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Published: April 17th 2012
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OK, so finally traveled to Quebec city. Good Friday I left Montréal early morning with a friend and his acquintances by car. First we drove north to a place called Mirabel. Here a large cargo airport which also serves as a place of assembly for the canadian Bombardier planes sits largely untouched, be it for the cargo planes. This airport, build for the 1976 Olympic games was intended to be the worlds largest airport in terms of surface area but never gained the popularity it had hoped due to its distance from Montréal. (55 km from downtown) The old Dorval airport was therefore rebuild into the current Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, gaining the name of the then Canadian Prime Minister who was responsible for the initial Mirabel airport project.
Near the airport we stopped at a small alpine-like village below the ski slopes. Beautiful holiday homes sit largely empty at this time of year, with the snow almost gone. We drove back along highway 16, turning left on the 640 before ending up on the 40 that would take us to Quebec city. Along this highway it was where we stopped at a
Cabane a sucre for a fatty feast of
Tire d'érable
Maple syrup on a stick, at the cabane à sucre breakfast sausages, ham, potatoes and fried dough, covered in maple syrup. Outside we nibbled on some 'maple syrup on a stick', taken from a through with ice. The consistency of the maple syrup depends on the temperature with which it gets heated. The 40 litres of maple juice needed to make 1 litre of maple syrup is heated to around 104 C. To make maple candy, a higher temperature is required. An interesting fact: Quebec is the largest producer of the stuff; around 75%!o(MISSING)f the worlds maple syrup is made right here...
It wasn't until 4 pm when we finally arrived in Quebec city via Trois-Rivières. A wind had picked up in the meantime and the sun had disappeared, making it much colder all of a sudden. At various places in the city you could still see snow, while in Montreal it's all gone. We did some walking around the old port, admiring amazing murals, cute little streets and freezing our asses off from the cold wind. We even checked out the classic
Château Frontenac with its bellhops for a toilet. I made some purchases consisting of maple syrup-based items for my family back home at a shop filled
Cabane a sucre
No, the cabin is not made of sugar :( with christmas decorations and items on sale. To get out of the cold we enjoyed a liquor-filled coffee and some fantastic chocolate-oozing cakes. Well, I did anyway, some of us were dieting I believe.
Quebec city, now 404 years old since its founding is actually one of the oldest cities in North America and the capital of Quebec province. A little history is described in
this article about the battle of Quebec, also known as the 15 minute battle between the British and French that turned out to be a deciding moment for Nouvelle France and the current nation of Canada.
But one thing the Quebeqois never do is forget, as every single number plate will tell you: Je me souviens
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Brunch Sherbrooke
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hotel le president
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