Touring Quebec City and Montreal

I have been slowly getting settled in my new apartment for about two weeks now.  It is at a convenient location close to Dow's Lake, Arboretum, bike path to school, Ottawa River, and more.  Shortly after I moved in, my mother flew from Richmond for a month-long visit, so I have been hosting her since then and that explains why I have not been photographing or blogging as much.

This past weekend, we visited Quebec City and Montreal with a mostly-Asian tour group.  And like most tour groups, the schedule was packed and there was little free time to do anything else.

We left Ottawa early Saturday morning, and the first attraction was Château Frontenac in Quebec City.


We then boarded a cruise to view the city from Saint-Lawrence River.

On board AML Louis Jolliet.

View of Quebec City from the water.

Busy street scene after docking.

People everywhere!

We then went to Observatoire de la Capitale to view the city from above.

Passing by Fontaine de Tourny while going to Old Quebec.


Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church.  There were so many people that we decided not to go inside.

Colorful street art.

Fresque des Québécois

Another street scene.

After walking around Old Quebec, we went to Montmorency Falls for a short visit (about 20 minutes only).

In the evening, we were brought to a grocery store to buy our own dinner and breakfast (the hotel where we stayed at, Château Mont-Sainte-Anne, has kitchenette in the rooms).  The following morning, after eating the bagels we bought the night before, we visited Canyon Sainte-Anne.  There are many animal carvings along the path to the waterfall.

Patridge


Moose


Blue Jay


Yellow-bellied Sapsucker


Wolf

Black bear

Sainte-Anne Falls!

Giant's cauldrons

Mestachibo Bridge

After visiting the canyon and waterfall, we drove to Montreal and the first stop there was Biodôme.  Again, we were given a short amount of time (only one hour) to tour by ourselves and since it was the weekend, it was full of visitors and very difficult to move around and see most of the animals.  Plus, my camera battery was running very low so I took only a handful of photos.

Opal-rumped Tanagers (Tangara velia)


Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)

American beaver (Castor canadensis) trying to push woody material over the glass.  It did not succeed at all.

Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) with a realistic background.

The birds are allowed to fly around in their exhibit (as well as flying towards visitors and almost pooping on them).

Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)


Northern Rockhopper Penguin (Eudyptes moseleyi)

Next, we went to downtown Montreal.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

From another view.

Le Place d'Armes

Saint-Joseph's Oratory.  I took this photo from the tour bus with my phone.  It was the best photo I could get because my camera battery was completely empty by then.

Overall, it was a packed and exhausting tour of Quebec City and Montreal.  I really like both cities and can't wait to go back and experience them more comprehensively by myself in the near future.