justice.

After this disappointing dinner, we made our way to the Jacques Cartier Bridge. We brought some hotel towels and staked out a spot to sit. We didn’t realize that we had come way too early. It was a bit painful to wait but in the end it was so worth it.Japan’s fireworks show was amazing and gorgeous. From where we were sitting it felt as if the fireworks were raining down almost on top of us. We were pretty happy and satisfied. At the conclusion, the whole huge mass of people moved out pretty efficiently and we walked back to the Quartier des Spectacle. Again we weren’t very successful in catching any of the free performances because by this time it was too late in the evening.

Under the Jacques Cartier Bridge - the perfect spot to watch the fireworks.

61luv2travel

An enormous serving of Ma Poule Mouillée’s “Poutine with São Jorge cheese, Grilled Chicken & Chouriço .”

Today we decided that we would venture back to further explore the Plateau Mont-Royal and Mile End neighborhoods. I have to admit to some confusion when I list the different neighborhoods as they all seem to run together. My understanding is that the Mile End neighborhood is a subsection of the Plateau Mont-Royal. For any native Montrealer, my apologies for errors in geography. We bought 24 hr STM (Société de transport de Montréal) cards and hopped on to the Metro. It was quite easy to use. Our first order of business was to stop at Ma Poule Mouillée - from what I can tell it literally means “my wet chicken”; however it can also be a slang term for a “wimp”. We had seen this Portuguese restaurant featured in the Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil” during his visit to Montreal. This was finally our long awaited opportunity to try some of the best poutine in town. At its most basic, poutine consists of fries, gravy and cheese curds. We timed our arrival to occur shortly after they opened and placed our order and grabbed a table. We noticed a large group participating in what looked to be a food tour as they were all sitting around a giant dish of poutine. We had already ordered poutine a couple of times during this trip though they were pretty anemic in comparison to Ma Poule Mouillée’s “Poutine with São Jorge cheese, Grilled Chicken & Chouriço .” Even though there were 4 of us, we could not finish it. Satisfyingly delicious and filling, we realized that we had come just before the line started forming out the door. Sadly, we had no more space to do a comparison taste test at nearby La Banquise.


Street art along Saint Laurent Boulevard

Instead we walked along Saint-Laurent Blvd, which is known for its many street art pieces. As a city which supports an endless array of festivals, Montreal also holds an international Mural Festival with many entries painted along Saint-Laurent. It was fun to keep a lookout for these unique pieces as we made our way to Kem CoBa for ice cream. Once we arrived I chose refreshing mango and another flavor (I cannot remember what). It was a welcome break as it was becoming quite warm again. The day before we had sampled ice cream from Havre aux Glace at the Jean Talon Market and I found that the ice cream at both places was intensely flavorful. Afterward, my SIL found a cute little clothing store. She, my BIL and my husband all ended up buying some articles of clothing. The store owner had been in business for over 15 years and really was excellent in determining what each person preferred and finding the article of clothing that would satisfy their tastes. It’s too bad he is in Montreal. I was too hot to try on clothing that day, but I would totally go back and shop there if I could.

Just a small sample of the urban mural art on display.




We then decided to make a final push to visit St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, a Roman Catholic “minor” basilica. However, after emerging from the metro station we walked for a bit only to realize that we had taken a wrong turn and were completely blocked from access by a construction project taking place on the grounds. We could see the impressive Oratory located up on a hill in the distance. If we wanted to visit the Oratory, not only would we have to backtrack a significant distance to arrive at the front entrance, but also we would have to negotiate the 283 steps that take you from street level to the base of the basilica. We opted instead to sit down at a nearby cafe for iced drinks before heading back to our hotel.


Sashimi from the tasting menu at Park.

For dinner we had a reservation at Park - another restaurant featured in “Somebody Feed Phil.” Park states that it “transforms traditional Japanese and Korean cuisine by interweaving South American spirit and North American essence into every dish.” We enjoyed a beautiful tasting menu with incredibly fresh sashimi, nigiri and sushi. Once we finally emerged from our meal we Uber'd back to the hotel.

Delicious nigiri from our tasting menu at Park.

Sushi rolls from our tasting menu at Park.

61luv2travel

Part 10: Sat - 11K steps

On our last full day in Montreal I decided to check out the pool at the Marriott. While it was perhaps ½ the length of a lap pool, it was fairly empty and I was able to get some laps in. The glass walls of this top floor location let in a great deal of natural light and provided great views out into the city.

Interior of the Notre-Dame Basilica



Today was our last day in Montreal. We decided to return to the Notre dame Basilica. As you might recall, we had attended the AURA light show on Wednesday night. Now in the daylight, it did not disappoint. The interior of this church is incredibly ornately decorated with amazing attention to every little detail. In the rear of the cathedral we discovered a second chapel: the Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur Chapel. This chapel has a very modern design that is beautiful and startling in its contrast to the Gothic Revival style of the main part of the cathedral.


Yup - it's the pink guy again. He also attended the Jazz Festival

Afterwards, we made a determined effort to find some of the free Jazz Festival performances. On the way to the venue we passed participants dressed in costume heading towards the simultaneously running Comic Con taking place in the Convention Center. We laughed as we saw one little boy, dressed in a superhero costume excitedly jumping up and down when he spotted another adult participant dressed in a different costume. Since I don’t really follow manga or anime I wouldn’t be able to identify the characters, but clearly the little boy was a huge fan and you could just see the joy on his face.

We finally managed to catch a few jazz performances, though again our timing was not great. We eventually rested up at our hotel before heading out for our final meal of the trip at Damas - a Syrian restaurant. At the end of the meal we mutually agreed that this was the best meal of the entire trip. Everything was delicious and our waitress was super helpful in guiding us in our selection. If we could we would have selected everything on the menu but even with following her recommendations I was completely stuffed.

Cold Mezze selections at Damas

Mixed grill Meat platter consisting of: Rack of lamb, filet mignon AAA, Shish Taouk, Aleppo kebab, grilled lamb kibbeh, Biwaz bread.

Afterwards, we made a last run at the Jazz Festival and finally managed to catch a very cool performance - Milena Casado and her combo. Even though there were still thousands of people roaming the Jazz Festival we were satisfied and returned to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s early AM checkout.

Milena Casado

Our last night in Montreal

Overall - Montreal ended up impressing us with its many festivals, diverse neighborhoods, and amazing cuisine. We probably would have had better luck catching performances if we could have arrived during the first week of the Jazz Festival but there was no availability that week at the Marriott hotel that we could reserve. It was fine as there was still much to do, to see and, most importantly, to eat! it certainly didn’t hurt that the exchange rate with the US dollar was definitely in our favor. Finally, I know this is a stereotype, but Canadians are just really nice people. It amazed me how uniformly kind, patient and good-humored they were.During our visit we met several North African emigres who were working as UBER drivers. They uniformly mentioned that they had chosen to come to Montreal because they were already native French speakers and encountered a much easier process to come to Canada vs the US. They were all very ambitious and had their educational and career goals all mapped out in their heads. They exhibited a lot of energy and hope.

Part 11: Sun - Departure and return to the US

We took an Uber to Montreal airport. Everything was fairly quick except for the TSA check line. Thank goodness for TSA Precheck and Global Entry. We checked both bags, flew through Vancouver and used up our Canadian dollars for chocolates and maple syrup at the duty free. Upon arrival both suitcases came through just fine thankfully.

What we didn’t get to visit as we were just too tired after a certain point!

• Cite Memoire
  
• Habitat 67
  
• Barbie museum - did I really want to see it? I’m not sure - maybe for curiosity sake since it is apparently free. After forcing myself to watch the Barbie movie on the plane ride back home I don’t think I missed out.
  
• Many, many, many restaurants that we didn’t get to try. The diversity of restaurants was wonderful.
  
• Hike Mont Royal
  
• Visit St. Joseph Oratory
  

So hopefully this trip report will give you an idea of the array of activities that Quebec City and Montreal offer to visitors. While I would characterize Quebec City as more beautiful and restful, I would count Montreal as a fascinating, more diverse city. Visiting both of them allowed us to appreciate each one even more for their individuality. Please excuse any errors I have most likely made related to statements about the history or geography of Quebec Province in this report. I hope I haven’t made too many.

curiousgeo

Thank you for your detailed TR, very helpful as I map out our next visit. Our last one to Montreal was pre-Covid so great to read a recent visit. Great photos as well!

61luv2travel

Thanks curiousgeo for reading. I should add that my husband should get the credit for most of the photos. Mine are the ones that usually come out a bit fuzzy - especially when I try to zoom in!

LCBoniti

Thank you so much for this lovely trip report. We are planning a trip to both cities in October and, although our trip will be very different with my two young grandsons in tow, this information is very helpful.

By the way, I completely agree with your comment about the value of this Forum. Whenever I am planning a trip, especially to somewhere I have not been before, I always look for trip reports on Fodors. Heading to maitaitiom’s next. Thanks for that reference!

61luv2travel

LCBoniti - so glad that you enjoyed the trip report. I'm sorry as I don't know if it will be as helpful for you as I think the focus for your grandsons will be different. What a nice trip you will have though. I imagine the fall colors will be beautiful. Wishing you a wonderful time for a great family trip.