Wine Flows Freely in Quebec

I'm always fascinated by visiting grocery stores in other countries... they always provide an interesting glimpse into the everyday products people use, the local cuisine and much more. You also get a sense for prices and the differences from country to country. For example, buying extra virgin olive oil in Italy is much less expensive than the U.S. The same goes for maple syrup here in Canada vs. the U.S.

So, we stopped in a SAQ Depot store while in Hull, Quebec (right across the river from Ottawa). When we drove past it, I saw that they were a wine and spirits store and I wanted to pick up a bottle of Canadian wine as a souvenir. By the way, if you haven't heard of SAQ (I hadn't)...

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) is a state-owned corporation responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages.

As a state-owned corporation, the SAQ provides a major income stream to both levels of government in the form of taxes, duties, and a dividend payment to the Quebec government.

Now, the SAQ Depot wasn't just any old wine store. Yes, you can buy a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or rum. However, if want to buy several bottles of everyday wine, SAQ allows you to pick and bottle your own wine in bulk.

As you come into the store, you'll spot a long wall lined with wine "stations" as I'll call them. Each station provides information on the wine, pricing and a tap for tasting and filling bottles.


After you've selected the wine you want, take a taste to make sure it lives up to your standards. I selected a nice red wine.


If the wine works for you, you can fill up as many bottles of wine as you need. We watched someone fill a case while we were there.


You then walk over to a contraption that allows you to cork the wine before you take it to the front and check out. If you'd like, you can even buy foil for the neck or labels. They pretty much have it all.


There are 6 SAQ Depot locations in Quebec including in Hull (Ottawa), Montreal and Quebec City. You'll also come across other SAQ locations like SAQ Express, SAQ Classique, SAQ Selection and SAQ Signature. Each one has a slightly different emphasis. SAQ Convenience stocks about 400 different products that can be quickly purchased while SAQ Signature focuses on more exclusive options.

A Steamy Day in Ottawa

It was a scorcher today in Ottawa... our jokes about "steamy" Canadian summers apparently fell flat as it truly was hot today.

We had breakfast at the hotel and then drove across the river to the Canadian Museum of Civilization - an absolute for anyone visiting Ottawa. While the museum has a handful of the usual dioramas and interpretive exhibits, what really makes it stand out are its life-size exhibits of life through Canadian history and the stunning great hall with its towering totems. We spent about 3 hours at the museum but I can see how someone might pass the whole day covering all the exhibits. After your visit, you can grab a bit at one of the museum's cafes or grab a bite on the park overlooking Ottawa.

Nighttime View of the Canadian Museum of Civilization

In case you didn't know, the Canadian Museum of Civilization is actually in Gatineau and is located in Quebec. Unlike bilingual Ottawa, pretty much everything turns French in Gatineau. Stores suddenly drop any bilingual pretenses and display French signage. This was definitely the case in SAQ Depot, a Quebecois wine shop in Gatineau (more on that later...)

Anyway, we headed back to the hotel around 4:00 to kick back for a while. Later, after some errands, we worked out at the hotel's gym - a bit steamy and crowded with aggressive members (it's also a membership-based gym) who were dead set on getting a Swiss ball or barbell when they needed it.

As for dinner, a great choice is Metropolitain Brasserie... located at the corner of Sussex and Rideau. The restaurant is set in a depressed plaza, adjacent to great shops on Sussex. The interior is well-appointed and elegant but sitting outside is the way to go, particularly if you happen to be in town during some type of music festival. The menu had a great mix of fish, meat and some of the best salads in town. It also has a very extensive wine list. I had sauteed Halibut with fennel, slivered almonds, roasted potatoes and market vegetables. My wife had a delectable grilled chicken salad. All very good.

Now... something interesting. One thing we've noticed is how high taxes are on food. An example from our bill at Metropolitain:

Food and wine - $64.17
GST - $3.86
PST - $4.40
Liq PST - $.93

That's a little over 14% in taxes. Yikes!

Nonetheless, we're finding some very good food in Ottawa. We can't wait to see what we'll find in Montreal!

Outdoor Dining in ByWard Market

Just took an evening stroll back to the ByWard market area. There's a grouping of restaurants just off of George Street that are worth visiting...each one surrounds one of the oldest courtyards in Ottawa - Social, The Black Tomato, Courtyard Restaurant and Mamma Grazzi's. We ate at Mamma Grazzi's after seeing a good review in a Frommer's Guide. Despite the cheesy Italian name, it was very good. The caprese is a good bet as an appetizer as it comes with caprese and nice-sized mixed greens salad. The menu also includes pizza, four meat dishes and 30+ different pasta options. Eating in the courtyard area is an absolute must, particularly in the summertime when the weather, like tonight, can be ideal.

Confusion and Resolution in Canada

"I like any kind of weather. It's the joy of being alive and some people forget that"

- Man interviewed on a local Ottawa newscast when asked about the heat.

...and here we are in Canada.

First off, I'm going to add pictures to these entries later. Right now, I don't have the means to upload pictures. In fact, it's a blessing that I even have Internet access. Let me explain...

The drive from Syracuse to Cardinal in Ontario was a breeze - about two hours long and very straightforward. The house itself was beautiful - a late 1800s brick Victorian house with a privileged location overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The three-story house had 7 bedrooms, all decorated with family heirlooms and various fascinating bits of history. What the house did not have was cable TV or Internet access. Now, since I had planned on making this a working vacation, no Internet access was a problem. It is the end of the quarter, after all, and I had all kinds of stuff I was working on.

Well... OK... the 730 Truck Stop, as far as I knew, had wireless so at least I could work there with Skype, right? Wrong. Turned out that wireless at the 730 Truck Stop hadn't been working for about 6 months. Other options? The waitress at the truck stop thought that Tim Horton's in Prescott or Morrisburg might have wireless but she wasn't sure. Hmmm... not reassuring. While my wife was eating, I walked over to the entrance to use the ATM. Ah... no go. The ATM didn't like my card.

No TV
No Internet (problem for work)
No access to cash

Since we'd planned on a day trip to Ottawa on Sunday, we instead decided to pack up a few days' worth of clothes and make it a three-night stay. Less than an hour later, we pulled up to the Marriott Ottawa, parked the car, and started checking hotel rates. The Marriott was more than we wanted to spend so we started digging around for options. In the midst of my digging, I finally realized... hey, I have Marriot points! Lo and behold, we had enough for 3 nights and booked a room.

Parliament Hill, as seen from Hull

We spent Sunday getting to know our way around town. Lunch was spent wandering around Sparks Street Mall where a BBQ cookoff was taking place - apparently U.S. vs. Canadian teams. We worked our way to Elgin where we paid $30 CAN each for a Lady Dive "amphibus" tour. If you haven't been to Ottawa before, taking one of these tours is a great way to get a quick intro to the city. The bus/boat winds its way past the most popular sites and then takes a plunge
into the Ottawa River. Listening to the bilingual narration was quite funny (everything here is in French and English). It also gave us a better idea of what sites we might want to explore
in greater detail.

Afterwards, we watched a boat works its way through the locks at the Rideau Canal and then took a leisurely stroll along Parliament Hill. If you didn't know any better, you'd think you were in England. The neogothic architecture is stunning. We were quite tired by the late afternoon so we headed back to the hotel.

For dinner, we opted not to wander too far from the hotel so we took the elevator up to the 29th floor for dinner at Merlot, the Marriott's rotating restaurant. The expensive but wonderful restaurant takes two hours to make one rotation of the city skyline. The food was excellent and the restaurant's wine list was recognized by Wine Spectator as one of the country's finest wine lists. My wife had a delicious crab salad as an appetizer and I had the eclectic salad. Both highly recommended. We both opted for salmon for dinner. It was scrumptious - served with a in a ginger maple dressing, bok choy and drizzled with pears and herbs. Very very good. Dessert was a delectable 3 citron cheesecake with a coconut caramel dipping sauce. Not light... not by any means... but very good. The entire meal, with a glass of wine and tax, came out to $113 CAN. Oh, and yes... we made a full revolution.

This morning, I went downstairs nice and early to take part in a couple of conference calls and to get some work done. We then started our day by heading to ByWard Market. What a great area. The old city market still buzzes with stalls selling fresh fruit, flowers and other assorted items. Other food stores and gourmet shops line the area. It also contains one of the greatest concentrations of restaurants in the city of Ottawa. Rather than sitting down at a traditional restaurant, we stopped by Moulin de Provence and picked up some sandwiches to go. We also grabbed a basket of cherries at a stall and then made our way to a bench by the Rideau Canal.

The weather, while a bit sketchy yesterday, turned out to be quite nice - actually warmer than Houston, if you can believe. We're now taking it easy in the room... catching up on a little bit of work, a little bit of registering, a little bit of working out, etc. We're about to head back out to
ByWard Market to shop along Sussex Street before heading to dinner at one of the many restaurants.