Water does not resist. Water flows. . . But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient.
― Margaret Atwood
Montreal
Friday 29th March to Friday 4th April
We were really looking forward to a change of pace with our trip into Canada. Yet Mexico wasn’t done with us yet…we were up at 1am in order to be at the airport terminal by 2am for a 6am flight to Montreal. We had very sensibly booked into an airport hotel for the night only to quickly realise the hotel was in Terminal 2 and we had to get to Terminal 1 of Mexico City’s international airport. You could catch an inter-terminal train but they stopped running at 11pm or catch a bus which claimed to run 24/7 but when we got there it actually stopped running at midnight and didn’t start again until 4am. So it pays to do better research before you book an airport hotel! Eventually we realised we had no choice but to catch a really expensive taxi ($18USD) to go the 5 kilometres. After a stressful start we finally arrived and went through check in and bag screening. The only weird thing we didn’t need to do was an immigration check so we never got a stamp in our passports to say we’d left the country – a bit weird! We settled in near the gate for a bit of sleep before we were supposed to start boarding in 2 hours. Instead we get a message from Air Canada to say our flight was delayed by SIX HOURS!! So we had unnecessarily had all the drama of getting to the airport so early and could have actually slept in the hotel we had paid for and had breakfast we had paid for. We had a delirious day with no sleep, terrible plane food and an unexpected diversion to Toronto (turns out the reason for the delay in the first place was because the co-pilot fell sick overnight and they had to fly in another pilot who then wasn’t allowed to work more than a few hours so he had to get off at Toronto and be replaced). We finally landed in Montreal and got to our hotel around 10pm. To say it was the day from hell is an understatement. But is was snowing so that was kind of lovely. From 60 days of continuous sunshine and warm temperatures, we were in for a rude shock with the cold.
Our hotel, Sonder Apollon was actually a small one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and laundry. We were staying here for 7 nights and it was actually wonderful to cook a few meals, not have to have breakfast on anyone else’s time and wash our clothes when we needed to. Funny how little things you take for granted at home become treats when you haven’t been able to do them for months. It was perfectly located in Old Montreal which is the original French trading post and settlement dating from 1682. It is right next to the Old Port so has lots of the original 17th Century buildings. As it had been snowing overnight there was quite a sight when left our hotel for an orientation stroll around the neighbourhood.
Montreal turned out to be a strangely quiet city. Given it is actually the 2nd biggest city in Canada, we assumed it would be really busy and bustling. Yet each time we went outside for a walk around it was eerily quiet. I understand the weather is a bit of a deterrent but even in the underground shopping malls there were very few people. We found out from an Uber driver that Montreal’s government has strict restrictions around having Canadian owned businesses in all their shopping areas. Unfortunately this seemed to make the malls and strip shopping streets incredibly boring. There were so many empty stores and an unnecessary number of Dollarama shops. The other thing that was really annoying was all the clothes and shoe shops that were vaguely interesting had summer stock already in place despite it being -2 degrees outside. You definitely don’t come to Montreal for great shopping.
We tried to explore different neighbourhoods to get a better insight into the city (and maybe actually see some people). We visited Verdun (which Time Out declared as having one of the coolest streets in the world) but it was also barren and almost every shop and restaurant was closed.
It was a Monday night so after our disappointment with Verdun where we thought we would be able to have a long warming lunch, we decided to book a nice Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food at Kyo Bar was delicious and very reasonably priced. It was the first place we had been into that was actually packed with people. During dinner we saw lots of police cars pulling up outside on the main square and a group of Pro-Palestine protesters gathering. We thought we saw some fireworks and didn’t really think much more of it. Yet as we were walking the back streets of Old Montreal back to our hotel we turned a corner and saw that the protesters had gathered in the side street near our hotel’s entrance. In what felt like a split second we were suddenly surrounded by police and protesters and then this flash went off and I felt a burning sensation on my face. We realised we had actually been hit with some tear gas. I’m not going to lie, I completely panicked and started crying and running towards our hotel’s back entrance. There were police and protesters running with us. As I stood sobbing at the door trying to remember the door code, a policeman was trying to explain to me that we should walk around outside for a while to get rid of the effects of the teargas. That was not advice I was willing to follow so we got ourselves inside and tried to make sense of what the hell had just happened. Here I was thinking Montreal was actually a bit dull and we had got ourselves tear-gassed. The irony of having been travelling through some of the more dangerous countries in the world where nothing bad happened to us only to come to apparently safe Canada and have this occur was not lost on me. We had to shower and wash all our clothes and process what was pretty traumatic.
The next day post trauma was freezing but sunny so we went to look around the Old Port which is on the St Laurence River. Again bereft of people (except for a very smashed up and vandalised Tesla truck that perhaps the protesters had taken a dislike to) , it was a pleasant walk along the still frozen riverfront and look at a few historical sites.
It’s clearly set up as a summer destination as there were “beaches”, ziplines, cruise ships and an outdoor dining precinct (which was very shut for the winter). After the Old Port, we caught an Uber to what was called the coolest neighbourhood in Montreal: Mile End.
I really wanted to like this neighbourhood but again every second shop was barren, there was very few people enlivening the place and all the boutiques that were promised were either closed or empty. I keep thinking that maybe these areas would be lovely in the summer but that is probably only a month or two of the year so it is a shame they haven’t invested in outdoor heated areas to make things a bit more inviting. We wandered aimlessly around for a while and eventually found a microbrewery called Siboire where we enjoyed a cider and some poutine (probably my first and last because it is nothing but a heart attack in a plate!). See below:
We ended walking back to our hotel via another neighbourhood called Le Plateau Mont-Royal which had a picturesque park with a frozen lake, squirrels and some colourful painted houses. The squirrels were a very amusing diversion and then we walked through a couple of other neighbourhoods so got to see some new sights and flavours of the city.
Quebec City
Friday 4th April to Tuesday 8th April
We took the train from Montreal which was a really relaxing and efficient way to travel the 4 hours to Quebec City. You got a few glasses of wine, lunch and could watch the world go by. The only downside was arriving at the Gare Central and deciding it would be fine to walk the 20 minutes to our new hotel. Just didn’t quite understand that the Old Quebec is on a very large hill so the trip was a bit more challenging with my 30kgs of luggage! Yet from the moment we started walking you could see that this is a very, very beautiful city. Old Quebec is perched high up on Cap Diamant a natural promontory that juts into the St Lawrence River. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as Old Québec is the best preserved and most complete example of a fortified colonial town north of Mexico. The Upper Town is still completely surrounded by its original fortified wall built first by the French to protect themselves from the British and then improved by the British to protect themselves from the Americans. A Citadel was later built to improve security even further in the 1800s.
Everywhere you turn it is like being in a fairy tale. Turreted buildings, cobblestone streets, church spires on every corner, picturesque squares. There was snow everywhere to make it even more picture book pretty. We were staying in a lovely boutique hotel called Hotel Nomad which was perfectly located across from the enormous Frontenac building (it is definitely the icon of Old Quebec) and on the corner of the Parc des Governors which was a snow covered park overlooking the river.
The Upper Town is mainly centred around the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Place d’Armes. From there about 4 streets run off with various other churches, seminaries, universities and other distinctive buildings. They all eventually lead back to the Frontenac building and the Dufferin Terrace which is a wooden boardwalk which runs the length of the fortifications over looking the Lower Town.
There is a great restaurant strip on Rue Saint-Jean so as it was Saturday night we went out to a great pub, Pub St-Alexandre for dinner. They had live music and a cozy atmosphere so it was the perfect place to start our evening. It had started to rain quite a bit so we did the dash to our next venue, Bar Ste-Angele. This was a teeny jazz club which really only fitted about 20 people so we literally grabbed the last seats at the bar and settled in with some martinis. It had a great buzz and the jazz band were pretty slick. We chatted to a few different locals and may have had too many of those great martinis. We left for the hotel around 1.30am and it was snowing so that made for a dreamy and slightly drunken stumble down the hill!
Our four days in Quebec City were thoroughly enjoyable – it is really quite beautiful. There’s plenty to see in 3 – 4 days and I’m sure if you stayed a bit longer you could get to know some of the other neighbourhoods a little better.
Our first day we braved a freezing wind and headed into the Plains of Abraham park which is the site of a significant battle between the French and English in 1759. It was where the French were soundly defeated by the British who then seized control of Quebec City and integrated it into the rest of their new country. The park is enormous so it took us about 2 hours to walk most of it. You also realise that half melted snow is a treacherous thing so I’m sure the many Québécois out for their morning jog found it amusing watching two inexperienced Australians try to walk from one slippery path to another.
At one end of the park is the Musee National des Beaux Artes and at the other is the Citadel. Unfortunately both have pretty hefty entrance fees so we were cheapskates and decided not to go into either. We have reverted to our student days of weighing up whether to spend money on food or museums! That has been quite disappointing in Canada so far that none of the national museums are free to see the main exhibition rooms. Even the Basilica in Montreal charges $20 per person to get inside their church. The Catholic Church is not the poorest institution in the world so that was ridiculous in both practice and principle.
On our third day we ventured into the Lower Town which is the part of Old Quebec that sits below the fortifications and it close to the St Lawrence River. It is just as gorgeous as the Upper Town but really only consists of about three streets all very much targeted to tourists with tacky souvenir shops (how many moose-T-shirts does one really need?), expensive fur hat boutiques and lots of restaurants. All the 17th Century buildings and squares have been preserved so you really feel like you have stepped back in time. There is also a ferry that can take you across to the neighbourhoods on the other side of the river. We got rained on after our first visit so returned the next day to enjoy it a bit more in the sunshine.
Our final full day was spent on an excursion out to the Montmorency Falls. It was a pretty quick Uber ride to a neighbourhood about 20 minutes from Old Quebec. These falls were touted as taller than Niagara Falls and there were lots of photos online which made them look pretty spectacular. Strangely they really are just in the middle of an outer suburb and actually overlook one of the major freeways of the city so it was a bit weird seeing such a wonder of nature embedded into suburbia. Entry to the park and the cable car cost about $60 for two people and they were easy to buy online beforehand. We started at the bottom looking up towards the falls then headed up on the cable car to cross the suspension bridge that runs over the top of the falls. After the crowds and spectacle of Iguazú Falls, these were very quiet and only few families and tourists were wandering around the park. It was quite something seeing the frozen river that the falls ran into and it was bracing crossing the bridge as the icy mist rose up from below. Lots of the trails (including a semi submersible tunnel which would have been cool to see) were closed due to snow and ice risks but we still enjoyed a couple of hours walking through the woods and around the various trails. We headed back into Old Quebec to enjoy some lunch in the bohemian neighbourhood of Saint Jean-Baptiste and then relished the last few hours of sunshine exploring some of the streets and sights we hadn’t quite got to in the Upper and Lower Towns.
Toronto
Tuesday 8th April to Saturday 12th April
We had 4 nights and 3 full days in Toronto. It is a big, big city so there’s definitely lots to do and we only scratched the surface. It feels a little like New York and there is plenty of people watching as you walk the different thoroughfares and neighbourhoods. It is definitely a city that blends residential life with big business so there’s definitely many parks, shops, bars, restaurants, markets and anything you could ever need almost within every block. We stayed in the downtown area just off Yonge Street in a big high rise hotel called One King West – we were pretty chuffed to get upgraded to a suite so the room had a great city view and was really spacious. It had a kitchenette and laundry so felt like a little home for a few days. The subway system, the TTC has 3 main lines and is super easy to use. Tap on with your credit/debit card so no need to worry about buying tickets or a special card (I’m looking at you MYKI).
Our final day was spent exploring the Chinatown and Kensington Market neighbourhoods. These were about a 30 minute walk from downtown. Once you turn off Yonge St into Dundas West St it very quickly turns into Chinatown with the usual array of dumpling and BBQ restaurants, massage parlours and Asian supermarkets. After a while you turn into Spadina St and this is the beginning of the Kensington Market neighbourhood. This was a very interesting blend of Jamaican shops and restaurants, medicinal mushroom shops and more vintage clothes shops than I’ve ever seen. After that we headed to Graffiti Alley which appeared to be blocked off by construction it we found our way in eventually. There is one main alleyway which has some pretty cool pieces but lots of tagging has covered up a few of the murals which was a shame. They obviously don’t protect it like Hozier Lane in Melbourne to ensure the street art is respected. After that we headed back to Chinatown to a BBQ restaurant to eat our body weight in BBQ duck, chicken and pork. Yum!
We spent our first day at the Royal Ontario Museum which is in a neighbourhood called Yorkville about 6 stops from our hotel in downtown. It has a great First Nations collection as well as many other ancient cultures and then its specialty is their Dinosaur exhibit. We spent about 2 hours there and weaved around the thousands of school children excitedly running around.
After an educational few hours we headed in an Uber to the neighbourhood of Bickmore Park which has a high street called Ossington St full of bars, cafes, restaurants and boutiques. From there you end up on Queen Street West which is a very long street that has many lives as you make your way back to the downtown area. It has some very swanky boutiques then suddenly you clutch your purse a little tighter as you realise you’re in the tenderloin district (actually felt like the shit end of Chapel St so we were right at home). Next it is clearly the nightlife area as there were a multitude of nightclubs, cannabis shops and bars (and kebab shops which is also a good sign of a nightclub zone). Then you are right back into the financial district where it is all serious faces, black and navy suits and shiny shoes.
Our second day was spent on the Harbourfront so we got to see the famed Lake Ontario. It was blowing an icy wind on the waterfront but the colour of the lake is stunning and I can imagine this would be a perfect Summer spot. We then walked east and ended up at St Lawrence Market to get some lunch. There is a famed sándwich shop which Anthony Bourdain ate at once so we had to do like Anthony and try it of course! I also got myself a gluten free bagel with salmon and lox so that was also a tasty treat to warm up with.
We also explored the Distillery District but probably went too late in the day to get the most out of it as most shops and restaurants were already closed by about 6pm. We did enjoy a whiskey and gin flight in the Spirit of York distillery which was a huge space making in-house vodkas, gins, whiskeys and a few other specialty spirits. It was a nice way to finish off the day.
Vancouver
Saturday 12th April to Monday 22nd April
Vancouver has been playing very nice and has put on a fabulous Spring week for us. The sun is out, the blossoms are everywhere and we have been able to see a new side of Vancouver after previous trips always having been in the Winter.
We are staying with Glenn’s brother in Coquitlam which is about 40 minutes from the city. It is a very picturesque part of the Greater Vancouver area with local mountains, lakes and rivers all within walking or a quick driving distance. We have been making the most of some local hikes both around Coquitlam and in the city.
The forests are incredibly beautiful with moss covered floors layered with fallen logs and enormous trees. The cedar trees stand sentinel and bubbling brooks make their way down the hillsides. There is also no need to go to Japan for Cherry Blossom season as it is taking place right here. Swathes of tulips, daffodils, bluebells and blossom trees seem to be around every neighbourhood so the world is a delight for the eyes.
We spent Monday in the city ensuring we tried every type of public transport possible. First it was a Skytrain from Coquitlam to downtown Vancouver then it was a putt putt boat from Science World to Granville Island and Kitsilano. Then a bus back to the downtown for some shopping along Robson Street, dinner in Yaletown and a fantastic night at the Rogers Centre for an ice hockey game between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks.The energy in the arena is fantastic – almost a nightclub soundtrack after every break, exciting shot and of course any goal.
Over the Easter weekend, we caught a ferry to Gibsons. This is on a peninsula on the way up to Whistler but can only be accessed by boat. It is a stunningly beautiful part of the world. The backdrop of white capped mountains surrounds the small towns dotted around the coast and dense cedar forests stretch out as far as the eye can see. Ah the serenity!
We did a long hike into an area called Skookumchuck which is famous for its narrows where the tides come in and out so fast and so high they create whirlpools, rapids and waves high enough to surf. We were lucky enough to even see a sea lion out in the middle of the rapids. But no bears, cougars, deers or elks which was s shame but safer all round for everyone I suppose .
So our last few days on the BC Sunshine Coast was a stunning finale to our three months of travelling. It has been such an eye opening experience and many treasured adventures together. Part 1 done and dusted! Now to start planning Part 2!
