Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and the cultural heart of French North America. It boasts deep historical roots, unique geographical anomalies, and a distinct identity that sets it apart from the rest of the continent.
In Quebec, provincial law strictly forbids a woman from legally changing her last name to her husband's after marriage. The law was introduced as a progressive measure to promote gender equality. It ensures that a woman's legal identity is not automatically absorbed into her husband's upon marriage.
Geography & Nature
Colossal Size: It is roughly three times the size of France, covering over 1.5 million square kilometers.
Abundant Freshwater: The province holds about 3% of the world's renewable freshwater reserves and is dotted with more than a million lakes and rivers.
Ancient Landscapes: Just north of Montreal, the Laurentian Mountains are over 1 billion years old, making them one of the oldest geological formations on Earth.
Culture & History
A Walled City: Quebec City is North America’s only remaining fortified, walled city north of Mexico. Its historic district is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
French Focus: It is the only Canadian province where French is the sole official language, with over 80% of residents speaking it as their native tongue.
Sweet Global Dominance: Quebec is the maple syrup capital of the world, producing roughly 70% of the global supply.
Inventing Poutine: The world-famous comfort food of French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy was invented in rural Quebec in the late 1950s.
An Underground Metropolis: Montreal features a 32 kilometer underground network of pedestrian walkways, shopping malls, and metro stations known as RESO, which keeps residents warm during harsh winters.
The "Homeless Jesus" statue in Montreal is a life-size bronze sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz. It depicts a person sleeping on a park bench, completely covered in a blanket with only the crucifixion wounds on the exposed feet revealing it to be Jesus.
We dropped into the Time Out Market in the old Eaton's store, now a mall.
We had been to the Time Out in Lisbon. This was much the same, except I pity the tourist who can't read French!
We checked out their brunch menu and it looks good.
Our hotel, Hilton Doubletree, is within a office tower with a full mall, containing restaurants, shops, grocery store and connected to the subway (Metro).
This street is pedestrianised and there was a festival going on this weekend.
We had a coffee break.
Outside the hotel.
John's son picked us up around 4 and took us to their house where spent a few pleasant hours outside until the grandkids came home from their part-time jobs and we had dinner with a lot of fun and heated conversations.
We'll see J and L in a month when they come to Toronto.
We Ubered back to the hotel.
SUNDAY
We skipped the hotel breakfast and it was pouring rain so we Ubered to Pigeon Pigeon cafe for brunch at 11:30 with John's son and daughter and granddaughter for a great brunch.
I had TOAST À L’AVOCAT ET SAUMON FUMÉ / 20.95 avocat écrasé, deux œufs pochés, saumon fumé, oignons marinés, hollandaise au citron, aneth
John had BAGEL DÉJEUNER DE SHOEY .................... bagel grillé, mayo épicée, deux œufs frits, salami de bœuf, cheddar
Since it was still raining J dropped us off at the hotel as he was going home to pack to fly to Calgary in business. S headed to the hospital for a shift.
We read and napped as it was still raining.
For dinner we had ranked our choices, with the rain, patio dining wouldn't be an option. First, pizza, nope it was full (granted it was tiny without their patio), second, back to Cochon Dinge (we ate there Friday) where we were surprised by being asked if we had a reservation, no, there were seats at the bar, nope, kitchen was short-staffed etc.
Fine, third choice was La Cage aux Sports (in our hotel building), not a favourite of mine, We managed to get a seat although it was packed. Their patio was covered and heated.
I loved my meal, Sesame-crusted albacore tuna tataki, sticky rice, mixed greens, mango, mix of red cabbage, carrot and cilantro , avocado, soft-boiled egg, green onion, edamame, cucumber, radish, melon radish, sweet pepper, toasted sesame seeds, Wagyu vinaigrette.
.
John had 100% Canadian beef or patty, cheddar, bacon, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red onions, house sauce, served with fries, it was also good.
It is a sports bar and soccer and the UFC were on. So funny, when tRump appeared the bar booed, but they did not boo the American national anthem.
We had the breakfast buffet again and then left the hotel around 9:30 and walked to Central Station for our 10:49 train.
This is the church with the Homeless Jesus, so pretty (and Paris feeling) with the flower shop and a cafe.
The Ring and Central Station (Via) for our train home.
You can see the cross on the mountain in the distance.
It is amusing on the train, while we are in Ontario the announcements are English, then French, once we are in Quebec it is French then English.
We are enjoying our seat selection this trip, and will pick these again. There called 2X1, a couple face each other with a table between them, therefore we have window and aisle.
The food going home was hot and okay, chicken and rice with pickled cabbage.
Of course we were delayed, which lead to a 25% reduction on our next trip. We also have a 50% reduction from our October trip.
With seconds to go, well, 2 minutes we managed to catch our 5:30 shuttle home.
We had a gift from our new neighbours, thanking us (all the units on the floor) for putting up with their "renovation". They actually took it back to the studs and took 4 months!! Smart thinking on their part.
John 's birthday gifts, he should be good for a while.
I did a load of laundry. We unpacked. I dropped some clothing into the charity box downstairs, recently rediscovered!!
I also dropped used batteries into the recycling downstairs. I also got rid of that bubble wrap that you save "just in case"!
We both cleaned out the bottom shelf on the fridge door, where something very sticky had spilled, we still don't know what it was. We also cleared out a couple of things.
John followed up on his license plate sticker renewal date - March 2027. In Ontario, you still need to renew your vehicle registration, but you no longer receive or pay for physical license plate stickers for passenger vehicles, light trucks, or motorcycles.
I shredded the latest pile of paper and took a bag to the loading dock. Last Thursday we ran into a man doing just that.
Technically, shredded paper can go in the green bin in a clear bag, but the building head of maintenance told me that they prefer if we bring it to the loading dock, no one wants to deal with a burst bag in the garbage chute.
The mandatory annual fire safety inspection at the Palace Pier is scheduled to begin Monday June 15th and ours was completed at 2:30. They check and test both alarms to ensure the alarms and announcements can be heard.
We had a notification Please be advised that a winged blackbird has been displaying protective and aggressive behavior near the tennis court entrance. This is a common seasonal occurrence when birds are nesting and defending their young. John went for a walk and was divebombed by two blackbirds!
The birds do not discriminate. They frequently target runners, delivery drivers, and anyone who inadvertently wanders too close to a nest.
From John's walk (while ducking angry birds).
Advertising along the Gardiner Expressway.
WEDNESDAY
Having the FIFA World Cup here is great, the city is packed. The greatest appeal of the World Cup is the cultures, customs, food, and ways of celebrating joy from each country.
Everyone is wearing soccer shirts and talking to each other on the subway. No games were played in Toronto today, however lots of locals and tourists headed to the watch parties or had tickets for FanFest.
John headed to golf and I headed to the reference library to see the latest display (separate post).
No games but the 2:30 bus came at 2:45, it is usually downtown by 2:15!
Tomorrow will be crazy even though Canada is playing in Vancouver.
That's a lot of sirens in the neighbourhood! This is from the GTA Update site. John even called to say he was stuck in the traffic, what was going on!!
THURSDAY
The fog rolled in after a very rainy night, then we had a horrendous downpour which stopped as soon as it started, the fog lifted and the sun came out.
A reader commented that it was hard to read a Monday Mural, and AI let me down again! I did update the post.
We debated going out after lunch, but decided it was crowded enough yesterday and Canada wasn't even playing (Vancouver). We figured everyone would be heading to the watch parties situated around town.
Instead we really enjoyed watching the opening of the Obama Library, what a classy event!
Since we watched both Obama and FIFA today, this is appropriate!
John is nursing a sore knee so I went downtown by myself. I did have plans, however, the 10:30 bus took an hour to get downtown, traffic was horrendous. I later learned that Lake Shore Boulevard experienced severe backups this morning primarily due to a vehicle fire on the eastbound Gardiner Expressway near Jarvis Street. This incident blocked multiple lanes, which forced a massive spillover of diverted commuter traffic directly onto Lake Shore Boulevard.
I was speaking to a woman from the library committee and she was wondering about who she could get to speak. I suggested a woman in the other building, she has just written a book called:
Being so delayed I changed my plans and went to the market instead. I went for steak and came home with lamb shanks, three lbs of ground lamb (3 lb for $22 - has increased from $20), mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, asparagus, onions!
I expected the 12:45 to be late, as I saw the 11:40 departing at 12:10 (I was a couple of minutes too late)! But it came at 12:30.
The Tartan Army are here in full regalia!
I blogged, cleaning up my drafts folder while listening to the Blue Jays game and then the US-AUS game. I was SO disappointed that Australia lost!
A free FIFA World Cup watch party was shut down early Tuesday night after fans broke the rules regarding flares and fireworks at Nathan Phillips Square.
Thousands of supporters had gathered outside Toronto City Hall to watch the opening Group J clash between Argentina and Algeria, but celebrations went too far midway through the second half.
Shortly after superstar Lionel Messi scored his third goal to give Argentina a 3-0 lead, flares and fireworks were launched into the air in the public square, which prompted the City of Toronto to turn off the giant screens and end the event.
In town, down the street from us!
COOKING
MENU
Saturday - Montreal steak, green beans and roasted potatoes
Sunday - Montreal burger and tuna tataki
Monday - ordered Swiss Chalet chicken. The leftovers became a broth that went into Wednesday's soup.
We watched the two seasons of Cross, the series adaptation of James Patterson novels about the complicated and brilliant detective, Alex Cross. We both had read the books and of course, it was fun catching all the Toronto locations doubling as D.C.
We forgot we had been watching The Good Fight so it was fun to go back to that.
I started season 2 of Traitors Australia, and honestly, I'm not sure I'll stick with it. There are too many reality "stars" in it, lending a very phony air, plus awful acting, considering they are "stars".
This is Australia, and even I recognize one, she was on My Kitchen Rules! Ash Pollard - Occupation REALITY STAR! Appeared on Dancing with the Stars, I'm a Celebrity, shows I have/would never watch.
READING
I read The Soul Killer, another Ross Greenwood, my third to date and I am really enjoying his writing. He does come up with some interesting storylines!
I started Candles and Roses, which I am enjoying so far. It is first in a series.
