Drive to Mt Tremblant, Quebec

The next part of this road trip was to visit Mt Tremblant, a pretty and picturesque ski village about two hours north of Montreal.

These photos capture the gorgeous drive in incredibly chilly conditions towards Mt Tremblant.

  

I loved every time we drove past exquisite icicle formations caressing the cliff edges as we drove along.

It would have great to stop and picture some of them as I find them so amazing and unique, unfortunately stopping on the side is not allowed.

  

For those of you who are familiar with these scenes, you will recognise  the numerous ski paths that trickle down the various mountains.




One of the nicest things that snow creates in nature is the covering on tress, it is like a sprinkling of icing sugar that is delicately sieved over the trees.

Very short video of the drive…apologies for the little bit of screaming from the young one who clearly just wanted to get there!

Hyatt Regency Montreal

On this short road trip to Montreal, we stayed one night in the Hyatt Regency Montreal.  It was actually a very nice gift from my sister-in-law.   Below are some photos, mainly of the view from our room on the 11th floor, overlooking Downtown Montreal.


One of the main reasons we booked this particular night was to coincide with the road trip to Montreal.  The girls were very excited about going to the pool, especially as it was at least -20 outside.

Unfortunately, our bad luck was that the pool was closed for work that was being carried out, a huge disappointment, they really should have stated something on their website and let customers booked in on this day know about this.

We had the pleasure of seeing some lovely colourful lights and displays outside the room whcih warmed up a very chilly night.

Whatever you see is from the Montréal en Lumière, the festival of lights that adorns this area, really is quite spectacular.  You can get a much better idea of what this is about by visiting the website below, if you are visiting the next time this is on, it would be a fantastic experience.

http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/en-ca

 

The video below shows some of the very nice effects that were on display on some of the buildings.


A short walk away is a small mall with a nice water feature, food court and of course, ice-cream.

 

The morning reveals the views in a very different way, obviously a lot more to appreciate and work out from the hotel room.

 

Beyond the messy construction going on in Downtown Montreal, you can just make out the cross on top of the hill of  Mount Royal.

 

Just looking at this photo below reminds me of how cold it was…


The Montreal Olympic Stadium can be seen near the centre of the photo below.  I must remember to take photos of this stadium close up next time we visit, it is much bigger than I remembered from the last time I visited there several years ago.

http://parcolympique.qc.ca/

Oh yes, we have seriously been dumped on!

Venturing out after brunch, we realised how much snow had fallen, it was crazy, this just does not happen in the UK, so this was a snowy pleasure and an absolute delight for the children (to be honest, I thought this was really cool too).

Apparently, the car buried under this snow is an Audi, like the sun chair in the back yard from the previous post, it has also seen better days!

Although there were plans to go snow sliding tomorrow on a nearby hill, the children with their actions are basically saying to the adults:

‘yeh right, tomorrow, we are not waiting for tomorrow, we are living in the present and we are doing this now, on our own child made hill in the drive’.

And you have to agree, why wait?

One of the most adorable things about the following video, is how the little one struggles to get off the sled, simply too many layers and cannot really see what is going on, but that’s not going to stop her, she is on a mission…





  

Sunrise on the way to Montreal

Despite the extreme weather warnings, we were blessed with a lovely welcome from the sun as we journeyed towards Montreal.


We left very early to get a head start to avoid any meeting with the storm that was forecast.


The effect that the sun has on the scattered clouds above is always a pleasure to witness.  The sun really warmed the car up inside, very deceptive as it was freezing outside!

Clearly the gritters have got the message, helping commuters along the way.

Yep, for you folks back in the UK, there is a Cornwall here too!

This is no April Fool’s…

We have been having some really nice weather in Toronto, Spring is definitely in the air, milder temperatures, birds singing (although they are probably as confused as we are regarding the weather) and you can just feel the change, the positive change towards milder weather and it certainly heightens the mood. Continue reading “This is no April Fool’s…”