Fondu...then Home

Our last night we spent in Montreal at a simultaneously pleasant but shady hotel near the train station. That evening we headed to La Banquise to eat some poutine, which is a messy pile of french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. There was a loud line out the door so we quickly abandoned that plan and went next door to Restaurant La Fonderie to have some excellent fondu instead:

In the morning we waited in the huge line for the Amtrak train back to NY.

Unlike the rainy trip in, the trip back was gorgeous and sunny with stunning scenery.

The train was continuously flushing herons up out of the wetlands and I tried to get some shots from the moving train, mostly in vain. This was my best result:

At a certain point the train changes engines and I had a chance to get out and get a few shots of the Amtrak crew:

Vieux Quebec

On Saturday we had brunch at Le Café Clocher Penché before walking around the old town in Quebec. It was extremely hot and packed with tourists but overall a pleasant afternoon.

They still sell Five Alive drinks in Canada (or in French, Déli-Cínq). For bonus points find the thirsty bee in this photo:

The famous cannonball lodged in the base of a tree since 1759: 

Shopping at Simons for fur hats in 90 degree weather:

There was a re-enactment going on so there were lots of folks wandering around in period costumes:

The former Séminaire de Québec, now an architecture college:

The streets were so thick with tourists I had a hard time photographing this car without them in it:

Here is a child posing at a cannon:

Here is a fully grown adult man posing on a cannon:

The government-run liquor stores are called SAQ. You can buy cheap wine and beer in convenience stores so I haven't figured out why there aren't privately run wine shops:

Later in the day we stopped in to buy some things in the aforementioned oldest grocery store in North America, J. A. Moisan Epicier: