Author: Greg

Vancouver had me at hello

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Almost immediately after stepping off the plane in Vancouver over a week ago, the city felt like a fit.  The travel weariness of an early morning wake up and a long trip across the continent couldn’t stop a wide and giddy smile from planting itself on my face.  In my mind I had high expectations for Vancouver, and after a week visiting this amazing city, it more than lived up to what I had hoped.

Snow capped mountains, deep blue waters, lush green spaces even in the heart of the city.  Laid back, friendly people.  Amazing craft beer.  Delicious food from every corner of the world, much of it available in food trucks surrounding our apartment.  Stunning architecture and public art.  I fell in love with Vancouver over eight days of experiences in and around the city and felt completely at home unlike anywhere else I’ve visited.  More to come over the days and weeks ahead on this great trip.  For now, this picture of the Vancouver skyline from Stanley Park.  A picture I once only imagined, now burned into my mind with so many other great memories.

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Vieux-Québec: les rues

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My favourite activity during my recent trip to Quebec City was just wandering around inside the walls of the old town.  The street scenes in Vieux-Québec are unlike anything else in Canada.  You feel transported to Europe if you let your mind wander along with your feet.  Here are some of my favourite scenes as I wore down my shoes over five days:

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West coast dreaming

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I’ve always had a long distance love affair with Vancouver. We’ve never met, but it has inhabited my dreams for years.

I’m not terribly proud to say this, but as a soon to be 39 year old I have yet to visit the west coast of my own country. That’s going to change in less than two weeks as I present at and attend a medical education and technology conference in beautiful Vancouver, BC. Another part work/vacation trip; this one I’ll have my love along with me.

This has been an unusual trip to plan for. We’re going to do a road trip to visit Whistler (we can’t resist the allure of mountains after Banff, Switzerland and Norway), but aside from that there’s not the normal hit list of sights to see on our itinerary. As we both read about Vancouver, what we wanted to do was to just live there for the eight days. We chose an apartment over a hotel, our travel itinerary is heavy on exploring and wandering and light on museums and attractions. We want to shop at markets, linger in parks, visit a few neighbourhood restaurants and drink in the experience of being there.

With high expectations, here’s to dipping my toes in the Pacific in about two weeks.

A Québécois delicacy

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Pretty high up on my “must do” list for Quebec City was a return to a fast food chain I spent some time frequenting in my younger years: Chez Ashton.  Poutine, one of the significant contributions of Quebec to the world of food, can be found in all kinds of elevated forms – with lobster, with fois gras, with heirloom potatoes and grass fed dairy cattle organic cheese curds, or a host of other riffs on the basic dish.  I have nothing against those.  In fact, I’m a big fan of many.  But the truest interpretation of the dish is the variety made in casse-croûtes across la belle province.

So, harkening back to my younger days where a poutine and a Pepsi at Chez Ashton held a dear place in my heart, my first meal on my return visit to Quebec was exactly that:

Chez Ashton poutine

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The Château in photographs

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It’s the most photographed hotel in the world for a very good reason.  Over my five days in Quebec City, I’m proud to have helped add to the total.  The Château Frontenac is striking.  When you think of Quebec City, it’s the visual image that pops to mind first.   Even if I had no intention of pulling my camera out as I walked past, the hotel seemed to will it into my hand for another picture – a different angle, a different light falling across its spires, a different scene playing out in its shadows.  It’s a landmark that begs to be photographed.  Here are a few of my favourites from more than a hundred pictures I took of it on my recent trip:

From the Terrasse Dufferin

From the Terrasse Dufferin

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Nordiques everywhere

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I fell in love with Quebec City in my teenage years.  Summer vacations spent roaming the streets of Vieux-Quebec will do that to an impressionable youngster.  At that time,  I was also in love with the Quebec Nordiques.  They were truly mine; I didn’t know another Nords fan in my junior high or high school.  My hockey heart was first broken by their escape to Denver then completely destroyed by them winning a Stanley Cup in their first year away.

Although the team left the city, it’s clear the memories remain.  Fast forward almost twenty years, and there it was in all its glory throughout the streets of Quebec in so many shop windows – the big “N” and hockey stick logo and that most appealing shade of blue:


If that weren’t enough to re-ignite my passion for Quebec City, I saw this in a shop.  Maybe when you lose your favourite sports teams you’re more sensitive to this kind of thing.  It made me smile, recalling the time before two of my three teams departed me:

Nordiques and Expos

Raising a glass to good memories

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When I learned that this year’s national medical education conference was taking place in Quebec City, the first thought that crossed my mind was “I need to have a drink in the bar in the Château Frontenac.”  An odd first thought?  Not really.  Here I must pause to make a confession.

The only bar I’ve been kicked out of in my life was the Bar St-Laurant in the Château.

When I mention this to those who know me well I get a puzzled look as I’m a pretty quiet, tame fellow by any standard.  But it’s true.  Earlier in my life, it was made known to me in no uncertain terms that my presence in that bar was no longer accepted.

The punch-line?  I was 13 or 14.  I was with my Mom, Dad and a friend of our family from Quebec City.   A very formal waiter with a white towel over his arm leaned in to our table and in a quiet voice reminded my Mom and Dad that I was too young to be in the bar.  With that, Dad put $20 into my hand and I was off into old town Quebec to make my own fun for a couple of hours.

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Bonjour Quebec!

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I’ve recently returned from five (mostly work-related) days in Quebec City.  Unfortunately, the last time I spent any substantial time in this beautiful city was in the winter of 1993 when my Dad and I braved a couple of blizzards to take in a Nordiques game during my university winter break.  Working around a demanding conference schedule on this trip, I tried to make up for lost time.  I rediscovered a guilt-inducing fast food restaurant from my childhood, sat in the shadows of the Chateau Frontenac listening to a sax player as the sun set, wandered around quaint streets until my legs hurt and generally tried to eat as much splendid French food as one human can (truth be told, if you tested me right now I fear I would be at least 10% butter).

Coming up over the next little while will be stories and pictures from my rediscovery of a great Canadian city.  This guy was more than happy to welcome me back:

Bonhomme