Quebec City, Canada (17th - 19th May)

Our flight from Rio got us back to Toronto at about half past midnight. As we then had a flight to Quebec City at about 9am, we just spent the night in the airport. We used the website Sleeping In Airports to find advice on where best to go. They suggested the lounge at the far end of the departures level, which was indeed perfect. I think it's technically just intended to be used by people flying to the US on a particular airline, but overnight no-one's going to care. We didn't get a huge amount of sleep of course, but we got some, which was all we were after. Our flight to Quebec was then all fine and we got a taxi to our hostel: Maeva. It was an ok hostel - the location was good and people were nice, but the wi-fi reception in our room was practically non-existent and the breakfast was just toast and spreads. Granted, the breakfast thing isn't a big deal and they say how it's complimentary and you therefore shouldn't expect much, but considering some hostels do provide really good free breakfasts, it means they don't compare so well.

Quebec City itself was really really lovely - very European and 'quaint' (for want of a better word). It's wonderful to just walk around as it's so picturesque and photogenic, particularly the old town, it made me happy just to be there.

During our time there, we did a lot of walking around the town, plus we travelled slightly out of town to go to Montmorency Falls. It was just a $3 (each way) bus journey. We spent quite a while there, walking all around the falls and taking photos from different angles. Here's one of them:

On our last day in Quebec City we went on a free tour of the Residence of the Governor General (which is something you can do at weekends). That was really enjoyable - we just had a small group for our English tour and the tour guide was excellent. It was fun and informative! Nice way to end our time in the city before we caught our train to Montreal. Although we did also have time to sneak in some poutine before boarding the train. If you've not had the pleasure of poutine; it's chips covered in gravy and cheese curds. Mmmm artery clogging: