TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

My day trip to Montmorency Falls and Île d'Orléans is drawing to an end. As I was driving from the village of Saint-Jean to Sainte-Famille, I thought of dropping by a café for a cup of coffee, so I went looking around for one. But it was a bit difficult to find a nice cafe with a view, however I did manage to drop by a restaurant overlooking the riverside in Sainte-Famille. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good click with the place. It can happen you know. The restaurant has a terrace with beautiful lush views to the riverside of mainland Quebec, but it looked very dejected with nobody sitting in it. I do not think I would enjoy sitting here alone. The restaurant’s indoor setting didn’t really speak to my taste as well. I am a visual person and ambiance to me is very high up on my list. I am sure I am not the only person who choose cafes, bars and restaurants based on their physical attributes and the atmosphere they create. Beside the restaurant was a mansion with a huge ...

The picturesque Île d'Orléans has 6 villages, all of them equally quaint and pastoral. I was on a day road trip here from Quebec City with my rental car and was driving around the island. I love driving. It makes me relaxed, and it gives me happy feelings =) I checked out Sainte-Petronille and Saint-Laurent villages where I saw a strawberry harvest in action. Then as I was driving to Saint-Jean I dropped by a fruit stand along the road to buy a box of fresh strawberries . They are great for snacking and I can eat the rest the next day for breakfast. In Saint-Jean I had a lovely lobster roll sandwich and cider lunch at Resto de la Plage. The ambiance of the restaurant however had more points than the lobster roll sandwich, but the cider was something I have enjoyed very much. I even asked for a second glass. It was tempting to have a third one but helaas I am driving. I also manage to walk around in some parts of Saint-Jean and took some pictures. The village is very quiet....

While I was in Quebec, Canada I visited several places on a road trip outside the city. I went to Montmorency Falls which I still have to blog, I went to Ile d’Orleans country island which I am hoping to finish all my blog stories and pictures today and tomorrow, then I went to check out the southern Eastern Townships near the border of the USA. Now for the day road trip to Montmorency and Ile d’Orleans, I first checked out the bucolic villages of Sainte-Petronille and St-Laurent in the eastern part of the Ile d’Orleans island. There was this promising restaurant beside the water with distant silhouette views to Quebec City in Sainte-Petronille, but it turned out be below my expectations. They have closed their terrace and I didn’t like sitting confined inside. It’s a beautiful day in Quebec and that would be a shame. I am passionate about ambiance and eating outdoors, so I elected to search further ashore. I am glad that I have the Quebec Travel booklet with me which I picked u...

Everywhere you go in the island you will see these fresh fruit stands along the roads. They are all-pervading and the only thing I guess that changes through the months are the type of fruits sold by the farmers, since these of course depend on the season. I was here in the beginning of October and it was the strawberry harvesting season. Earlier in the drive I saw a group of people harvesting strawberries in the village of Saint Laurent , very near to Saint Petronille. Nevertheless I just cannot let this timely opportunity pass by. I need to buy myself a little basket of strawberries fresh from the farm producer itself. And I was quite glad I bought some as they were succulent and sweet. The fresh strawberries served as my snack for the island road trip. I ate the rest the next day at breakfast. This is what I love about road tripping, you drive into the unknown without expectations and come across random cool stuff such as this fruit stand, among many other (hopefully positi...