Anu and I decided to do a quick trip to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City from May 13-15, 2022. I had visited Canada many times, but never really went to French Canada. I thought a short weekend trip would be wonderful. Aditya decided to join us in Montreal.Ottawa – Fri, May 13, 2022
We took a flight from Chicago (6.00 am) to Ottawa via Toronto. Our flight from Toronto to Ottawa got delayed and we reached at 12.30 pm instead of 11.15 pm. We picked up the car and drove to downtown Ottawa where pretty much all the sightseeing is. We reached there by 1.15 pm.
Ottawa was chosen as the capital of Canada in 1857 by Queen Victoria. Firstly, Ottawa’s isolated location in a backcountry surrounded by dense forest far from the Canada–US border and situated on a cliff face would make it more defensible from attack from the US. Secondly, Ottawa was approximately midway between Toronto (English) and Montreal (French). Ottawa is located along the Ottawa river.
We first went to Parliament Hill. That is the seat of Canadian government with all the key buildings. The town has a very English look. Many buildings were under construction.
House of Commons. Normally they allow visitors, but the visits were opening on May 20. We were a little too early.
It was a nice area to walk around with beautiful views of the Ottawa river. But it was hot enough to make walking uncomfortable.
Supreme Court of Canada.
Rideau Canal was very interesting. It connects Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name Rideau, French for “curtain”, is derived from the curtain-like appearance of the Rideau River’s twin waterfalls where they join the Ottawa River. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States. It lifts boats from the Ottawa river up 273 feet to Rideau Lake.
We also saw the church of Notre Dame. It was closed so we could not see it.
Finally, we went to the National Gallery of Art.
We did not have enough time to see the gallery, but there is a giant sculpture outside the gallery called the “Maman”. It looks like a giant spider.
It was also the time in Canada for tulips. Lots of tulips everywhere.
At around 6.15 pm, we started driving to Montreal. We reached Montreal airport at around 8.40 pm, returned the rental car. We met Aditya at the airport (he had driven in from New Haven) and he drove us to our hotel Auberge Royal Versailles. We reached the hotel around 9.30 pm.
History of Quebec
As we drove towards Montreal, once we entered the state of Quebec, we saw signs only in French, no English. Signboards in Ottawa, Toronto are often in both English and French, but in Quebec, only French. Then I read a little more.
Canada was originally the French settlement of Quebec. The word Canada also came from “Canadien” which is what the French referred to the French settlers in North America. When the English won Quebec in 1763 from the French at the end of the French Indian wars, they gave autonomy to the French and retained Quebec’s French identity. This was to prevent them from revolting against the British, the way Americans did.
Therefore, French speaking population in Quebec still thinks that they are the heart of Canada. English came later. Hence, the pride.
Due to the French influence, Quebec is a delightful region in North America, still very European and very French in its influence. 87% of people in Quebec still speak French at home. That makes Quebec special.
Montreal, Sat, May 14, 2022
We bought an all day transit pass ($10 each). It was good for Metro and bus travel throughout Montreal. We started from the hotel at around 8 am.
We started the day by visiting the stadium site of Montreal Olympics 1976. These olympics were held after the dreadful massacre of the Israeli athletes at Munich. So there was a lot to look forward to. Cold war between US and USSR was also at its peak. But there was hope. At these Olympics, Nadia Comaneci from Romania scored a perfect 10 in gymnastics. The scoreboard was not designed to show 10.00. Hence the judges had to manually announce the score.
The tower standing next to the stadium, The Montreal Tower, is the tallest inclined tower in the world with an angle elevation of 45 degrees.
The cycling velodrome now hosts the Montreal Biodome that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas.
We then headed to the Old Port area of Montreal. It was a nice place to walk around. There were great views of the St. Lawrence river.
Lots and lots of tulips. They were charging $20 per person to go inside. We just took a picture from the outside 🙂
We walked to the clock tower.
There was a also a market called the Bonsecours market. We were not too impressed.
The sun was bearing down hard and it was uncomfortably hot to walk. Around 1 pm, we headed to our hotel, rested for about 2 hours and then set out at 4 pm.
We then went directly to Mont Royal (a 764 feet hill), also the place from which the name Montreal is derived. We first went to Chalet Mont Royal which provides a fantastic view of Montreal downtown.
We then visited St. Joseph’s Church which is the largest church in Canada. Lots of construction, but the church was truly grand. The site is better than it looks in the pictures.
We then walked around Montreal downtown, ate at Thai Express (a self-serve Thai place). We headed back to the hotel at around 9 pm.
Quebec City, Sun, May 15, 2022
We started driving from Montreal to Quebec City at around 7.15 am and reach Quebec around 11 am. Here, Quebec City is simply known as Quebec. Quebec City was later used to differentiate between the state and the city. But this was the original settlement of Quebec that the English won from the French in 1763 after the French and Indian wars. This significantly diminished French influence in North America. We thought Quebec would be similar to Montreal, but it turned out to be the best of the lot.
We started by going to Old Port Quebec area. Since it was a Sunday and it was raining a little, parking was easy to find. We walked to Place Royale, where Québec City was officially founded. We climbed up to Chateau Frontenac. There was also a funicular option, but it was a simple 10 min climb.
Chateau Frontenac. Québec City’s most famous landmark is also the most photographed hotel in the world. It hosts the Sheraton now. Also has a Starbucks inside.
Dufferin Terrace. We took a stroll along Dufferin Terrace (in front of Chateau Frontenac) for a magnificent view of the St. Lawrence River and Château Frontenac. Normally there is live entertainment in the summer and a toboggan run in the winter. Named in honour of Lord Dufferin, a governor general of Canada who loved Québec City, the terrace is so eternally popular that it has been expanded twice since it was first built.
We then walked up to Quebec Citadel, an active army base. Built by the British between 1820 and 1850 to defend the city, the Citadelle is a remarkable military heritage site and home to the Musée Royal 22e Regiment.
We also saw Quebec Parliament.
From there we went to the Plains of Abraham. On September 13, 1759, the Plains of Abraham was the site of the famous Battle of Québec, the confrontation that decided Canada’s fate when the French lost the city to the British. It is now a very nice park.
We ate lunch at Freshii.
Then headed to Montmorency falls. They are 272 feet tall and about 99 feet taller than Niagara falls. They were truly amazing. We climbed down all the way to the foot of the falls to experience the water droplets from the falls. These falls are a must visit.
We headed to Ille de Orleans, a huge island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river. It takes 1.5 hours to go around the island by car. We drove about 30 mins to the town of St. Familie and then headed back to the hotel at around 5 pm.
Around 7 pm, we started out again towards Quebec Chateau Frontenac. In the night lights, the town looked even cooler.
We walked around, had Beaver Tail desert and some ice cream and then came back to the hotel (Repotel Henri 4) around 9 pm.
Drive from Quebec to US
We drove back from Quebec City to Vermont, US via a city called Stanstead in Quebec. We saw an interesting street call Canusa street (name derived from Canada + USA). One side of the street was in the US and the other in Canada. We could just cross back and forth. We could see flags from both countries on each side of the street. Very cool.
The border crossing was very non-descript. Houses that were literally few feet apart were separated by the border between US and Canada.
We then went to Boston airport through New Hampshire and flew out of Boston.
Great!