2013.9.30Early morning is always a good time to explore Old Quebec, or maybe any city. The reflection of early sun glow illustrated the quiet street. Even the most popular Petit Champlain saw no single person, no store opened either. Occasionally, there were other visitors or early runners enjoying the morning, we smiled, said “bonjour” and passed by. It’s a beautiful feeling.

Rue Sainte-Anne in the morning, Old Quebec

Old Quebec consists of the Upper Town on high land, Cap Diamant, and Lower Town by the St. Lawrence River. They are connected by Côte de la Montagne street.

Empty Côte de la Montagne street in the morning, Old Quebec

The Lower Town features some most popular attractions of Quebec City, including Petit Champlain, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church, Fresque des Québécois and countless small shops and restaurants. It’s very crowded in daytime, but now I was almost all alone by myself.

Petit Champlain in the early morning, Old Quebec

Postcard view of Château Frontenac from Rue Sous le Fort, Old Quebec

Fresque des Québécois and Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church in Place Royale, Old Quebec

Our morning activities were focused on the Upper Town. Old Quebec is surrounded by the fortified walls. We walked through Porte St. Louis. It’s one of the oldest gates of the ramparts. It had been rebuilt and replaced for several times in its 300 years of history.

Porte St. Louis, part of the Ramparts of Quebec City

The parliament of Quebec City is in a square shape. The main building has a central clock tower stands 52 meter (171 feet) high.

Parliament Building, Quebec City

The Citadelle of Quebec is a fortress built in the early 19th century to protect the city against possible American attack. The fort is in the star-shape, which evolved from the round-shape fortification and provide better defense against cannons. To get to the core, you have to walk around inner walls. We also circled around the fortress along the external premises. I have to say that we were not very impressed, not much to see.

Near the Citadelle of Quebec

We had lunch at Savini Resto-Bar at 680 Rue Grande-Allée East. These are a couple of street blocks with restaurants and hotels outside of Old Quebec wall. Savini offers a fun dining environment, but the food was so so.

We spent the afternoon in Old Quebec, mostly in the Lower Town.

A yogurt store, Old Quebec

Notre-Dame de Québec, Old Quebec

A restaurant in Petit Champlain, Old Quebec

Petit Champlain, Old Quebec

Petit Champlain, Old Quebec

Besides Côte de la Montagne, an easier option to commute between Upper Town and Lower Town is by the cable car connects Cap Diamant and Petit Champlain. We were only a few minutes too late to catch the last car so we had to climb by ourselves. At the back of Château Frontenac, there is a long promenade known as Terrasse Dufferin. Along the riverfront, the boardwalk is 60 meters above the water. It’s a perfect place for a stroll in sunset and overlook the St. Lawrence River.

Overlook St. Lawrence River from Montmorency Park National Historic Site, Old Quebec

Terrasse Dufferin, Old Quebec

We had the dinner at Chez Boulay on Saint-Jean Street. The food is inspired by the nordic cuisine. It’s colorful, creative and delicious.

Dinner at Chez Boulay, a restaurant featuring Nordic cuisine, Old Quebec

2013.9.29Sheraton Hotel is only 3 blocks way from the Parliament. I had my usual walk in the morning, to take pictures before visitors coming and to understand what places worth visiting and how much time we’d need.

As I was walking in the square of the Parliament Buildings, I understand why it’s the most popular attractions of the city. Open settings, grand architecture, dignified buildings, but the most beautiful place was the section between the Main Block and East Block. The trees’ color has started turning. Immersed in the morning fog, it’s quite and peaceful, very different feeling compared to the rigid buildings steps away.

East Block of the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa

Southeast corner of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa

Overlook Ottawa River at the back of Centre Block of the Parliament Hill, Ottawa

From the back of the Centre Block, I walked down from the Parliament Hill, By the bridge of Wellington St., steps led me down to the Rideau Canal. The Canal was built at the beginning of 19th century as a preventive measure in case of Americans invasion. It connects Ottawa River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, where we stopped for coffee the earlier night, with 200 km in length. It’s still operated today for leisure use.

Locks on Rideau Canal and the Alexandra Bridge over the Ottawa River, Ottawa

Every lock on Rideau Canal is numbered. The lock is strong enough for people walking over it. The canal system is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Reflection of the Parliament Hill in Rideau Canal, Ottawa

Château Laurier is a grand hotel with 100 year of history. It’s located right next to the Rideau Canal. I walked along the canal underneath the bridge and climbed up from the other side. I walked over the Confederation Square and returned to the hotel.

Fairmont Château Laurier, Ottawa

Steps by the Plaza Bridge, Ottawa

National War Memorial and Fairmont Chateau Laurier in background, Ottawa

I returned to Parliament Hill with my wife and in-laws 1 hour later. Centennial Flame was lit on. It happened to be the Canadian Police And Peace Officer’s Memorial Day, which is on the last Sunday of September of every year since 1998. We have a chance to view the memorial service in front of the Police Memorium by the Summer Gazebo and watched the parade on the front lawn of Parliament Hill.

Canadian Police And Peace Officer’s Memorial in front of the Police Memorium by the Summer Gazebo, Ottawa

Canadian Police And Peace Officer’s Memorial parade under the Peace Tower of the Centre Block, Ottawa

Canadian Police And Peace Officer’s Memorial, Ottawa

We took the same route that I walked earlier in the morning. We had some breakfast at BridgeHead Coffee, then we had a quick tour around Ottawa‘s Lower Town without leaving our car, partly because of the safety concern but mostly because we’d have another city to visit.

Leaving Ottawa, we soon enter Quebec province. It’s well known that the official language of Quebec is French, but we were still surprised that English just disappeared from all signs. My father-in-law had done researches in France for a couple of years. He could read and speak French, which was very helpful. At one time, we stopped at a visitor center and asked for maps. The lady at the help desk helped us but just like she helped any other visitor; then my father-in-law started talking with her in French – the lady become enthusiastic almost right away. She brought more maps and brochures and told us other attractions worth visiting.

At 2pm, we arrived at Montreal, the largest city in Quebec. Montreal had been the commercial center of Canada until 70’s and remained to be a diversified and active city for commerce, technology and world affairs. However, we only planned to be here for several hour and the only area we’d visit was the Old Montreal.

Old Montreal is a historic area by the waterfront of St. Lawrence River. There are enough parking space by Rue Saint-Antoine behind the city hall. The center of the Old Montreal is the Place Jacques-Cartier square. We walked to the Old Port and Rue Saint-Amable, then we had lunch at one of many restaurants at the square. It started getting dark when we walked to Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica. We didn’t get a chance to get in.

Montreal City Hall, Old Montreal

Walking street, Rue Saint-Amable, Old Montreal

Place Jacques-Cartier square, Old Montreal

We drove to the Mount Royal Park. The very top of the hill was closed to vehicles, so we were not able to view Montreal’s skyline from the top. On the waist of the mountain, there is an vista point. We could overlook the northern part of the city with the Olympic Stadium in sight.

Overlook North Montreal from Mount Royal Park, Montreal

A pair of raccoons at the vista point. They were very affectionate. Montreal

Our schedule was like group tour that could only taste the city in a very superficial way. We left Montreal at 5:30pm. It’d be a two and half hour drive to reach Quebec city. There were not a lot of car on the highway. We almost passed by Quebec City without noticing the sign. Luckily, we were able to charge the cell phone in the car and load the map.

We located Boulevard Laurier, which led us straightly into the Old Quebec. The street became tree-lined and then the buildings along the street appeared to be more elegant. After we went through a stone arch, the street suddenly became very narrow. Navigating through the European-style maze-like city grid, we checked into our hotel, Hôtel Champlain Vieux Québec. From the window, we had a view of grand Château Frontenac.

Night view of Château Frontenac from Hôtel Champlain Vieux Québec, Quebec City

We went out to see if there was any food to eat, but it’s too late and most restaurants were closing. We returned to the hotel, had some nice tea at the lobby. With the hot water, we were able to make our reserved instant noodles as dinner.

Night scene of Rue Saint-Jean, Quebec City

2013.9.27~28Compared with our other travel destinations, a trip to visit Eastern Canadian cities is definitely much less exotic. Our original plan was to go to Puerto Rico, but my in-laws preferred city tours. In the end, we had nice trip. Not only we spent some quality time with the family, but the fall color around Quebec and Maine was the best I had ever seen, and my father-in-law had an opportunity to show off his French speaking skills.

We had a hectic schedule for the first three days. We arrived at Toronto at 10pm on Oct. 27th. Without other customers, it took Hertz an hour to find a car for us, partly because they had to bring a car with an American plate for us as we’re gonna return the car at Boston. The cost was surprisingly cheap though. It’s almost midnight when we checked into our hotel, Westin Harbour Castle, but it’s still early in California time. We had some snacks at the restaurant on hotel’s first floor.

Midnight snacks at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto

The hotel is located on the waterfront of Lake Ontario. Although we booked city-view rooms, the one we had was at the corner – The city lights was vibrant seeing from one window, and we had a partial view of the lake from the other.

Toronto Downtown, from the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto

Toronto lake side view at night, from the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto

The second day morning, sunrise behind the cloud over Lake Ontario was quite dramatic. As usual, I had a morning walk around the hotel, mostly trying to find out how long it would take to walk to the CN tower. It’s the Saturday morning. Not many pedestrians on the street, but there were a lot of constructions going on under the highway overpass.

Sunrise over Lake Ontario, Toronto

The boardwalk by Lake Ontario, Toronto

Harbour Square, Toronto

CN Tower

I bought a hot-dog on a food stand by the hotel on my way back. After a quick breakfast, we were heading to the CN tower. It’s Saturday, we were worried that the line could be long so we made it our first destination. It’s a 20-minute walk from the hotel. As we got there at 9:30am, there was no line at all. If we hadn’t reserved the tickets online, we could buy the tickets right away. Instead, because I never received the tickets they were supposed to mail to me after the reservation, we had to wait at the entrance for 10 minutes while they were getting our tickets somewhere in the office.

The security check was quite rigorous. As I passed through a security gate, the gate shot out air steams continuously from multiple directions – I don’t know what it’s used for. Like other attractions, right after passing the entrance, there is a photo spot that visitors are photographed against a wall featuring CN tower overlooking the city.

It only takes a minute to reach the LookOut level at a height of 346 meter. Half side of the floor is taken by the Horizons Restaurant. Through the glass window of the other half, the view of the west side of the city and Lake Ontario was fascinating, Unfortunately, we only had the clear view for less than 5 minutes before the cloud moved in. Standing on top of the cloud, we couldn’t see anything.

Overlook Toronto from CN tower

Going one level down, you can walk to the outside and around the tower at the Outdoor SkyTerrace, and have a 360 degree view of the city, but your sight will be cluttered by the wire fence. The most interesting feature of CN tower is the Glass Floor. With a view 342-meter straight down, even I knew it’s absolutely safe, my first several steps were very cautious.

Viewing through the Glass Floor, CN Tower, Toronto

City Hall

We took taxi to the city hall and walked through the square. The city hall was opened in 1965 to replace the old city hall next to it across the street. The architecture is impressive and futuristic, especially considering that it’s built 50 years ago,

Toronto City Hall

The Old City Hall reflected on the glass exterior of Eaton Centre, Toronto

Eaton Centre and Yonge Street

Next to the Old City Hall is Toronto’s most popular tourist attraction, Eaton Centre Shopping Mall. As one of the most successful stores of Eaton’s chain since its opening in 1977, Eaton Centre is so profitable that it’s said that it had been keeping Eaton’s business alive for 20 years until it went bankrupt in 1999. Eaton Centre retained its name and today, it’s still one of North America’s top shopping destinations.

Eaton Centre, Toronto

We made a brief stop at Eaton Centre and walked back to our hotel along Yonge Street. Yonge Street is famed to be the longest street in the world. It’s southern end is mostly taken by bank and office buildings.

Island Ferry

What we planed to do next was to take the ferry to Toronto Islands. The ferry to the Centre Island runs every half an hour, while to Hanlan’s Point and Ward’s Island is once every an hour. The dock is right next to our hotel. We checked out of the hotel and asked the bell desk to store our bags. We planed to take the ferry at 1pm. Although there were already many people waiting before the door was opened, the boat is big enough to get everyone on board.

People get onto Toronto Island Ferry

You should go to the second deck and stay at the very rear of the boat for the best view of the city when the ship is leaving for the island. Toronto’s skyline is one of the best!

Toronto skyline, from Centre Island Ferry

It takes about 10 minutes for the ferry to get to the Centre Island. We spend only an hour on the island and walked through the park to the lake shore. Summer had passed. Not many people on the Manitou Beach.

Shores of Lake Ontario, Toronto Island Park

Toronto Island Park

It’s said that Toronto has the best Chinese food outside of Eastern Asia. It could very much be true. We went to 辛香汇 at Thornhill. Definitely much better than Northern California. There were many new dishes that were recently introduced from China. We ordered a lot of food, there would be no Chinese food in the next several days.

We resupplied at T & T Supermarket (大统华) and it’s well over 4pm as we left Toronto. We’d drive 5 hours and stay overnight at Ottawa. Dark soon fell. We made a stop at Kingston, having a coffee and refreshing ourselves. My father-in-law played Chinese songs stored in his cell phone to keep us entertained for the last two hours of the trip. At almost 11pm, we checked into Sheraton Hotel at downtown Ottawa.