While Canada is the second largest country in the world in land mass, more than half of its population lives in just two provinces ... Ontario and Quebec. During our first week in Ontario, we certainly noticed more trees than people, but as we continued to travel east, things were about to change. We made our way back onto the Trans-Canada Highway that led us into three of Canada's most historic yet modern metropolitan areas. Come along as we check out Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City.
Ottawa
As you may know by now, I have an affinity for capital cities and their legislative buildings. How wonderful that our first city is also the Capital of Canada. A bike ride on the trails that ran along the Rideau Canal and Ottawa River provided us with many views of Parliament Hill and its magestic buildings.
Ottawa is located on the eastern edge of Ontario bordering Quebec. As we came into town, we noticed the signs became more ''bilingual'' indicating that we were getting closer to French-speaking Quebec. Doug started reviewing the few French phrases that he remembered from high school French classes, but we found that we didn't have a problem finding English speakers in Ottawa.
I was happy to add Canada's capitol building on Parliament Hill to my photo collection.
While the historic buildings were beautiful, it is the delightful social encounters that are becoming the ''crowning moments'' of our Canadian journey. We boondocked at a Harvest Host brewery a few kilometres from the town centre. As we walked into Vimy's Brewery, we noticed that a local business was holding a gathering for its employees. We were quickly invited to join in on the festivities by Christine and Caroline who organized the event. She shared with us that this was the first time that their employees were able to meet face-to-face after working remotely for the past year and a half. They were as excited to hear about our travels as they were to reconnect with fellow co-workers. We received a lot of valuable travel recommendations as well some delicious pizza to go with our beer.
Our new friends told us that Canada had just recently eased some of the covid restrictions and were allowing restaurant to reopen so that friends could gather in small groups once again. This joy of being able to socialize with others was also very evident as we biked through Ottawa the next day.
The paths, parks, restaurants, and even churches were open for (limited) business and people were taking advantage of the joy of spending time with others. We stopped to watch a bridal party waiting to enter the spectacular Basilica of Notre Dame.
As we watched, we overheard a guide tell a group of people that there is normally a three year waiting list in order to get married in the Basilica. But with the closures due to covid, this patient couple has probably been waiting for about five years to finally have their dream wedding come true.
As we continued our ride along the canal,
the historic buildings
alongside the modern architecture added interest and beauty to this capital city.
When I told our new friends that our first experience with poutine was less than spectacular, they encouraged us to try the ''real deal'' at the Great Canadian Poutinerie, not far from downtown. Freshly made, the fries and gravy was definitely hot enough to melt some of the cheese curds. While better than our first poutine experience, it still didn't win over my ''not a fan of gravy'' husband.
Montreal
We crossed over into the province of Quebec and quickly realized that the French language was replacing English. But Doug only had to teach me one phrase, ''Je ne parle pas francais'', and the waiters and other service employees would quickly start speaking perfect English. Oh, what a gift to be bilingual!
And it made it easier to order the correct French pastry ... the hard part was deciding which one to choose.
We were able to stay on the outskirts of town at the home of Marc and Karen, our gracious Boondockers Welcome hosts. Marc is one of those amazing bilingual people, and we enjoyed sharing camping stories while learning about what to see and do in Montreal. He also introduced us to a few of his neighbors and by the end of our three day stay, we felt like we were a part of the neighborhood.
Montreal has been described as ''Paris meets New York''. Although we haven't visited either city, after exploring downtown Montreal for two days, we have a better idea of the treat that we are in for when we do visit! Some highlights included ...
... a bike ride on more fabulous trails
that led us right into Vieux-Port de Montréal,
... a visit to the Biosphere, a museum dedicated
to the environment, which was originally
built as a part of the 1967 Montreal World Fair,
... a ride on La Grande Roue Ferris Wheel,
that gave us a bird's eye view of the city,
... and a view of the city from the top of
Mount Royal, which gave this city its name.
Like Ottawa, Montreal also embraces the modern while preserving its history.
Notre-Dame Basilica
Historic Place d'Armes Square
Old Montreal neighborhoods that flow
into the modern downtown business areas.
Underground City Montreal ... essential as
the city tries to avoid the winter cold and snow.
But winter was far from the minds of the people of Montreal who were out in droves enjoying some perfect summer weather. We were happy to hang out on these fancy park ''benches'' and enjoy our French pastries as we listened to musicians fill the air with their French love songs.
Quebec City
When I was a teenager, my dad took our family on an East Coast road trip that included a side trip up to Quebec City. I remember the sense of awe that I felt when I first saw the majestic Le Chateau Frontenac rise up high above the St Lawrence River. As we drove up along the southern shore, this historical building was just as beautiful as I remembered it to be.
We parked across the river in the small hamlet of Lévis, took a ferry right into Old Quebec City, and found ourselves in the midst of the historic village with strong French influences.
A walk along the promenade
took us away from the touristy
part of town,
... and showed off the historical beauty
of this walled city.
An added bonus ... Quebec City is the provincial capital of Quebec so I added another capitol (or in this case, parliamentary) building to my collection.
We ended our visit to Old Quebec with a delicious lunch that had me thinking that we had somehow made it to France itself.
That evening we settled in among the beautiful flower gardens of our next Boondockers Welcome hosts.
Joane and Denis didn't speak much English, and Doug's French was not going to get us through this time. But when we found that we shared a love of traveling to Hispanic countries, we were able to learn about life in Quebec and get a tour of their beautiful gardens while speaking Spanish.
The next day we decided to let Baby Beest rest as we took our bikes on the trail that ran in back of our hosts' property. This beautiful trail led us to Chutes de la Chaudiere (Chaudiere Falls) where a short hike took us across a suspension bridge and over some interesting rock formations to our front row view of the falls.
This park like many that we saw, was brightly adorned with blooming flowers of all kinds. In an area where cold weather prevails for over half the year, Canadians embrace the summer season by taking amazing pride in their gardens.
It was equally wonderful to see them incorporate the historic and modern beauty of Canada in three of their largest cities as we toured ...
Ottawa,
Montreal,
and Quebec City.
Next up ... Our ferry ride to Newfoundland is booked and it is time to start heading that direction. But first we get to check out the Cote Nord, Gaspé Peninsula, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia on our way to the island of the puffins.
