Old Quebec City

What a lovely day we have had today. 

We had breakfast and headed to Quebec City itself. 

The car park we found was right near the boat trips on the river and close to the funicular up to the old city. 

We enquired about a trip along the St Laurence river and they sailed at 11.30am 

It was 10.15 am so we wandered through the nearby beautiful French styled streets and went into a cafe for coffee. It was too tempting in there and we ordered crepes with maple syrup and fruits. So yummy we really enjoyed them and the free mango strawberry blueberry smoothie we were given with our coffee and water. 

In no time it was time to board the boat. The river although so far inland is tidal and flows very fast with small whirlpools. The river was calm and pleasant to travel on. The guide was giving very interesting facts and history of Quebec and the importance of the Lawrence in travelling right into Canada connecting with the Great Lakes.

We were onboard for an hour and a half and sat on top deck the whole time. 

It was not too cold and we were able to get great views of old Quebec up on the hill.

We saw the huge waterfall the Montmorency Falls. It is higher than the Niagara Falls and impressive too. We will visit it soon.

Back on the quay we paid $5 to go up the funicular. 

At the top it  was so quaint and picturesque. We wandered around the streets and had a lovely time in this very French old city. We went in the catholic cathedral so beautiful and also in the Anglican cathedral.

The Anglican cathedral is the first one to be built outside Britain and was funded by George 3rd. He gave the silver plates and communion pieces and crosses. The windows were very beautiful. 

Outside was a statue of a poor traveller who when you sat next to him you realised he was an angel.

We had a huge ice cream that was dipped in dark chocolate. (Sadly it upset my stomach and although I enjoyed it at the time I regretted it later!)

We got back to the car and travelled to the falls but the car park shut at 6pm and it was a bit risky parking so we will go tomorrow probably.

I hope you like my photos. You will notice the weather changed during the day and we are now promised warm sunny weather this week.

Travelling Ottawa to Quebec

We had a good run all the way with only a few hold ups. 

It rained most of the day but light rain mostly and very heavy dark low clouds all the time. 

As we approached Quebec City there were loads of cranes and roads blocked off and diversions, work going on everywhere.

Our sat nav got us a bit lost and we ended up at the aquarium…. And a very angry car park attendant.

We were not far from the hotel and found it safely. 

The hotel seems brand new and we have a large room on the top floor.

We had a McDonalds for a cheap quick meal and tried to go into the city without a street map. The sat nav took us up and down steep narrow roads and not along the main roads. So we saw the back streets and did not seem to get anywhere. Consequently we are back at our “holiday inn express” and making plans for the next 9 days here. 

A few pics I took from the car of bridges over the St Laurence river. You can tell it’s wet damp and not good weather!

Ottawa Aviation and space museum 

RCMP Horses and tulip displays

Today was cold and wet but we had planned to be in doors at the Aviation and Space Museum 

I got in free as a retired teacher! So that was a bonus .

Vince was in his element as there were so many different types of aircraft and some he’d not seen before (only in pictures).

I was interested too…. much to my surprise. The space travel was very well presented.

We spent about 3 hours there.

Next we visited the Mounties 

Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

And were shown around their famous horses. They perform in a musical show. It is famous world wide. The horses were shiny black and very tall. We saw the stables, tack room, spoke to the farrier and looked at the horse shoes etc

I learnt so much about horses. We may have chance to see them perform while we are in Quebec. Fingers crossed.

The place was all cleaned up and the brass on the harnesses polished and the carriage ready for Charles and Camilla to ride in. You should see all the preparations everywhere. They are going to block off all the side streets along the way he passes. We drove along there today as we went to see the fabulous tulips. 

The royal family of the Netherlands stayed here during WW2, since then the queen sent millions of tulip bulbs to the people of Canada to thank them. 

So we move on tomorrow and have a wet weekend in store but much better from Monday 

The Canada nature museum 

And walk around the parliament buildings perimeter.

Today we got a taxi to the nature museum.

We got timed tickets for the butterflies and the live tree exhibit. Both were so interesting. 

The butterflies flew around your heads and landed on a few people. They were eating fruits and sweet water.

There was a live bug section with tarantula spider, scarab beetles, stag beetles,stick insects and huge cockroaches and millipedes.

The tree exhibition was a true story of human destroying the environment and one man planting thousands of acorns to change the dead earth into a living environment once again, it was so well portrayed and ended with a magic musical tree that responded to our movements.

Other floors had an arctic area full of saving the earth themed

A world area full of minerals and great exhibits and even a meteorite. Loads of geological facts I wanted to stay there much longer.

A water floor

A dinosaur and fossil floor.

Afterwards we walked about 2 miles to the centre of the city as a hop on hop off tourist bus did not arrive.

We walked all around the perimeter of the parliament buildings. Major construction work is being carried out on all the buildings so it is cordoned off and huge cranes are working there.

We did see the back entrance which is work free. I think this is the entrance Charles and Camilla will use!

We are back at the hotel now feeling tired and a bit cold . We may go out later in our car along Queen Elizabeth highway.

Ottawa capital city of Canada

We had a bit of a false start this morning! We are 5 miles from the centre of Ottawa and set off to the car park we had identified and put in our sat nav. FULL. All nearby parks were full too …. We could find nowhere to park…

We returned to our hotel stressed and then got a taxi into the city. 

We got on a hop on hop off bus and did the complete tour up on top deck. It was so interesting and well worth it

But we were frozen to the bone 😫 I managed to get some photos and we got a coffee and chocolate croissant to warm ourselves up. 

Our plan being to see where we need to go to revisit along the route. 

Today we visited the parliament buildings,the cathedral of Notre Dame, the art museum from the outside and the canal routes. 

There were gardeners everywhere tidying up for the royal visitors next week and police everywhere.

Nowhere was open to the public to visit because of the soon to be opening of parliament. That was disappointing for us but it is what it is.

Tomorrow we hope to visit the museums and views of the river and tulip gardens.

Hope you like my photos I have hundreds more! The spider statue is a tribute to motherhood

She has eleven eggs if you look carefully. Not my choice for motherhood !!!

Long journey from Barrie to Ottawa

No blog as such today as we have been travelling for 6 hours and are very tired

We travelled over lovely country side flat and green. It was very marshy and lakes along winding rivers and streams. We saw a squashed skunk on the road. I saw many birds of prey, possibly turkey vultures and a tall blue heron. It felt like moose would live in these environments but did not see any large animals.

Now we are at the best Weston on the outskirts of Ottawa. We are a small dinner at the hotel and going to sleep early tonight!

Looking forward to exploring Ottawa…., King Charles visits next week so we will just miss him. There is a craft market and cathedral I really want to see.

More tomorrow

Toronto and CN Tower

Today is a holiday day in Canada. It’s Victoria Day. This was ideal for us to drive into the city as there was no rush  hour traffic in fact not much traffic going in at all. 

We arrived at the carpark nearest to the CN Tower and had a coffee while we sorted ourselves and cameras out. It was very cold and we had thick jumpers and coats on.

The camera backpacks insulate us too!

We went to queue up and then straight up the lift at a very quick speed. The structures flashed by and it was scary to look as we climbed very high up.

The viewing platform was wide and light 360* with a restaurant bar for snacks. We spent a long time up there and we got really hot with all our warm clothes 🥵

The views were well worth paying to go up there. You really got a feel for this city harbour,train station,airport 

And the huge lake surrounding the city. We really enjoyed the experience. You could walk out onto a glass pavement and look down and also an area where you can lean straight into the windows…. also just below the viewing platform is another platform with fresh air ie not sealed as the one above.

Of course there were the photographers selling pics of you and a huge gift shop at the base of the tower.

In the afternoon we explored the area and admired all the skyscrapers…. yes really! They were all different designs and colours of glass etc.

It was now a warm sunny day and we went round in tee shirts a big change in temperature from earlier on.

We saw the train museum all free for you to walk around and got many fab pictures of the city. Here are just a few.

I’m going to be so busy when I get home sorting my images. 

Hope you all are receiving my blog ok. (I’ve had to upgrade it and change my personal email attached ) hopefully you will receive it as normal. My IT is not too good and I have not got Anona to help me 😂😂

Our journey back to Barrie was good. All the traffic was now heading into Toronto at the end of their long holiday weekend. A very good day today and a meal out tonight too!

I visited here because I live in Thornbury South Gloucestershire UK

I also visited Thornbury in south island New Zealand

Above are the flower clock and the lilac garden that we visited the last two days in Niagara Valley We also visited a tulip farm and wildlife centre near the US docklands close by to Niagara. (Photos below.)

and yesterday was a very wet travelling day to our new location of Barrie 65 miles north of Toronto.

Today we woke up to Winter again. We were so cold what a shock!

We travelled up to Thornbury Ontario. It is beautiful town and situated on a harbour at Georgian Bay.

There was a Sunday market on a green field opposite to the town hall. The main street had coffee shops and restaurants and gift shops. free parking and two way traffic on all roads unlike Thornbury Bristol!

We toured around the area which seemed to be small towns with water fronts onto Georgian Bay a part of Lake Huron. So now we have seen a small bit of Lake Erie (USA side of Niagara), Lake Ontario and Lake Huron.

I will show photos of thornbury tomorrow.

niagara falls to Barrie Ontario 

Not a blog as such today

We had a day off visiting and traveled north mostly through dark clouds and  rain

It is now colder and wet. 

We got our clothes washing done and went to “beer pub”

It was sooo noisy but a great atmosphere. You had to shout to be heard.

We got talking to a local family on the next table to us

They were very friendly and suggested going to blue mountain and up a ski run 

We hope to visit Thornbury tomorrow!

I’ve worked out why my photos are not uploading they have changed to dng from jpegs so are too big for WordPress . I’ve altered my mobile settings and so all should work out tomorrow 

So an early night in our comfort inn at Barrie night everyone xx