I've always wanted to take a trip north of the border, so I recently picked up a travel guide to Montréal and Québec City, because if you are going to go to Canada, shouldn't you go to the part with the oldest buildings, the different language, and the exciting separatist movement? Of course you should!Montréal is very appealing as an urban and kind of cosmopolitan getaway, but I think in my ideal trip I'd spend a day or two there at the start and end of the visit, and spend the rest of the time in Québec City and the little towns nearby. If you don't ski and aren't particularly interested in shopping, it seems the big things to do in Québec City are stroll around the old streets looking at old buildings, sit down and look at the river, or sit in a café, restaurant, or bar and eat and drink tasty things. These happen to be some of my favorite activities ever!
This Frommer's guide was a great introduction to the region -- it was nicely written with clear maps, gave just enough detail without being overwhelming, and included a pretty detailed section on the history of the region, which is something I really like to have in a travel guide.
Also, the national dish in Québec is the amazing sounding poutine. I seriously can't think of any better reason to go to Canada and I wish I had a big bowl of gravy and cheese curd covered french fries in front of me right now.
3 comments:
To my disappointment, poutine, especially traditional-style with brown gravy, isn't good. Starchy and salty (not in a good way), even the cheese curd is mainly a textural accent.
I love that you read travel guides for fun. I only ever look at them after I've got plane tickets.
But I so wanted poutine to be as delicious as it sounds! We had a long conversation at work about poutine a few weeks ago and by the end I was beside myself that there is no real poutine in Texas that I could try.
Don't ruin my poutine dreams, John! Also, I have a great love for french fries and brown gravy (we would always order them along with bottomless pots of coffee at the Village Inn in high school where we stayed all night driving the waitstaff crazy). Cheese curds could only make this better. I still believe!
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