Matane Quebec

 After a very restful night of sleep we left about 9 AM, had McDonalds for breakfast, and hit the road in the rain.

We drove about an hour on the Trans Canada highway figuring out all the in’s and out’s of the controls for our Volkswagen Taos SUV. I must say that after driving it all day I REALLY like adaptive cruise control and wish we had it on the Seltos.

We swung off the super highway on to highway 132 which hugs the coastline, and we will be on this road completely around Gaspe peninsula over the next couple of days. It is slower but the views, both of the river/sea, hills, and villages are just wonderful. There was only occasional bad weather and other than being colder and windier than we would want (+13 degrees) it was a good day.

We first stopped in Kamarouski. It is a small tourist town with many artists living there doing “their thing”. We popped in to a Chocolaterue where we had hot chocolate (me) and a coffee (Caro). They grind the beans and make their own chocolate.

Down the highway in Trois Pistoles we made a point of stopping at a busy Fromageria (cheese place) that had real Quebec Poutine. It was yummy tasty and certainly filled us up for the day!

Google Maps does not really show it properly but there always seemed to be houses and tiny towns all along the way today.Many of these houses and yards were outstanding. So beautiful!!

We stopped and paid an entrance fee into a well known provincial park called BIC where we hiked for about an hour, enjoying beautiful scenery along the coastline. It was a nice break.

We carried on through Rimouski until we got to the town of Matane where we had reserved a motel room earlier. The town itself has some very pretty areas which we drove through. We had trouble finding an open restaurant (Sunday night) but did find a bar that served food so we had a small meal shared between us (still full from poutine!).

Our hotel room has that “old motel” smell but it will be OK for tonight. There aren’t many guests here so it will be quiet. The motel sits on the river/sea bank but the wind was too nasty so we didn’t spend too much time on the beach.

May 30/2026 Arrival in Quebec City

 Today we flew on Porter Airlines.

Firstly we ran into cousin Jessica in the airport (on her way to see family on the Island).

 I really liked the seating arrangements of the Embraer 195 (being a narrow body jet with two seats on each side of the aisle). The flight took off at 0705 and we were in Montreal four hours later.

With six hours to kill before our connecting flight on Air Transat we decided to leave the secure area and go walking outside. Well, that was pointless as outside is pretty much the same as Edmonton, no views except construction and vehicles. Fifteen minutes later we were back going through security. Funny thing; in Edmonton all our bags went through the machines with no hassle but in Montreal both our suitcases were rejected and had to be manually looked through (and yet Montreal appears to have the same machines as Edmonton).

We knew we were going to use our lounge passes and with the lounge rules saying you can stay for three hours max but can only enter three hours before your flight (which is stupid because they know you have to leave about 30 minutes earlier than that for boarding) we got there at 4 PM for our 7 PM flight only to be put on a wait list.LOL

40ish minutes later we were inside enjoying a rather slim selection of food and deserts but HEY, the wine and drinks were non-stop (if we had wished). It was “good enough” and we enjoyed probably 90 minutes there.

Our flight on Air Transat was an Airbus 321 which was only about half full.  I noticed upon arrival in Quebec City that Air Transit had a flight leaving for Paris a couple hours later so I imagine that our plane was used for that route..

Quebec City airport is quite beautiful! Makes Montreal's look really dumpy.

We found our way to the car rental location and picked up a small SUV reserved earlier through Costco Travel.

Our hotel was only a couple of kilometres away and by 9 PM we were in our room 

Flight home

 

Our flight on ANA Airlines left on time and we had an uneventful flight. They served ice cream for desert!

We had 4 ish hours in Vancouver so we took the metro downtown and walked around a bit. It wasn’t hard to realize we were back when saw homeless people and one guy obviously on meth (sad).

Back at YVR our flight was delayed 40 minutes. 

Arrival at YEG was BBRRRRR!! Cold!

Lisa picked us up. Thank you!

Final Day

We took our time this morning, leaving the hotel just at check out time (11AM).  

We left our bags at the hotel and then took the metro  to Asakusa station ( which is the same one we went to accidentally the first day). This area of the city was where I first looked for hotels before we changed to the Akasaka area. 

The purpose to go there was two fold. First we went to see the oldest temple in Tokyo ( admittedly rebuilt after the Americans destroyed the city in several different raids).

The place was just hopping! There were many young people ( especially girls ) dressed in traditional clothing; there to take photos at the magnificent buildings and grounds. 

After that I wanted to walk a couple of blocks to the river and explained to Caro what happened on those bridges during the fire storms of 1945.

There is a large, busy shopping area in the streets surrounding the temple grounds and we walked them all as we had much time to kill. 

Caro decided to try a shrimp treat ( the shrimp is flattened out as you wait). It was tasty. 

From there we went to a sushi place with a style  that Caro had always wanted to try. The place has various sushi’s going around on a moving tray or you can order from the menu. Either way all the various items you want to eat are on different coloured plates so when you are ready to pay, the attendant merely looks at your dirty dishes and determines your cost. Neat! And I actually enjoyed the raw tuna and sticky rice!

We took the metro back to our area and before getting our suitcases we went to the ramen place we went to on day 1. We  each picked a plate of food and when finished we “waddled” over to the hotel to get our things. 

Back to the metro we went and this time we had to make two metro/train station changes. The first was at Shimbashi station. We needed help several times to find our way to our connection line however we made our way successfully to the monorail that goes directly  to Haneda airport. 

Check-in had a minor hiccup but ANA Airlines was great getting things straightened out. 

We had just enough money left on our Saica metro/train cards to buy a water / fruit pop. The money left on the app was not refundable so it was nice to use it all up. 

We purposely chose to come to the airport early as we didn’t want to be hauling suitcases into extremely crowded metro cars. As it was, the cars were very busy but not so crazy that you had to be pushed on by station attendants. 

So now we sit with three hours to go at this point before getting on the plane. 

Tokyo Day 3

After a long FaceTime with Ruben and Tete ( getting ducks in a row for Caro to head down to Cancun) and a couple of shorter ones with Lisa and Vanessa ( to show them the room and the toilet-LOL) we headed out on the metro with the goal of seeing the Imperial Palace and grounds. 

“Our”metro line took us right there so “that” was easy. 

We inquired about the palace tours and were told to go to a specific spot about 12:10 to ensure we got one of the 300 spots. As we had 30 minutes to spare we walked around the East Garden area but really at this time of the year it is nothing special. 

At 12:10 we went to the indicated spot and waited til 12:30 at which point we were given a ticket which guaranteed our partition in the guided tour beginning at 1:30 so we walked around some more!

By 1:30 we were in a hall with everyone and announcements were made in 6 languages indicating there would be 6 different language groups, each with their own specific language guide. 

The tour was good but there are only a few remnants of the old buildings due to a massive fire in the 1600’s ( with some buildings not being rebuilt ) and the Americans bombing Tokyo heavily in WW2.  

From there it was a two block walk to the Tokyo Station where we again fought the crowds, got lost in the maze of shops and concourses leading to the multitude of train lines, before we relocated  the toy store area we were in yesterday. We purchased some souvenirs for the little ones and decided to get something to eat. 

Caro had wanted to try some sushi so we found a stand up sushi place and we each sampled a three piece shrimp sushi. No forks were given to us so managed to use the chop sticks provided. 

We stepped out into the crowds again, turned right and were immediately in front of a dumpling restaurant ( I think). Anyway we went inside for a sit down snack of crab and shrimp wrapped in some sort of dumpling ( with a Japanese beer shared between us). I found both places had tasty food. 

We finally made it back out to  street level and worked our way back to the metro station ( which we could have completed underground from the train station but it was too complicated). Four stops later we were at our stop and back in the hotel by about 5 PM

For our last evening in Tokyo ( that is not in an airport) we went to a nearby restaurant and shared a plate of Japanese style spaghetti and a couple of beers. We then walked the small streets of this vibrant area of the city. There are many restaurants, bars and shops. We found a great  store to buy the last of our souvenirs. This place had no English translation on its checkout machine  so a local helped us ( the people here have been extremely friendly to us whenever we have needed help).

Our Tokyo room

 

This room is so small.

 When we enter the room, on the immediate left is small area to hang a half dozen shirt

Next, on the right is a toilet room with a multitude of choices for your “comfort’.  When you step inside the room the toilet lid automatically lifts up, and if you sit down the seat heats up. You don’t need to use toilet paper to clean yourself but it is available. The toilet automatically flushes when you get up and put the lid down.

The bath room really is for baths.  If you want a shower  you just shower in the middle of the room and the water drains through the drain beside the tub. 

The room holds a queen size bed (which is very nice) but is very  “economical “ in providing room for anything else. In the photo showing the bed you can see Caro’s elbow as she is sitting on a tiny corner piece couch. The fridge is in the bottom left of the photo and the hand wash basin  is located across from the bed to the right of a TV ( which we haven’t turned on yet). 

A screen shot of the toilet instructions (with translation)

A Rainy Day

We slept sort of OK ( me more so than Caro as she is constantly thinking of getting down to Mexico to get things done).

After our hotel breakfast (which we had pre-paid for and I regret as it is a set menu that does nothing for me) we waited for our guide to show up. 

Chiyoko showed up at 10 AM and we were off to tour Tokyo in pouring rain , and cold temperatures   Yuck. 11 degrees but felt like 7. As part of the arrangements for this free guide service we paid for Chiyoko’s metro ($11) and later her lunch with us

Rather than buying tickets at the ticket machine at the metro we downloaded the metro/train card app and preloaded yen for our transportation requirements. It made things super easy. 

Our first stop was a famous fish market followed by a famous shrine called Tsukiji Hongwanji  ( which right beside the market). 

We then walked to a very famous theatre where Kabuki is performed ( world famous style of theatre where men perform all roles including those of the women)

A short walk through the non-stop rain and wind ( really not nice at all) we went underground at Tokyo Station.  OMG I can’t believe how massive this place is. I thought Shibuya yesterday was amazing but this station is out of this world!  There are 9 conventional train company  lines,5 bullet train lines at the station, and you walk through underground walkways to access five different metro lines! Of course there are so many stores that we have to go back tomorrow so Caro can find souvenirs.! Truly unbelievable!!

We caught one of the trains (using our just purchased pre-paid Saica cards, which are useable on the trains ,metros and some stores) and a while later we were in another part of the city. As we came out of the train station we were at the famous Shinjuku road crossing. At this place when the traffic lights turn red ( for all roads) the people cross the street in multiple directions. In the summer there are 3,000 people every time. Today in the rain and crappy weather there was probably a couple hundred umbrellas working their way to and fro.  

At this point we suggested that the remainder of the day should be out of the rain. We caught the metro over to the  Metropolitan Government skyscraper. We went up to the 45th floor to an observation area where we could see all the city. It was still rainy but we could see quite a bit. 

Our day concluded with a nice lunch at a typical Japanese restaurant called Royal  Host (OK.,not  typical. It served all kinds of food although we chose Japanese). 

As it was 4 PM by now we said  our good bye’s “ and “thank you’s” to Chiyoko and made our way back using the metro. We had to top up our Saica cards (using Apple Pay) as we had spent the original 1000 yen ( about $9.60 cents)getting around today. What a great system they have here for paying for the transportation ( wished I had it yesterday when we first got here). 

The evening has been quiet with Caro having a bath and me catching up on YouTube.