Doug and I have been busy since the last blog. Are plan were not to stop or see any big cities and we tried to avoid most of them with the exception of Ottawa and Quebec City.
We spent 2 days touring Ottawa as Doug had never seen the parliament grounds. It was very hot
+30 both days. Ottawa is a great city, clean, friendly and a lot of green space. It has been either raining or plus 30 on our journey, never a in between. When we were in Europe we toured a lot on these double decker buses called "Hop On, Hop Off". They go to almost all of the high lites of the cities and you can get off and get on as many times as you want to in the course of 24 hours, they also have a tour guide pointing out the sights and giving you a bit of the history behind what you are seeing. They had these buses in both Ottawa and Quebec, so we hopped.
Here are some Pictures from the bus;
They are starting to replace some of the roofs, and fix up the outside of the buildings to get ready for Canada's 150 year birthday in 2017
Inside Parliament Hill, some of the Architecture, beautiful!
Looking good!!!
They have statues everywhere, this one is of Queen Elizabeth upon a horse that the RCMP presented to her.
A statue in honour of Maurice Richard "the Rocket" why they would have a statue for a Montreal
Canadian hockey player in Ottawa we have no idea!
This is Steven Harpers meek abode over looking the Ottawa River on Sussex Drive
His view of the Ottawa River
In the winter is is cleared of snow and is one of the longest skating surfaces in Canada, Winnipeg has one longer by 1/2 mile.
Our Cruise of the Rideau Canal
Then we went to the Byward Market, which consists of streets where traffic is blocked off, many outdoor cafes with outside patio's, shops, fresh vegetables & fruit and of course maple syrup are sold
Doug and I enjoyed watching people, having a couple of beers and of course I had fish and chips for dinner!
Right next to Parliament Hill are the locks for the Rideau Canal. We watched a boat go thru these locks, it takes about 40 minutes from one end to another. On a average day in the summer 40 - 50 boats will go thru these locks. The price is determined by how long the boat is. They still open and close these locks by hand as they did when they were first opened. You would leave the Ottawa river and carry on to Kingston.
We then moved on to Quebec! Parle Vous Francais "NOT"
It was pouring rain, and cold when we hit the boarder. Everyone of the tourist information centres, were closed as we were trying to find a provincial map to help us. June must not be tourist season? We finally found a bit of a map at a gas station, They do not have a whole map of the province, you need to buy a different section of map or area as you travel thru it (each for around $10.00). We picked a "National Park" (not sure how it can be called a National Park when really it is a Provincial Park). We picked Oka National Park, which is located directly across the river from Montreal. Now this park holds over 800 campers. There were maybe 30 sites taken when we were there. The cost was over the roof! It cost us for services $128.31 for 2 nights, with the size of trailer we have, we had no choice but to have services, the sites were small uneven and very narrow. They charge $7.25 per person - per night on top of the camping fee, Because it was pouring rain, we went for a drive up to LaChute where Kevin Lowe was born and raised. Note to everyone, there is not a statue or street name after him LOL Maybe if he played for the Montreal Canadians there would be LOL
While driving into Oka, we notice for about 2 Kilometres or so small shacks on the Indian Reservation selling cheap Cigarettes. These shacks are about the size of a small Utility Shed. We did not stop and see what the price was, but Doug remembers when the Government tried to stop them from selling these cigarettes and brought in the Army.....not sure what happened, but they are still selling cheap cigarettes!!!
So on we went to Quebec City to see the "Old Quebec" that we were told was a must see!
We camped just out side about 12 Km from the city. We bought a package deal, that they would even pick us up at the campsite. It was the "Hop On Hop Off" bus tour and a tour of the country side.
We both agreed that we are disappointed with what we saw. I think we were thinking most of the Old
Quebec would be preserved and "OLD" but instead, there are old buildings mixed among newer buildings, The most interesting thing that we saw were 2 Canadian Naval Ships that were in port for 2 days and they were about to leave the day we were there.
There were some beautiful old buildings build over 100 years ago, and the area we were in had lots of shops, outdoor patios, street performers.
The main square, this is the Hotel Frontenace
Our Bus
Some of the house's
The streets in this area are very narrow, much like in Europe.
Ride anyone??
The second day in Quebec we went on a country tour. We saw a Chocolate store, bakery,
Saint Anne Basilica, Island of New Orleans and a huge water fall
Montmorency Falls is 272 Ft high ( 98.5 ft. higher than Niagara Falls). It is not as wide, but taller.
We took a cable car to the top of the water falls and walked across the top.
This is from the suspension bridge at the top of the waterfall.
This is the cable car we took to get to the top, was about a 5 minute ride. cost $12.00!
This is the Saint Anne Basilica just outside of Quebec City. It was build in 1923 and finished in 1960's as the original one built burned down.
In side the church, it has tons of stain glass windows and it is beautiful
In Quebec City they seem to have a church on every corner, the tour operator said a lot of these churches are closed, or used as libraries. restaurants etc. Religion has died off and about 9% of Quebecers go to church on a regular basis.
We are off tomorrow to Tadoussac on the Saint Lawrence Seaway to see Whales, as we have been told by many people this is the place to go. It is about a 4 hour drive, so tomorrow we are off!
have a good week, and behave yourself everyone
Judy & Doug
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