Here it is–no blog last week. I do have an excuse, well sort of. I was on a wonderful tour with the hubby. So I thought I’d share my experience with you. Well…my experience of eating across Canada because I feel although I was looking at all the beautiful country I was also eating every four hours. I should have gained twenty pounds with all the rich foods but only gained two. Guess that was from walking it all off after each meal!

This is called poutin. French fries with brown gravy and white cheese curds. It was almost like eating chili fries, but not as spicy. Chili fries, my grandson’s favorite. This restaurant was called 3 Brasserie in Quebec City. Our second day of tour.

Day One; We flew into Montreal a very long day. Up early the next morning and headed out to tour the streets of Montreal stopping for lunch at a restaurant I forgot to jot down. I had gazpacho and salmon. Dessert was sugar pie. I’ve never eaten sugar pie before but it was a lot like chess pie, but much sweeter. That was lunch. After lunch we headed to St. Paul Street with all the quaint shops…..no time for shopping. Our guide had us keep up the pace. We had a schedule to keep. Bus to pick us up at three o’clock sharp. For the life of me even though I wrote in my journal I didn’t write down the names of all the restaurants. What a bummer! Dinner was a diet coke, Caesar salad, baked potato, steak and chocolate cake for dessert.

Everyone was up early and after a breakfast spread of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, maple beans, lox and bagels, sweet rolls, fresh fruit, and I could go on and on and still miss something that was on the tables. No, I didn’t eat all that. Only toast, eggs, and bacon. Each morning this kind of a spread was set out for us.

On with the tour…we headed for Quebec City today. We drove for about two hours and then the bus pulled over for a potty stop and coffee break. I had to try the Tim Horton’s lattes and their Timbites. Their rendition of our donut holes. Latte was super and the donut holes we just as good, maybe even better. Okay, close match.

The St. Lawrence Seaway from our hotel room in Quebec. I was surprised at how wide the seaway was. We toured the old part of the city. The narrow, cobbled stone streets and quaint shops. That afternoon of course I had poutin, and we were on our own for our dinner. We decided to stay in after the long walk we took that day so we split a hamburger in the hotel dinning room. Believe me it wasn’t a small hamburger either.

I may run out of space here. Up early and on the bus. We were going to the sugar shack for breakfast today. It was at a farm where they made maple syrup. Breakfast was served boarding house style, bowls full of potatoes, eggs, maple flavored beans, and bacon. Take as much as you want or as little. Oh yes, make sure you put maple syrup in your coffee. On your eggs, it goes well on everything. I am not a bean eater but I had to try a spoonful of the beans, just to say I tried everything. I was quite surprised, they were pretty good. I’ll have to find the recipe and try this. The owners had a wonderful gift shop so you know what we did for another hour before we were pushed onto the bus.

From there we headed to Montmorancy Falls. We were told these falls were higher than Niagara Falls only not as wide. We were standing right over the falls. Lunch from here was in old town Quebec. I had duck with carrot salad which was wonderful. Dessert was chocolate cake. Our afternoon was at Giles Copper Museum and more shopping. Then on to St. Anne deBeauprie Bascialla.  On to Ottowa tomorrow.

Again up early and heading to Ottowa. Potty stop again at Tim Horton’s.  I was surprised at all the vineyards we passed along the way. They looked so lush and green. So manicured. Our guide talked about how they made the ice wine. Will have to check into that later. When we arrived we had time to shop a bit at the outside market and then we headed to the Fresh Fish Market for dinner. Most of us had the fish and chips with cheese cake for dessert. Hubby had the apple cobbler. It was all good.

Next morning we headed to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Along the way we took a short boat ride out among some of the islands in the seaway. Some of the houses we built almost on big rocks called an island. Amazing.

Now on to Niagara On The Lake and their cute shops and the Shaw Festival. This is where they hold plays by Bernard Shaw all the time. Streets were lined with flowers upon flowers.When we reached Niagara Falls we took the harbor tour showing the Toronto skyline. Very stunning with so many high rise apartments. I don’t think I could live in any of those apartments…so tall! We ate at the Secret Garden where I had a salad that three people could have eaten. I got up to go to the restroom and look what I saw just as soon as I opened the door.

That night, our last night, we had dinner at The Badali, an Italian restaurant, where I had penne pasta with chicken and tiramisu for dessert. Wonderful trip and I’d go again. Our guide and driver were phenomenal.  Collette Tours you did it again.

Until then my friends….