Captivating Canada trip 26-30 Apr : Kingston, Quebec city, Montreal, Ottawa

26-Apr (Wed)  Kingston and Arrival in Quebec city 

Srivatsa had booked a GMC Yukon car rental to ferry 7 passengers for this trip. GMC Yukon is a Premium or Luxury SUV category and he had to send repeated reminders to ensure that the rental agency did not downsize this car category at the last moment. 

On route we took a diversion and went to Kingston. we went to Fort Henry first. Fort Henry is a 19th century British military fortress situated at the mouth of the kingston harbour. Fort Henry is the largest fortification west of Quebec city. Kingston was the first capital of Canada before it was moved. 

Unfortunately, there was a Govt protest ongoing at the entrance and we were still allowed to pass through to the top of the hill. The fort itself was closed and we were not allowed to see it. We just walked around the fort wall and took photos of the harbor from the top. There were too many mosquitos in that area and we had to run back to escape from them. 

Kingston harbour view from the back side of Fort Henry 

After this, we went to the downtown Kingston. The City Hall is a beautiful building and has a park in the front and this overlooks the harbor. 

There's also an Engine in the park. 

We can also see many cruises docked close to this. In fact, Kingston cruise is a famous tourist attraction that has a ride to see  > 1000 islands in the archipelago. This takes quite a bit of time and we didn't take this one. 

we had our lunch here in Olivia, an Italian restaurant - it was mostly different type of pasta. 

From Waterloo to Quebec city is almost a 10 hour ride on 401 E and passes close to Kingston and Montreal. In Quebec border, the 401E changes it's name - it becomes Autoroute 20. Also, all the road signages now start showing up in French. After some stops at the OnRoute canada for bathroom and coffee breaks, we finally reached Quebec city. 

we first entire the new Quebec part of the city and then enter the old Quebec city. Our stay was in Champlain hotel on Rue-Saint-Anne road. Srivatsa was able to get a temporary parking on the road itself for that night because Yukon was too big for the hotel parking lot. 

After freshening up, we decided to see the night Quebec views that evening itself. we roamed around the most famous building - the Chateau De Frontenac. This building and area around this is lit up with great lighting and the view is stunning ! 

we had dinner at  Chez Murphy's Pizzeria on Rue-Saint Jean St. that night. The Churros were interesting, pizza didn't feel great. 

27-Apr (Thu) - Old Quebec 

Early morning, Srivatsa parked his car in a better 24 hour parking place and then we had a good breakfast at L'Omelette on Rue Saint Louis. 

The Omelette Provencale that I had : 

This is a good map that depicts all good places to see in the Old Quebec : 

Afterwards, we passed through the iconic Chateau Frontenac hotel building. Chateau Frontenac is an iconic Chateau styled hotel built by Canadian Railway companies to encourage travel. It's the world's most photographed hotel ! 

I also requested the hotel guard at entrance to let me in for a quick peek of the reception area inside as well. 

We then come out from the back gate of this. The back view of the Frontenac  

We then go towards the Dufferin  terrace. This is a long wooden sidewalk and offers stunning views of the St Lawrence river and buildings all around.

On the terrace , just next to Frontenac is the statue of Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec city. 

From here, we board the Funiculare that takes us to the Petit-Champlain in the lower town. Funicular is a type of cable railway system on a steep slope that connects points at different elevation. It has two counterbalanced cable cars side by side and is very unique ! 

The Petit-Champlain reminds us of Europe-styled cobblestone streets, quaint shops, very interesting buildings. The Breakneck stairs is the city's oldest stairway and is one of the most photographed ones. 

The walk in the entire area is very exhilarating.  There are also a lot of boutique shops with all kinds of stuff including stunning paintings. I also purchased good quality maple syrup in a shop here. 

There are way too many picture perfect stops and modelling shoots possible - but we must make sure we are in this place early morning otherwise it can get crowded. 

we went upto the point where we can see the canons by the sea and then we reach the Place Royale , a large square which also has the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church. 

A little further from here we saw the Fresque Des Quebecois, a huge mural on the building wall  paying homage to the history of Quebec city. 

After this, we returned back to the upper part of the town by climbing the stairs. we then headed towards the Citadelle de Quebec. we took a longer outside route near the City Fortification to reach this, but instead we could have just gone through the back entrance of the Chateau de Frontenac and taken the steps. 

Citadelle was a large British Fortress and provides excellent view of the city and the river from a vantage point. 

we then descended the steps onto the Dufferin Terrace again and then walked on the Governors Promenade which is a combination of  boardwalk and terraces connecting the Dufferin to the plains of Abraham. 

Picture of a docked ship seen from the boardwalk : 

The Plains of Abraham is named after Abraham who herded sheep in this vast expanse of green but this place has a huge historical significance since this is the place of a decisive battle between British and the French. There's also a good museum here which we couldn't see because it was getting closed soon. 

we exited this part and then went to see the Parliament building. This is home to the National assembly of Quebec and is recognized as a historic monument. 

They also have a Gandhi statue in the park opp. the parliament. 

After some pics , we headed back to our hotel through the gate ramparts. 

In the night, we took another small stroll through the area. Here's the famous L'Horloge du Jura - the Richard Mille clock. This is a gift from Switzerland and is a masterpiece in clock making. 

In the night, we had dinner at another Pizzeria on Rue-Saint Louis St. 

28-Apr (Fri)  Montreal  

we checked out and drove to Montreal in the morning. It's an under 3 hour drive from Quebec city to Montreal. 

we first decided to go directly to the downtown area around the famous Notre-Dame Basilica. we got a parking on the same street i.e Notre Dame St.W. 

Notre Dame is a basilica in the historic district of Old Montreal. It's an exact replica of the Notre Dame of Paris. 

The outside structure doesn't look very imposing but the internal is another story - it's jaw dropping !  Notre Dame is a masterpiece in Gothic revival architecture and was constructed in 1830s and completed by 1890. The ceiling is simply stunning with blue colors, stained and very colorful glass windows and will really leave anyone awestruck. 

Very colorful stained glass 

Adjacent to Basilica is the Place D'armes town square. A large plaza with benches and someone playing music and Maisonneve monument in the centre. It's surrounded by a lot of buildings including Bank of Montreal head office. 

Here's a picture of the square with the monument and Notre-dame in the background : 

we then walked around this Old Montreal area having buildings with impressive architecture

Good hunger after all this walk - we had very good noodles at Kinton Ramen on the same Notre Dame St W. 

After this we decided to visit the BioDome. This is a good 20 minute drive from the Notre Dame area. The Biodome is housed in a velodrome built for the 1976 Olympic games and is called a house of life. 

They have carefully replicated the natural habitat of different eco zones in the americas with the plants and animals. So it's kind of a zoo, but by replicating their ecosystem in a perfect manner. Biodôme offers an immersive visit through five ecosystems of the Americas: 

• the Tropical Rainforest, maintained warm 
• the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which showcases marine life
• the Laurentian Maple Forest, which changes with the seasons
• the Labrador Coast 
• the Sub-Antarctic Islands.

The highlight of the Biodome is definitely the Penguins - because I know it's really rare to have a zoo which has Penguins. 

After this, we decided to go the Mont Royal Park. Montreal city gets it's name from Mont Royal . It's a magnificient green space, very clean and refreshing. 

A little walk through the park takes us to the "mountain" - The Mont Royal. This gives stunning views of the city of Montreal.  

Very close drive to the Mont Royal is the St. Joseph Oratory - this is the highest building and is another Roman Catholic minor basilica. This has a large dome and is quite unique. 

The interior of basilica is also quite remarkable with bright colors and stained glass. 

After all this, it was time to check-in to the Hilton Hotel. Here Srivatsa had taken a twin room with kitchenette and we ate our own cooked food for dinner in night. 

29-Apr (Sat)  Ottawa

we had good breakfast at Hilton and then checked out to head towards Ottawa. It's a 2 hour drive from Montreal to Ottawa. 

It was a rainy day and all of us either had raincoats or umbrellas and keep going. 

The first place was the Parliament hill which has 3 Gothic revival style buildings - offices of members of parliament , House of commons and House of senate. These are built on a place which overlooks the Ottawa river. 

The Rideau Canal runs next to this area 

There are many statues around this area commemorating important people in history

After this, we made our way towards the Byward market and Byward square. This area has so many boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants. The incessant rain played spoilsport to enjoying this area better.

we had our lunch close to the Byward market - an authentic mexican place called Ahura. 

Given that the rain didn't show any sign of stopping, the best place was to be inside and what better than the Canada Aviation and space museum - the Ingineum ? 

The museum has several display areas and these go from the early aviation to first world war , then second world war to cold war as well as transport. The focus is how much Canada contributed to this, however there are other significant planes showcased also. 

A full expanse view of the entire area 

From Early planes ... 

To Rescue Helicopters ....

And the Turbo Jet Engines which make this possible ...

Seeing these gigantic mean machines so up close through their evolution and ingenuity of the humans to get to this point - a real salute to engineering ! 

we took nearly 1.5 hours to view the entire area and after this we headed back to checkin to the Holiday Inn express. 

30-Apr (Sun)  Bye Bye Ottawa

Our plan was to diverge from here - we were headed to the second leg of our Canada tour to Calgary/Banff with the airplane departure at 3 pm from Ottawa while Srivatsa and family were headed back to Waterloo. we requested the hotel to allow us a slightly late checkout which they obliged. 

Desirous to utilize whatever morning time we had , we took an Uber to the Canadian War museum. The Canadian war museum is a place of remembrance of Canadian involvement in various wars throughout history. 

There are different sections on early wars, World war I , World war II, Cold war and more recent wars. 

Artillery 

The actual Mercedez-Benz that Hitler used - this is a real highlight

A real torpedo from U-boat. Nachiket was really impressed with this one ! 

The Engima machine - The first real cryptography used effectively in war

There is also lot of information on how shells evolved to cause greater injury which cannot be fixed easily, some of the material stuns you and some can make you sad on how technology can be thought of to create maximum damage, Sigh ! The real impressive part of the museum however is in level-2 , the Lebreton gallery which contains a massive collection of military equipment. I have never seen so many tanks, artillery in one place. 

Here's the Panzer , the German tank 

Look at the sheer size of this one ! 

we had to hurry because we had a plane to catch , Srivatsa and family picked us up from here and then we said goodbye before the next leg of our journey departing from the Ottawa airport.