I am finally publishing my blog after I wrote it two months back. What might be the reason, you may think? I would say laziness…and hmmm…laziness!
It’s been four weeks of nothing … ok maybe driving kids around for summer camps, socializing and then nothing since we came back from our vacation! I have been lazing around and have finally decided to write about our Canada trip as I am getting bored of doing nothing! Hopefully, I still remember what we did…
I sure remember that we had no jetlag and it was hot and humid in Toronto! So much so, I didn’t miss India much!
We landed thirty minutes earlier than our scheduled time for once, and I wasn’t happy about that! It’s was 4:30 in the morning… and my college friend’s husband was kind enough to pick us up at around six in the morning! I was incredibly lucky to meet up with lots of my college friends during my time in India and now again Canada. We both are still the same in most of our ways except being older… it’s been twenty-three years since we graduated! How did it go so fast, I wonder sometimes.
Back to Canada, getting around from the suburban cities to Toronto is awful! The traffic is crazy, and the trains go one way only! Mornings into Toronto downtown and evenings out of there! What about the people who want to do the opposite? Anyway, we took a Grey Hound bus to Toronto downtown from my friend’s town. It took us two and a half hour with traffic to get in downtown. And then uber to go to the hotel. I didn’t plan our vacation in Toronto, and we had to face the consequences… haha!
Downtown Toronto
We stayed in Hilton Garden Inn, Peter St. , while it was the best location to visit, the hotel was not in best condition. It didn’t matter much as we stayed there only for one day! We enjoyed some fantastic food joints within walking distance of our hotel! Our favorite was Pai, Thai restaurant. General Assembly Pizza, right next to the hotel, and lastly, Figo, a hip Italian joint didn’t disappoint us either. Kids couldn’t be happier having different food other than Indian.
Next morning, we walked to CN Tower! We made an excellent decision to leave early morning as it was cooler that time and we didn’t have a huge line to buy or get inside the CN Tower. Kids had a blast taking pictures on top of a glass floor on the top of the tower. This trip was all about kids… we didn’t do any museums, churches or anything they didn’t want to do. After Mexico and Spain, we really wanted it to be a more relaxed vacation!
We headed to the mall and lunch at Pai after spending a couple hours at the Tower. My cousin picked us up in the evening, and it took us two hours in the evening train to get to where she lived!
My husband joined us that night before we drove to our vacation to Montreal and Québec the next morning.
I expected the drive to be mountainous, but it was a flat, boring drive for five hours to Montreal. Maybe there is a scenic route which we didn’t know about as we took whatever google mapped for us. There are not much food options on the way, and we had to have food at Tim Horton’s or Burger King!
We stayed at a lovely B & B called Casa Bianca in front of Parc du Mont-Royal. It was decorated very minimalistically, but we enjoyed our stay! We hiked to the Mount Royal Summit the next early morning to beat the heat, it took us couple hours to get there and be back. The views of the city are worth hiking for.
After having their all organic breakfast, we relaxed for sometime in the room before we decided to go and explore the old Montreal. The kids were having the best time as they had a lot of downtime between our outings… they were surprised that mom didn’t have a plan to be out the whole day!!
We had lunch at a sandwich place opposite the Norte Dame Basilica, and kids and my husband went biking afterward in the Old Port area. I choose to go and see the Basilica instead. It was lovely inside! Once the kids were back, we walked around Rue St-Paul, which is a street full of restaurants, bars, galleries, and small boutique shops. It is in the heart of the old town and is not too far from the Old Port.
It was a pleasant walk. Afterward, we decided to head back to our B&B to relax! We took Uber everywhere in the city as we didn’t want the hassle of parking our car. It was quite convenient that way.
Dinner was in Omnivore, a middle eastern food joint at Plateau Mont-Royal! It was fabulous food, healthy but still maintaining fantastic taste! I bought some vino for my after dinner drinking, and we headed back to Casa Bianca to enjoy my vino and call it a night!
Next morning, I choose to relax at the inn while the kids and my husband went for a walk and to get famous Fairmount Bagels! Kids got bagels for their breakfast, and we again enjoyed the breakfast at B & B.
We all enjoyed the street art in Montreal, especially in Plateau Mont-Royal area, and loved the neighborhood more than the old Montreal! Lunch was at this small Vietnamese restaurant called HÀ, referred by our host. It was a fantastic place to have lunch! We ordered a salmon poke bowl and lots of other small appetizers! It was one of the best Vietnamese places I have been too!
As the lunch place was two minutes walk from our place we choose to go back and take it easy! I must say, that this was one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever been to! We ate, walked, relaxed and repeated it again two times a day!
After a couple of hours, we decide to go back to the China town in Montreal! It wasn’t the greatest, so we just walked and went old Montreal again!
Our dinner was that this place called Liverpool House! I had booked that place a month before as I had heard good reviews about it and Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau had eaten there! It was a must go place for me in Montreal. We walked for 40 minutes from old Montreal before we reached the restaurant and as usual, my husband made us walk instead of getting an Uber! We were hot and sweaty, and that’s not how I wanted to go to that restaurant, I wasn’t a happy camper, but after realizing that both my besties ate at the same table we were sitting, made things a lot better! I made sure we took pictures there. Ok food…The food is all that and more. We made sure we got the lobster spaghetti and the PEI ( Prince Edward’s Island) oysters… they were sweet and fresh! Everything on the menu was delicious. It was the highlight of our Canada trip!
Montréal, a city with lots of artsy vibe and fantastic food with lots of outdoor activities! We enjoyed our two days mostly because of food and walks/ hikes!
Next up was Québec and I was more excited to visit this place as I had heard a great deal from my friends about how beautiful it was! We drove the next morning, and it took us a little more than two and a half hours to get there.
We stayed at this lovely old hotel Hôtel Champlain in Vieux(old) Québec! It was a small little hotel in a beautiful location! If you want to save some money and stay near the Fairmont hotel, I would definitely suggest this hotel! And they had the best wine on tap! I started and my evening and ended my night with a glass of wine from here!
We really enjoyed Quebec, more than Montreal! I wish we flew to Quebec and went to Nova Scotia instead of Montreal! Then again, there is always the next time…
It’s a beautiful town with good food and lots of street artist! My kids enjoyed the performances every evening. We roamed around the city the first day and hiked the Montmorency Falls and made a wonderful food trip around the Island d’Orleans outside of Quebec, the next day! The interactive or a printed map really helped us with where we should stop and try food and wine.
We would have definitely stayed on the island if we knew how beautiful it was. We enjoyed delicious fresh lobster roll (Vignoble de Sainte-Petronille vineyard on Ile d’Orleans. Panache Mobile, a gourmet food truck, which make the best LR) and wine at this lovely winery and then headed for some cheese(Les Fromages de Île d’Orleans), chocolate dipped ice cream and bought hot chocolate powder(Chocolaterie de Île d’Orléans) and ate croissants at the bakery(La Boulange)! God! I sure was glad I didn’t have breakfast that morning! I would recommend doing a food tour on our own if you have two to three hours to spare, and start in the afternoon! We did the falls hike in the morning which is right opposite the island.
The next morning we left for Toronto! It took us around ten hours with stops for coffee, lunch, to our friend’s place! Toronto was hot and humid, but that didn’t stop us from visiting Nigra falls the next day! Although, I stayed inside the gift shop to beat the heat, while the kids and hubby went for the boat tour to see the Falls! The kids enjoyed the zip line there too! I would not have gone to Toronto if I knew how hot and humid it gets in July! But, meeting up with cousins, friends made it worth going there for a trip!
I have loved everything about Canada, from my previous visits to Calgary, Banff, and Jasper and to our recent visit to Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. The most helpful, polite and friendly people, to amazing food, to jaw-dropping natural beauty.
One Foot Out the Door 