Ottawa has ice sculptures, Québec has giant snow ones. The theme of the national Snow Sculpture Competition for this year was “winter fun”. Each team was given a huge 3.7 m x 4.9 m block of snow and beautiful winter themed art pieces were created.

The Gatineau Park in Québec, right across Ottawa, probably offers the best Fall scenery in the region. The trees that make up the huge forest slowly turn yellow, orange and red. Lakes reflect the Fall colors and hundreds visit the park to witness the transition to the dreaded winter.

Little Italy was our last stop in Montréal. I wanted to go back to the famous marché Jean Talon, a farmer’s market located in this area.

The open air market is occupied by about 300 vendors, selling fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat etc. There are many other food businesses in the area, including bakeries, fish and meat stores and restaurants.

Like I was saying last time, Montréal is not just the cute European-style city a lot of people imagine. There is the old Montréal… and the modern downtown, which is just like any other American city.

Right after arriving in Canada for the first time in 2002, Feng and I took a road trip. We had landed in Toronto, went through Ottawa, and then Montréal, Québéc city and the surroundings. It was February and it was cold, brutally cold, especially considering that we were coming from Brazil, had no winter clothes and that I had never seen snow before.