Montreal, part 4 (Monday)

Well, we just got back from being out of town for 2 weeks, but I promised myself I would finish posting pics from Montreal before I start in on the others (pageant, beach trip). Fortunately for all involved there are not quite as many pics to post of the other trips. I will be brief, because I figure if I'm sick of talking about Montreal, others are definitely sick of hearing about it :) This is Monday morning. We were leaving Montreal and driving through Trois Riviere on our way to Quebec city, so we took a few pics of our little bed and breakfast. The cute family that owned it were nice to us, but it definitely left a lot to be desired, as you see in the sign below.

On our way, we saw a "Sugar Shack." These are usually only open in the winters, when the maple syrup is in season, but this one is open year round lucky for us.

Here's a traditional Quebecois meal..ham, meat pie, fried potatoes, french omelet, and baked beans. Of course you dump maple syrup on the whole business and eat it. It was all pretty good except the meat pie...that thing was nasty, even the maple syrup didn't help it. Then there are pancakes for dessert. After that, you go out back where the pour the syrup onto snow (crushed ice in this case) and you turn it over on a popsicle stick to taste the real thing. Pretty darn tasty I must say.

This is out of order, it goes with the Quebec pics, but notice Ryan trying to jump up to the window in the background.

This is Matt looking out on the St. Laurent River in Trois Riviere. He has a similar picture from his misson so I had to take it for old time's sake.

Here's Matt and I by the river. In winter, the whole place is turned into an ice/hockey rink.

Here we are touring some gardens in Quebec City. I loved this picket fence and want one just like it for my house at home, so I posed for a pic so Matt could remember the height and spacing. Super cute I thought. (The fence, not me).

We met Anne-Marie, who works in Quebec City and also has led many tours of Quebec, so we were so lucky that we had her to show us around. Matt actually never served in Quebec City, so it was all new to him. Ryan had served briefly but it was at the beginning of his mission as well, so he needed a few refreshers. Here she is telling the guys and Shannon about the gardens.

Here we are checking out the Citadel at night.

Can you believe this is the hotel where we stayed? It was the major splurge of the trip. Afterwards, we agreed that you pay for the outside of the hotel. The inside is no different than any other nice hotel like the Marriot or something. But we took the tour the next day (pics to follow, goodie!) and it is really an amazing place.

Here it is again, Le Chateau Frontenac. I'm not positive this is the correct spelling, but I'm close. I don't know how to do the accents, so I always leave those out, sorry French speakers!

By now, it was about 10:30pm and no one had eaten dinner. The four of us were OK due to the huge consumption of the Sugar Shack, but poor Anne-Marie! Anyway, she took us to one of the few places still open where we could have some poutine. It reminded me a lot of Denny's. Decent food, slow service, but all in all we went to bed with tummies full (again!) and happy. Thanks Anne-Marie, you were great!~