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For our last day in Quebec, we had decided to explore the old town a bit more. Although we had already been to the citadelle, we hadn't had much time to look around the rest of town so we once we were up and ready we started heading up hill. We went to Tim Horton's first for some breakfast, geting an egg and bacon muffin with a hash brown - nice. We then made our way to St John gate which we climbed up to take in the view. Whilst up there, we saw some people in period costume below saying something was happening in 10 minutes. They turned out to work for the Artilary museum which is just by the gate, and were there to do a black powder demonstration. We stuck around to watch, taking a few photos of the gun shot whilst there, and then afterwards decided to check out the museum.

The museum was quite intersting with lots of information about the original fortifications that made up the city and later the work that was made to make the city more attractive. To improve the local economy the city started celebrating it's history as a fortified city early in the 19th century and it remains the only fortified city in North America, becoming a world heritage site in 1985. Leaving the main museum, we visited the separate site nearby that houses the old barracks. The barracks are currently undergoing restoration work, but there are 3 floors of rooms to explore inside. It was all quite interesting, and we found ourselves back outside just as they were about to perform the black powder demonstration again. After watching for a second time, we headed back up the ramparts and continued walking along eventually ending up back at ther Dufferin Terrace. 

On the terrace, we decided to have a look at the remains of the foundations of the old chatau which are underneath the terrace. Tickets were only $4 each so we headed on down. There is information boards explaining the different areas of the ruins and cases containing some of the archeological finds, again was quite interesting taking about 40 minutes to work our way through. Back up on the terrace we tooks some photos and grabbed a drink in the Starbucks. By coincidence, whilst getting the drink the starbucks, the barista asked if it was my last night and mentioned that there was going to be a fireworks show that you could watch from the terrace! After our drinks we headed back down to the hotel for bit before tea. We had tea at Buffet de L'Antiquaire, the place we had previously visited for breakfast. This time we had club sandwiches each with chips - there was a lot of it, but it was very nice, and good value. 

Later in the evening, we headed back up to the terrace for the fireworks, they were due to start at 10, and when we headed up just after 9 it was already really busy, we'd looked them up online back at the hotel and apparently they are watched by as many as 700,000 people. We had a great view of the fireworks, it was a great way to end our last night here! Got back to the hotel a bit before 11 and packed up our stuff ready for Boston tomorrow!

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! 

We decided to spend the day exploring a bit more of Quebec today. We were up quite a bit later so grabbed some lunch at Subway which is just around the corner, and then headed into the old town. We started up hill, and found some steps that take you up a bit quicker and after a few more steps we found ourselves on the Terrasse Dufferin which is a wooden boardwalk that wraps around the Château Frontenac which is a grand 19th century hotel. We spent quite a bit of time walking along the boardwalk, stopping on benches intermittently and taking photos of the hotel and view across the Lawrence river. The boardwalk continues quite a way beyond the city walls, eventually becoming steps that lead up to the citadelle at the very top of the hill. 

We walked all the way to the top taking in the views back across the city and the surrounding areas. We had an ice-cream, that quickly melted (halfway down my arm) so I ate it in record time before it made too much of a mess. We continued on, reaching the citadelle, which is still an active military base and home to the 22nd Regitment and official residence of the Givenor General and should she wish to use it, the Queen. You can get tickets to tour inside the residency or around the military base, with either giving you access to the museum. We opted for the tour of the base, and were taking around by Anthony who as it turned out was a teacher on his school holidays. He was really knowlegable and gave us a brief history of the regiment and took us around many of the key buildings - stopping in the shade where posible as it was really hot. One of the stops on the tour was the Kings Bastion which offers some of the best views across Quebec and a great place for photos.

After the tour, we had a walk through the museum which had some really intesting exhibits including a medals room with several examples of the Victoria Cross awarded to members of the 22nd Regiment. Finally leaving the citadelle, we headed back down the hill into the old town, stopping back at the hotel before heading out for tea. We decided to try the hotel restaurant (restaurant Louise) for tea. I had fish and chips, whilst Dani had sausage and black pudding, again very nice. We finished the evening back up on the Terrasse Dufferin, taking a few night photos before calling it a night.

It was another early start this morning for our train to Quebec. We set alarms and were packed up and checking out just after 8 ready for 9.06 train. The train station was only a short walk from the hotel so we arrived in good time, aiming to get some breakfast at Starbucks. Alas, when we arrived Starbucks was closed, so we carried on into the station to see what else was inside. There was a McDonalds but the queue was massive so we decided we would get something on the train again and before long we were queued up and climbing aboard. The journey went pretty quickly, it wasn't so far this time taking just over 3 hours and we arrived in Quebec City just after midday. 

It took about 15 minutes to walk from the station to the hotel and we found it fairly easily. We were too early to check-in so we left our luggage at the hotel and went for a wander. The hotel is set outside the walls of the citadelle and so we spent some time walking up hill further into the old town. We stopped in McDonalds for some lunch and wandered a bit further, calling in at a phamacy to buy some more drugs (we're both still a bit ill). We decided to head back to the hotel for check-in just after 3 and to take a break before tea.

We headed out to Matto for tea, which is an Italian restaurant in a nearby hotel. It was pretty busy so we ended up sitting at the bar. I had spaghetti carbonara whilst Dani had meatballs, all very tasty. Feeling pretty tired we had a fairly early night, ready to spend a bit more time exploring tomorrow.

We were up a bit later today, but had decided already to go to the botanical gardens. We went to Starbucks on route for some breakfast before getting the Metro across town - the gardens are quite a bit further away than we've been so too far to walk. The botanical gardens are the same stop as the olympic park on the metro so you walk past the stadium on the way in. The gardens as it turned out, are huge. We started off walking through the greenhouses which were much too warm and so we quickly raced through them back to the outside. The gardens are broken into lots of smaller gardens which we walked through intermittently sitting on benches in the shade. 

The gardens were really well organised but the highlight had to be the Japanese and Chinese gardens. On the walk around we did see a bit of wildlife including a chipmunk and a number of different types of birds. Whilst walking through the Japanese garden I saw a large bird of prey fly quite low overhead, and then as we walked between the Japanese and Chinese gardens we could hear the cry of a large bird. As we looked up through the trees we could see a pair of what we later found out to be juvenile Cooper's Hawks. We were able to get some good photos with the big lens on the camera! 

After stopping for a cold drink at the cafe, we a bit more of a walk in the Chinese garden. I think this is perhaps the most impressive of the gardens that we saw, with a number of Chinese style buildings, a small waterfall and lakes. After another long day, we headed back to the hotel for a break before getting some tea at another restaurant nearby. On our first day here we had heard fireworks and after a bit of a search online, Dani had found that it was linked to a fireworks competition with the next and final show on this evening, so at 10pm we headed up to the roof terrace to watch the fireworks, not a bad way to end our time here! Afterwards we packed up ready for the journey to Quebec City, our destination tomorrow!   

We got up a little later than usual today - I think the warm weather is wearing us out! So we decided to get brunch instead of breakfast. We went to a relatively nearby restaurant, famed for it's brunches - 'Eggspectations'. I had the 'All American' breakfast (a variation on an English breakfast) and Dani had pancakes, with bacon and eggs. From there, we were heading through the city towards la Fontain park and le Mont Royal today. The journey there was also going to take us through an area of interest marked out on our map, so we decided to walk. After breakfast we made our away across town towards the parks. once in the area we took a walk down Deluth Avenue which is much quieter and partially pedestrianised. There were lots of Grafitti murals covering the walls throughout the area, including some huge pieces that covered the sides of large buildings. 

At the end of Deluth avenue we reached La Fontain Park. We had a walk around the park stopping to take some photos of the dragonflies that were darting about around the edge of the lake. We sat for a while on some benches and then after a bit more of a wander, we decided to head for Mont Royal. We walked along Rue Rachel, stopping off to buy some more water before heading into the park. It turned out to be a bit of a climb, more than we had anticipated given we were already feeling tired but we percevered following signs for a suspended cafe. The cafe wasn't quite what we antipated, but neverthless it was at a nice viewing point down acorss Montreal, and we were able to get some cold lemonade to drink. Whilst we were sitting we noticed a bit of a fuss just down from the cafe, and after a quick look we saw a family of racoons. I was a bit late getting there with the camera but I did manage to get a couple before they disappeared back into the woods.

After the cafe, we walked up the hill a little further to the giant cross that sits at the top, and then we headed back down and walked back to the hotel. We were feeling pretty knackered by the time we got back having covered quite a distance. We had a rest for a bit before going out for tea a bit later on. We decided to go to a place we had walked past yesterday - Brit and Chips. It ended up being just what we needed after a long day, the restaurant is set up inside just like a normal chip shop with some tables around to sit at. It would be fair to say, that the fish and chips is amongst the best we've had. They do a range of different fish and chip meals, and whilst I went for a pretty standard code and chips, Dani had a Haddock in a maple syrup batter! Back at the hotel, I uploaded a few more photos and updated the website. It's our last day in Montreal tomorrow!

Today we decided to head for the old town. Before heading out, we stopped at the cafe across the road from the hotel for a bit of breakfast. Dani had a fruit bowl and chocolate twist, whilst I had a chocolatine. As we were getting served they seemed to have a bit of a problem with the juicing machine which meant we both got sprayed with some bits of carrot - not the best start to the day! Our first port of call was to be the basilica; we had made it to there yesterday, but only in time to find it had just closed. They have a light show on in the evenings at the moment, but we decided to head inside for a look around anyway and may come back another evening for the lights. Whilst in the queue to get in, an information person came past and gave us a leaflet about the old town. I turns out that there are a few streets that are lit up and there was a map with them marked out in yellow - we figured we'd head back later in the evening and have a bit of a wander. The basillica was really impressive inside with a magnificant altar piece. We stayed quite a while, having a good wander around and taking photos. 

Leaving the basillica we headed across the square to the bank which is Canada's first bank. They have a little museum inside, but it is still a working bank - it certainly looks a little bit Hogwarts inside - I was going to take a photo but the security man told me not to. We wandered back towards the hotel through the old town stopping for some lunch in Starbucks. Afterwards we looked in another building that also turned out to be an old bank, but this time had been converted into offices and a cafe in the old banking hall. We decided we would go to St Patrick's Basillica which is close to the hotel. Again it was very impressive inside, but much quieter than the Notre Dame Basillica. We took some more photos before heading back to the hotel. We took the lift to the top to have a look at the view from the terrace. It was pretty decent, but the skyline is not quite so iconic as some other cities we've visited. 

We had tea at a French/Canadian restaurant called Holders. It was really busy, but we were seated straight away. I had the beef bourguignon and Dani had confit de conard. It was very nice, and we shared a chocolate mouse for dessert. Afterwards we walked back towards old town to take some photos. The basillica was nicely lit and there was an animated film playing on the side of the building next to the bank. We walked along the yellow route looking at many of the other buildings that were also lit, back near the hotel we came across a water feature that seenmed to be on fire. It turns out that it's an installation called the 'La Joute' by Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle. Every hour the fountain comes to life with a ring of fire surrounding it before being doused by the water fountain. We only caught the end, so dropped our stuff at the hotel and then went back out to see the next cycle from the beginning. By the time we got to the hotel it was gone 11 so we called it a night. We're going to have have a look at the parks tomorrow.  

It was a bit of an early start with alarms set for 6.30 to make sure we were up and ready for our 8.35 train. We had more or less packed everything up last night, so were ready in plenty of time and checked out of the hotel at about 7.30. The train station is only a short ride on the metro from the hotel, and although we initially got on the train going in the wrong direction, we arrived at union station in good time at about 7.50. We had planned to get some breakfast at the station but despite feeling like we had plenty of time, when we looked where the train was leaving from, we were suprised to find everyone already lined up ready to go. We joined the line and two members of staff worked their way along the line checking tickets and weighing suitcases on a portable weighing machine, and then we started filing on to the platform and straight on to the train. Feeling a bit hungry, we ended up getting food from the onboard selection, it wasn't too overpriced in the end so was OK. The train was comfortable with free Wifi and having downloaded some things to watch on my phone the journey went pretty quickly. 

We arrived in Montreal at about 2.30 which was a little later than scheduled after some delays along the route. After using the WiFi at the station Starbucks, we quickly found our hotel, it was only about a 6 minute walk away. We were able to check in straight away at our hotel which was about an hour earlier than check-in was supposed to be. The room is nice and this time includes a fridge so we'll get some drinks to fill it. With it being a bit earlier, we headed out to explore. We had walk down past the Notre Dame Basilica and towards the water front where the old port is now host to lots of small shops, food vans and some activities including a zip wire, big wheel and boats on the river. We continued wandering, dropping in a the Marche Bonsecours which contains a number of boutique shops.

Feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hotel for a break before tea. I've managed to pickup a cold so was feeling a bit rubbish. We headed out to tea at about 8, going to Il Focolaio, a pizza restaurant close by. The restaurant was really busy and we had a short wait for the table, but once seated service was pretty quick. The pizza was really nice and very filling, I had a ham and mushroom pizza and Dani had a Pollo Nostro pizza which had chicken and pesto on it. Back at the hotel, we caught up on the journal and I updated the blog a bit before bed time. I've nearly had all the cold and flu tablets we brought with us, so might have to have a look for a pharmacy tomorrow!

We got started a little later today, having some leftover pizza by way of breakfast come lunch, before heading out a bit after 11. We decided to head for the old town in Toronto, with a plan to stop off at the St. Lawrence Market. As we walked into the old town district the first thing that became clear was that not many buildings looked particularly old, with lots of new looking glass strucures in place. The old bank of Montreal was particularly interesting as it has the old fascade but now forms the base of a large glass skyscraper. We had a walk through the St. Lawrence market but having already quite a big breakfast we weren't especially hungry for the variety of food on offer. Outide the market we walked over to the nearby post office, which was the first post office in Toronto dating back to 1834. There is a bit of a museum section which is free to visit on the inside, but it's also still a functioning post office so whilst we were there Dani bought Greg a birthday card and posted it! Having seen enough of the old town we were a bit short of a plan of what to do next, we settled on tea and a cake at Starbucks so we could use their WiFi to formulate a plan for the rest of the day. 

We had been toying with going up the CN tower for a view over Toronto, but given that the CN tower is one of the most iconic buildings in the skyline I wasn't especially sold on not getting it in any photos. After a bit of a browse of the Internet courtesy of Starbucks, we settled on a trip to Centre Island, one of the islands close to Toronto as it seemed to over a good view back of the Toronto skyline. The island is easy to get to with a number of water taxis available to take the trip or the main ferry which is just $10 each for a return ticket. The ferry only took 15 minutes or so, and from our position on the right side of the boat heading out, we had terrific views of the skyscrapers that make up the skyline. The main attraction on Centre island seems to be a childrens themepark which we weren't particularly interested in, we did however spot a bar with a baeer garden facing back towards the view... so that's where we headed. We ended up staying the rest of the afternoon having some drinks and then food with a perfect view back of Toronto. It was a great place to sit and watch the world go by with planes frequently taking off and landing in the nearby city airport and boats flitting about around the coastline. A weasel even popped by the beer garden at one point for a quick mosey about!  

It started to cool down around 8 and the ferries had become less frequent. Although I was hoping to get some night shots, we ended up catching the 8.45 ferry back to the mainland as we were starting to feel a bit cold and had an early start tomorrow for the trip to Montreal. Despite it not quite being darkl, the sun was just setting adding a nice bit of colour to the skyline. Back on the mainland we stopped of at the Nathan Philips Square, which we had been to on our first day, to take a look at the Toronto letters which are illuminated at night. It was dark by this point so the letters looked particularly impressive, changing colours every couple of minutes. I took some photos and then we headed back to the hotel to pack up ready for the train tomorrow.   

We bought megabus tickets online yesterday to go to Niagara falls today. We were booked on the 9.30 coach leaving from the bus terminal which is just a few minutes away from the hotel, so we had plenty of time to go to Starbucks in the morning for some breakfast before setting off. The coach took just under 2 hours to get to the station in Niagara and once there the bus and train stations are almost 3 miles away from the falls themselves. There are buses that ferry people back and firth and a number of taxis lined up outside the station to make the short trip - as it was a cooler day, we decided to make the walk. It took a little over half an hour and we stopped at a shop enroute to buy tickets for the Hornblower ferries that you can catch to ride up to the falls. Buying the tickets meant we skipped the queues and before we knew it, we were on a ferry heading into the mist, with our red ponchos doing some work to keep us dry. The ferry is brilliant and definitely worth getting tickets for, giving you a very different view of the falls to the one you get from the path.

Back on dry land we spent some time taking in the view, it really is pretty spectacular, and I can understand why the falls are best viewed from the Canadian side as they face Canada whereas they can only be seen from the top on the American side. We had dinner at Wendys and also had a trip in the big wheel again getting some pretty wonderful views from the top of the wheel. Late in the afernoon, we walked along the path to the edge of the main falls, you could see the ferrys bobbing in the mist below and you could also see a rainbow spanning the bottom of the falls, it was absolutely amazing. 

With some time to spare before the coach back to Toronto, we decided to walk back to the staion rather than catching the bus. Arring at the station early we asked about getting onto an earlier bus and ended up walking straight onto the one that had just arrived. Feeling very tired we ordered Dominos to the room and spent some time going through photos and updating the blog and journal before bed.