Bonjour! In June, my husband and I finally got to go on a proper vacation in years! This wasn’t my first time in Canada, but it was the first time to Montreal and Quebec City. My husband had never been to Canada and we wanted to go some place neither of us had been before. Naturally, a camera was in tow and my film camera was just the ticket for this trip. After roughly fourteen hours in the car we made it to Montreal, Quebec. We stayed at Hotel Nelligan for three nights. Located in Old Montreal and situated two blocks from Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, it made it a great place for walking around and close to delicious restaurants. If you get to visit, the night show at the Basilica is worth it! I was really looking forward to trying poutine for the first time. We ended up at a local pub called Pub BreWskey one afternoon and it was on the menu. It was really delicious and we washed it down with a local hard cider. We also had lunch at Olive et Gourmando the day before, which was a few blocks from our hotel. Amazing and one-of-a-kind sandwiches. At night, Old Montreal’s history comes to life with a projection project called Cite Memoire. It is a self guided tour you follow with an app on your phone. Video is projected on walls throughout the old part of the city and you listen to the story with your headphones. I wished we had had time to watch all of them. It was great to see art and history being displayed in a modern way. The city, new and old, is full of French architecture and I soaked up every bit of it. If I can’t make it back to France just yet this was the next best thing.
Next stop was Quebec City, a three hour drive north-east. If you plan to stop and get gas, make sure you know your French. We couldn’t change the language to English at the pump. It was if we were pumping gas for the first time and had no idea what we were doing. Also, know that everything is in liters. Apparently $5 Canadian dollars (which is all we could figure out to put in) doesn’t get you much gas when it is in liters and gasoline is expensive. Didn’t realize this until we started driving away and realized we barely put in any gas. Pretty comical! Once we got into town we checked in at Le Saint Pierre Auberge Distinctive. There was a wine tasting station in the lobby, need I say more? The breakfast that was included was delicious and filling. The hotel was in Old Quebec and we could walk anywhere we hoped to easily. We had some delicious bites in the city, which included dinner our first night at a local burger joint paired with a local hard cider. Lunch the next day included sangria at the unique Le Lapin Saute. Old Quebec is pretty touristy so one night we walked towards a part of town away from the crowds and ate at a local pizza place. This place was small and made the best pizza we have ever had! The owner served us and was super hospitable. Hands down would go back there just for the pizza and the local beer on tap was the perfect pairing. If you are in Quebec City please go check out La Pizzaio. On our walk home we ran into a street festival that included food and music. If you are looking to immerse yourself in the French language, visit Quebec City. You will find more French speaking people than English. It was fun practicing the very little French we knew.
You can see part two of our trip to Newport, Rhode Island here. Prendre plaisir! Enjoy!
{ Montreal }
{ Quebec City }
