Right at this moment we are in a casino in upstate New York. We left Levis, picked up the RV, drove thru Montreal and made it to the US border. The border patrol told us “you have been randomly selected for inspection.” Oh goodie! They were actually really great. We told them that we had to make it to the Mohawk casino for happy hour and they expedited our inspection. 🙂 so here we are drinking, gambling and eating at a sports bar watching hockey.

Here’s Marty’s happy face:

This is marty after 3 happy hour drinks. Really hes awake … Just barely …

All for now!!! (We are slightly inebriated so excuse our grammar, etc…).

We spent another fun day exploring this beautiful city. Today (actually yesterday because I didn’t get around to posting this last night) we focused on La Citadelle, the fort that was built to defend the city after the rabble rousers from the south (us) attacked Quebec during the War of 1812.

We were wandering kinda aimlessly up to the citadel and a perky, young Canadian gal (Vanessa) asked us if we’d like to take a tour, which was about ready to start. She was great! It was just us and two other folks, one from Brazil and another from England. Lots of history, lots of laughs..
Here’s Vanessa with Rachel, one of the cannons. 🙂

Here are a few additional photos of Quebec City. A lovely place, full of lovely people!

Chateau Frontenac

Old (vieux) Quebec

This restaurant specializes in rabbit (lapin) dishes!

View from La Citadelle.

Vanessa took this one for us. 🙂

We neglected to mention in the previous post that we’re staying in Levis which is directly across the St. Lawrence river from QC. It’s just a 10 minute ferry ride from Levis to Vieux (old) Quebec. We love ferries, so the idea of staying here was an added bonus.

This is a shot of Quebec as we head back to Levis.

Au revoir, Quebec!

Why are all these people lined up outside this ice cream store ????
When we got into Levis yesterday we were walking around town looking for a place to eat.  We came across this ice cream shop with a huge line out front.  What’s going on???
Well when we drove by today and found no line so we had to go see why the line.  We went inside and noticed everyone getting the dipped cones.  So we each got one. 
OMG … I would stand in that line tomorrow for one of those.
The topping is very thick and delicious.  I had a carmel flavor and bunny had milk chocolate. 
Chocolate dipped cones are one of Bunny’s favorite things so it was the perfect mothers day thing for her.  She was quoted as saying “the dairy queen topper will never be up to this standard now”.

Undescribably delicious ….. Better than …. well maybe not ….

In case you missed it, scroll down and check out the caption Marty added under the picture of him with the bear. 🙂

Spent the day in Quebec City – beautiful!!!

Un bon jour – only thing missing were my kids!! 🙁

VRBO .,. Vacation Rental by Owner.  We use this service a lot.  The above photo is bunny with Steph (short for stephone .. He uses Steph because he said everyone pronounces it as Stephanie,  the girls name).   Just a really nice guy.  When we told him our plane had been delayed at Minneapolis because of a broken toilet … He offered to  drive out to the airport to pick us up.  He had a very nice place and takes very good care of it.  That is his dad in the background.  His son also came when we checked out.  Steph gave us a ride to the car rental company.
The place in Levis is quaint with a great view of Quebec city.

This is the view from the couch in the living room. 
The contrast really begins when we pick up the RV on Tuesday …

(Note: This is a pretty lame entry but I’m gonna post it anyway. I hope it’s better than nothin’)

It wasn’t listed among our top reasons for traveling to Montreal but the truth is we were looking forward to les boulangeries (the French bakeries). Croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche… Really good reasons to get up in the morning. 🙂

But we couldn’t find any – until this morning when we came upon a Venezuelan/Canadian boulangerie named Cachitos ( they’re basically Venezuelan croissants with ham, cheese, spinach, etc…). Met another  REALLY friendly Canadian and enjoyed a great breakfast spot.

We walked around Old Montreal some more, visited Notre Dame again, talked to more friendly folks, enjoyed happy hour and took a nap.

Fun, busy day!

We had breakfast at Suzette’s Creperie in Vieux (old) Montreal. They served Bunny’s café au lait in a bowl (see photo). 🙂 Met a very friendly couple from Nova Scotia. I (Bunny) asked a question that I’m trying to ask all Canadians: do you like your health care system? They emphatically answered that they loved it. No complaints. Just saying…

We next visited Montreal’s Notre Dame cathedral. We both felt that it was the most beautiful church we’ve ever seen. We went to mass (honest, we did) and when we came out there was a huge crowd of union members marching down the rue de Notre Dame. We followed them until they reached Place de Victoria where they had music and speeches (in English and French). Very cool.

We also visited a Quebec history museum that helped fill in some blanks for these stupid Americans. Travel isn’t travel if you don’t learn anything. 🙂

We walked around the port of Montreal and then back to our flat. We were both pooped. A good day.

One of the above has been sitting in his den all winter eating and drinking .. the other is a bear …😁

So here we are in Canada ( actually the photo is of Marty with a friendly Minnesotan in the airport en route to Montreal). Normally most Americans don’t consider Canada a foreign country. But we’re talking FRENCH Canada here.

One reason we chose to visit Quebec province was because Bunny’s ancestors are French Canadian (on her mom’s side; hence her given name Yvonne). Another reason was to see if we could get French speaking people to smile. Hadn’t had a ton of luck with that in France . (We could use your help Scott ! Ben too!)

Our plan of attack is the same as it was in France (motto: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try…): we go with a smile and a “bonjour!”

We are happy to report our preliminary results: Canadians are friendly, even if they speak French! 🙂

PS: We went to Chinatown for dinner last night and Marty told the waiter “grazie!” The waiter looked confused – so did Marty…

The Montreal, Quebec City and RV across northern US begins. We fly PDX to Montreal on May 7. We then spend 3 nights at a VRBO in Montreal. We pick up a rental car and drive to Levis which is across the St Laurence seaway from Quebec City. We are going to stay 3 nights in Levis. We will be taking the ferry over to Quebec city during the days. We will then drive the car back to Montreal on May 13th to pick up an RV. We will then have till May 28th to get the RV to Vancouver BC. That will be about 3500 miles in 15 days. That’s an average of 233 miles per day. Or about 4 hours of driving time. Sounds like fun !!!!
Anyway we get into Vancouver BC and take a train home on May 29th.
Let the vacation begin !!!