Oh, Canada

Steve thoroughly enjoyed our June vacation in France.

He came home with lots of inspiration for paintings

and a willingness to feed my travel bug.

We weren't up for another 12 hour flight so in September we settled on a 5 hour flight to Montreal.

This was a quick getaway, 4 nights/5 days, with no plans

other than walking the streets of Old Montreal and Old Quebec City.

We definitely wanted to see the Leonard Cohen mural on Crescent Street - that day we walked over 9 miles.

We simply wanted to wander, but thanks to Instagram,

I was searching for this cute spot

and it's smaller version.

I snapped pics

of things that caught my eye

like the fun stairs in Thursday's Bistro on Crescent Street.

I love clock faces and the city of Montreal is full of them.

We wanted to stay in the old part of the city

via

and chose the Vieux Du Port in Old Montreal.

It is the only hotel settled along the Saint Lawrence River - the buildings (originally warehouses) date back to the 1800's which explains the thick stone walls.

The only thing we had planned, and my favorite part of our vacation, was meeting Suzan of Simply Vintageous and her husband John for drinks at 3 p.m. - we ended up leaving our table at 10 p.m.

The drive to Old Quebec City was filled with fall colors despite everyone telling us there was nothing to see on the drive.

I felt right at home when we arrived at our hotel, Auberge Saint Antoine

and saw the red doors.

Just as in Montreal,

we wandered the streets of Old Quebec City.

I loved the greenery

and window boxes full of colorful blooms.

Many of the shops had lovely fall displays.

This fun pumpkin display caught my eye - we popped in for a lunch of French Onion Soup.

We spent less than 24 hours in Old Quebec City

and we loved every minute of it.

Now we're in the planning stages of an April getaway to celebrate 50 years since we met.

We want to keep it in the 6 hour flight range so please leave ideas in the comments.

We're looking for great architecture,

vibrant street life

and wonderful restaurants -

fun art installations would be a bonus.