A la québécoise!

Tourtière, a French-Canadian staple...half-eaten

Day 3: Ottawa ~ Quebec (457km)

Greetings from the city of Quebec, where Europe meets Canada. Andrew and I arrived here today around 5PM under stunningly sunny skies. But our day began in Ottawa, so I'll start there.

This third day of our trip we woke to blue sky and brilliant sunshine but chilly temperatures, attested by our visible breath as we sat on the deck of the B&B eating breakfast. Things soon warmed up though. Our plan was to make a quick visit to the Mint before doing a drive-by of 24 Sussex and then booting it onwards to Quebec. Of course, that didn't go to plan as we got bogged down in Ottawa's horrendous rush-hour traffic (all those short blocks of one-way streets and lots of traffic lights'll do it) and consequently missed our 9AM tour at the Mint. So we signed up for the 9:30 and were shortly off on that with just one other guy. Things weren't too busy there that morning, but usually, with all the tour groups going through there (at $5 a head) they're clearly making a mint (badum-ching!) And that's not to mention all the souvenirs that are snapped up afterwards. And who wouldn't want them? They're all in mint condition! (badum-ching-ching!) In any case, one thing I can tell you is that proof sets of the coins don't come cheap. Your pretty penny costs... a pretty penny (badum-ching-ching-ching!)

Following that, we couldn't resist heading back to Parliament Hill for more shots of the magnificent buildings against a perfect blue background (and we got them), and on our return route through the park we were stopped by a videographer for the local A Channel (Ottawa's ChumTV outlet), who interviewed each of us separately for the 5th anniversary of 9/11. So if you're in the Ottawa area at 6-7PM on September 11, look for us on TV!

After our drive-by of Mr.Harper's family hangout (a beautiful stone house in a nicely landscaped and well-treed yard - almost so well that you can't see the house), and a failed attempt at Rideau Hall (only for groups in the off-season), we were on the road to Quebec...or so we thought. Instead, we inadvertently took a scenic drive of the Rideau Canal, which would have been nice for a bit except for the fact that there are no exits, and so finally when there was one we were well off in the opposite direction of where we wanted to be. So we stopped for lunch. By the time we finally got on the 417 headed towards Montreal it was already close to 1PM.

The road to Quebec was smooth sailing aside for some congestion going through Montreal. The scenery is virtually identical to eastern Ontario's expanses of trees, farms, and grassy fields.

The B&B that we have here is right in the heart of the Old City, and their budget option (shared bath and shower but sink in the room) is a great deal at just $65 a night. We are a short walk to everything. And what's great is that an unsecure wireless internet setup in the neighbourhood is allowing me to put these updates on from the comfort of my bed, which I guess makes up for the fact that our B&B in Ottawa that was supposed to have internet never actually did.

Tonight, for dinner, I went completely à la québécoise. French-canadian pea soup followed by tourtière and frites, and finishing up with maple syrup pie. What's maple syrup pie, you ask? Well, to me it looked basically like a slice out of a 12-inch butter tart, and pretty much tasted the same. Andrew's fieldberry crepe was much better.