Canada! Oh, Canada!

Diana, Cheyrl, and I went on our summer girls' trip. We went to the Montreal and Quebec City area. We did walking tours of both cities. We absolutely fell in love with Quebec City. The city is so rich in history.

Money exchanging proved to be no problem. Because of previous trips and experiences, the Canadian one-dollar and two-dollar coins (loonies and toonies) were a breeze.

However, we did find it interesting and sometimes challenging to speak to people in the different areas. French and English languages are not too similar! The most difficulty proved to be putting gas in the rental car. Sounds like it would be easy, but trying to read those pumps and follow their directions (in French) forced us to sometimes make new friends at the pump.

Some of the Montreal highlights included:  Rue St. Paul Street, Notre Dame Basilica, and the Old Port.

Quebec City highlights included:  Our Lady of the Cape Shrine, the Chateau Frontenac, The Wall, Montmorency Falls, Saint Anne-de-Beaupre,  and the Funicular Elevator (which takes you from the Lower to the Upper part of Old City Quebec).

We had several authentic French meals. I did have to watch to make sure that I was not eating mystery meat. Pastries were my favorite, and Cheyrl and us did get our ice creams several places. Ice is scare in restaurants just like when we were in France. McDonalds was our go-to place for dollar Diet Cokes (which with the Canadian exchange rate was 75 cents US money) and free Wi-Fi, even though most of the time it was slow.

Diana and I were off the grid, so we had to save up our Google questions until we could get to a Wi-Fi establishment. I did keep a translator app on my phone that entertained me for hours as we were driving. I would read billboards and signs, then translate them. 

(Some of this was copied from Di's post and pictures may come later.)