Jeanette & Alan take on USA & Canada – Part Two

Recently updated on July 2nd, 2025 at 11:32 am

Our East Coast USA & Canada adventure with Trafalgar continued in beautiful Toronto. First up was a tour of the city which included the iconic CN Tower. We went up to observation deck on the 114^th floor which had great views of Toronto, and then up to the next level where you can stand on the glass floor and look straight down. We weren’t game enough to stand on it but many others did!

In the evening we joined some of our group for the optional dinner cruise on Lake Ontario. Dinner was a buffet and it was quite nice, as were the fabulous views looking back at Toronto city. Every hour on the hour the CN Tower has a light show which was pretty. We had a DJ and dancing on the top deck and we all had a great time.

The next day we were off to Canada’s capital, Ottawa. Our tour of the city included a visit to Parliament Hill and the downtown galleries and museums where we saw a sculpture of a large spider called ‘Maman’. We loved shopping for fresh fruit and stopping for a cuppa and a croissant at the Byward Market – one of Canada’s oldest and largest famers’ markets.

Montreal means Royal Mountain and this was our next destination! Maria, our Local Guide showed us around the largest French-speaking city (outside of France) and provided a great history of the area. We stopped at Notre Dame Citadel Montreal and then drove around the city before crossing the bridge to St Helene Island.

On our way to Quebec City we stopped at a place called Parc de Chutes in Levis. Linda, our Trafalgar Travel Director had another Hidden Treasure up her sleeve! This time it was to see the beautiful waterfalls. We enjoyed an ice cream and went for a walk around the lovely scenery to a suspension bridge which overlooked the falls. In the evening we enjoyed a very nice meal at the revolving restaurant L’Astral with its magnificent views, followed by a stroll along the cobblestoned streets full of quaint shops and restaurants.

After a nice sleep in, the next morning we met our Local Guide Suzanne, who showed us around this pretty walled city. Our comprehensive tour was three hours long and took us to the Parliament area, then up and around to the Plains of Abraham, down through the narrow street of the old city area and port. We saw the Citadelle, Notre Dame Quebec and the Chateau Frontenac amongst many other sights.

We waved goodbye to Canada as we headed back to the USA en-route to Boston. We saw many old buildings and statues such as The Old State House, King’s Chapel and Boston Common to name a few, before visiting the oldest wooden colonial home, The Paul Revere House. The afternoon was free so we went to take a photo outside the Cheers pub. The front of this was the original one used in the TV series! We then walked up the cobbled streets onto the most photographed street in Boston, Acorn Street. In the evening we met up with our group one last time for a Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant.

This was a great trip made all the better by our fantastic Travel Director Linda and Rod our driver, who was exceptional even when he had to continually deal with the ever expanding cases! They both made our two week trip one heck of a memory.

Jeanette & Alan from New Zealand