We're just back from a week and a half trip to Quebec and Montreal. Both great cities, both had excellent food.
I will fill in some details below, but the long and the short of it is that we have never been on bikes more on any vacation, and we have seldom had such a great selection of food.
But as always, we start at home, with poor Lulu being left behind. (Luckily, she loves her Aunt Linda, who cares for her while we're gone)
Outbound we flew through Chicago:
Where United met us with Tarmac transportation! This is the first time they've done this for me. The connections were a little tight, and it really helped.
But we made it to Quebec without incident. And this is the view from our hotel:
and that is our hotel:
You don't see signs like this in Houston:
If you ask anyone about food in Quebec, you are likely to hear about poutine. French fries with gravy and cheese curds. It tastes exactly like you think it does.
We had ours at a place called the Le Buffet de l'Antiquaire. We sat outside, and it was delicious.
The next day we went on a tour of Old Quebec. (the best C$5.00 spent!) we saw this dog:
And a cannon captured from the Russians in the Crimean War:
For lunch, a fantastic meal at the Boulay Boreal Bistro. They offer mostly local ingredients, and this is the time of year for that. Below is a beef plate with potatoes, beets, pine nuts, onions, and more:
It may be obvious from the photos above, but Quebec is build on a hill, so you have a lot of climbing to do:
That evening we ate at Le Clocher Penche, which is an informal, yet outstanding restaurant. We started with Bison Tongue, and ended with a big bowl of seafood with rice.
The next day we stopped by the old market to get sandwiches for a bike ride to Montmorency Falls:
It was about eight miles:
which isn't too bad. Mostly flat
It is a beautiful place. 90' higher than Niagara Falls:
But we had to walk down these terrifying stairs.
But we made it back to Old Quebec in one piece
The building at the base of the funiculaire was Jolliet's house! (from Marquette and Jolliet) He lived his final years here.
The next day we took another bike ride in the other direction.
This gave us the chance to touch the St Lawrence River:
and to ride across the scariest bridge I have every crossed in my life:
The Pont d'Quebec failed twice during construction, and is the reason why Canada now certifies Professional Engineers.
The pathway is a kilometer long, and only about 1 meter wide. Two bikes cannot pass each other. The rail is low, the wind is strong, and the drop is far. I was terrified the whole time I was on that bridge.
But I survived. (Doreen has no fear of heights, and would have danced on the railing had I let her. I was scared enough for the two of us)
Here I am, pointing to my nemesis:
But we had a nice picnic afterwards.
View of the hotel from across the river:
That night we ate at a placed called Le Pied Bleu. The chef was from Lyon
and sausage and things. Here is the chef. He was very funny.
Finally, the day we left for Montreal, we saw a dynamic diorama (those of you who know me know I love dioramas!) of the history of Quebec. Life doesn't get much better than this!
We crossed the Pont d'Quebec on the train as well. I thought I was done with that bridge.
We happened to be in Montreal at the same time that one of Doreen's old high school friends was dropping her son off at McGill university.
We had a great time for dinner and drinks:
Did you know that Montreal is named after Mont Royal? Huh.
You can see Leonard Cohen in this photo if you know where to look:
When people talk of food in Montreal, they talk of poutine (as above) but also of smoked meats and bagels. Schwartz's is the most famous smoked meat place.
They smoke their beef for a couple of weeks. I think we call this pastrami in the US.
They serve it in a big pile with rye bread on the side:
The Old Port on Montreal uses shipping containers for their services. It is very well done.
I haven't seen black squirrels in Houston for a long time, but we saw a couple in Montreal.
The Marches in Montreal were really fantastic. This one is the Marche Jean Talon.
Later that day, we ate at Joe Beef at brother Matthew's recommendation.
We went through the Archeological Museum, which had greta exhibits, using the small walls that were left in place.
It amazes me that the first European showed up in Montreal in 1535 - that is only 43 years after Columbus landed in the new world! That must have been some half century.
A great lunch at Olive and gourmando's. We had to wait in line here, too.
Montreal has a project called Cité Mémoire, where they are projecting videos on a number of buildings around town. Very interesting. This one is Joe Beef's Funeral:
This is housing built for the olympics - called Habitat '67.
The Notre Dame Cathedral also has a multi-media show called Aura. I'm OK with that.
We also saw the Botanic Garden,
Which has a couple of Patrick Dougherty's installations! (Doreen's park had one a couple of years ago)
The Atwater market offered some amazing sausages:
and a butcher shop called Grinders offered some aged beef:
Our last night in town we ate at Candide. The best of all possible restaurants at that place at that time.
And then we said goodbye to Montreal.
But not without some souvenirs.
The restaurants I didn't get photos of (I don't do that so much anymore. The older I get, I figure I can just look at other people's pictures) were:
Graziella's - an upscale Italian place close to our AirBNB in the Old City. Great service, great space, great food.
Fairmount Bagels - one of the two bagel places in the Bagel Wars of Montreal. The other is St Viateur Bagels. We did not eat at that one.
Au Pied de Cochon - almost too much. They talked us into one too many pieces of Foie Gras - delicious, but just too much.
But they have the best logo:
Toqué! - another grown up restaurant. We had lunch here, and enjoyed it. The desserts left something to be desired, though.
We ate at the two markets above - oddly enough, both times we had William Walter sausages!
