Québec & Montréal: Collaborating Cultures with Ottawa & Toronto Extension

French-speaking patrons enjoying croissants in cafes. Ornate church spires peeking out from within the city walls. Is this really North America? Explore the Old World grace of Quebec City with your Tour Director as you stride along 17th century cobblestone streets. Historical animation of Upper Town conducted by your Tour Director. Stops include the beautifully lit National Assembly, Dufferin Terrace, Chateau Frontenac, famous architecture such as Aux Anciens Canadiens, gates and walls of Vieux Quebec, rue du Tresor (artist’s street) and the most photographed cannon ball in Quebec.

A Quebec proverb claims that anyone who eats crepes on Candlemas (February 2) will have a full year of good luck, but any day of the year these flat pancakes are delicious. Top them with Gruyere cheese or spicy ground beef for dinner, and then drizzle some chocolate for dessert. Bon appetite!

From Iroquois fur-trading post to UNESCO World Heritage Site in less than half a century, Quebec City grew in picturesque leaps and bounds — a citadel here, a cathedral there. Join a licensed local guide for a tour of Old Quebec, the only walled city in North America. See the massive star-shaped Citadelle, the largest North American fortification still occupied by troops, and photograph the magnificent castle-like Château Frontenac, a hotel that has housed Queen Elizabeth, Alfred Hitchcock, and (so the legend goes) at least a pair of honeymooners every night since its opening in 1893.

A multi-media journey into Quebec’s history.

Maple taffy rolled out onto sow, melting on your tongue. Ham roasted beneath a sweet glaze of hardened syrup. Beans baked in sauce of maple syrup and mustard, traditional French-Canadian Tourtiere drizzled in maple syrup. Sound good? Head out to a working maple syrup farm and learn all about the process of concocting the sweet stuff from tapping the tree to pouring the syrup on your pancakes. Stay for dinner, a traditional Quebecois feast in which each course features – what else? – Maple syrup as a main ingredient. Be entertained by traditional Quebecois music and maybe learn to play the spoons!

Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre for an insight on the importance of religion in the history of Quebec. See the sight where thousands of pilgrims journey to pay homage to Ste-Anne every year.

Vibrant, cosmopolitan Montreal combines tourist appeal with industrial vitality. The profusion of ethnic restaurants, markets, and boutiques along The Main (as residents call the Boulevard St-Laurent) testify to the immerse diversity of this city, the second largest in Canada. Tour the hundred-year-old cobblestone streets of Old Montreal with your Tour Director and stop in Place Jacques Cartier, a favourite hangout of the city’s students, artists and tourists

When he saw his church completed, the Protestant architect of the Notre Dame Basilica was so inspired that he converted to Catholicism. The blue-and-gold interior certainly is inspiring; practically every bit of the immense wooden church is covered in gold leaf. The imported stained-glass windows show the history of Montréal, further illustrated by the statues of famous residents outside (the dog depicted warned the city of an impending attack in 1644). Equally impressive is St. Joseph's Oratory, rising majestically from Montréal's highest point. The church's dome is second only to St. Peter's in Rome. Dive from high to low in Montreal’s Underground City, a 19-mile-long series of tunnels and galleries connecting shops, hotels, offices, and subway terminals that provides refuge from the often inhospitable weather above.

When he saw his church completed, the Protestant architect of the Notre Dame Basilica was so inspired that he converted to Catholicism. The blue-and-gold interior certainly is inspiring: practically every bit of the immense wooden church is covered in gold leaf. The imported stained-glass windows show the history of Montreal, further illustrated by the statues of famous residences outside. This famous Basilica helps demonstrate how the church played an important role in Canada’s history.

Who needs Pisa? Montreal’s Olympic Stadium has the tallest leaning tower in the world, rising 556 feet at a 45-degree angle. The swooping tower was designed to retract the stadium’s plastic roof, but engineering problems led the city to close the dome permanently in 1998. Built for the 1976 Olympics by a Paris architect, the stadium now hosts various exhibitions and concerts throughout the year.

Following the guided visit of the Olympic Stadium, ride the Furniculaire of the Olympic Tower for a beautiful view of the city.

What happens to an Olympic Cyclodome after the Olympics? The Montreal Biodome showcases the different ecosystems of Canada. Tamarins and sea cucumbers and penguins and poison arrow frogs and two-toed sloths. Tour the world’s natural diversity in the four ecosystems, from tropical forest to polar ice cap. Try to spot an anaconda, the most elusive of the thousands of species that call the Biodome home.

It’s a good thing Ottawa is so photogenic – Queen Victoria chose the provincial logging town as Canada’s capital in 1857 after seeing only a few watercolors of the area. (More cosmopolitan rivals Toronto and Montreal were not amused). Setting aside its reputation for barroom brawls, Ottawa concentrated on running the country from its London-style Parliament Buildings, built in the 1860’s. The central Peace Tower indicated when Parliament is in session. The 90-mter tower was built in 1927 to honor the Canadians who served in World War I and was paved from stones from the battlefields of Europe.

Originally the hub of Ottawa’s logging industry, then its red-light district, the Byward Market area became the centre of the city’s bohemian life in the 1970s. Jammed with art studios, jazz clubs, restaurants, and the area hosts a daily market with crafts, fruits and vegetables, souvenirs, clothing and more.

Step back a century of so at the BCE Place, where the faces of twelve buildings that survived the city’s 1904 fire still stand, one of them seemingly encased in glass. The complex’s 19th-century Bank of Montreal Building now houses the Hockey Hall of Fame. Continue your sports education at the Air Canada Centre (home to the Raptors and Maple Leafs) and the Rogers Centre (Skydome), under whose retractable dome the Blue Jays won their second World Series title in 1993. After a view of the city’s harbour, go back to the future at City Hall, a modern glass-and-concrete crescent reaching into the sky. The beloved statue that stands outside the building, “The Archer,” was so controversial in 1965 that the city refused to use public money to buy it; the mayor raised private funds for it and then was soundly defeated in the next election. The walking tour will end up in Kensington Market and Toronto’s Chinatown and experience first had the ethnic diversity of Toronto.

The entire metropolis spread beneath your feet as you hover 1,136 feet in the air. Ride the glass-front elevator to the glass-floored observation deck of the CN Tower, the world's tallest manmade self-supporting structure. It's the perfect place to get a quite literal overview of the city.

Step back a century or so at BCE Place, where the facades of twelve buildings that survived the city’s 1904 fire still stand, one of them seemingly encased in glass. The complex’s 19th-century Bank of Montreal Building now houses the Hockey Hall of Fame. Continue your sports education at the Air Canada Centre (home to the Raptors and Maple Leafs) and the SkyDome, under whose retractable dome the Blue Jays won their second World Series title in 1993. The Victorian houses in Cabbagetown — so named because Irish residents in the 1800s planted large cabbage patches in their front yards — give way to the more commercial Yorkville, Toronto’s hippie-filled answer to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s. After a view of the city’s harbor, go back to the future at City Hall, a modern glass-and-concrete crescent reaching into the sky. The beloved statue that stands outside the building, “The Archer,” was so controversial in 1965 that the city refused to use public money to buy it; the mayor raised private funds for it and was then soundly defeated in the next election.

In 1860, the Great Blondin walked a tightrope to the center of Niagara Falls, cooked himself an omelette, and completed the walk. He also made trips blindfolded, handcuffed, on stilts, with a wheelbarrow, and with his manager balanced on his back. Not feeling quite so adventurous? You can still enjoy this natural wonder, 185 feet tall with 600,000 gallons of water cascading over the rocks each second. Hop on the Maid of the Mist, a half-hour cruise to the base of the falls, where you can feel the water beating down. Need a breather? Head to Niagara on the Lake, a picturesque frontier town rebuilt after an American invasion in 1813 and practically unchanged since.