Wiki Wiki What: I ♥ Québec

I had been having a really bad time since switching job and became almost an entirely different person. The new job was just not challenging enough and it really took a tole on my mood, which is something that doesn't usually happen. I believe that when something goes wrong you have to try to fix the problem and find a solution. Mine was a roadtrip.

Everything was planned, we were headed to GTA to visit my cousin and an old friend of ours from high school. I haven't been driving for long (a month) so my mom was hesitant to lend me her car for the trip so we decided on renting it. I did the mistake of booking through Enterprises' online registration form which has zero information as to procedures and such.

When we arrived friday morning, my friend and I, we were shocked to learn that the one who rents the car (AKA the one with the credit) also has to present a driver's license even though he isn't the one driving. You can imagine what happened? He has a credit card but no permits. I have a permit but no credit card. Yeah.

Walk out of Enterprise, call my mom, ask to borrow the car. She is relunctant but finally says yes with one exception. I cannot take the 401 to go to Toronto because she would worry all weekend. Who wants to give anxiety to their mother? Exactly.

So last minute we decided to roadtrip through Quebec, see all of the small towns that border the highway, and slowly make our way up to Quebec City to visit a friend of ours.

What an awesome decision!

We started off by visiting Mont Tremblant, a quaint ski-resort town surrounded by a picturesque landscape. Mountains on either side and believe it or not, still had snow on them!!!All of the shops and businesses kept the theme of a ski resort town. Everything looked like chalets and it added that extra coziness that the town really didn't need but is so appreciated by tourists. Like me!

It's hard to keep the eyes on the road when you have titans beside you. My gaze kept drifting towards the side and I was amazed at just how beautiful the area was. The air was so fresh and pure and although it was cold, I don't believe we closed the windows once when passing through Tremblant.

We passed through the Laurentides, one of many regions in Quebec. I spotted a cross on the hill across the river and it started our mission of taking pictures of all the crosses we seen. And there a LOT of churches in Quebec lmao. Here are just a few examples of nice crosses:

We kept heading up north and saw some amazing bridges, some higher - hence scarier - then others.

The second photo is that of the bridge that leads to Quebec City and let me tell you it is one hell of a scary ride when traffic takes over. Every man for himself! ahhh

Our first pit stop on friday night was Montreal. We finally settled for the Hilton Garden Inn. I illegally went into the underground parking without even knowing. Someone was leaving, they activated the door just as I was there. So i went in. :)

I was a little stunned to be greeted in English at a major hotel in downtown Montreal but apparently the big city is bustling with anglophones. No hate, just very shocked!

The hotel clearly is ready for any form of intruders as your room card gives you access to the elevators and the front door (past 23h00). Don't try and visit the upper floors, the elevator won't budge. It took us a few minutes to comprehend the procedure lol. Here are some pics of our hotel in MTL:

YES! I was lucky enough to have Starbucks coffee in the morning without paying for it. I figured it's the least they could do when they charge you $22.00 for parking PLUS TAXES. rip-off.

Once settled we decided to take a tour of Montreal and saw this really cool new art project in Montreal but I don't have photos of it unfortunately. I found a link though on the internet which you can view here. It's what makes the metropolitan so attractive to tourists, really.

Of course, with sigh-seeing comes hunger and we found a little restaurant that was very outdated with wood, stained glass and yes, the traditional flags hanging over the dining room. We didn't catch the name because what attracted us to the inside was the "family-style" feel. Nothing better then eating in a restaurant that has that "traditional" charm to it.

We decided earlier that we would surprise our friend who lives in Quebec City. As we wanted to visit as many cities as possible we decided to take a detour by Sherbrooke and drove along Galte Ouest, a very curvy and peculiar stretch of road that shames Gatineau. They use curves and not friggin' speed bumps to control traffic. ARGH speedbumps!

We stumbled upon a random muddy parking (by parking I mean a spot where I could park my car lol) that bordered a river. Which river? I don't know but we took amazing shots!

We continued exploring the city and found a really nice art project by one of the school boards. It was brick towers with each brick painted differently by - i figure - staff and school children. It was so beautiful to see and touching to know that children have sometimes broader views then many adults I know. These are some of the paintings I couldn't resist capturing on - digital - film.

When we left Sherbrooke it was very very foggy, windy, and rainy. But that usually adds up to some beautiful mountain pictures. Let's see:

I don't know if you guys can see, but that is a major friggin fog bank sweeping in from the right. Was so nice to see in person. Was going to put up more pics but quality has been lost from view, to camera, to website. :(

It was kind of terrible to drive in this weather as visibility was not very good but it was good experience for next time, right?

We finally arrived in Quebec City around 21h00, I believe and decided to surprise our friend through Facebook. It was quite fun!! We chatted when we got there and then we headed for the hotel as we wanted to visit around the next day. We finally found our hotel even though the GPS made us do an odd turn around past the location of the hotel. The place was freakin amazing!!!!

There were birds in cages and palm trees. The Ambassador Hotel is a must stay place in the capital!!

After a good night's rest we joined our friend and her super cute baby for a stroll through Quebec City to enjoy the sights. There was a festival going on and we met this strange character:

LMFAO!!!

I was entirely convinced that it was a man underneath the "cinnamon stick". Those knees are way too manly and he walked like a thug, quite litterally. And let's face it, it's piece of poop with pigtails.

Ohhh I love that pic!

Another super cool find was this "art" display near the river. It was an outdoor classroom of sorts and we had quite a few laughs while we re-enacted our high school years.

I'm clearly too tall for this classroom!!

Oh what a blast! I cannot wait for the next road trip!! I will have gathered experience on the open road and will feel way more comfortable. Just hoping it won't rain next time so we can enjoy a bit more of the scenary.

Here are a few more pictures of the roadtrip.