If you want a trip with international feel but not the extra flight time, Quebec is an option. It will bring you to Europe with a french touch. Unlike most American big cities, filthy, unfriendly to pedestrian and dangerous, Montreal and Quebec city gave us the impression of clean, safe and very walkable. Just like European cities (e.g. Vienna or Munich), you are better off not to rent a car. We walked 15K steps each day for a week when we were in the city of Montreal and Quebec. When it was too far to walk, we took trains and buses.
The people of Quebec are proud to preserve their French language and culture. Anywhere you go, you are greeted by “Bonjour! Hi!” as both French and English are the official language. But the service industry are required by law to greet people with French and English and can only continue the conversation with English if the guest speaks English. Luckily most people you will run into are fluent in both French and English. You won’t have trouble in communication. Unlike in Japan, when the other party tries to speak English, you get even more lost. Both cities are very friendly to tourist when it comes to payment. As long as you have a credit card that waives international transaction fees, you are good. We forgot to exchange some Canadian dollars and worried a bit but it turned out we didn’t need it except a couple of old vending machines.
Speaking of being tourist friendly, I tend to like Montreal better than Quebec city. Quebec city is a bit overly commercialized. When you walk through the long hall way of Vegas casinos where slot machines and gambling tables are literally blocking your path, you start to think that the entire system that surrounds you is by design profit first and you are at best the secondary priority. I felt the same way when I was in Quebec City. The entire city is based on tourism and people you meet are very polite and relaxed. But the small hotel room with cheaply remodeled interior as if Motel6 is pretending to be Marriot, prepared and then heated up dishes at the restaurant, slightly too salty fish that you don’t expect from a 5 course meal, and glitches like those make you feel the pressure from the corporate bottom line of the tourism machinery. Just to be fair, this is much more subtle than the blatant pay-to-use toilet at the foot of Neuschwanstein castle.
When we arrived in Montreal, it was a Friday night. A VW Atlas drove by with loud music inside. The girl in the passenger seat was waving her hands and possibly singing along. The party already started before the arrival. People were flushing through the narrow streets and many of them were in their party outfits, looking fit, energized and ready for some fun. Patio dining seats of restaurants were fully packed and the smell of food and drinks was in the air. Making you feel hungry. Instead of wandering around as a tourist, sometimes I wished I could be a fly following a stranger’s life in a foreign city for a day. No, I wouldn’t want to be his or her replacement but merely a non-intrusive observer. Maybe only in this way can I penetrate the shell of the city and have a real taste of life in the exotic place. Although my fly fantasy didn’t come true, we did taste the local restaurants in Montreal and Quebec City. We agreed that food in Montreal was better than those in Quebec City. Maybe the price on the menu raised our expectations too high in Quebec City?
Here are some photos of the cities and food. Enjoy!
Montreal
Quebec City
