On the Road Again...

This blog starts on Sunday Oct 2.

We had an early start as Lisa & Nigel had to get a 6.30am bus to Newark airport for their flight to San Francisco. The bus left from the Port Authority Bus Terminal which is only a 5 minute walk from the apartment. We waved them off and then went back to bed it was way too early to be up and about.

Had a lazy day around the apartment until our Canadian friends, June & Kalman arrived late afternoon from Paris, they had been travelling to Italy & Paris for a month.

A couple of Australian friends, Andy and Mary Thomas, were visiting New York for a week so we arranged to meet them after they had done the Empire State Building. We then headed back to the apartment to have some lunch and show them our abode. 

Terry then took off with them to the Staten Island Ferry to view that statue, walk around the financial district and they then caught the subway up to Central Park ending up at Mickey Mantel’s bar near the Plaza Hotel in 57^th street. Later that night we went to The Medi restaurant in 9^th avenue for a tapas meal with Kalman and June.

Now it’s that day, the reason we’re in New York, Terry’s ?0 birthday…(the ? can be whatever you want it to be…). June and Kalman gave him some wonderful presents from the Mets baseball shop.

Kristie was in New York for a couple of days with friends so we met up with her at a café near her hotel to have lunch and catch up on her news from the past 4 months.

We’d organised a dinner for 10 at The Harvard Club to celebrate the occasion – Terry & Pam, Kalman & June, Andy & Mary, Karen & Paul (from Chelsea) and the organiser Maria (our real estate agent) & Stephen. We had a wonderful dinner, Terry was spoilt with more presents and everyone had a great time. Terry got some calls from home as well as a number of messages on his facebook page, which was nice.

L to R - Steve, Kalman, Karen, Maria, Andy, June, Paul, Pam, Terry, Mary

Left New York in the hire car with June and Kalman on Wednesday for our trip upstate and into Canada. Getting out of Manhattan was a lot easier than we thought it would be and we got to Tarrytown about an hour north of Manhattan. Found a lovely restaurant on the Hudson River for lunch with a view back to the skyline of Manhattan. It was a little windy but the sun was out, very pleasant to sit in the open and take in the view.

Our first stop for the night was a small town called Saratoga Springs about 2 hours further north in upstate New York at a lovely B&B, The Lamplight Inn. We were directed to a local bar & restaurant called The Waters Edge, where we had a great night, wonderful service and food. On our return to the B&B June realised she’d left her bag behind so they went back to retrieve it only to find the bar manager ringing the B&B to tell her she’d left it behind. Wonderful service.

We drove around the area the next morning, Terry took some great photos of the autumn colours reflecting in the lake with the sun out. As we travel further north we’re told the colours will be even more amazing.

We travelled over the border into Canada without any problems and drove onto Prevost a small town north of Montreal. Kalman’s friend, Christian, who we’d met in 2008 on our travels through India, lives in Prevost with Martine, his wife. It’s a beautiful setting, the trees, the lakes, the colours and it was very mild, just magic. We had two wonderful days with Christian and Martine – walking around the local area, eating, drinking and socialising mainly in English but also a little French! Christian has a Formula One simulator  which Terry had to try, of course! He got such a buzz from it he took quite a few hours to get to sleep that night.

We had such a good time we were sorry to leave Prevost, however on Saturday morning we headed off to Quebec City. We took a secondary road along the St Lawrence River expecting we’d find a lovely little café on the river for lunch but it wasn’t to be. We did find a very basic roadside place  which suited our needs and then got back on the main highway to Quebec. We’d booked a B&B in the old city, which we found pretty easily and we were able to park the car. 

We then took off to walk around the old city, Kalman and June had lived in QC when they first met so they played tour guides and showed us the sights. We walked around the boardwalk to the Chateau Frontenac, a grand old building right above the river for a drink and to take in the view. Like many of those places we got stung on the price of the drinks but it was worthwhile. Our dinner that night was disappointing, the service was terrible, although the food was nice. We told the owner of the B&B to remove the literature he had for this restaurant and not to recommend it, he hadn’t been there himself so he wasn’t to know.

June and Kalman stayed at the B&B the next day, Kalman was coming down with a cold and feeling unwell. We took the car and headed north along the river to see the autumn colours and all the lovely towns along the way. The area is called Charlevoir and was recommended by Christian. We weren’t disappointed. Our first stop was Baie St Paul, a gorgeous little town where we found some wonderful art galleries, one in particular – Beauchamp. The owner was very talkative and even though there were many other people in the gallery he obviously took a liking to us and wouldn’t leave us in peace. However we took his card as he has a gallery in Toronto and we’ll look into that one when we get to Toronto, he won’t be there! We drove through many more towns and found a place for lunch on the river at St Simeon, again a lovely relaxing spot.

Our destination was Tadoussac, about 250km north of Quebec City, a big day trip but well worth it. We had to get a short car ferry ride from the Baie St Catherine across to Tadoussac on the river Saguenay. Tadoussac is a small tourist town right on the river where many whale watching trips originate.

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do a whale watching trip but we walked about the town and the beautiful old hotel right on the water before heading back to Quebec City as we’d booked dinner at a lovely restaurant, The Continental. We got back to the B&B by 7.15pm and walked a short distance to the restaurant. Dinner was excellent, the food and the service, we had a wonderful night. 

After dinner we walked around a beautiful fountain, just outside the gate of the old city, which was lit up with purple spotlights, Terry got some great photos.

We had another day in Quebec City so we spent the morning walking around the old city and along the old city walls.

We drove over to Ile d’Orleans a small island in the St Lawrence River quite close to Quebec City. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant on the water and then drove around the island, which has many galleries, wineries and cafes. Before we headed back to Quebec City we had a quick visit to a huge Catholic cathedral, St Anne’s and the Montmorency Falls.

Had a great chat to the owner of the B&B, Francis, who surprisingly loves vegemite so we left him the part tube we had with us.

Kalman and June headed back to Toronto on Tuesday morning, so we dropped them off at the airport and drove onto Montreal via the river road; the colours were beautiful. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn right in downtown. They had a happy “couple of hours” with half price cocktails so we partook for a couple of hours and then watched the baseball on TV as the baseball is coming to the end of its playoffs before the “World Series” final commences later in October.

We walked around the old city of Montreal the next morning; it was very quiet. Montreal is a big university town so apart from students there didn’t appear to be much happening which was contrary to what we’d read and been told. It would appear that after the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in early October (different date to the American Thanksgiving holiday) Montreal goes to sleep. Montreal is on an island and has many other very small islands within its municipality, we headed over to one which has a Biosphere but it wasn’t that interesting although Terry got some good photos.

We took in the main art museum and then Terry took off to the Olympic Stadium on the metro for a quick look.

That was the end of highlights in Montreal except for a quick visit to St. Joseph’s Oratory, a huge cathedral on the outskirts which we visited on our way out of Montreal the next morning.

Next stop, Ottawa, the capital of Canada. We took a leisurely drive from Montreal which is in the province of Quebec, to Ottawa which is in the province of Ontario along the Ontario side of the St Lawrence River through some beautiful towns, particularly Hudson. The colours of the trees and the grand houses were picture perfect.

We got into Ottawa late in the afternoon, booked into a hotel very close to the city centre and went for a walk around the ByWard market area, which is one of the oldest public markets in Canada. Lots of pubs, restaurants and shops are around this area so as it was wet and cold we had a drink in an Irish pub and a lovely meal in Vineyards Restaurant nearby.

The next morning, Friday Oct 14, was a lovely sunny day so we took off and walked around the parliament buildings which are in a beautiful setting with the Ottawa River on one side and the Rideau Canal on the other. Further up the canal is the Notre Dame cathedral and various museums.

The weather was changing so we took off in the car towards Toronto, 450kms away, along some of the back roads. The rain was very heavy in a couple of places so driving was difficult but it cleared and we managed to find some beautiful spots; Chaffeys Locks in particular.

We got back onto a main road and knocked over some kilometres before stopping at Cobourg on Lake Ontario for dinner. We found a Scottish pub, which used to be a prison, with old fashioned meals, Terry had liver, Pam had fish & chips. We eventually arrived at Toronto to stay with June and Kalman for a couple of nights.

Halloween decorations on the way to Toronto

It was a very, very cold Saturday morning in Toronto, so with coats and scarfs we jumped in the car and spent the morning seeing some sights in Toronto – the university and surrounds, the inner city and found a lovely South American café for lunch.

Found the sister gallery to the one we’d previously seen in Quebec which had less on display although June and Kalman found a painting they liked. That night they’d asked a number of friends over for drinks so we spent a pleasant couple of hours talking travel & sport with Canadians.

Next stop Niagara and then onto upstate New York.

Pam & Terry