Friday, July 16, 2010

Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream? - Edgar Allan Poe

I woke up this morning dreaming I was still in a hotel room in Quebec, Canada.  I was dreaming I forgot to hand in the key to my room.  It feels like the past few days have been a dream.

The warm weather during the summer puts me in the mood to travel.  Two weekends ago I went to Rochester, NY.  We went hiking around Chimney Bluffs, Sodus Bay, Dinosaur Bbq, and of course the mecca Wegmans.  It's amazing what adventures you can find so close to home.  Rochester is a super fun little city.

Last night I just got back from a trip to Montreal and Quebec City.  I was only gone 4 days, but it felt like 2 weeks!  The summer seemed like the best time to travel north.  I've never been to either city or that far north, so I was thrilled.  The tour began with a long drive across NY State, up to Alexandria Bay for lunch (gorgeous view of Boldt Castle), across the border and up to Quebec.  Quebec is known as the only European city you can drive to in North America.  Everyone speaks french, all the signs are in french, and all the menus are in french.  After a few days you really begin to start thinking in french.  The city has a smaller European city feel and it's the only city in North American with a wall around it.  The food was delicious!  Over the past few days I ate croissants, crepes with duck, liver and onions, gelatto, chicken with mushroom sauce, spaghetti and meatballs, and calamari.  Montreal was more high fashion, so I did lots of trend spotting, which I'll share with you soon!

I went on a tour and I really enjoyed meeting all the different people and hearing their stories.  You start to become a family with your traveling group.  It was also very interesting hearing stories from locals.  The more you travel the more you realize we're all the same.  We may speak different languages, eat different things, and live in different climates, but we're all people with basic human desires.  We all dream.

My favorite part of traveling is coming home and seeing and hearing everything in a new way.  My routine drive to work felt different today.  I noticed the beauty of the willow trees around me and the freedom of driving my car.  Traveling also has you thinking about your next trip.  I'll share more details of the trip soon!  Au revoir!

2 comments:

  1. I love summer and fall trips to Canada. Eventhough we border it, it seems there's always more left to be discovered! Monteal was always one of my favorite trips when we would play polo there. Lots of French influences, great home cooked french foods and beautiful farms on the outskirts! Really a place you can learn to feel "at home".

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  2. YES! Visiting Canada is always a good time! That's awesome you went to Montreal before! It was my first time visiting and I loved it! I definitely want to go back. I was amazed how everyone was speaking french and some people didn't know english. The food was so good!

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