Finding Contentment In Quebec

Wednesday, April, 18, 2007

by Ralph Grizzle

I had traveled the world before traveling to Quebec, and if my foot could reach my behind, I would kick myself for doing so. Of all the places I have visited, Quebec surely ranks in my top ten. The irony is that I traveled halfway around the world to visit [...]

Seductive Saguenay

Monday, April, 16, 2007

by Ralph Grizzle

It's a 2.5-hour drive from Quebec City to the Saguenay region. We pointed our car toward La Baie, where we checked in to L' Auberge des 21. Located on the shore of the Saguenay Fjord, the warm family inn also features fine regional (read: French) cuisine at a shockingly good [...]

Quintessential Quebec

Saturday, April, 14, 2007

by Ralph Grizzle

Quebec City offers beauty, fine dining and delightful diversions. And that's just in the train station. Our three-hour train journey from Montreal to Quebec ended in what has been called "the most beautiful train station in North America." Reminiscent of similar grand terminals in Europe, Quebec City's train station attracts [...]

Marvelous Montreal

Thursday, April, 12, 2007

by Ralph Grizzle

If there is one phrase that characterizes Quebec, it is "et pourquoi pas?" The phrase, which translates to "and why not?" seems to be on the tip of every Quebecer's tongue. It is a ready response of permissiveness and tolerance, a defender of an important concept --the joie de vivre [...]

France Without The Jetlag: Pre- and Post-Cruise Vacations in Montreal, Quebec and Saguenay

Tuesday, April, 10, 2007

by Ralph Grizzle

A bartender at Quebec City's fashionable L'EChaude restaurant expresses mock indignation when a visitor asks how Quebec's capital compares with the province's largest city, Montreal. "They are not truly French," the bartender says, conveniently overlooking the fact that as a Canadian, neither is he. "In Montreal, people speak French 50, [...]