This year was a milestone anniversary – 35 years. Hard to believe as time goes by so fast. Our first date was my high school prom, believe it or not. I moved to town right before my senior year, wasn’t dating anyone, and a guy I was friends with, Ray, asked me if I would ask his best friend from the school across town so we could all go as a group. Our dinner and prom were at The Toledo Club, and we have been together ever since.
We just got back from several weeks of trips – one in Brooklyn to help our son Riley through surgery, and the second was for me to Peru to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. We try to do a anniversary vacation every year. Our first National Park anniversary trip was to Yellowstone and Grand Teton which started us off on our adventure to visit every park in the US. (For the record, we still have two to go – Virgin Islands and American Samoa).
We wanted to go somewhere that would be memorable…. not too far, new to us both, international feel. We settled on Montreal and Quebec City. Quebec City was founded by Champlain in 1608 and became the capital of New France. Montreal was founded as Ville-Marie in 1642 by French settlers. In 1760, a battle between the French and British ensued in and the French surrendered to the British. It was then confederated with other provinces in 1867 to form Canada.
Montreal is the largest city in Quebec, and the second largest city in Canada. It has a wonderful Notre-Dame Basilica church, the largest outside France. It also has a beautiful Old Town and Old Port area. There are many skyscrapers, and it is home to several universities, including McGill (the Harvard of the North). It has a funky, artsy, feel, big and cosmopolitan….and is a great walking city.
Quebec City is cozy and welcoming, well knowns for its well preserved historic old town, Old Quebec which is UNESCO world heritage site. It is one of the most intact fortified cities in North America. It is a nice combination of European and North American architectural styles. The European and French vibe is very strong here.
Doing the two together was a trip into the heart and soul of French Canada. I was able to practice my French, enjoy the poutine, people watch, spend time in green spaces, and walk for kilometers, and kilometers and kilometers.
Five days was plenty for us, we flew into Montreal, rented a car to go to Quebec City, and took public or walked for the rest of our trip. Weather was great, people were friendly, and we were able to get a small taste of Europe and French culture without leaving North America. We enjoy visiting Canada a lot, so this was a great trip to round out some of our Canadian experience.
His Majesty John and her Majesty Kimberly will be back again!
