Quebec & Toronto...Goodbye Canada

Bonjour Quebec
Our train trip from Montreal to Quebec was relatively painless, with the exception of a 15 minute walk – up a massive hill!!! The main part of Quebec city, the old town surrounded by the wall, is on top of a hill. With a backpack on my back, a day pack on my front, my handbag over my shoulder and dragging our third bag, my lungs and quads were burning. It felt good to be alive! HA! (Mike – I would just like to clarify that I had a backpack, day pack and the laptop and also that the third bag has wheels. I think you should have all the info before you judge me.)

So, the hostel was great. Cosy and we met some really lovely people here. A few frenchies, one of which was Antony who could speak English relatively well, another three, 2 of which were the “crazy Fabios” as Antony called them, and another guy from Indooroopilly, Liam. This made it a lovely place to stay. However, due to the weather, being winter and all, there were a few things that were either closed, or had limited hours. And it wasn’t really the weather you could wander around for hours. No, definitely not. However, I’m sure we did enough for me to ramble on for a few paragraphs.

Our first expedition was lunch. It was at a crepe place recommended by the Lonely Planet. We had to line up in their doorway and then finally got a nice “cosy” seat (we were all squished in there) and then served by a young lass who barely spoke English. Well, we were definitely in Quebec! FYI – a quick geography lesson – Quebec city is a city of the province of Quebec (a province is like our states). Montreal is also in Quebec, and although English and French are spoken in both, Quebec city is almost soley French. Hence, all the museums had a lot more French than English in their exhibitions.

Our first day was spent wandering around the Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral (it’s only a minor Basilica – whatever that means). The Notre-Dame de Quebec parish is the oldest parish in North America, has been destroyed twice by fires (when will these people learn! Everything has been destroyed by fire!) but always rebuilt on the site of the original church, which was originally built in 1647. We then spent some time in the Musee de l’Amerique francaise. This is the oldest museum in Canada, and was really good for getting and understanding of “french culture in North America”. Seriously though, it was a great history lesson but we don’t remember a lot of specifics. However, the poor frenchies had a lot of fighting to get where they are now. It’s amazing how they have managed to keep the French language and culture, despite being invaded/taken over/surround by the English. It really made us understand why Quebec people are so passionate, to the point of snobbiness, about their French heritage.

The other interesting thing with this museum is that it’s in a building that makes up part of the Séminaire de Québec site, founded in 1663 – lots of religious stuff but what I remember is that the priests were big on education. In fact, students are still taught in the various buildings of the Seminaire.

The next day we wandered around and looked at various things (see photos). The most interesting thing would be the Citadell, which is a military get up on top of the highest point in Quebec City. On one side is a massive old cliff and the other is not one wall, but two. It was cold and we missed the tour (there’s only one a day in winter) and decided not to bother the next day. The citadel is part of the the fortifications of Quebec city. It’s the only city in North America that still has city walls. Honestly, the wall was a bit of a let down because it was covered in snow so we couldn’t really walk on it. However, we did manage in the end.

That day we also headed up the Observatoire de la Capitale, which was a big old lookout from the top of a building. It was pretty impressive actually – very informative. We finished our day at the pub with the 3 Frenchies, Liam and Antony (who was trying very hard to talk to both us Aussies and the French dudes) having a few drinks and watching an ice hocky game. How Canadian!

And yet another cold day. However today had warmed up slightly and I don’t think there was any snow. You see, the last few nights, we’d come in and it would be snowing late in the afternoon/early evening. Got to admit, it’s damn pretty watching it snow outside while you’re all warm and cozy. Different thing when it’s swirling in your face with the wind when you’re walking back from the grocery store. Anyway, today we wandered around some dodgy markets where we had a maple cone each. Mini ice-cream cones filled with, you guessed it, maple syrup! Pretty sickeningly sweet, even for me. Then we hit La Rue Petit-Champlain – the oldest street in North America. Along the way we found a funky mural painted on a wall (again, see pics). I’d tell you about it, but the sign was in French. Now, the warm weather was good, but not for my poor feet. You see, snow turns to slush when it gets warm. And slush is wet. This is not good especially when you are wearing Sketches (not really snow-melt proof) that you’ve had for a good year and worn almost every day. So, my feet were soaking around lunch time and continued to be all day until we got home. That was the beginning of the end for my old sketches (you’ll be pleased to know I finally got rid of them a couple of months ago – YAY!). We then left the oldest street (big deal!) and went up the Funicular (Aus needs to get one of theses – it’s a guaranteed tourist money maker – they are everywhere in Switzerland!).

Because it was cold, we were bored, and we didn’t know/weren’t that interested in a tour of the la Chateau Frontenac, we headed to the St Ursulas Convent Museum. We should have gone to the hotel. No, it actually wasn’t too bad – quite interesting really. These chics were pretty hardcore with what they put up with, but also managed to make a bit of dough with a lot of different craftwork and skills such as painting (lots of flowers I think), tapestry, cross-stitch, and gold leaving everything in sight. The stuff was pretty impressive and you’d be hard pressed to find some of the skills around these days I think. We then headed to a 100 years celebration of some park/battle at said park in Quebec City (it’s this year) in some park amongst a hell of a lot of snow and checked out the Stanley Cup (again). Mike has seen the bloody thing 3 times now. Apparently there are two, but we were told in Montreal the other one was in Afganistan, but miracously it was in Quebec when we got here as well…..hmmm….anyway, we hung around there for like 5 seconds and then went and stood on the damn wall (check out photos to proove it). And to end the day (with my wet feet) we then decided to walk along the Promenade des Gouverneurs. This boardwalk goes along the cliff in front of the citadel, and gives great views of the Saint Lawrence River (check out the photos). The best thing was the beavertail at the bottom – it’s like a wholemeal, sweetish bread, covered in banana and nutella – YUM! And it was warm! And then finally we got back to the hostel and I got to take of my shoes!!!

Our last day was pretty uneventful. We checked out Quebec City’s Parliament Buildings (Hotel du Parlement), which had a FREE tour. It was actually very interesting. We then went to a chocolate shop in town for a snack (probably lunch) and then did a little tour of their mini museum and then had a few cheap samples of their dark chocolate (a quarter for a small cup). We then went out for St Patty’s day! It was bizarre, we were in Quebec City, a french speaking town in Canada, celebrating an Irish holiday, with a Frenchman, in Irish pubs, with French/Canadian bands singing AC/DC. We then met an Irishman, who doesn’t drink, and was in Quebec to learn French because his countrymen no longer speak Gaelic! It wouldn’t happen in Australia!

Toronto
I will be honest up front – I didn’t like Toronto. Now, it may be because it was cold, covered in snow and I was ready to move on to Europe. Or it may be because it was a big old city, with rubbish everywhere, including a million cigarette butts (honestly, I thought it was dirtier than New York, but we were staying near China Town, which can sometimes be a little grubbier than other parts of a city). However, I would be willing to say that in the summer it might be a completely different city. The hostel was amazing though – one of the friendliest.

We only had a few days here and it consisted of the Royal Ontario Museum (Ontario is the province that Toronto is in), the Hockey Hall of Fame (one reason we came to Toronto) and Niagara Falls (the other reason we came to Toronto).

An interesting thing to note with the ROM – they had “The Black Star Sapphire of Queensland”. Now, we were thinking, surely that’s not OUR Queensland? But is there another Queensland in the world? Geography has never been either of our strong points. Low and behold, there is a little old picture of Aus and what do you know, it’s from Rubyvale (yep, know it intimately)! Now, if you want anymore proof that it’s an Aussie stone, listen to this story. Old Roy Spencer, then a young lad in the 1930s, found the stone, showed it to his dad – old Harry Spencer, who then, and I quote “threw (should be “chucked”) it down by the back door for use as a doorstop”. Rightio – only in Australia. Now, the little plaque says that neither realised the value of the thing until it was sold to the Kazanjian brothers (whoever the hell they are) and cut to reveal the star. Now, the fact that it is rather vague about the sale of the diamond, makes me believe that perhaps the Spencers were shafted? And either gave it up or sold it for very little. Let’s hope not, for little Roy’s sake. Check out the photos – the actual Sapphire itself is pretty cool.

Ok, so the Hockey Hall of Fame. Well, there was a lot of hockey. It was actually pretty interesting and we included some photos so you can appreciate what I went through. I mean, how great a sport is and how amazing the Hall of Fame really was. Interesting thing, it was in a shopping centre! Weird man. Weird.
MIKE – Ok so Bec has left this part to me for obvious reasons. The place is fantastic and I could have spent days in there. It has a whole bunch of things from game worn jerseys and gear to hockey sticks and pucks used to register various records. There are glass cabinets dedicated to each person inducted into the hall of fame, and other things scattered around all over the place. There are theatre rooms showing movies and another section that has all the trophies awarded to teams and players at the end of the year. The last part is an interactive section where you can do things like choose which camera to broadcast on (Bec was good at this), commentate a piece of footage (Bec was not so good at this) and have a go at shooting a few pucks at a goalie on the screen. We thought we would give this a shot and I must say I was a little worried given the fact that I there were a lot of people waiting to have a go and I thought they would assume I at least had some idea because what male in Canada doesn’t, right? Good thing was I didn’t do to badly. Bad thing was Bec scored with her first two shots and generally made it look very easy and impressed everyone. Good thing I’m not competitive!

Ok, now Niagara. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I think I was spoilt by the Grand Canyon. The falls are not overly tall so they seem so much smaller than what you think they are going to be, and standing from the top takes away some of the impact (it’s too cold in March for the Maid of the Mist that takes you in a boat around the bottom of the falls). However, they are quite beautiful, especially surrounded by the ice, and are very wide and the amount of water is amazing. The other thing about Niagra, is it’s just a touristy town, with Casinos and expensive hotels etc. The American side is much less touristy (believe it or not) but their view of the falls isn’t as good. Two really interesting things (we did a tour – this is how we know) is that 1) the falls have progressively been moving back because the volume of water eats away the rock it’s flowing over and 2) they cut the water flow at night (by diverting the river elsewhere) to make electricity which has meant instead of the falls eating away 1.16m a year (3.8 feet), it now eats away about 30cm every 10 years. The Niagara region is Ontario’s, maybe even Canada’s largest wine producer, and based on our drive along the river, it would be beautiful to come out during spring and summer. However, I’m not sure I could handle the crowds, because we were there on a Friday and the weather wasn’t perfect and there were people everywhere! I think I would seriously hurt someone if I was there in the middle of summer.

Alright, so now it was time to say farewell to North America. It was an amazing year and even now, I look back incredibly fondly of not only Canada, but America. I know everyone loves to bag the country, and the people, but honestly, we didn’t have any real problems, and actually had some of the friendliest customs officials around! However, it’s time for some serious culture, so off we go to Europe – YAY.

p.s. in case you didn’t know (I doubt I would have), the capital of Canada is Ottawa, not Toronto or Vancouver.