Day 1 (29 May 2004)

    After a long drive about 6 hours from Boston, arrived Leonard's house around 8:30pm on 28 May 2004.
Leonard and Christiane greeted the Changs at their door. Leonard introduced his sister, Salinda and brother-in-law, Pierre who were visiting from France.  The guests were then treated a delicious Chinese
dinner.

    All woke up around 8am, the hosts were busy preparing breakfast while the guests enjoying a beautiful and sunny Montreal morning. Just before 9:00am, all boarded the mini-van and headed towards Quebec City, the provincial capitol of Quebec, which is about 270 km to the east/northeast of Montreal. Driving on this Saturday morning was no stress at all. The group made a pit stop at a roadside Subway in Trios Rivieres which is about halfway.

Everything was on schedule: the group arrived Quebec City before noon. First thing was to check out the hotel, Hotel Belley located in the heart of the Old Quebec City, a stone throw away from Vieux-Port. Each room is of apartment style, with all the modern essentials plus a full size kitchen. After dropping off the bags, the group strolled along the old city wall along Rue des Ramparts along east old wall up the hill, passing
by rows of canons pointing to Riviere ST Charles (St. Charles River) and Fleuve St. Laurent (St. Lawrence
River) below.

After lunch at Portofino, an Italian place which covers its walls with Ferrari F1 racing memorabilia, the group continued their tour of old Quebec. All enjoyed the spectacular view of the St. Lawrence along the pedestrian lane Rue du Petit-Champlain, passing the fabulous Chateau Frontenac. Then via the Governors Promenade to La Citadelle, a fortification documenting various battles that the French had with the British and Americans in the
18th Century.

Returned to the hotel around 5pm. After a short rest, the group then walked along the southern old city wall, visited a  tourist alley of  Petit Champlain Quarter, before reaching our dinner place, Au Petit Coin Breton - Creperie Restaurant, on the popular Rue St. Jean, famous for its crepes. All had so much crepes that Leonard joked "will not look at pancakes for the rest of the year".

It was almost 10pm by the time the group returned to their hotel, and  retired for the evening in their rooms.

Day 2 (30 May 2004)

    After a good night sleep, all packed and went to have breakfast. The streets on this Sunday morning was relatively quiet. The group enjoyed the breakfast in a small cafe. Due to the amount of food ingested, the group decided to walk around the old city once again to burn off some calories before returning to the hotel. After checking out of the hotel, the group drove east along Rt.440, passed a small town Beauport before crossing the
bridge to Ile d'Orleans, an island in the middle of St. Lawrence. It resembles Martha Vineyard of Massachusetts,
a tourist town and also home to many writers/artists.

    Over 500 bicyclists were having a rally, in two groups escorted by local police, along the only road on this sunny Sunday. After following the snail paced traffic for almost an hour, the group stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The
restaurant offers a wonderful view of the St. Lawrence. After lunch, the group completed round the island tour and crossed the bridge to visit Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, a water fall of 83m (272 ft), 30m (98 ft) higher than Niagara Falls.

    The group started out the walking along the Footbridge and the Falls Walkway, then climbed the Panoramic Stairs, stopping at each Lookout Terrace to catch a breath while taking pictures of the spectacular view of the fall as well as the St. Lawrence. All rested for a moment after reaching the top by reading the posted description on its battleground history where about 400 British soldiers died while trying to capture the mountain. After crossing the Fault Bridge, the group reached their destination: Falls Suspension Bridge above the fall, which many tourists pose for pictures. The trip down was relatively effortless. After each took turn to visit the toilet, all boarded the mini-van and headed back to Montreal around 6pm. All had a delicious dinner at a Greek restaurant where Leonard and Christiane visit once a week. The owner, Jimmy lives across the street from Leonard. It passed 11pm by the time the group reached Leonard's house.

Day 3 (31 May 2004)

    All slept in later in the morning. Kelly & Salina waved good bye to their host and thanked them for the hospitality.
The Changs drove to the west of Montreal to have lunch  by the beautiful Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Canal with Salina's relative.  The oldest lock in North America is located here, which is now part of the National Parks and
National Historic Sites of Canada.

    After a long lunch, the Changs waved goodbye and drove south. Crossing the border was smooth and it was around 9pm when they checked into their hotel (Summerfield Suites) in Burlington, MA.

Day 4 (1 June 2004)

    Day4 is a relaxed day for the Changs. They slept in late, skipped breakfast and spent the remaining morning checking emails. Then after a simple lunch of noodles, they headed to shopping centers in the nearby areas before driving to have dinner at Eddie Chan's house in Middleton. Had a long chat in the kitchen catching up with Eddie and JoAnn after dinner until about 1am in the morning before saying goodbye and look forward to Eddie's visit to California this summer.