“Travels to a Different Time” : 9August2004: Montreal and Malbaie Quebec: Trip from Montreal to Malbaie

Stayed with in laws in Montreal. Had a great barbequed Porgy with Swiss Chard for lunch before heading out on a 5 hour drive to the Charlevoix region of the Province of Quebec. We slipped out of Montreal heading east with little traffic. Out of Quebec City on the 138 the scenery was glum with gas stations, cheap hotels and malls but the closer we were to Malbaie the scenery became more interesting with the St. Lawrence River in sight. We arrived at our hotel the majestic Manoir Richelieu. Even in Canada the hotel rule would be give the crappiest room you can quite frankly not expected from a Fairmont Hotel! Our initial room had an obstructed view of the St. Lawrence River and a full view of the casino. Being sick and tried of this silly hotel practice I complained and voila a beautiful deluxe room with an unobstructed view of the St. Lawrence River. After settling in Andrew and I went for a marvelous steam bath. We noted the two pools were saltwater. We trundled up to our room invigorated but pruny. For dinner at the hotel restaurant Fotini and I had a bottle of decent Quebecois white wine with blue cheese seafood tortellini. Andrew had the seafood crepe and we all had Crème Brulé for dessert. We had planned to watch an in-room movie but were just too tired.