Quebec City

You know how some places have so much hype surrounding them that when you get there, you're underwhelmed? Quebec City is not one of those places.

With all the things I heard leading up to this trip with people telling me how great the city was and how much I'll like it, I was fully expecting a letdown. I was clearly wrong.

The whole city (well, at least the parts I was in) has a certain energy that most modern cities try to artificially create. Our hotel was only a block or so from the St. Lawrence, and about five minutes down the road was a stretch of road with a couple dozen restaurants which were all basically sidewalk cafes. We ate at one on Monday night after we got in, and while the food wasn't anything special, the atmosphere surrounding the area was what I've imagined Europe would be like (never having been to Europe).

Tuesday night we were guided around parts of the city by one of our research colleagues who lives there, and he was able to show us some great things. The boardwalk, the old fortress-style walls in the city, everything was just so visually appealing. It's really hard to describe without pictures or actually being there.

The other thing that we noticed right away is that there are trees everywhere. Everything was so green and alive. There were parts of the Laval campus where you felt like you were walking through trails in a park. For the architecture fans, it seemed like every block presented something different. You would be a block away from the main commercial street in the area and you would feel completely isolated from it. No noise, no lights, as if you were in a small town.

If you ever get the chance to go to Quebec City, take it. And go for more than one day, because you'd need a week minimum to see everything.