I’m back!

With five full days to work with my cousin Walter and I set across over metropolitan Canada, driving (up to and then) from the serene Old Town of Quebec City to Niagara Falls with stops in Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto along the way. Yes, I also made it to Alburg (or Alburgh), Vermont – the noted bridged-in exclave of the United States but failed to grace St. Regis, QC with my presence as our back-ending of this trip took us far from the original plan.

In short order, here were the stops we made:

• Albany, NY – A quick drive through around New York State’s capital city.
• Saratoga Springs, NY – We stopped at this famous horse racing town for lunch.
• Alburgh, VT – A quick drive through.
• Old Town Quebec City – A full rainy day’s worth of activity
• Montmorency Falls – Highly underrated falls located just outside of Quebec City – our “northernmost” and “easternmost” point on this trip.
• Parc Olympique (Olympic Park) – The venue for the 1976 Summer Games and the former Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals). We went up to the top of the Montreal Tower – the world’s tallest inclined tower.
• Parliament and Government Buildings in Ottawa – We couldn’t miss Parliament for our first visit to Canada’s capital city. We arrived just in time for some great evening and night shots and toured the Parliament in the morning.
• Fort Henry in Kingston, ON – One of Canada’s most recently designated historical parks, we stopped over in Kingston where we took in the Fort and drove around the town.
• CN Tower – We went up to the general viewing platform of the tallest tower in the western hemisphere (Montreal Tower, hmmph). We spent way too much money on parking, admission and dinner, but it was worth it.
• Niagara Falls – Self explanatory.

It’s hard to pinpoint a favorite place, but the charm of Quebec (essentially a European country in North America) will have me coming back sometime in the future. I’ll have plenty to post about in the coming days so keep a keen eye on the blog!