"Quebec, Canada's French Connection" - Time Out #147

Many vacationing people of Our Town and Beyond would love to visit France in their lifetime.

For several reasons, it is difficult to pull this off. One of the big reasons is cost to get there. Another major obstacle is the distance to travel. Included in that distance thing is usually a flight across the "Big Pond", i.e., the vast North Atlantic Ocean. If you are a white knuckle flyer to begin with, folks, the jet flight over the large body of water below just turns many folks negative to traveling to Europe.

Let me share a small secret with you; you can have a big taste of the French way of life right here in North America. In fact, it really isn't too terribly far away.

I'm speaking of French Canada, and more specifically the large Canadian province of Quebec.

This special northern neighbor province touches our New England borders of upstate New York, Vermont and Maine.

My bride, Debbie, and I have been to Quebec several times, but I am going to concentrate today's discussion to a trip we made with another couple a few years ago. The four of us used Collette Tours as our vendor, and had an absolute wonderful time in a week-plus adventure. We did spend an additional 2 days, post-group tour, on our own, traveling to incredible Niagara Falls before flying home. In an earlier episode, I have already discussed in detail lovely Niagara Falls. Therefore, I will confine this week's topic to just provincial Quebec.

We flew from Oklahoma City to colorful Montreal, the province's largest city of about 1.7 million folks. A big part of the thrill of this particular trip was staying in 3 spectacular Fairmont Hotels. In Montreal, we stayed 2 evenings in centrally-located Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, a famous landmark with 962 beautiful rooms. It is also positioned directly above the major railroad station in the city, and the national VIA Rail Canada system. The Canadian system is similar to our Amtrak system, but probably more reliable, in my humble opinion. This Fairmont hotel also provides easy access to Underground Montreal, a intricate series of subterranean malls in the downtown area that have everything a shopper could want. Yes, we parted with some tourist money in those malls in our 2 days on-site, and I have to say it was really fun, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the underground retail environment.

The first full day after arrival, our small group of less than 40 travelers, mostly from the USA, but other nationalities represented, too, took a morning, all-encompassing city tour via motorcoach. We had a narrated trip, driving thru the city's major highlights including; Mont-Royal Park, overlooking the vibrant city, McGill University, Olympic Park (host to the 1976 summer games), the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, the Montreal Biodome, and historical Old Monreal. After the extensive guided-tour, our foursome returned to Old Montreal, along the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway, for a wonderful lunch at a quaint outdoor cafe. This 94-acre section of the city has some buildings dating back to the 17th century, and occupying the site of the city's original settlement, Ville-Marie. All the signage, printed material, etc. in Quebec by law has to be in 2 languages, English and French. Thus, the earlier reference to France in this article's introduction.

After a restful second evening in the hotel, our group was off early the next morning for a new adventure. Actually, to make this happen, we merely had to go downstairs from our hotel to the train station, and board a sleek VIA Rail Canada passenger train for an exciting trip northeast across Quebec to the end of the Gaspé Peninsula, and the rural town of Gaspé. Our travel group weren't the only folks on the train, so we were able to meet other interesting travelers aboard this marvelous way to see the country, by rail The dining car, observation car and lounge car were all great experiences!

Arriving in remote Gaspé (population 15,000), we disembarked the train, and were then transported via motorcoach for a tour of nearby lovely Forillon National Park. This park overlooks the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and provides incredible water overlooks, in addition to a green landscape full of giant evergreen trees. After our park visit, we were transported to the even more remote town of Perce, and enjoyed staying there for 2 nights.

In Perce, we became immersed in this quaint seaside town, and it's abundance of French Canadian fishermen, displaying their bountiful catches. Our group took the Perce Boatmen narrated 2-hour tour, bringing us close to famous Perce Rock (1,420-feet long by 288-feet high), pierced by a large arched opening. Our boat also went by Bonaventure Island, a migratory bird sanctuary for 200,000 birds. The peacefulness of this geographic tip of mainland Canada was so relaxing and beautiful.

From this remote location in this distant branch of Quebec, our Collette group boarded our nicely-equipped motor coach for the return trip to Montreal over the next 4 days. The first part of that time we were educated in experiencing the Canadian system of using her natural resources in basic ways. We visited beekeeping operations and saw all that went into the process to enjoy the end product, delicious honey. Another place we learned all about raising apples, and enjoyed tasting multiple products from them. Still another visit was to a winery all the entire process to produce delicious wine.

After crossing the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway via ferry which in itself was an awesome experience, we spend 2 restful days and evenings in the rural setting of the famed Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu. before moving on to our final 2 full days in historic Quebec City at the iconic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. This provincial capital city of over half million people is incredibly quaint and historical. We had a wonderful long guided tour through the walkable city highlights, then had lots of free time to explore as we wished. Our last full day, we were taken 7 miles east of the city to Montmorency Falls Park. This is a beautiful 270-foot (98-feet taller than Niagara Falls)waterfall, that has viewing it up-close easier via an incredible suspension bridge that spans the entire falls.

Formal tour completed, we drove off in a rental to enjoy nearby Niagara Falls once again, before returning to Our Town from Buffalo, New York, via an airplane connection.

Wow! What an experience for this flat-lander and his bride!