[Saurabh M]

Its been a while that I had posted on TBHP. Over the last year or so, life threw a lot of challenges at us, and we as a family, were too busy to fight it out. Taking a vacation was not on our list of priorities.

This trip was to help us unwind, introspect, appreciate life and forget all the hardships that we went through and move on. We were celebrating 1 year completion of chemotherapy for my wife. She survived a Stage 2 cancer that was on the verge of becoming life threatening.

Quebec City is very close to our hearts. This was our 2nd visit and this time, we wanted to take it slow. We dedicated 5 full days at Quebec City, including 1 full day at Jacques-Cartier National Park. We did the trip on weekdays, so that we can avoid the weekend rush that descends on these tourist cities.

The Altima is gone now. In between, bought a 2014 Mazda 3, but it proved a bit small of us. My son calls the new family member, the 'Brownie'. For the rest of us, its a 2011 Toyota Venza AWD.

I would like to keep the narrative to the minimum and let you enjoy the pictures.



On a Monday morning, left home at 3:00am. The trunk of the Venza was full to the brim. The plan was to avoid the weekday traffic around Toronto and reach Quebec City by 3:00pm. The total distance to be covered was 887 kms (door to door).

The Venza performed flawlessly. With 3 breaks along the way, we parked in front of the hotel at Quebec City, at 2:30pm. This was our first big trip with the Venza, and I was amazed by the level of comfort with which the Venza transported us this 900 odd kms. The trip computer showed an average speed of 93 kmph. Along the way, we witnessed this beautiful sunrise.



Lets now embark on a trip to take in the sights and sounds of Quebec City.

The highlight of Quebec City is Old Quebec City. This is the old part of the city, where the charms of the olden days from the time of the French settlements, have been restored in pristine conditions. Today, this area serves as an excellent opportunity for photo shoots, interesting shops along with their even more interesting windows, excellent restaurants and souvenir shops.

We visited the old city multiple times. Our visit during the night was especially interesting, for photo ops. Here are some snaps from the daytime visits.




Street music by some local musicians


What fascinated me was the little girl standing still, capturing the music with her phone




The mural on the wall is a historic fresco. There are total 11 of them in Quebec city, that were painted to celebrate the city's 400th anniversary. This one depicts some of the famous characters from Canadian history.























I can easily spend hours together roaming around these cobbled roads.


Beautifully decorated street

The shops at Old Quebec City have decorated windows and doors that are artwork themselves.




Window shopping


Cute handbag for sale

[Saurabh M]

Quebec city by night

At night, the charm of Old Quebec City is mesmerizing. The shops are lit up, the cobbled roads bearing a mysterious look, the restaurants are in filled choc-a-bloc. Here are some snaps of our night visit.


















Very interesting windows

Do note that all most of the shops in this part of the city close down by 8pm.

We spent some time at the old city and then came back to the city of today. At night, the whole city transforms into a beautiful self. We roamed around till about 11pm, before heading back to our hotel.










This is the famous Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. Supposedly the most photographed hotel in the world, and rightly so.

[Saurabh M]

Jacques-Cartier National Park

We had dedicated 1 full day at the Jacques-Cartier National Park. This is a hidden gem and not many tourists visit this national park. Its about 70kms north of Quebec City. Once you reach the park, you can either take a daypass and access the park interiors, numerous trails, do canoeing or you might as well spend a few days hiking and camping at the well maintained camping sites.

There is a motorable road that will take you about 33kms into the park interiors. The Jacques-Cartier river would give you company for most of the way. From there onwards, if you would like to go further inside, hiking is your only option. The Venza performed very well on the broken, undulating road that took us right till the point where the motorable road ends.




The Venza resting at the parking lot of a trail head








The kids enjoyed the most

That night, we witnessed beautiful fireworks on the St. Lawerence river, from our hotel balcony.

[Saurabh M]

Various sights around Quebec City

Quebec City is a walker's paradise. Take your time, enjoy the sights, witness the Changing of Guard and walk around the numerous cobbled gullies.











The Changing of Guard is a tradition that is observed daily from Jun 24th to Labour Day, at 10am every day. This happens at La Citadelle de Quebec, which was the largest British fortress in North America, dating back to 1693. This is Canada's oldest military building and is the residence of the Governor General of Canada. This fortress was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

http://www.lacitadelle.qc.ca/en/the-...s-history.html





There’s a goat in Quebec, Canada, with a very sweet life. From the end of June to the beginning of September, his private chauffeur shuttles him each day from his home and across the St. Lawrence River to the Citadelle located on Cape Diamond, the city’s highest point. There, he parades about as part of the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

Dressed in a blue cape, his horns shiny with gold gilding, Batisse the Goat keeps in step with his handler as officers inspect the new sentries who replace the ones who have been on duty at the Citadelle entrances for the past 24 hours.

The Batisse we watched during the ceremony is the 12th in the line of goats in service. The first arrived in 1955 when Queen Elizabeth II sent one to her goats to the Royal 22e Régiment as a mascot. Her goat’s ancestry went back to 1883 when the King of Iran gave Queen Victoria a prized billygoat from his personal collection.





Quebec City is a foodies paradise as well. There are 700+ restaurants in this small city. The European and especially the French cuisine that you will come across, will blow you away. The crepes were really good. We tried a few and liked them a lot.











This brings us to the end of the photologue. Hope you will like it.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[yogesh.8984]

Wonderful pictures and there is certain charm about the old city that you can experience only in Europe.

Loved to see our sticker on your car!

[9thsphinx]

Happy for your wife. God bless and God speed to her!

Beautiful captures. I'd like to thank you for putting up this travelogue and rejigging my memories.

I visited Quebec City back in 2002 during my summer break while I was studying in Nova Scotia. Canada by itself is a beautiful country and the reason I especially loved Quebec was because of its quaint European style feel. My only grouse then was not a single person spoke English - it was French or nothing! Hopefully that has changed now.

Rating your thread five stars.

[G V Krishna]

Quebec - 2 Reasons I cannot forget this place (Apart from the scenic beauty and European Architectures in North America)


1. I was part of the IT team for one of the Canadian Telecommunications service provider (a decade ago) and we had a major problem - We were reported that the IVR functionality was not up to mark for a new project and was blocking timely go-live. When we stepped in and investigated the call records and corresponding voice xmls, the problem was our Indian Team pronouncing 'Quebec' . It was a lesson learnt how to pronounce Quebec.


2. When me and my friends visited 'Quebec City' in 2011, it is there we learned how tough it would be to manage without knowing the local language. French is the first language there and English speakers are very rare as you go north of the province. That was a culture shock for us. We had a tough time even at McDonald's.


Never the less it is a wonderful place for a visit and of course a very long beautiful drive.

[fiatlover7]

Hey Saurabh, i have been planning to visit Quebec City for longest time, thanks for sharing the pics. On a side note, its great to know there is a BHPian in the vicinity, i am in Burlington, ON

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

Wonderful pictures and there is certain charm about the old city that you can experience only in Europe.

Loved to see our sticker on your car!

Thanks. This is what you can experience that is closest to Europe. BTW, all my cars previous cars had TBHP stickers as well.

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Happy for your wife. God bless and God speed to her!

Beautiful captures. I'd like to thank you for putting up this travelogue and rejigging my memories.

I visited Quebec City back in 2002 during my summer break while I was studying in Nova Scotia. Canada by itself is a beautiful country and the reason I especially loved Quebec was because of its quaint European style feel. My only grouse then was not a single person spoke English - it was French or nothing! Hopefully that has changed now.

Rating your thread five stars.

Thanks for your comments. Things have changed for good. People in Quebec City try to converse in English with non-French speaking individuals like us. And that's primarily due to the influx of non-French speaking tourists.

Originally Posted by G V Krishna

Quebec - 2 Reasons I cannot forget this place (Apart from the scenic beauty and European Architectures in North America)


1. I was part of the IT team for one of the Canadian Telecommunications service provider (a decade ago) and we had a major problem - We were reported that the IVR functionality was not up to mark for a new project and was blocking timely go-live. When we stepped in and investigated the call records and corresponding voice xmls, the problem was our Indian Team pronouncing 'Quebec' . It was a lesson learnt how to pronounce Quebec.


2. When me and my friends visited 'Quebec City' in 2011, it is there we learned how tough it would be to manage without knowing the local language. French is the first language there and English speakers are very rare as you go north of the province. That was a culture shock for us. We had a tough time even at McDonald's.


Never the less it is a wonderful place for a visit and of course a very long beautiful drive.

You are spot on. Unless you pronounce Quebec properly, Canadians will not understand what you are talking about. My boss was unable to understand where I was going on vacation, until I told him that I was going to "Kobek"

Originally Posted by fiatlover7

Hey Saurabh, i have been planning to visit Quebec City for longest time, thanks for sharing the pics. On a side note, its great to know there is a BHPian in the vicinity, i am in Burlington, ON

Wow. Burlington is not far. I am in Kitchener.

[HKap]

Fantastic pictures Saurabh. I had planned a trip to Quebec city, Montreal and Kingston this summer but ended up going to Mt. Tremblant. It's another great place that's a must do regardless of the season. Although its a very famous ski destination, the summers in the village are awesome too.

Btw, great to know that there are bhpians around the GTA area. We should catch up. I'm in Mississauga.

[Saurabh M]

Originally Posted by HKap

Fantastic pictures Saurabh. I had planned a trip to Quebec city, Montreal and Kingston this summer but ended up going to Mt. Tremblant. It's another great place that's a must do regardless of the season. Although its a very famous ski destination, the summers in the village are awesome too.

Btw, great to know that there are bhpians around the GTA area. We should catch up. I'm in Mississauga.

Thanks. Will catch up some day.

[voyageur]

Hey Saurabh,

Nice pictures of Mini-France! It pretty much looks like Europe. No wonder they hate immigrants (just kidding)

I'm yet to explore places in Canada as I'm still new here. Glad to know that there are a lot of places to see and visit.

Originally Posted by fiatlover7

Hey Saurabh, i have been planning to visit Quebec City for longest time, thanks for sharing the pics. On a side note, its great to know there is a BHPian in the vicinity, i am in Burlington, ON

I stayed in Oakville for a few weeks initially!

Originally Posted by HKap

Fantastic pictures Saurabh. I had planned a trip to Quebec city, Montreal and Kingston this summer but ended up going to Mt. Tremblant. It's another great place that's a must do regardless of the season. Although its a very famous ski destination, the summers in the village are awesome too.

Btw, great to know that there are bhpians around the GTA area. We should catch up. I'm in Mississauga.

And now I stay in Brampton, so we are neighbors

Cheers!