Fortresses and artillery
Quebec is a cozy and very poetic city, as if frozen in time as an island in fleeting history. On the outskirts, where they should be, are industrial zones and new buildings, while in the center, which spreads out at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, the city has remained almost the same as it was in the 17th–18th centuries. Just a few decades after it was founded by Samuel de Champlain, leader of the French colonists – desperate trappers, pedantic Huguenot merchants, and fervent missionary preachers.
The ancient neighborhoods of Lower Town, below the Cap-aux-Diamants cliff, where it actually began – with low houses built of local stone, narrow cobblestone streets, and small tablecloth-like squares (one of them, Place Royale, is the oldest on the continent) – are still surrounded by stone walls. The walls are relatively young – early 19th century – but nowhere else in Canada are there such walls. There is also the impressive Château Frontenac. Nothing historical, all purely commercial: the building was erected and used as a hotel, which it still is today.
To move from Upper Town to Lower Town or back, you can easily, comfortably, and with a bit of adrenaline – on the again oldest elevator on the continent. It has, of course, been renovated many times, so despite its considerable age, it works perfectly. You get into the cabin, and below you are steep roofs, a whimsical grid of streets, ships in the roadstead of the St. Lawrence Gulf, and little box-like cars. If you come down to earth, get in a car and drive a short distance out of town, in the Montmorency Falls natural park you can see a waterfall higher than Niagara.
Niagara attraction
But even if you imagine that the waterfall near Quebec is a couple of meters higher than Niagara (you never know?), it still won't compare to the legend, because Niagara is one of the country's symbols along with maples and hockey. And even the most desperate nonconformist cannot argue with that.
Niagara can be heard and seen for several kilometers. Heard for obvious reasons, and seen because of the cloud of tiny spray that constantly hovers over the tons of water plunging into the abyss. This waterfall is not the highest in the world (only 57 m), but the most voluminous (the arc width of Niagara is 670 m, in summer it passes almost 300 cubic meters of water per second) and, according to Canadians, and most of the 12 million tourists who come here annually agree, the most beautiful. You can admire it from all sides: by taking the Maid of the Mist boat right to the tailrace (the line of falling water), or through three specially dug tunnels to approach the water wall from behind, or by climbing to the platform of a specially built 230-meter observation tower (by the way, there is also a restaurant there – to 'digest' the spectacle). The wealthiest enthusiasts view Niagara from a helicopter.
Guides will tell many anecdotes of varying degrees of grimness about the waterfall entrusted to them. There is the story of an old man who decided to take his grandchildren for a ride on the river (the grandfather drowned, and the children miraculously survived – the girl caught on to coastal bushes, and the boy was pulled out of the water just below the waterfall by sailors from the Maid of the Mist), and about an old woman teacher who wanted to plunge down Niagara together with her cat in a tightly sealed barrel. At the Guinness World Records Museum related to the legendary waterfall, where the teacher's honored barrel is now exhibited, they say the cat went gray with fright. Now, trying to jump off the waterfall in a container not intended for it or without one is fined under two counts: for disturbing public order and for attempted suicide. The time of absurd heroism has passed.
However, tourists are interested in more than just barrels. To entertain them, nearby there is a dolphinarium with a beluga whale as its prima donna, a dinosaur museum, and a unique greenhouse with an incredible number of various tropical butterflies that flutter under the glass vaults all year round. For those who find this insufficient, there is an excursion to local vineyards with a tasting of the signature ice wine or some other wine – there are many varieties here, from Cabernet to Riesling.
Maple leaves of Algonquin Park
Still, it would be strange to come to Canada and not admire the maple leaves. Just as tourists in spring Japan flock in a long line to Kyoto to contemplate the cherry blossoms, so in Canada in the fall, everyone staying in Toronto finds a day to go three hundred kilometers away to pay homage to the crimson maples in Algonquin Park.
The sight is truly unforgettable. Two hundred or so square kilometers of pristine virgin forest, smelling of mushrooms and the slight bitterness of decomposed maple leaves. In the middle, a blue, sun-sparkling lake surrounded by pines. The knotted roots protruding from the ground resemble veins, and it seems that any moment an Indian in a suede jacket with fringe and feathers in his hair or the brave Deerslayer from Cooper's novels will appear from behind a trunk.
If you wish, you can imagine yourself as one of the heroes of favorite childhood books, but instead of an Indian pirogue, you'll have to sit in a modern tourist canoe or kayak. For rafting – one thousand five hundred (no more, no less!) kilometers of narrow rivers, streams, and creeks that crisscross Algonquin Park. However, the most picturesque place for amateur canoeing is Barron Canyon, a hundred meters deep, where the river of the same name flows, into which a local glacier turned 10,000 years ago. The canyon is magnificent from the water, and especially from the height of the cliffs that have shifted over the water, overgrown with forest. In autumn, the shimmering maple leaves add to the thrill – from golden yellow to purple red. The bravest ones settle right on the edge of the cliff on sun-warmed stones and look down as red canoes glide along the dark green water of the Barron with rowers barely visible from above.
Overnight stays are allowed in the park, and tourists come with families, set up camp on designated sites, pitch their tents like tepees, cook barbecue, and generally enjoy a wild vacation. However, civilized amenities are available – the camp offices have shower cabins, and medical assistance can be provided if needed.
In Algonquin, you can admire (preferably from a distance) the very bear-fisherman from Discovery Channel films, and if you're really lucky, a wolf, a moose, a family of busy beavers working on a dam on some narrow river, or a silver fox. Blue herons, rare and beautiful birds, fly into the park. They love to pose for photographers, standing like statues on rocks by the lake.
Modigliani and the TV Tower
Tired but satisfied tourists returning from a weekend trip to Algonquin Park are greeted by the almost metropolitan life of Toronto, the main city of Ontario province. Connoisseurs claim that dull and prim Ottawa cannot compare with Toronto. At any rate, the city is popular with tourists not only because of the natural beauty in its surroundings.
At the Royal Ontario Museum, any mercenary person can expect a sight capable of disrupting their heart rhythm: the "Gold Room" with a collection of unique nuggets discovered in Canada over the years – both during the gold rush and after. After gold, one can move on to ancient coins and mannequins dressed as Cro-Magnons. In the art gallery, enthusiasts await several sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, portraits by Modigliani, and the "blue" and "pink" works of the ubiquitous and incredibly prolific Picasso. And if culture tires you, you can go to the Sugar Museum. Incurable fashionistas won't miss the Shoe Museum, and antique lovers – the collection of furniture and tapestries in Casa Loma, once bought by the municipality (along with all its contents) from a spendthrift debtor – a hedonist and collector.
If you time it right, you can see soldiers and officers on the streets of modern Toronto in two-century-old uniforms, with shakos, gaiters, and cartridge belts. These are members of historical reenactment societies who annually stage battle scenes from the Anglo-American War of 1812-1814 at picturesque Fort York, the starting point of modern Toronto's history. And children will surely be attracted by the extensive city zoo.
In the evening, tourists are embraced by the brightly lit city with its many bars, nightlife venues, and the tallest television tower on Earth. Looking at the city from its observation deck, it appears as a string of sparkling necklaces of skyscraper lights and streetlights along highways. In the daytime, you can also see Lake Ontario, one of the largest in the world, beautiful with its majestic, unpretentious northern beauty – the same beauty that, along with Niagara, hockey, and maple leaves, is a kind of hallmark of Canada.