Autumn Colour cruise in Laurentians, Quebec, Canada

Laurentian Mountains [Laurentides in French] 

The Laurentian mountains are one of the famous colored leaves spots in Quebec province in Canada.
The Laurentian Mountains are included in the "Maple Route" which is a famous route for autumn colours.
The Maple Route is about 800 km from Niagara to Quebec city.
Laurentians is located about 60 km north of Montreal.
It takes about 45 minutes to go to Laurentians from Montreal.
The tour bus arrived at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in Quebec province.

 

We took a tour bus from Montreal.

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Arrived in Sante-Agathe-des-Monts.

 

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We walked to the harbour.

It's 60 - 90 minutes boat cruise called "Lac des Sables".

We can enjoy the colored leaved of the Laurentian mountains.
The boat moves slowly on the Lake (Lac des Sables). 

 

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-  Lac des Sables Cruise - 

 

 

coloured Maple leaves of the Laurentian mountains.

(The view from the boat cruise) 

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Tour bus stopped by Saint Sauveur village.

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A beautiful Catholic church "Paroisse St-Sauver" 

in Saint Sauveur village.

The shops and houses in the town were decorated with Halloween goods.

 

 

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Tour bus came back to Montreal.

Episode of the Autumn colours tour of the Laurentian mountains

It was our dream to see the coloured leaves of Maple route in Quebec. So we booked the excursion for Laurentians at tourist information in Montreal.

We went to the Laurentian Mountains from Montreal by tour bus. It took about 45 minutes to go to Laurentians from Montreal.
The tour bus arrived at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in Quebec province. As soon as we got off the bus, we could see the colored leaves in the town. So we were already excited to see such a colourful scenery. But we were really looking forward to discovering a boat cruise in Laurentians, so we hurried to go to the harbor.
It's 60 - 90 minutes boat cruise on the lake called "Lac des Sables" in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. The boat takes time and move slowly on the lake. At the beginning of the cruise, we were just surprised to see the huge scale of colored leaves of the Laurentian mountains. Maple leaves were coloured such as orange, yellow and red. Those colourful scenery spreaded all directions! We lost our words. We were captivated by the beauty of the maple trees of the Laurentian mountains.
The scenery was too beautiful from each angle and that made us to take photos at every moment. As a result, we took a lot of pictures.　:-)
After our excitement calmed down, we finally could enjoy the autumn colour quietly. The cruise was very calm, tranquil, relaxing and peaceful. We felt like that time stopped at that moment.

On the way to go back to Montreal, the tour bus stopped by Saint Sauveur village. We had a little bit of free time there so we walked around the town.
There was a beautiful Catholic church called "Paroisse St-Sauver" in Saint Sauveur village. The shops and houses in the town were decorated with Halloween goods, so we could enjoy the autumn more.
Saint Sauveur was very pretty town. Saint Sauveur has full of autumn colors.
We could also enjoy the peaceful time in Saint Sauveur. 

We really enjoyed the splendid and colourful Laurentian mountains. We had calm, relaxing and beautiful time in Laurentians, Quebec!


Information

The tour Tomo&Chouchou joined through the tourist information in Montreal.
The Autumn colours tour of the Laurentian mountains - Excursions

The boat cruise in Laurentians（50 - 90 minutes）
Croisières Alouette - Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Laurentides
http://croisierealouette.com/en  (English or French)

Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada

Montreal International Jazz Festival
[Festival International de Jazz de Montréal]

Location: downtown in Montreal,Quebec province, Canada.
Date: from end of June to beginning of July every year.

Montreal International Jazz Festival is the biggest jazz festival in the world.
More than 650 concerts including 450 free outdoor concerts are held.
There are payable and free concerts held outdoor and indoor.
3000 artists from more than 30 countries come to Montreal International Jazz Festival every year. So we can enjoy many genres of music from the world.

This was one of the outdoor free concerts of

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

Free outdoor concerts were enough enjoyable to see the performances. ♪

Place des Arts was the main venue of 

Montreal International Jazz Festival.
We could find a souvenir shop at Place des Arts.
This cat is the mascot of Montreal International Jazz Festival.

We could buy some souvenirs such as T-shirts drawn this cat mascot.

We could also see some parades at Places des Arts. 

 

Episode of Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

When Tomo & Chouchou went to see Montreal International Jazz Festival, there was a Turkish show. Turkish dancers kept turning for nonstop 10 minutes, while Turkish music was being played. It was astonishing!
We also went to see Brazilian musician "Olodum". It was a free outdoor concert. Many Brazilian were there to see. The energy of audience was extremely high. We danced together while watching their performance. It was really enjoyable!!

Place des Arts was the main place of Montreal International Jazz Festival.
We could find a souvenir shop there. Tomo & Chouchou really liked the mascot character of Montreal Jazz Festival, so we bouoght cat mascot T-shirt at souvenir shop. This T-shirt is now a good memory of Montreal International Jazz Festival!

Tomo & Chouchou's advice for International Jazz Festival

There are so many shows at the same time from noon until midnight everyday, so you had better pick up some shows that you want to see in advance.

Montreal is a multicultural city and you can feel the world in Montreal.
Please enjoy Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and make a wonderful summer memory in Montreal

information
"Festival International de Jazz de Montréal"

For 2021, Festival International de Jazxz de Montréal will be presented from September 15 to 19 at Place des Festivals. (It might change according to the health situation.) About the shows scheduled in venues have been postponed to the summer in 2022.

For more details, you can visit official website of Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. ⇒　https://www.montrealjazzfest.com/en-CA


Relating article 

- Montreal Snow Festival

Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Canada

Canadian Tulip Festival

Date: in May (Ref: May 13-23 in 2022)
Location: in Ottawa
Tulip sites: in Commissioner's Park (main site), at the Rideau Canal etc.

We can see more than a million tulips.
The highest concentration of tulips is in Commissioner's Park. There are 300,000 tulips there. There are more than a dozen varieties and many colors of tulips such as yellow, white, pink, orange, red, mix of yellow & red etc..

Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa

 

 

Episode of Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa

Canadian Tulip Festival is held in Ottawa where is the capital city of Canada.
Ottawa is the city which has a Parliament of Canada. Tulips Festival is held at various sites such as Commissioner's Park beside Dow's Lake and the Rideau Canal which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
When Tomo & Chouchou went to the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, it was cloudy. However very colorful tulips were enough bright and they brought a joy to us.
Ottawa is very organized and beautiful city. Parks are also beautiful. So the tulips were very matching to the city of Ottawa.
There was a big tent where we could take a rest at Commissioner's Park. We could have lunch inside the tent. There were cafe/bar and grill so we could eat and drink at Commissioner's Park.
Music was put on all the day so we could also enjoy many genres of music there.
We could easily spend half a day at Canadian Tulip Festival.
Canadian Tulip Festival was a good opportunity to enjoy spring in the capital of Canada.

information

Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa 

Commissioners Park: 9am-7pm
※9am-10pm on Fridays and Saturdays for events, arts, café, bar etc.

In the evening on Fridays & Saturdays, we can enjoy the concert at Commissioner's Park and firework over Dow's Lake. We can enjoy the tulips, of course, and also the wireworks and Canadian music through Canadian Tulip Festival.

Shuttle "Tulip Express"
It runs every 30 minutes only during the festival
from downtown to Commissioner's Park at Dow's Lake
Service: 9am - 6pm, 9am - 11pm on Fridays & Saturdays
Cost: $2 each way

ATTENTION!!

Above information was as of 2015. During COVID-19, services were changed. Please check updated information from official website.
Canadian Tulip Festival in 2022 is scheduled from 13 May to 23 May.

Relating article 

* Winterlude & Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa  

 

Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada

Quebec Winter Carnival/Carnaval de Québec

Ice Palace of Quebec Winter Carnival [French: Carnaval de Québec]

snow sculptures of The International Snow Sculpture Competition. 

dog-sledding race on the Gland Allée street.

horse sledding

dog sledding
 

snowtubing

Sugar Shack [French: Cabane à sucre]

Ice palace at night

 

Bonhomme Effigy history

Episode of Quebec Winter Carnival

Tomo&Chouchou recommend our favorite festival "Quebec Winter Carnival [French: Carnaval de Québec]" held in Quebec city in Canada.
There is also a snow festival "Fête des neiges de Montréal" in Montreal. However Quebec Winter Carnival is a much bigger festival. Moreover we can see the Ice Palace during Quebec Winter Carnival.

During the snow festival in Quebec-city, sculptors from around the world come and make their snow art for the International Snow Sculpture Competition.
We can see all the artwork such as how they make the snow sculpture at the Plains of Abraham where is the main place of the carnival.
The ice Canoe Race on the St. Lawrence river is also famous because it has been held since the first edition of Quebec Winter Carnival.
When Tomo&Chouchou went to the carnival, there was dog-sledding race on the Gland Allée street located in the center of the Quebec-city. It was fun to watch it.
The Quebec Winter Carnival is held in the whole Quebec-city. There are full of activities and events as follows; horse-drawn sleigh, dog sledding, snowtubing etc.
We can enjoy not only the activities but also the specialties of Quebec. Especially Sugar Shack [Cabane à sucre]! We put maple syrup on the snow. Then maple syrup make it solid naturally. This is the traditional way to make a mapple tuffy.
It was super easy and enjoyable to make a mapple tuffy!
There were full of events and parades from the morning till the night.

At night, the ice palace was lit up and it totally changed the appearance. The ice palace was so fascinating both at daytime and at nighttime.
We could see the mascot snowman of the festival called "Bonhomme" during the festival. When we could luckily see him, we were very happy.
The Carnaval Effigy is a Bonhomme miniature-pendant ticket-passport of the carnival. Every year they change the design of the effigy. We could see all the design history of the Carnaval Effigy. We still keep this Bonhomme miniature-pendant ticket-passport as our good memories.

Quebec Winter Carnival is one of the largest winter festivals in the world.
It is super enjoyable festival and it will surely give you a wonderful memory.
We can assure that you would have lots of fun in Quebec Winter Carnival.

Tomo&Chouchou's advice for Quebec Winter Carnival

We can stay at Ice Hotel [French: Hotel de Glace] in Quebec-city during the festival. Why don't you stay at Ice Hotel? It would be very special experience!!


Carnaval de Québec
Quebec Winter Carnival

Carnaval de Québec 2022
68th edition of Quebec winter Carnival
4 to 11 Febrary in 2022

Cost of Effigy: $11.53 in 2018
(7 years of age or lower are free. Effigy is valid for 17 days during the festival.)

To access to the festival sites, activities and entertainments, you need a passport called "the Carnaval Effigy" which is a miniature pendant. You need to wear it on your outerwear. 

Official webpage: https://carnaval.qc.ca/en/
Please check the updated details of activities.
You can get online-ticket from here too.

FYI
Carnival programs of 2017 (picked up by Tomo&Chouchou)

* International de sculpture sur neige
International Snow Sculpture contest

* Course en Canot
Canoe race

* Bain de neige Qualinet
Qualinet Snow Bath

* Jeu de Quilles Géant Christie
Christie's Giant Bowling

* Raquettes
Snowshoes

* Glissade de Glace UNIPRIX
UNIPRIX Ice Slide

* Les séances de patinage avec Bonhomme
ice-skating with Bonhomme     Cost: Free
on Tuesday & Thursday starting from 7pm

* Cabane à sucre
Sugar Shack

* Queues de castor
Beaver Tails

* Palais de glace de Bonhomme
Bonhomme's Ice palace

* Soirée d’ouverture et Couronnement
opening night & crowning    starts at 19:30pm on 27 Jan

* Défilé de nuit de Charlesbourg
Night parade (Charlesbourg)  19h～ on 4 Feb

* Défilé de nuit de la Haute-Ville
Night parade (upper town)  19h30～ on 11 Feb only



Relating articles

* Montreal Snow Festival

* Winterlude & Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa

Montreal Snow Festival in Canada

<the Montreal Snow Festival/la Fête des neiges de Montréal>

maple tuffy /sugar shack 

[French: cabanes à sucre]

 maple tuffy on snow in Montréal Snow Festival. 

ice rock-climbing

snow tubing

traditional Quebec dance show

Episode of Montreal Snow Festival

Montreal Snow Festival [French: la Fête des neiges de Montréal] is Tomo&Chouchou's favorite snow festival in the world. It is held in Montreal, Quebec province in Canada.
It takes place every winter in Montreal. Tomo&Chouchou visited Montreal Snow Festival in 2002 and 2004.

Talking about Québec, maple syrup of Québec is very famous. We could make maple tuffy on snow [=sugar shack, cabanes à sucre] in Montréal Snow Festival. A staff put maple syrup line on the snow. Then we rolled it with the wood stick to make a maple tuffy. Normally we can eat maple taffies in a sugar shack [cabanes à sucre] in such a traditional way. We could make and taste a maple taffy in Montreal Snow Festival. We aprreciated this opportunity.

Many kinds of activities relating to the snow and the ice are held in Montreal Snow Festival.
When we went to Montreal Snow Festival, we could try ice rock-climbing.
Our most favorite activity was snow tubing! We could try snow tube slide with the rubber tire. It was very fast and exciting and lots of fun! It was a bit tiring to carry snow tube to the top of the snow hill. But it was so much fun. Even though it was tiring, we slided snow tube many times. We loved snow tubing! It was unforgetable memory!
We could also try dog sled ride and horse-drawn sleigh ride.
There were also many show events in Montreal Snow Festival.
We could see the traditional Quebec dance. We danced together around the dance stage. It was heart-warming atmosphere.
We could also see the ice sculptures.
There were so many things to see and do in Montreal Snow Festival.
We enjoyed eating Quebec specialty "Beaver Tails [French: Queues de Castor]" in Montreal Snow Festival. We also drank hot chocolate to warm up our bodies in the snow environment. It was soooo good. It was such a pleasure to eat maple tuffy, beavertails and hot chocolate in such a special atmosphere.
The winter in Montreal is really cold. It became -30 degrees. But Montreal Snow Festival was so enjoyable that we didn't feel cold! It's funny but it's true. Montrealers are very active. They enjoy winter. TomoChouchou love their style. Actually it's good to go out and enjoy winter activities when it's cold. We can easily forget the coldness. We can appreciate the snow. We strongly recommend Montreal Snow Festival [la Fête des neiges de Montréal]!

Tomo&Chouchou's advices for Montreal Snow Festival

1)We recommend you to eat Beaver Tails [Queues de Castor] in Montreal Snow Festival. BeaverTails are whole wheat pastries. It is named because the shape resemble to the tail of the Beaver. Beavertails are coated with butter and cinnamon-sugar. You can choose your favorite topping on it. The topping flavours are maple syrup, chocolate, caramel etc.. So please try a Beavertail with your favorite flavour.

2)Don't hesitate to enjoy many activities such as snow tubing and dog sledding. It is not only for kids. Adults can enjoy them!



Fête des neiges de Montréal
Montreal Snow Festival
around 20 January - 10 Febrary  (only weekend)
Time: 10-20h on Saturdays, 10-17h on Sundays
Place: Jean-Drapeau park [Parc Jean-Drapeau]
Free admission
Many free activities


Attractions in 2017 (picked up by Tomo&Chouchou)

＊Glissoire sur tube
Snow tube slide from the 6m height hill

＊Tour de Traîneau à chiens
Dog sled ride: Adult 16$, Child 10$

＊Bateau de glace  
Ice Ship

＊Cirque polaire
Cirque polaire

＊Sculptures de glace en direct
Live ice-sculpturing performances

＊Sentier des patineurs Rythme FM105.7
Skater's path Rythme FM105.7 : ice-skating

＊Robin des neiges
Robin des neiges

＊Tyrolienne 
Zip-line


Don't miss traditional Canadian foods!
* Queues de Castor/beaver tails
* érable sur neige/maple tuffy


For more information; specific date, activities, attractions, event, services and shops,
please visit official website as below.
English) https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/fete-des-neiges-de-montreal/
French) https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/fete-des-neiges-de-montreal/

Relating articles

* Quebec Winter Carnival

* Winterlude & Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa

Recommended foods & drinks in North & South America

Foods & Drinks recommended by TOMO&CHOUCHOU

< in North & South America >

<CANADA>

Moccachino etc. with whipped cream by Second Cup

Second Cup is a cafe where is located in Canada, especially in Quebec.
Second Cup is similar to Starbucks or A.L.Van Houtte.
We can get free whipped cream on cafe or chocolate in Second Cup.
The staff in Second Cup will ask if you want to have whipped cream or not.
Moccachino or Chocolate with whipped cream make us warm and relaxed
in such cold weather in Quebec.

Onion soup

Onion soup that we ate in Quebec city is unforgettable taste !
When we were extremely cold under the snow and we drank that onion soup,
our body were so relieved and melted. We got energy back.
Onion soup was just too good.
It looks they put a pastry on the cup of onion soup and cooked it in oven.
When we break the pastry, we can find melted cheese in the tasty onion soup.


<Brazil>

Coxinha

Coxinha is Brazilian croquette.
Coxinha is a wonderful snack to eat when we are a bit hungry.
The croquette that Tomo&Chouchou ate had taste of Tuna and it was good !

Feijoada

Fejioada is a stew made with black beans and pork.
When we see Fejioada, it looks a bit grotesque.
But once we eat one spoon of Fejioada, we feel we wants to eat it more or again.
Surprisingly, Fejioada makes a good match with rice.

Relating articles

* Recommended foods & drinks in West Europe

* Recommended foods & drinks in England & Iceland

Enjoyable activities in North America

TOMO&CHOUCHOU's recommending interesting activities ! 

<in North America>

＜USA＞

★　Disneyland park in California

Tomo&Chouchou loved Indiana Jones TM Adventure ! We rode several times!


★　Free show by hotels in Las Vegas
There are many free shows in Las Vegas which are held by hotels. Each hotel has originality using fire, water and lights.



＜CANADA＞

★★★　Jet Boating in Montreal
1 hour ride jet boat tour on St-Lawrence river. You will get wet totally!! It is wild and crazy. We can have lots of fun !! The guide is also excellent and very friendly and skilled.


★★　Montreal snow festival
Montreal snow festival is held from the end of Jan. to beggining of Feb. in Parc Jean-Drapeau. There are several activities such as snow tube sliding or dog sledding. Tomo&Chouchou strongly recommend snow tube sliding ! It is so exciting and we can have lots of fun !


★★　Montreal International Jazz Festival
Montreal International Jazz Festival is the largest jazz fest in the world ! It runs from end of June to beg. of July. Hundreds of outdoor shows are free !! Artists coming from more than 30 countries. You can enjoy many types of music in one place ! It is fantastic event!


★★★　Quebec Winter Carnival
Quebec Winter Carnival is a festival held in Quebec city from Jan. to Feb.. There are many outdoor sports events such as dog-sledding, snow shoes. You can find the Ice Palace and many ice sculptures. There are also outdoor dance parties! It's very cold outside but it's very warm atmosphere!


★★★　Maid of the Mist of Niagara Falls
This is the boat tour of Niagara Falls and you can approach to the falls. They sell the blue raincoats to protect from the spray. For Tomo&Chouchou, this raincoat is also precious souvenir!


★　Snowcat in Columbia Icefield
Columbia Icefield is located in Canadian Rockies. We can see huge crevasse there while riding snowcat.


Read "Enjoyable activities in Europe" too.