quebec

one entrance to old city

narrow streets

cannonball stuck in tree

excavated old city buildings

funicular from the fort area to St Lawrence river

mini city buses

typical house

entrance, look closely at the top right!!

old cannon

Monday 8th June
Today we headed into the old fortified city of Quebec. It was only a few minutes drive from the motel and was fairly easy to find. We parked the car in a car park to make it easy and walked into the old city. We first walked into the main part of the old city to where they have excavated some of the old buildings on the edge of the wall. There is a funicular there but we did not ride it. From there we walked on a board walk up to the Citadelle de Quebec, this board walk had 310 steps to take to the top for great views of the river St Lawrence. From there we walked around the city taking past the old buildings and houses within the fortress. It was very European and reminded me of some of the places we visited 2 years ago in France. Got some lunch and then walked around the city some more. Had an ice cream in a cone and looked at some of the wares that traders were selling in the laneways.

In the late afternoon went back to the motel so we could have a rest and we needed to do some washing. Headed out to dinner a bit later and went to a place called St Hubert which is a bbq chicken place but it is restaurant sit down service. The food was OK but nothing to get excited about.

Went back to the motel and surfed the net and got some emails sorted out. Tomorrow we are heading to Edmundston New Brunswick as we make our way to Nova Scotia.

exporail montreal

exporail museum

one of the first rail cars in montreal

mail carriage

old train station

street car

Sunday 7th June
Up this morning and off to Exporail which is a train museum. Now I know that sounds boring but it was really cool. They had so many trains, street cars and all sorts of things connected to Canada and their rail history. I know Ian (Bronte’s Dad) would have thoroughly loved it. I know as we liked it as well and he is a train freak, in a good way! There was a movie which is going to be in Imax in 2010 which was trains going through the Canadian mountains, the views were amazing. Spent about 3 hours or so at the museum and then headed out for lunch, this time Burger King as it was the first thing we found. Once lunch was had we hit the road, this time only about 260 kms to travel to Quebec.

We had booked our accommodation in downtown Quebec and it was meant to be 4 star. On arrival the hotel was nice, the only downside was paying $18 for valet, but I guess you can’t complain for $70 a night for the room.

Got settled into the room and then went out for a drive to get dinner. Ended up having Tim Hortins for dinner. They are a bit like Starbucks mixed with Krispy Crème mixed with Subway. The food was nice and quite well priced. Drove back to the motel so we could get to bed and get up early for a full day in the old Quebec City which is the only fortified city in North America. Should be a good day and the weather is meant to be about 23 and sunny.

olympic park and biosphere

a gay beaver for an olympic mascot

funicular just in view

view from top 175 metres

inside entry to stadium

me in the stadium

the stadium

at the flame and rings

inside the biosphere

bronte at the front of the biosphere

from the grand prix track

roller bladers on the track

Saturday 6th June
Today we head for the Olympic Park which was host to the 1976 Olympics. The main stadium is cool, it has the worlds largest incline tower built above it with a funicular ride to the top. The tower is meant to house the roof of the stadium when it retracts to have the top open. A couple of points. 1. The stadium was not finished until 1988 when the tower was completed. 2. The roof does not open as it never really worked properly and 3. The complex is basically not used for anything any more and looks like a ghost town. It is a shame as it is a massive and incredible building that is still costing Montreal money as it always has something wrong with it. The only part that is used is the pools. We took a tour of the complex with a guide which was very interesting and took you behind the scenes so to speak. Then rode the funicular to the top of the tower.

From there we went to the Biosphere which is a structure made for the World Expo 1967. It was the Symbol of Expo '67, the sphere designed by visionary architect Buckminster Fuller has an important place in the history of contemporary architecture. The largest building of its kind in the world, its structure reproduces more than 75% of a sphere. It is 20 storeys high and is really very cool. Today it houses an environmental museum and on this day was open to the public for free. So we went in for a look around.

From there we walked across to Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that is part of the city of Montreal, this was home to the Canadian Grand Prix up until 2008. At that time they were having a 24 hour roller blade competition so there were people everywhere. Bronte wanted to walk a lap of the circuit so we did. Only took about an hour to walk the circuit. Made our way back to the car and then back to the motel after a bit of a drive around.

Had some PFK which is KFC in the rest of the world for dinner as we had left over salad and rolls from the previous night. The guy who served us was a tripper he keep laughing at everything we said. It must be our accent. He was helpful and gave us good service. I think he was laughing as he keep talking about Crocodile Dundee and was asking us to say hello to Paul Hogan.

Off to Quebec tomorrow.

montreal

Friday 5th June
Well today was made up of getting packed up and driving to Montreal. It was going to be about 550 km in distance and take the best part of the day. Nothing to exciting other than stopping for lunch at A&W on the way. Got to the motel and checked in. Had some issues with the room as the door was broken and the electric key would not work. We had to change rooms and then all was OK. Headed out for dinner and came back with a frozen lasagna to cook in the microwave. Was not too bad really. Heading into the city tomorrow to have a look around.