Aug. 28th, 2024, Day 1, East Coast - Ottawa to Quebec City

We started our drive at around 13:30 by filling up the gas of the rental car (it was only 70% filled when we got it). 

Loading the Rental Car

 It took us until 19:15 to arrive in Quebec City and check into our motel. What else to say: There was a bit of traffic to get around Montreal rush hour on the north side. Google Maps suggested that we saved over an hour compared to going through, but who knows. I drove a good portion of this as a passenger before earlier in the year on a visit to a fromagerie near Mirabel/St. Jerome and then to the Montreal Botanical Garden. After Montreal the traffic thinned out and the drive to Quebec City was smooth and uneventful with the sun behind us and not in front. In all we drove about 450km on a nice sunny day.

After check-in we went to the local Costco nearby to fill up the gas and buy some picnic food for the next days. The Costco's in Quebec are typically better stocked when it comes to cheese varieties and that was the case here as well. We also bought baguettes and a salami. Interesting this Costco also had a large selection of wines on offer (which was not of interest to us: Maybe something to consider when we return, who knows).

We finished the evening with a meal at Le Cèdre, a local shawarma place that was still open at this point of time. The meal was good. Afterwards we went back to the motel to sleep.