mybigadventures.com

Today we decided to try out a place we'd seen yesterday for breakfast. The place in question is Buffet de L'Antiquaire, we'd seen some people eating there when we were out taking night photos yesterday and noticed they did an all day breakfast. It turned out to be a good choice, I had a full fry up and Dani had a pancake with eggs and bacon. Feeling pretty full, we headed out for the day. Today we had decided to visit the Montmorency falls. It's a bit further out of Quebec city so we needed to find another route there. We had found a review on trip advisor that talked about getting the bus, so we dutifully headed down to the bus station. We bought the bus tickets from a kiosk and then headed out to find the bus stop for bus 800. We didn't have to wait long before the bus arrived and we were on our way. 

The bus took about 25 minutes to reach it's final stop in Monmorency and so everyone got off. The next bit involved following a man that we thought knew where he was going... we think he did but decided on a slightly different route at the very end. It turns out the falls aren't particularly well signed, but we found them in the end anyway. We had arrived at the top of the falls on a bridge that overlooks them, and after looking for a while we wondered if that was it, but then spotted some steps leading down the side. The wooden steps weave down the side of the falls with lookout platforms dotted on the way down, it kind of looks like an Ewok village. Reaching the bottom, we walked to the edge of the platform right in front of the falls. There was a refreshing mist from all the water that was amazing to stand in given it was another really hot day, so we spent a while there enjoying it and taking a few photos.

We then followed the path around the pool at the bottom of the falls and across the bridge to a welcome centre, where we sat and had a drink in the cool. We had also spotted that you could catch a cable car from here back to the top, and not relishing the thought of all the steps we bought tickets. The cable car took us back to the top on the other side of the bridge from where we had first started, just outside Manoir Montmorency, an old building that houses receptions rooms and a restaurant. We didn't go in, but we did have an ice-cream from the stall on the boardwalk terrace just around the corner - it was very nice. Just as we were about to cross back over the bridge to head back out, we realised that the bus stop where we had been dropped off, was just up the pathway (we'd walked a long way round as it turned out when we'd arrived). As we headed up the path, we managed to catch our return bus that was just getting ready to leave. 

Back in Quebec we had a look for a supermarket that was suppposedly near where we'd got the bus, but it was nowhere to be found so we headed back to the hotel empty handed. We went to a local pizza place for tea which turned out to be a more or less private dining experience, arriving quite late, we ended up being the last customers there. It was very tasty, nonetheless! 

So the website just told me that Lorna graduated 10 years ago today! Time certainly has flown since then!

Here's the original post

So, I’m writing this at what is essentially about 5 AM, after what felt like, and virtually is 24 hours of travel. We travelled all the way from the UK, flying from Manchester to Heathrow, and then Heathrow to America. We slept okay in the TraveLodge and got up around eight-ish to sort ourselves out. I had to empty out my carry-on bag, to ensure all the things that I had randomly stuffed in it yesterday were ‘safe’ to take on the plane.

Then we went to get on the shuttle bus (£7 for the two of us). The driver helped us load our stuff and checked that we wanted to get Terminal 3, to which we nodded, but we didn’t actually know for sure!

Turned out it was terminal three! Got checked in for our Heathrow flight and for our San Francisco flight. The very helpful lady at check-in gave us a printout of all of our flights on our ticket for us to refer to and then we had to go to a different place to deposit our rucksacks (as we did in Europe - they are classed as ‘soft’, although they’re pretty solid due to the amount of stuff!) We then wiggled through security. Ben’s bag got stopped for a ‘random check’ - the mini suitcase was swabbed for any chemicals used for bombs, etc. But, it passed the test, so we wiggled on.

Once through, we found a seat and scoffed the remaining chocolatines and a couple of bananas. We had a bit of a wander and found a better seat, with a view of the runway. Got a couple of bottles of water from WHSmith’s and sat. And waited. For a while…

We got the call for our gate and scuttled off. Got on the plane - to find we were almost the last people on, apparently - although we were there just after the call. Clearly, everybody else was super-prompt, as we got going ahead of schedule. The flight was pretty quick, with a complimentary drink and snack. We arrived at Heathrow 15 minutes early and followed the purple signs to meet our connection. Ben recognised the terminal when we arrived - having sat and waited there when he went to Spain (on a school trip) recently. We had a wander around and admired all the designer shops and the Harrods ‘boutique’, but were surprised by the lack of places to eat as we expected more variety; clearly, Heathrow is above such things as McDonald’s and Burger King! We sat down to share a toasted steak and cheese ciabatta, which was really nice, from EAT, and then, when our gate was called, we went on the little train to get to the gate. So far, so good.

Arrived at our gate and settled in at a window seat with a nice view, which was slightly hampered by a Polish couple, who stole my seat when I went to the toilet. But, when Ben went to the toilet, our row was called - it’s all go!

Got onto the plane and sat in our little couple seat (specially selected during online check-in yesterday) and Ben lined up the films he wanted to watch. As the flight got underway, we began watching, but the complimentary headphones didn’t do much to block out the noise of the plane. So, most of the dialogue went unheard! We decided to try the headphones from my MP3 player which worked much better, though obviously we only had one pair. So, we whiled away the 10 hour flight by watching films, going to the toilet and eating! First meal: a chicken and vegetable risotto, which was very nice - perhaps more like a savoury rice pudding, but tasty all the same. Had a mini bottle of wine for me and a mini keg of Heineken for Ben. Second meal: chicken Caesar sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and, weirdly, a mini tub of water! Saw some fantastic views as we flew over Canada - lots of mountain ranges complete with snowy blanket.

Landed at San Francisco - slightly panicky moment when looked for a minute like we were going to land on water! - but a very smooth landing. Everyone applauded when we landed - presumably due to the recent incident at San Francisco! (There was a recent crash landing at San Francisco airport, reported on the news - the wreckage was still visible from the runway where we landed). We disembarked, spent about 30 minutes queueing at customs, had to give fingerprints (!) and photos, and we were out!

Got the BART (train) into San Fran - a 25 minute journey ($8.25 each) and then walked - further than we anticipated - to the hotel. Had a rather strange experience at check-in, as the woman seemed to want to chat, but then alternated with trying to get rid of us. She worried us a little by asking us for a voucher for our stay - which we didn’t have - but, she reluctantly agreed to copy our itinerary instead, with all the necessary references and reservation numbers on.

Our room is on the 19th floor, commanding a good view of the city. We had a sit and then went out - at what felt like four in the morning, although it was actually only 8 PM US time. Bought some pizza slices from a nearby pizza place - $17 for four big slices. Started feeling very flaky, so wandered back to the hotel and turned in.