A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Even though it was raining off and on for our first day in Quebec City, we still saw and did a lot, and we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. We did a search and found an interesting restaurant called La Buche, or The Log, such as in a log cabin. La Buche is a rustic restaurant that looks like an old fur trapper’s cabin. It was very cute and quaint and very inviting.

After a long day of touring the city, Milos was ready for his beer.

While Milos enjoyed his beer, I enjoyed a hot Frangelico Coffee.

Then we all ordered our meals. Milos ordered Steak Tartare.

Larry and Maureen both ordered the Tourtiere, or the Quebec version of a meat pie, filled with venison, pork and beef.

I ordered the pork chop with a maple syrup and Dijon sauce and pureed carrots.

Once again, we were all very satisfied with our meals and the service.

The bathroom was very colorful and unique too. You don’t find an old bath tub, used as the sink, in a restaurant on a regular basis. This is a pretty unique feature indeed. 🙂

After leaving the restaurant, we got caught in a torrential downpour. We were drenched by the time we got back to the car. Our only other plans for the evening we to go back to the hotel for another round of game night, so no problem. We just needed to dry off a bit before letting the games begin. 🙂

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Quebec City is the Provincial Capitol of the Province of Quebec. It is also one of the oldest European settlements in North America, and is the twelfth-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province, after Montreal.

On our first day in Quebec City, it was pouring down rain, which meant we had to change our original plans for the city to stay more indoors. But everything worked out just perfectly, like things usually do. We still managed to do a lot. 🙂

Milos is retired Canadian Military, so we toured some of military museums and citadels all around. And being retired military, he got us all in for free too. BONUS! Thank you Milos, both for serving your country, and for the perks that were extended to us because of your service. It was kind of funny though, in one of the military museums we went to, the person checking us in didn’t recognize his National Military card because it wasn’t a Provincial, Quebec military card. WHAT???? Just how stupid are people becoming? She had to go ask her supervisor if his National Military card was acceptable. Again, WHAT???????

This citadel is still an active military site, so we could only tour around part of it. But I love how it looks like an old castle. We did see the Plains of Abraham a little though, which were just behind the citadel.

The Plains of Abraham were the site of a decisive, short battle on September 13, 1759, where British forces under General James Wolfe defeated French troops led by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm during the Seven Years’ War. The British victory led to the surrender of Quebec City, effectively ending French control of New France and marking a turning point in the struggle for North America, ultimately leading to Britain’s conquest of Canada. Though this was a decisive battle, the actual battle itself only lasted 25 minutes. This short but decisive battle resulted in a crucial British victory, leading to the capture of Quebec City and a major shift in control of North America.

The museum was closed for a private event, but the grounds were beautiful.

I know I have mentioned it a million times, but I just love all the attention to detail in older buildings and architecture. We just don’t see this anymore and it’s a shame.

These were outside of Montreal, but as we were passing by, Milos said he actually drove both of these types of tanks.

The Plains of Abraham are named after Abraham Martin, a Scottish pilot and fisherman who owned land there in the 17th century, with the name becoming solidified after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. The local residents began referring to the area as the “Heights of Abraham,” and the term was later adopted by the British and French during the battle to describe the site where they fought for control of Quebec City.

This is a sculpture representing Abraham Martin’s wife “giving birth” to a new nation.

The Quebecquois motto – Je me souviens, I remember. It is found everywhere and is even on all the Quebec license plates.

The Quebec flag with the cross and the fleur de lys.

The poppies of Flanders Field.

Milos fought in Afghanistan and this was his uniform.

I love this old fountain.

Another indoor tour we took was inside the old Gaol. This old historic building has been a lot of things in its tenure. It started off as the first old Gaol (jail) for the Quebec territory. Then it became the first college/university in the area, Morrin College. And then a library, which it still is today. It is the only ALL English library in the area. And of course it is a museum too.

Inside the gaol or jail cells. They were set up with the cells on the outside walls with a “common area” in the center, where the prisoners ate and worked. As with many prisons, the prisoners were expected to work at various trades while incarcerated.

This was their work station.

The cells.

The same tour, same building, now in a different phase, the Morrin College phase.

This was the college ballroom, where they still hold events today.

And now on the other side of the building, the library, also still very much in use today, as the only ALL English library in the area. Some of the books here are over 400 years old. The oldest books are on the highest levels.

While waiting for our next tour, we explored the surrounding areas. The rain had let up, so it was pleasant outside.

A typical sight of the blendings of the old, historical sites adjacent to modern structures.

An old Cathedral and seminary.

The Parliament building outside the walls of the old citadel.

After touring this collection of historic renditions of this building, we took a tour of the Quebec Parliament Building or L’Hotel de Parlement. It was very impressive. The surrounding grounds were very impressive as well. Have you ever been to the Louvre, in Paris? If so, this Parliament building might look a little familiar to you. L’Hotel de Parlement is a replica of the Louvre, without the glass pyramid as the entrance.

I believe this statue is of Pierre Trudeau.

After passing through the security detail, this was the meeting place for our tour. This round skylight is at the opening outside the entrance to the Parliament building. Inside the Parliament Building, parts were very modern, while other parts were very old and traditional.

As in Montreal, a certain percentage of the annual budget is devoted to contemporary art.

It was a lot more traditional inside the inner sanctums of the Parliament Building. Antoine, our tour guide, explaining all the significance of the details on the walls. the four main influences of the region were The Irish, The French, The Catholic Church and The English Parliamentary system of rule.

The famous golden Septor. Because we were able to see it on display it meant that Parliament was not in session. The Septor would be in the chambers with them if Parliament was in session and has been since the very beginning.

There are so many gorgeous stained glass windows all throughout the Parliament Building.

Leading into the Parliament dining room. We had planned on eating there, since it is not often you actually get to dine in an actual Parliament building, but by the time our tour finished, the dining room was already closed.

Where the all the official business takes place in Quebec City for the Province of Quebec.

More of the modern art on display. We had to take a picture of this because it reminded us of our Juneau. 🙂

A tribute to the Canadian Suffragettes.

The Library of Parliament.

This picture depicts the fire that destroyed the original Parliament building. The Parliament of the United Province of Canada in Montreal burned down on April 25, 1849. It is important to note that this was not the current Quebec City parliament building, but the former one located in Montreal when it was the capital.

Taking a little breather.

By the end of the Parliament tour, we were tired and had worked up an appetite. it was time to find some place to eat. 🙂

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Most of our hotels offered breakfast, so we would eat our breakfasts there, then eat our main meals in different places, wherever we were when we got hungry. This time, after a beautiful day of driving, we found a gorgeous place along the St. Lawrence River.

We ate at La Marina de Grand Mere. While everyone else got us a seat out on the beautiful patio, right on the river, I was busy taking pictures all around. They had to look at the menu anyway, right?! 🙂

Larry and I shared a delicious, fresh salad with a maple-Dijon vinaigrette to start.

I had a duck and mushroom pasta.

I think Larry had a crab burger. Maureen just sent me an update. She said she enjoyed the pickerel fish and Milos had a burger. Everything was delicious, but the view -DIVINE! 🙂

I highly recommend enjoying dinner and a view here at La Marina de Grand Mere. Tout etait fantastique!

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Once again, it was time to move on. This time we were leaving Montreal and heading up towards Quebec City. Quebec City is 161 miles north east of Montreal, or a little over a 3 hour drive, normally. But we didn’t really have an agenda, so we took our time, and stopped and explored, and definitely took in all the beauty of the season. 🙂

This is what we saw the whole way up to Quebec City. 🙂

We stopped a few times along the way to stretch our legs and to take in more of the beautiful scenery. Canada is definitely beautiful, and especially at this time of year. One of our stops was at the Parc National de la Mauricie. After the hustle and bustle of both Boston and Montreal, we decided a nature day was in order.

Pretty asters and other flowers were all over.

We took selfies of the day everyday, every part of the trip.

Larry bought this shirt last year when we explored the Western portion of Canada. It was perfect for this day. The fall leaves matched his shirt. 🙂

We saw some wild turkeys out and about too. They’d better run and hide. Canada just celebrated their Thanksgiving, and ours is coming up soon. And we all know what Thanksgiving means for turkeys!

We looked for moose all over, but these are the only kind we saw.

This was such a beautiful, leisurely drive. We were all “ooohing and awwwwing” all along the way.

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After our fantastic tour of Old Montreal, and walking all over the beautiful city, it was time to stop and enjoy some of the famous foods of Montreal. We stopped and ate at one of the many outside cafes. Between the four of us, we did our best to enjoy the four most famous foods of Montreal – poutine, maple syrup, smoked meat and bagels (though we tried the bagels later on).

Larry had the poutine with smoked meat.

I had a pizza, with smoked sausage.

And Maureen and Milos spilt a club sandwich, with gravy on the side for the fries. That’s another Canadian thing, like mayonnaise for fries.

We even had a couple of little visitors who offered to help with our scraps.

After lunch, we strolled around some more, and went into the shops. We did get to try the famous Montreal maple syrup too. It is very good.

And yes, we did get our bagels too. We were on a mission to find one of the famous bagel shops Stephanie had recommended, and we finally found one of them – Fairmount Bagels.

All they offer is a variety of bagels and spreads. Stephanie recommended we ask for whatever bagels were fresh out of the oven.

We loaded up with fresh bagels and enjoyed them back in our hotel, with another fun fame night. The bagels were our dinner that night. The bagels of Montreal are good, but we all decided we prefer the New York bagels. I guess it is all what you are used to.

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

According to Montreal tourist websites, fall is the best time to go, so we unknowingly hit Montreal at the best time. The fall foliage was gorgeous and so vibrant, in all shades of reds, oranges, yellows and greens. The day started off grey and rainy, but the weather cleared up for our tour.

Montreal is a very large city full of contrasts. It is over 400 years old. The old buildings are so beautiful and very French. Here are some other fun facts about Montreal I bet you didn’t know.

1. Montreal is an island; one of about 400 along the St. Lawrence River.
2. Montreal has an underground city. The Underground City is a maze of tunnels and shops that covers more than 18 miles. We explored parts of the underground city as part of our tour.
3. With the highest number of tango dancers and dance halls on the continent, Montréal is the tango capital of North America.

We took a tour of Old Montreal. Our tour guide, Stephanie, was a lot of fun and very passionate about being a Montrealer. She took us all over the old parts of town, as well as some of the new parts of town. She was so knowledgeable. The old buildings and all the Quebecquois history were just fascinating.

One of our first stops was the Marche Bonsecours, inaugurated in 1847. It used to be the main market place for Montrealers. Today, it is still a market place, just of a different kind. Today it is home to boutique shops and restaurants.

This very old cathedral faces the St. Lawrence River, and was considered to be the church that protected the sailors. As expected it was gorgeous, both inside and out. The Catholic religion is still the dominant religion of Montreal and Quebec and there are lots of beautiful Catholic churches all around.

Mother Mary is overlooking the St. Lawrence river to protect all the sailors.

The cathedral was so ornate. I took tons of pictures, but I won’t show them all. I have way too many to share. I highly recommend making this a must-see stop though if you are ever in Montreal. I love all the old churches, basilicas and cathedrals. I love all their attention to detail.

General sights of Montreal.

The Olympic Torch and stadium.

As you would expect, being French, Montreal loves good food. There are lots of good restaurants all over the city.

The four foods Montreal is known for are:

1. Bagels. Montreal has a very large Jewish population, as well as a very large Catholic population, and the Montreal bagels are said to rival the New York bagels. They are boiled in honey water and are not as light and fluffy as the New York bagels, but are more dense.
2. Maple syrup. About 85% of all the world’s maple syrup comes from the Montreal area of Quebec.
3. Smoked meats, usually pastrami.
4. Poutine, or as Montrealers call it, fromage squish squish. Poutine is made with crispy fries, squeaky cheese or cheese curds and rich gravy. It can be topped with all kinds of other things too.

Stephanie made this unofficial flag of the Montreal foods. Between the four us of, we tried them all.

Our tour took us all around old Montreal. We walked up and down the hills and streets of Old Montreal and ended up walking at least 5-6 miles, taking in all the sights everywhere we went.

There has always been a sort of rivalry between the English and the French in Montreal, and has even been depicted in their art and structures. This is the old bank, established by the English.

Facing the old bank is a statue of a French woman holding her poodle, turning up her nose at the English, and “their love of money”.

Across the way, there is an old cathedral and a statue of an English man, holding his pug, turning up his nose at the “French cathedral and the French piety”. It is all done in good fun though, and these two thoughts have become iconic in the culture of Montreal.

The Montreal flag, the Canadian flag and the Quebec flag, all proudly flying high.

These buildings all used to be separate buildings, until they were joined to make one big, beautiful city within a city.

A piece of the Berlin Wall after it was torn down.

Inside the tunnels of the Underground City.

The tunnels led us to the entrance of the Convention Center, and the “Lipstick Garden”. A percentage of the annual budget is earmarked to supporting local and contemporary art all throughout the city.

The outside of the Convention Center, or Centre.

And of course, there is traditional art everywhere you go too. Just look at all this filigree and attention to detail. I LOVE it!!!!!

After our tour, we drove around through some of the suburbs of Montreal and were treated to gorgeous views of the city from a distance.

Beautiful potted flowers were everywhere we went.

Montreal is a BIG, beautiful city filled with a rich, living history. We just barely scratched the surface. There is so much to see and do.

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We weren’t expecting to find an Irish pub in Montreal, but that we did. We didn’t have much time to scout things out though, because the boys were on a time schedule, so we thought having pub food would be our best bet. We went to Pub McLean’s Public House.

Outside, it was French first. Inside, it was in English.

We were already learning that in Quebec, everything has to be both in French and English, and by law, the French has to come first and be in larger print than the English. Maureen and Milos are Canadian, but they live in Summerland, in B.C. In the English Provinces, it is the opposite.

When we first arrived, it was still early, and the pub was kind of quiet, but it was filling up quickly as we were leaving.

We enjoyed typical pub food in a typical pub setting. Maureen and Milos both had burgers, though Maureen had a smashed burger, which are different than ours. These smashed burgers 2 burgers smashed, with a filling of some sort between them.

Larry and I both had fish ‘n chips. It doesn’t get much more traditional pub-like than fish ‘n chips, right?! 🙂 It was a good, simple dinner.

My French is very rusty, but it was coming back to me all over Quebec. I tried to use it as much as I could, though everyone we encountered spoke English as well, but then we were in the cities. In the more rural areas of Quebec, everyone speaks mostly French, though English is taught in the schools.

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

After leaving Boston and our hotel in New Hampshire, we had a long day of driving to make it to Montreal in time for Milos and Larry to go to a hockey game. We drove straight through Hew Hampshire and Vermont with just a few necessary stops in between. The drive was GORGEOUS! All the fall colors were on full display.

These are pictures from the car, while driving. They don’t do the fall colors justice though. I have a lot more pictures of the fall colors, coming later, that will really make you say WOW! The best colors were on the drive from Montreal to Quebec City.

The American-Quebec Border.

We had to stop for necessities, and this was the fireplace in the visitors center. We thought for sure we would see some moose on the loose, and we were on moose patrol all the way up, but NONE, not a one (not a real one at least) for the whole trip.

Boys will be boys, no matter their age. 🙂

We stayed at the Hotel Brossard, just outside of Montreal. It was like staying in a chateau.

Larry and I stayed in the Pirate room, with an adjoining Captain Jack Sparrow room.

Once we got checked into our hotel, we headed into Montreal for dinner and the hockey game for the boys.

Montreal is another BIG city filled with lots of contrasts. It is very similar to Boston. In fact, Canada, especially Quebec, and the United States have a lot of similarities and share a similar history, except Quebec is mostly influenced by the French. There are buildings and structures that are 400 years old right next to brand new, modern buildings. I like all the old buildings and structures so much more than I do the new ones. They have so much more personality and pizzazz. The new ones are boring in comparison, at least to me.

The four of us were only in Montreal long enough for dinner at this time. After dinner, Maureen and I left the boys in town, and we headed back to the hotel. It was raining and we didn’t feel like being in the city at night by ourselves in the rain. After the game, the boys took a bus back to where we were staying and Maureen and I picked them up at the nearby bus station. I will have lots more Quebecquois adventures later. 🙂

Restez a l’ecoute. J’en aurai beaucoup plus a vous proposer bientot. Stay tuned. I have a lot more coming your way soon.

Passez une bonne journee et faites en sorte que chaque jour soit formidable. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Yesterday, I told you about 2 delicious restaurants we tried in Boston. Our first one was Union Oyster House for clam chowder and fish ‘n chips, fyi, john Kennedy’s favorite Boston restaurant too. Great Eats In the Great North – Part 1 – Union Oyster House, Boston Our 2nd one was in the North End of Boston, or “Little Italy” as it is also called. It was called Giacomos Risorante.

The North End is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, located along Boston Harbor. The North End became a center for Italian immigrants and their descendants, and today it is famous for its Italian food, cafes, and cultural heritage. Touring The Great North – Part 2 – Boston’s Freedom Trail.

Giacomos has been named one of the 20 best Italian restaurants in the United States. It is family owned and operated, as it has always been, and is a permanent fixture in The North End. Giacomos is owned and operated by Richard and Adriana Travaglione (who both run the North End location of Giacomo’s as well as the nearby Riccardo’s). Giacomos is a cash-only no-frills restaurant that serves hearty authentic traditional Italian cuisine, made like it was made in “the old country”. They pride themselves on utilizing premium ingredients to deliver the authentic flavors of Italy, serving everything in a warm, family friendly atmosphere. Family meals are about more than just eating; they’re moments to talk, laugh, and share experiences.

We sat upstairs, overlooking the street below, where we could watch all the passers-by. The food was amazing and just what we were hoping for.

We started out with wine, beer and delicious bread that could have easily been a meal all by itself.

Next came our entrees. !Delicioso! We all ordered something different. Since so many of our stops were around the coast, Larry and I enjoyed seafood at almost every stop. Giacomos was no different. I enjoyed pasta with seared scallops in a spicy red sauce.

Larry had calamari in red sauce that was both creamy and spicy.

Maureen ordered ravioli in a creamy tomato sauce.

Milos ordered shrimp with pesto sauce.

Everything was so good and we did our best to eat every last bite, though I admit I wasn’t able to finish everything on my plate. Maybe it was because I enjoyed too much bread beforehand. HMMMM! I’ll have to work on that. I confess. Good bread is a weakness of mine. 🙂 Needless to say, we were all very full and very satisfied, with NO room leftover for another bite, and NO dessert.

While we were finishing up our dinner, a singer came to entertain all the guests. He was a fun addition to an already great dinner.

Giacomos is located at 355 Hanover St, Boston, MA 02116. You can call them at (617) 523-9026 or just show up and hope for a table. Go early if you are a walk-in. They are open 7 days a week from 12:00-10:00 PM.

It was a good thing we had to walk a distance, up hill at that, back to our car after dinner. We all needed to walk off some of our dinner. (Hint, hint. We did A LOT of walking all over on this trip. We were averaging about 5 miles a day). By walking after dinner, we were able to take in even more of the Boston sights too. There are a lot of statues and tributes to people all over the city.

This was the end of our Boston portion of the trip. Once we got back to our hotel, we pulled out the games and had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Next stop, Montreal.

Stay tuned. There is lots more coming your way. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe, stay well, and keep exploring. There is a whole world out there to see and experience. ‘Til next time.

Even though we only had 1 full day in Boston, we dined at two famous locations; something we rarely do. Usually when we travel we only have one main meal for the day. But this day in Boston, we had two, and both were planned.

Our first stop was for lunch at Union Oyster House, the oldest continuous operating restaurant in North America.

Union Oyster House was like stepping into a Revolutionary museum. The walls were adorned with all kinds of history from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

An old pewter water fountain, probably made by Paul Revere himself.

Union Oyster House is very proud of its historical contributions. They even offer historical brochures to their guests.

President John F. Kennedy is a famous Bostoner. He loved dining at Union Oyster House and even has his own booth named after him. People were sitting in it while we there, so I could not take a picture of it.

Boston Harbor in 1742.

I could give you so many more pictures of Boston’s history just from Union Oyster House alone, but some things are better when experienced personally. Pictures don’t do justice to all of Boston’s history. Besides, the food was good too. We had to have some famous Boston clam chowder and fish ‘n chips while in Boston, and this is the place to get it.

I know I took pictures of us in the restaurant, but alas, they are somewhere in hiding at the moment and can’t be found. Oh well. You will just have to take my word for it that we were there and thoroughly enjoyed our first official meal in Boston.

Stay tuned. I have lots more coming your way. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.