Crossing the international bridge into Canada

First stop in Canada was Montreal and the obligatory tour bus ride. Montreal is a large city, population of the metro area is about 4 million. Almost twice as large as Baltimore

A huge Church, St Joseph's Oratory on a hill over looking Montreal

View of Olympic Stadium in the distance. The Stadium was built for the 1976 Olympics.

One of the Stations of the Cross

 

   

Next stop was Quebec. A much smaller city, metro population of about 800,000, with a very European feel. Pictured above is the famous Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel

Quebec City was a walled city to defend against it's many adversaries. Four of the gates and parts of the walls still exist.

 

A view from our hotel window

Night view from our hotel window

The first morning Diane insisted we have breakfast in one of the local cafes.

It was pretty good

 

They have quite a few murals around town

A view across the St Lawrence River into Levis, Canada

Many cafes, hotels and restaurants line the streets

 

We had lunch at a little cafe and had a seat right next to the window which provided great views

Diane had to try a favorite local French dish Poutain, potatos topped with meat gravy and cheese curds

We were going to eat at Subway but couldn't read the menu

There is another part of the city called the lower city. It can be reached by this incline. When I was here in 1955 it was a slum and unsafe to visit. Now it's a thriving tourist area.

 

   

We took a guided tour of the Parliament Building, very interesting

 

   

Final night we had a drink and ate dinner at The Grand Cafe on Rue St James

The fences were in place for a Tour de France caliber bike race there that weekend

The next morning we headed due south into Maine. This is all we saw for about 60 miles. It was pretty scenic.

The monotony was finally broken by the Chaudiere River which we followed for 10 miles or so

We were getting low on gas and I was getting worried but thankfully we reached Jackman, Maine and a gas station

Right next to the small parking lot at the Trading Post sits this fake police car with dummy policeman inside. Guess they're trying to slow people down so they stop in and buy something

Continuing south through Maine we had to stop at Freeport, the home of LL Bean

We stopped at Portsmouth, NH where I was stationed at Pease Air Force Base in the late 60's. The little round roof portion of this building is a wagon that used to sit in the town square at night. Went there many a time for a late night hot dog after visiting the local clubs

   

We headed south along the coast of NH, which has really not changed much in 50 years, to Peabody, Mass to visit Diane's Aunt Fee and Uncle Fern. We had dinner with them and cousin Denise and her friend Kevin. We're really sorry that we didn't get any pictues of that part of out trip.

 

The end