The Quebec Side

Four months into 2015 seems like a good time for a pulse check on my new year's resolutions.
...On second thought, let's just focus on the stuff I managed to keep doing.

An extra benefit of exploring Ottawa is getting to visit the nearby places on the Quebec side.  I only took advantage of the proximity to Montreal once last year, and made a point of visiting more often this year.  I'm kind of lumping 3 trips to Quebec into one post due to photo-deficiency.  I don't know what it is exactly, maybe the depressing amount snow still falling late April, maybe feeling creatively constipated, but I haven't produced as many photos I'm satisfied with.  Even the ones in this post are more obligatory rather than ones I'm really happy with, with the exception of these two dog ones, of course.

such a pretty girl!

I ran into these cuties on a trail in Gatineau Park, which is fairly close to downtown Ottawa, but is technically in Quebec.  I've always wanted to go to Gatineau Park, as it’s been one of the most recommended places to visit in/around Ottawa.  So when my parents came to visit over the Easter weekend, I thought it’d be a perfect time to make it a family day, maybe do a little hiking, have a little picnic, and enjoy the spring-time in the park.

The day before Easter Friday, I casually mentioned my weekend plans to my coworker who asked, “Oh, are you going snowshoeing or cross-country skiing?”  And the lightbulb went off: the park is still completely buried in snow.  My picnic plans ruined, I hurriedly called my parents and told them to pack boots instead of sandwiches, and maybe bring a warmer coat too.
Despite the heavy layer of snow on the ground, the weather was actually a nice balmy 15 degrees with lots of sun, and 10 minutes into hiking, Mom and I had to take our coats off (Dad was prepared for the warmth and didn’t even bring a coat).

happy family :)

All in all, we had a great time, but will definitely have to come back in the summer when the roads aren’t closed off to the skiers/snowshoers.

Second day of our Easter weekend, we headed off to Montreal.  It was exactly 15 years since we last went as a family so my parents insisted on visiting Mount Royal and St Joseph’s Oratory, which is apparently the largest Basilica in Canada.

Unfortunately, it was ridiculously cold that day and I wasn’t wearing boots, so my shoes and socks had already gotten wet just from stepping into the parking lot of Mount Royal.  So while my parents went up to the lookout point, my cousin and I waited at Maison Smith, a heritage building from 1858 that now contains a small cafe, gift shop, and museum.

fancy moustache

They have these funny little cartoons depicting some historical moments of Montreal as well as a giant mirror in which I wasted no time in snapping up a selfie.

oh hai :3

After that, we went to the Basilica, which was just as beautiful as I had remembered it.  As it was Easter weekend, there was a fair number of attendees and organ music was playing throughout.

Last time I visited was late at night so I didn't get to see any of the dazzling light display from the stained glass windows.

reminds me of Joseph and his coat of many colours

The most breath-taking portion in my opinion has got to be the tomb of Brother Andre.  With all it's candles, you can't help but stare in awe.

Aside from the tourist-y attractions, I think my favourite aspects of Montreal have to be the historic architecture and the creative street art.

building by Old Port

Habitat 67 viewed from Old Port - will need to see it up close next time!

over by Chinatown

super happy colours despite the skeleton man

This skeleton man we actually saw while waiting in line for Schwartz's famous smoked meat sandwich.  We heard it was the most well-known smoked-meat sandwich place, which was very believable considering the extremely long line stretched along the sidewalk.  The sandwich was a lot more filling than we expected considering the size.  It's smaller length-wise than a 6" sub from Subway but it was so much meat that we were completely stuffed afterwards.

Speaking of food, a new izakaya opened relatively recently on St Catherine's called Kinka Izakaya.  At the recommendation from my roommate, I took my cousin there for her birthday.

inside Kinka Izakaya

Having been to a few izakayas in Toronto, I definitely had some expectations that I hoped the food would live up to.  Overall, it was decent, but my favourites had to have been the galbi (short ribs) which had fantastic flavour and was amazingly tender, and the takoyaki (octopus) which was nice and fluffy on the inside and perfectly crispy on the outside.

omnom

Sometimes, I'll start a post feeling one way about my photos, and finish the post feeling completely different.  It might be resignation or a lowering of standards ("it's all I have to work with...it's not that bad...") or maybe I come to terms with the fact that these are still fairly representative of my trips and therefore a good source of reminiscence and shouldn't be so easily deleted or discarded.  It's hard at times to find the appropriate level of self-criticism, that I'm not being too harsh to the point of discouraging myself from continuing, or too lenient that I'm not motivating myself to improve.
Now as I finish off this post, I can say that I do actually like the photos I picked (which I think is not what I started off saying).
I suppose the moral of this story (did I do a moral in my last post as well? is this going to be a thing now?) is that writing about my photos and organizing them in blog posts is a good way to collect my thoughts and sort of look at them as a whole instead of getting frustrated with single shots.

With that in mind, I'll try not to wait two months until my next post!
As always, thanks for reading :)