I decided in 1999 that to save some money for my trips in 2000, I would have my yearly overseas vacation in Canada. Specifically I choose to go to Montreal and Quebec City in the province of Quebec. I planned to fly to Montreal (staying there for 3 days), take a train to Quebec City (staying there for 3 days), and finally flying back to Virginia.

I arrived in Montreal on a Friday and began my sightseeing by visiting the Vieux-Port or Old Port of Montreal. This is a fun spot to visit as it has been redeveloped as a park. The next day, I spent the morning at the McCord Museum of Canadian History and at the Centre d'histoire de Montreal where I learned much about the history of my Northern neighbors and a lot about the English/French debate in Canada.

Saturday afternoon, I went to see the circus, but not the typical circus. Montreal is home to the famous Cirque du Soleil and I was lucky to get a ticket to see there new act "Dralion" at there training site. It was quite an amazing act to see and I enjoyed it a lot. Sunday I spent the morning walking around the city and in the afternoon I took a boat tour of the St. Lawrence River around the city of Montreal. The next day I took the train to Quebec City.

After booking into my hotel, I spent the afternoon walking on the Promenade and taking the ferry across the river to Levis to get a better view of the city. In the evening I went out for a very nice dinner in one of the restaurants on the Rue St-Denis.

I began my tour of Upper Town on Tuesday by visiting the Parliament building. I then walked to the Musée du Quebec. After visiting the museum I crossed the Plains of Abraham and went to the Cidadelle. I was able to get a tour of the Cidadelle and took some photos of Quebec most famous landmark, The Chateau Frontenac, there. I had a three fondue dinner that night at a restaurants on the Rue St-Denis - I had cheese, meat, and chocolate fondues.

Wednesday, I toured Lower Town by first visiting the Musée de l'Amérique française which had a fascinating history of the French in North America. After spending a long time at the museum, I headed to the port to catch a boat tour of the St. Lawrence River around the city of Quebec. I spent the rest of the day walking around lower town before taking the Funicular back to upper town where again I had a great meal in one of the restaurants on the Rue St-Denis.

I came to the end of my vacation of Thursday when I flew back to the US. The flights were interesting as I first flew to Montreal and then to Ottawa. The flight to Ottawa had a total of 2 passengers. After arriving in Ottawa, I went through US customs in Canada and caught my flight to Dulles.

I took these photos with a borrowed Nikon Point & Shoot camera and used print film. The photos were digitalized using Kodak's Photo CD and were cleaned up a bit with Adobe PhotoShop Elements (To correct the color balance and to remove some of the gnats that were everywhere when I was in Montreal). Additional Camera Information