Forts and Castles in Quebec City

The capital of Quebec province, Quebec City, is a curious little tourist destination. The city consists of a few distinct regions, the most visited of which are the Upper and Lower Old Towns. Upper Old Town sits on a massive hill with sheer cliffs on the river-facing side, separating it physically from the lower town and making it an optimally defensible location. 

Entrance to the Citadel

It’s no wonder that the British decided to build a military fort there during their rule. On the highest point of the city is The Citadel, a collection of military buildings surrounded by a star-shaped protective wall. Today, the Citadel is part active military base, and part museum, open to the public for tours multiple times a day. Our tour guide gave us an excellent overview on the background of the place, explaining that the British built the Citadel as a precaution after warded off two previous attacks by the Americans (“those nasty Americans!”). The walls were built in a star formation to ensure that there were no blind spots anywhere approaching the fort. Add that to their highly advantageous position, and it would have been almost impossible to take Quebec using 19th century weaponry. In fact, the Citadel has the proud distinction of never having been defeated. Granted, no one has ever tried.

Majestic Chateau Frontenac

The Citadel is widely regarded as one of the must-see tourist spots in Quebec City. Chateau Frontenac is one of the other ones. Resembling a castle in both size and structure, Chateau Frontenac is a luxury hotel built about the same time as the railroads in an effort to attract visitors to the city. Today, the Chateau is the place to stay for people looking for the 5-star experience and willing to pay the 5-star price. It’s also a popular photo spot for those of us who are too cheap to actually stay there.

Poutine from Chez Ashton

Much of the charm of Quebec City comes from the European style cobblestone streets in the Upper Old Town, lined with small boutiques and restaurants. It’s a great place for shopping and food, and we definitely ate our share of local and regional foods. Right next to our hotel was Chez Ashton, a fast food joint native to Quebec and famous for their poutine. For the price and speed of service, the poutine was quite satisfactory, and way better than most fast food places we have in the US. Just down the street from there was Les Delices de l’Erable (Canadian Maple Delights), a store selling every maple product imaginable. There was maple mustard, maple jelly, even maple lotions and soaps all available for sampling, and also a gelato bar where you could taste maple flavored gelato. Most of the restaurants we ate at also had maple pie available for dessert. I thought the maple pie was really good - it was similar to pumpkin pie but had a sightly grainier texture and obviously a more syrupy taste. If only they had maple pie back home too.

Maple pie!

After a day and a half in Quebec City, we got on a sleeper train for the 20+ hour journey to Halifax, Nova Scotia, our next destination. Our time in Quebec was brief, but enjoyable, and I hope to have the opportunity to return someday. For now, we leave the French-Canadian culture to experience the Anglophone parts of the country.

- MC 6/25

Art and Food in Montreal

In many ways, Canada is very similar to the US. We speak the same language, eat lots of the same food, listen to similar music. Canadians may be slightly more enthusiastic about hockey, but aside from that, you could cross the border at many locations and not even notice you had entered a different country. The province of Quebec is the one big exception, with French as their official language, and many buildings and neighborhoods more reminiscent of Europe than anywhere else. For our last family trip before I start working full time, we decided to do a train tour through Quebec, starting with a few days in Montreal, followed by a stay in Quebec City, and ending in Halifax (which is English speaking and not in Quebec). 

Poutine for dinner in Quartier Latin

Montreal is the largest city in Quebec, and unofficially known as the food capital of Canada. It has all the conveniences of a big city, like subways that take you everywhere you want to go and multiple cafes on every block. But it also retains the atmosphere of a smaller city through its unique neighborhoods. One could spend a few hours just walking around, looking at the interesting buildings, and marveling at how different things look from one area to the next. One of the more colorful neighborhoods we visited was the Quartier Latin, just outside the main subway hub, Berri-UQAM. As soon as you exit the subway station, you see the University of Quebec at Montreal on one side with its towering gothic style architecture, and on the other side you see the bright storefronts of Rue St Denis painted every color of the rainbow. This is a great place to take a walk and have a meal at one of the many restaurants.

Farmers market

For more food options, a good place to go is Marche Jean-Talon in Little Italy. This is basically what you would get if you combine a farmers market with one of those gourmet food markets. In the main central area there are many large stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which offer free samples. Surrounding them are dozens of stores and vendors, selling all manner of food, drink, and souvenirs. There was one crepe stand right next to the main sitting area that we especially enjoyed.

Traditional Inuit art

As a city that values art and culture, Montreal houses over 30 different museums. We had the opportunity to visit one of them, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal). This is the largest art museum in the city, and well known throughout the country. It also used to be completely free of charge; it’s still free for those under 30, but for those older than 30 there is now a $12 admission fee. Though considering the amount of content you get - there are three different large buildings housing exhibits - it’s still well worth the price. The museum has art pieces from all over the world and every era, but I would recommend the Canadian/Quebecois art wing in particular. You can see some unique local styles that probably aren’t featured much elsewhere.

Biodome animal sighting

The city of Montreal has been on the international stage multiple times, at various points in the past hosting both the Olympic games and the World Expo. You can still go and see the impressive looking Olympic stadium, and many of the other buildings in the Olympic Park have been converted to tourist attractions, including a planetarium and a botanical garden. We didn’t have time to visit all of them, but we did go to the Biodome, a small zoo that was quite enjoyable despite the hordes of screaming schoolchildren. A few of the World Expo pavilions can still be seen in Parc Jean-Drupeau, a couple of islands located just south of the main city and easily accessible through the subway. The park itself contains many nice paths and an abundance of plant life, making it a great place to go jogging, biking, or in our case for a leisurely walk to aid in digestion after a large meal.

The old US pavilion from Montreal's World Expo

Montreal was a nice place to spend a few days, and definitely recommended to all those foodies out there (though you would probably want to visit in the summer as opposed to winter). We are now on a train taking us to Quebec City, another place of historical significance and food.

- MC 6/23

Big Trees in Redwood Country

Today was big tree day, reserved for hiking around and seeing the giant redwoods the parks are named after and famous for. Due to a bad ankle, part of our group split off to do a variation on the less strenuous Big Tree Loop instead of the originally planned West Ridge loop. 

Big trees near the visitor center

From the visitor center, we decided to start off in the direction of the Cathedral Trees Trail. There were a few steep areas and some branches strewn across the trail, but for the most part it was a very moderate hike that still provided very nice scenery. The trail started off with dense fields of tall grass below light tree cover. Beyond the Foothill Trail split off, we saw a slow transition from light yellow to lush green grass, to ferns and smaller trees, and finally to full fledged towering redwoods.

Trailhead starting from a wide meadow

By the time we reached the fork between Cathedral Tree Trail and Rhododendron Trail, we were seeing huge “Cathedral Trees”, redwoods growing in a circular formation. When a large redwood falls, new trees grow around the stump, forming a circle of trees. Standing in the middle of the groves, you can look up into the small speck of sky framed by the tops of the trees and imagine that you are seeing the heavens above you. Maybe that’s where the name comes from.

Cathedral tree grove

Continuing on the Cathedral Tree Trail, we encountered many more picturesque groves of trees, as well as massive fallen trees and their corresponding stumps. A bit past the one and a half mile mark, we finally reached the main feature of the day. Appropriately labeled “Big Tree” on all the park maps, the 1500 year old tree reaches a height of 304 feet and a diameter of 21.6 feet, giving it a larger footprint than some bay area apartments. A nearby sign said that in the late 1800s, some people were considering cutting down the tree to build a dance floor on the stump. It lucky that they eventually decided against it, leaving this great piece of natural history for all to enjoy.

The famed Big Tree

For the last segment of the hike, we decided to return to the visitor center via the Foothill Trail. The way back led us through a few more redwood groves, and was almost completely flat, making it almost a leisurely walk to end our redwood adventures.

Large groves on Foothill Trail

The redwood forests of northern California are vast. During our weekend there, we only had time to explore the southern part of a single park. If we come back in the future, I would definitely make it a priority to find lodgings farther north, making visits to the northernmost Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park possible. There are countless more trails to explore in the area - we’ve only scratched the surface so far!

- MC 5/27

Celebrity Sandwiches and Dinosaur Habitats in Redwood Country

After a long, but scenic drive through the vast forests of Humboldt County, we finally reached Eureka in the late afternoon. This small, seaside town was to be our home base for visiting the Redwoods National and State Parks over the weekend. We arrived with a bit of daylight left, just enough to take a short walk around the downtown area. There were many unique shops selling all sort of odds and ends, from clothes and jewelry to art pieces by local artists.

Unfortunately, most of the stores and galleries closed early there, but we were able to enjoy a nice dinner downtown. We decided on Cafe Nooner, a Cajun-Mediterranean fusion restaurant. To our surprise, as soon as we walked in we saw a picture of the restaurant when it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. With high expectations, a few of us ordered the “DDD” Pulled Pork with Appleslaw, the very same dish that Guy Fieri tasted on the show. The sandwich was delicious, with flavorful sauces and meat served in fresh, locally produced bread. My favorite part was the way they finished the pork, making the edges slightly crispy and producing a nice contrast in texture. It was a great meal to reenergize on after a long journey, and I would highly recommend it.

Enthusiastically endorsed by Guy Fieri

The next day we drove about an hour and a half north to hike an abridged version of the James Irvine Loop in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Instead of beginning the hike at the visitor center, we decided to head towards the Fern Canyon parking lot. On the way there, we stopped to snap a few photos on Davison road just off 101, where a large herd of elk were grazing. Continuing towards the trailhead was a rough dirt road, with many potholes filled with puddles. We finally reached the parking lot next to the beach, and set off on the hike. 

Elk by the road

After about a quarter mile we reached the famous Fern Canyon. A wide creek cut through the gorge, making it an interesting challenge to keep our shoes dry as we scrambled over fallen trees and wobbled across branches acting as make-shift bridges. In the heart of the canyon was the main attraction - thousands of lush, green ferns growing on the towering walls surrounding us, giving the place a sense of timelessness. It’s no wonder that Steven Spielberg opted to film part of Jurassic Park 2 there.

Walking through Fern Canyon

The next segment of the hike provided ample opportunities to see majestic redwoods and more luscious ferns. Slightly past the two mile mark, the Clintonia trail branched off from James Irvine. We chose to turn right onto Clintonia instead of continuing on James Irvine, reducing the hike’s total mileage from 11.6 miles to roughly 8 miles. At the next fork, we turned right, taking the Miner’s Ridge Trail back to the beach. 

Redwoods along the trail

Finishing out the loop was a little more than a mile of beach. Hiking through sand proved to be physically quite tiring, but the sea breeze and ocean scenery provided a nice contrast to the dense forest we just left. The sand was just warm and soft enough to walk in barefoot, giving our feet a welcome respite at the end of a long day of hiking.

Beach at the end of the hike

We thoroughly enjoyed this hike, the definite highlight being Fern Canyon with the beach as a close runner-up. There were also many redwoods along the trail, few of which were note-worthy, but that is what the second day of hiking was reserved for. I would highly recommend this hike for anyone spending more than a day in the redwoods parks.


Extra PSA: Keep your distance when viewing wildlife! On our drive back to Eureka, we saw a man taking pictures just a few meters away from an elk. This is very dangerous - elk behavior is unpredictable, and they can charge at you at 35 miles per hour, way faster than you can run.

Don't do this

- MC 5/26

Memorial Day Redwoods

Many people use the Memorial Day long weekend to go on a short vacation somewhere, resulting in soaring plane ticket prices. This year, a few friends and I are going to take a road trip up to the Redwood parks, avoiding the airports but still getting away for the weekend. Redwood is one of those places that I've seen pictures of my infant self at, proving that my parents had taken me there before, but I don't actually remember visiting. I look forward to this trip now that I have the fitness to go on interesting hikes and the functional memory to remember sights and experiences with.

One surprising fact I discovered while researching this trip is that Redwoods National Park is actually comprised of four different parks - Jedediah Smith State Park, Del Norte Coast State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and of course, Redwood National Park. Each park has their own distinct features, but they all provide ample opportunity to see the famous giant redwoods. The redwoods there are hundreds of years old, and the largest trees are even big enough to drive a car through.

We are still in the process of hashing out our itinerary, but the tentative plan is as follows -

Friday

Start driving up around late morning or midday and check into the house we rented in Eureka. It takes an estimated 5-6 hours to reach Eureka from the bay area, so we should get there right in time for dinner. 

Saturday

Day-hike in the parks. Redwood Hikes has many recommended hikes for all four parks. We will most likely do one of the “Big Tree” hikes such as the Boy Scout Tree Trail in Jedediah Park.

Sunday

Another day-hike. This one will likely be a non-“Big Tree” hike to see more variety. A few recommended trails we are deciding between are the James Irvine Trail and Coastal Trail in Prairie Creek Park, and the Dolason Prairie Trail in Redwood National Park.

Monday

Drive back to the bay area.

Crossing our fingers for good hiking weather next weekend!

- MC 5/18

Museums and Shopping in Tokyo

Our last few days in Tokyo were planned mostly around a couple of scheduled museum visits and souvenir shopping. Through this we also had the opportunity to visit a few other wards within Tokyo that we hadn’t been to yet.

The first museum appointment we had was for the Gundam Museum in Odaiba. Upon entering the museum there were multiple photo points, including one where you could pay an extra fee to stand in a “life-size” Gundam. The main featured attraction was a large dome theater which played special compilation videos every 20 minutes. It was cool seeing the dome theater, but I think I would have gotten more out of it if I were more familiar with the Gundam-verse. 

"Life-size" Gundam you can stand in

More interesting to me was the exhibit on the design and construction of Gundam miniatures. They had a video explaining the entire process and some physical models illustrating each step. It was kind of strange and also very cool to see CAD models of the Gundam pieces, and also the molds used to manufacture the parts in the factory. Attached to the museum was a large gift shop where you could actually purchase the Gundam models. There were some really great deals, basically half off what you would pay in the states, and almost all of us ended up buying a few. Overall the museum was kind of small, easily completed in about an hour, but still worth going to if you have any interest in Gundam (or toy manufacturing) at all.

CAD models of Gundam parts

The other museum we went to was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, one of my favorite places we went to on this entire trip. The entire museum experience matched what you would expect from a Ghibli movie - an escape from reality into a beautiful, whimsical world full of colorful characters and unique landscapes. The building was an attraction in itself, containing a maze-like path inside and designed aesthetically to match the art style of the movies. Within the museum there were many exhibits on animation techniques, storyboarding, and coloring. There was also an incredibly detailed recreation of Miyazaki’s studio, filled with original character sketches, paintings of movie backgrounds, and travel books from which Miyazaki drew his inspiration. On the top floor there was a giant cat bus big enough to go inside. Unfortunately only elementary school kids were allowed inside, otherwise I would have totally been down to ride inside the cat bus. 

Giant totoro greeting visitors to the museum

The gift shops were also very interesting to browse. In the “library”, you were free to peruse the books on display, ranging from picture storybooks to biographies, and all the books were available for purchase if you found one you liked. The actual shop area contained everything else Ghibli you could possibly want, including stuffed animals, figurines, DVDs, and socks. Unfortunately the museum closed at 6pm (our ticket only allowed for entry starting at 4), so we didn’t have that much time. I would have liked to explore more, but there’s always the potential for a future visit, especially since tickets only ran on the order of 1000 yen.

Square Enix cafe

Of the many places we went to on our whirlwind shopping spree, the two places that stuck out the most to me were the Square Enix cafe near Shinjuku, and the Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro. The Square Enix cafe was a bit out of the way - about a 15 minute walk from the Shinjuku JR station. It was located in a small nondescript dome-like building with a very different atmosphere than the Ghibli Museum. When you walk inside, the main cafe and gift shop area is very clean and simply adorned. The back room is a lot more impressive, containing lighted displays of expensive figurines, and a recreation of the crystal chamber from Bravely Default in the middle of the room. The actual merchandise there was relatively expensive, but the cafe is definitely worth a visit for anyone who has ever played a Square Enix game. 

The Square Enix showroom

The Pokemon Center had the exactly the opposite sort of atmosphere, located in the middle of a busy mall with bright colors everywhere. They had everything Pokemon related, including food, cards, t-shirts, and Pikachu plushies ranging in size from fitting in the palm of your hand to the height of a small child. I was tempted to get one of the larger Pikachu’s, but then I would’ve had to buy another suitcase. 

The biggest Pokemon Center in Tokyo

With these last few days in Tokyo, our trip has come to a close. This was most of our first times in Japan, so I’m glad we were able to see so many places. Now that we’ve learned a little more about the country and gotten a little wiser about traveling there, I think for future trips I would like to do more of a focused visit of a few places. There are still many parts of Japan that we hadn’t gotten anywhere near - we haven’t gone anywhere outside of the Kanto or Kansai regions, and I know for a fact that I’d like to visit Hokkaido and Okinawa someday. If anything, this trip has just made us even more curious and excited about visiting the rest of the country. We will definitely be back!

じゃ、また！

- MC 4/21

Postscript: Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog! This is something I'm hoping to maintain in the future, and I'm always looking for ways to improve, so if you have any comments or suggestions in terms of length, content, style, etc., please leave a comment below. Thanks!

Sea Creatures and Seafood in Osaka

As one of the largest cities and probably the largest port in Japan, Osaka has no lack of things to do. Our itinerary for this trip allowed for only one day there, but one could easily spend at least a week in and around the city, and not run out of things to do.

The number one tourist attraction in Osaka that almost everyone goes to is Osaka Castle. As the former residence of many past Shogun and the site of numerous battles, Osaka Castle is huge and full of history. From the borders of the castle park, it takes about ten to fifteen minutes just to walk to the main castle building. The castle itself is an impressive eight stories tall, visible from much of the city, and surrounded by deep moat still filled with water. Inside, the castle has been modernized and converted into a history museum where we saw artifacts hundreds of years old and videos depicting what life was like back then. I found the multi-panel paintings particularly interesting. Many of them illustrated the great battles of Osaka Castle, all in incredible detail. They showed hundreds of individual soldiers, all drawn with unique expressions. It was an impressive display of skill, dedication, and patience.

Full diorama depicting the battle scene on the folding screen

Osaka Castle was interesting, but I think my personal favorite part of the day was our visit to Kaiyukan, Osaka’s world famous aquarium. Like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Kaiyukan is ranked among the top ten best aquariums in the world by Trip Advisor. Having been to Monterey Bay many times before, I was curious to see for myself how another aquarium of similar caliber would compare. After visiting, my conclusion is that Monterey Bay does a better job going in extreme depth about the wildlife living in and around Monterey, but Kaiyukan has a much wider breadth of exhibits. There were animals from Japan, the Aleutian Islands, the Panama Canal, and much more. There was even a Monterey Bay exhibit featuring sleepy sea lions and playful harbor seals. 

Sea lions from the Monterey Bay exhibit

At Kaiyukan, you start at the top of the aquarium and spiral down the building. Many of the exhibits span multiple floors, so as you spiral down, you can see close up the different creatures living at various depths of the ocean. Some highlights of the aquarium were the energetic white backed dolphins, the massive whale shark dominating the main Pacific tank, and the touch tank where I got to pet some rays and sharks.

Sleepy seal does not approve of noisy schoolchildren

One of the things that Osaka does well is food, and both the meals we had there were excellent. For lunch we went to a small family owned okonomiyaki place. Everything was cooked on an iron plate in full view of the counter, so we got to see our food go from raw ingredients to perfect golden brown completion. 

Freshly made okonomiyaki

For dinner, we had Kaiten Sushi, also known as conveyor belt sushi. The sushi there was not quite as amazing as the stuff we had at the Tsukiji fish market, but still much better than anything you could get in the states for the same price. We mainly went there for the experience of sitting at a counter and getting to pick our food directly off a conveyor belt that continuously sent delicious plates of fish by us. For 14 plates of sushi and a Hokkaido soft serve ice cream, our total ended up being only 3800 yen, which was totally reasonable.

The kaiten sushi carnage

I would have liked to stay in Osaka longer - there was just as much to see and do as in Tokyo, and it certainly had better weather - but there’s always next time, and I’m almost sure I’ll be back someday. Today we are taking the shinkansen back to Tokyo for the last leg of our trip. We decided to forgo the day trip to Fuji Five Lakes on the grounds that the time and energy spent on traveling the extra distance could be better used doing more sightseeing in Tokyo instead. Considering all the things we haven’t had a chance to see yet in Tokyo, I am entirely satisfied with the change in plans.

- MC 4/18