Roots Archives - Angela McLean

December 30, 2020 No Comments

The Great Mini-Canadian Road Trip blog cover by Angela McLean

BLOGGER’S NOTE: This trip occurred in August 2020 at a time when COVID-19 case counts were low in both Ontario and Quebec. Physical distancing and mask wearing were followed at all times. Please use sound judgment when planning any travel during a pandemic and only follow my itinerary when it is safe. Let’s support local tourism and economies the responsible way. *This post is not sponsored in any way.*

My travel bucket list features so many amazing destinations — London, Paris (two cities I was actually booked to visit this spring), Sydney, Seattle and Chicago, to name a few spots — but I find we often overlook what’s closest to us. This summer, in an effort to safely get out, support local tourism and see more of Canada, I planned a five-day road trip with my parents stopping in our nation’s capital, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. As our only getaway of 2020, we packed as much as we could into each day and I was definitely “car-lagged” once we made it back home, but it was all beyond worth it!

I’m excited to share our mini-Canadian road trip itinerary with you so you can get inspiration for future travel and learn more about Canada’s urban beauty. Enjoy the journey!

Day 1: Ottawa

I live in Toronto, so it made sense for us to go up to Ottawa for a night then continue on to Montreal and Quebec City. Hitting the road around 8AM, we arrived in Ottawa just in time for brunch and stopped in at the famous Zak’s Diner in ByWard Market. I cannot emphasize enough how delicious their French Toast Sandwich was… two fried eggs, bacon, ham and Swiss cheese held between French toast. Heaven in a breakfast dish! 😌

Later in the afternoon, we checked into our hotel, The Westin Ottawa, and got (slightly) unpacked and ready for an evening stroll through ByWard. With this being my third trip to Ottawa, I was already looking forward to dinner at one of my favourite restaurants, Luxe. They have something on the menu for everyone and make a mean vodka cranberry (a must for me!). I can also vouch for their crispy squid appetizer and Bistro Burger as an entrée. Don’t even get me started on their fries! 😍

We ended the day with photos by ByWard’s giant light-up Ottawa sign (think of the one in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square!) and much-needed R&R for our morning in the city.

Day 2: Ottawa & Montreal

Thanks to the Westin‘s indoor path to the CF Rideau Centre, we were able to get an early start to a rainy day with breakfast at the hotel (I never say no to parfaits) and a quick walk to pick up a new sweatshirt from Roots. I had somehow severely underpacked for the chillier end-of-summer temperatures!

After a few photos at Parliament Hill (a tourist tradition!), we started the three-hour drive to our hotel in Montreal. I scored a great deal at the gorgeous Renaissance Montreal Downtown Hotel and, judging solely by the swing pictured in the lobby, I knew it was going to be such a fun stay! Fortunately, I wasn’t let down. COVID-19 safety protocols were strictly followed throughout the hotel and the rooms were so aesthetically pleasing. The cake pops left next to the bed were also a very sweet touch! 😉

Since we arrived late in the afternoon, I searched through Google reviews for a dinner destination and selected Bevo Bar + Pizzeria, a cute Italian spot on the edge of Old Montreal (Vieux-Port de Montréal). We enjoyed super yummy pasta dishes, followed by ice cream from a standalone Ben & Jerry’s shop in Place Jacques-Cartier. I had to — I didn’t even know until then that there were Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shops!

We hadn’t planned to go to the Old Port until the next day, but I’m so glad our first taste of it was at night. That’s when the city really comes alive and you can take in the lights and sights over the water. It’s absolutely beautiful!

Day 3: Montreal

For our Montreal breakfast, we walked from our hotel to a local mainstay, Universel Déjeuner + Grillades, which boasted one of the biggest menus—in both selection and physical size—I’ve ever seen. Seriously, they had it all—from pancakes to waffles and omelettes and eggs benedict, and that’s just scratching the surface. I ended up having the strawberry and banana waffle, which was absolutely a wise choice. So good! A side order of bacon was the perfect fuel to get me through a long day of city roaming (and a little downtown shopping, of course).

The day’s tourist stops included: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, shopping on Rue Sainte-Catherine O and Boulevard de Maisonneuve O, and Dorchester Square

As it got closer to dinner, we stopped at the hotel for a quick outfit change (#JustBloggerThings) and then Uber’ed back to the riverfront to (attempt to) get drinks at Marché des Éclusiers, a beautiful floral-themed, open-air market and bar. As cute as it is, the service just wasn’t there, so I couldn’t recommend it—but definitely stop by for a picture if you’re passing by. We trekked back through Old Montreal by foot, taking in stunning storefronts like Le Petit Dep, a charming local cafe and market (and a favourite of Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy!). This area is so photogenic; I easily took 100 photos!

When we saw my absolute fave restaurant The Keg, we took it as fate and put our name down on the waitlist as we enjoyed the vibrant sounds of the local street artists. I also went up to Terrasse Perché, a tucked-away bar with the most picture-perfect views of the riverfront and Place Jacques-Cartier, for a quick drink and photo op. I’m fulfilling all my global rooftop bar dreams, one city at a time! 🍸

Day 4: Montreal & Quebec City

I loved Montreal and really didn’t want to leave, but I always remind myself that sometimes trips need to come to an end so you can appreciate your next visit that much more. I need Ms. Corona to get a move on so music festivals can return and I can come back to the city for Osheaga! 🎶

Before buckling back in for the three-hour drive to Quebec City, we stopped in at a boutique I’ve loved since grade school, Boutique 1861 (their collection makes my jaw drop!), and got a parking lot view of Canada’s largest church, Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal.

For our time in Quebec City, it was a no brainer to stay at the marvelous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in the heart of the city. Here, you’re staying in a piece of history! I can’t say enough about how amazing this property was, from the personalized service to amenities (the top-of-the-line Le Labo lotions had my name on the bottle!) and my welcome gift of Insta-worthy, in-house-made macarons.

To keep things simple for dinner, and explore everything the hotel had to offer, we opted to dine at the Fairmont’s on-site Sam Bistro (Bistro Le Sam), which had a cozy, welcoming atmosphere and delicious fish and chips.

Day 5: Quebec City

Just like our full day in Montreal, this day required an early start and there was no better morning mood-booster to be had than a yummy omelette from aptly-named l’Omelette. I had discovered a rustic, funky spot, La Buche (their words, not mine!), on Instagram the night before, but they somehow had a two-hour wait!

The day’s tourist stops included: The boardwalk behind the Fairmont, all around the riverfront in Old Quebec (centered around Rue Sous le Fort and Rue du Petit Champlain), the Quebec City Mural (my Grade 8 class trip bus parked here!), Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church, Chez Ashton for poutine (I’ve had better, but it was a good afternoon treat!), the “entrance” to Old Quebec (St. John Gate) on Rue Saint-Jean, Place D’Youville, and the most festive spot of all, La Boutique de Noël de Québec (Quebec City’s year-round Christmas store)

On the recommendation of our Montreal Keg waitress, we spent our last night in Quebec City wining and dining at Parmesan, a quaint Italian restaurant (it’s always a yes to more pasta!) with a roaming accordion player. 🍝

Capping off the evening with a lively stroll illuminated by the downtown lights, this night was the perfect way to end such an amazing trip!

Take 5 with Langston Francis

Introducing Take 5 — a new series on angelamclean.ca introducing you, through just five questions, to ones to watch who are killing it in their respective fields.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please take a minute to read the linked article, which was published just under two months after this interview, before you proceed. More Take 5 interviews are available on my blog.

Turn up your speakers: Toronto-based singer-songwriter Langston Francis is having a moment.

Prior to recently graduating high school, Langston had already amassed an impressive list of accomplishments — a successful debut EP roaming, an ad campaign with Roots, national radio play, sets at Canada’s biggest summer festivals, opening slots for artists like Hayley Kiyoko and, most recently, his first stateside show. “The moment that I have is here right now and I’m always aware of the fact that it might not be here tomorrow, so I’ve got to seize the opportunity,” he says, an observation more relevant than ever in the midst of our shared global experiences in quarantine.

Kicking off the rollout for his sophomore EP due out later this year, Langston just dropped his new single “Waste My Time,” a flavourful summer-ready track about giving into temptation despite knowing exactly how things are going to end. With much more music to come, I caught up with Langston over FaceTime to get the inside scoop on staying creative, overcoming Instagram Live fears, the new wave of local talent and more.

**Happy release day! “Waste My Time” serves as the first taste of your upcoming EP and your first release of 2020. How are you feeling?**

I’m so excited. I mean, I didn’t go on a hiatus in terms of creating things, but I released my debut project (in 2018) and then I only put out two singles — “Throw It Away and “Peaches” — for a large chunk of time. I’ve kind of been teasing at stuff for months, because I had this single done but we wanted to get the EP pretty much completely done. It’s kind of hard to put it all into words, but it’s a warm feeling. Coming up on past releases I had a little bit of anxiety and nervousness thinking about how it was going to be received, and I’ve let a lot of that go in the sense that I’m just happy to share the music with whoever wants to hear it. I’m so happy that I have my art because it’s something that I can enjoy by myself and create by myself and still share with others from essentially the comfort of my house.

What really wastes your time?

People are always joking on the label calls about this. Someone will be like, We don’t want to waste people’s time! I think for a lot of my life, it’s been the transit system — just the way I’ve spent a lot of my time freezing my ass off waiting for buses. Also, I spent 13 hours in a Cuban airport one time. The flight was delayed two hours more every two hours. We weren’t allowed to leave the airport, there was no food, the debit machine system was broken so we couldn’t take money out and we didn’t have any pesos because… well, I don’t know, me and my friends were just irresponsible teenagers. At one point they were like, We’re giving food out to everyone for free! It was just a hot dog bun and a can of Coke. We were like, alright, bless.

How has the creative process changed for you in quarantine? Have you felt a desire to be more experimental and productive, or is the isolation leading to creative block?

It was interesting; in the beginning, I definitely felt stir crazy due to the lack of human contact. When I’m writing, I like to draw from experiences in my life and it’s tough when you’re just staying inside and everything you’re seeing on the news is so negative. But I’ve figured out how to adjust, especially as a lot of producers and writers have been working via Zoom — which sounds like it would be difficult but surprisingly it’s been really nice. Also, I’ve always struggled with telling my story and showing my personality online. I’ve always been encouraged to do more of it, but I sometimes find that I just care so much more about doing live shows and releasing music and that was what I was so focused on.

Being in quarantine, I started this Instagram Live series where I play some songs, chat with people and then bring on a young creative on the come up. The first one I did recently was with this producer Jenius. He’s 18 and has produced for Travis Scott and a lot of pretty established artists, so it was really cool to talk about creativity in quarantine and answer questions from people about how you navigate the industry at a young age. I never really live streamed; I was always awkward talking to the camera. So, I think one pro of being stuck inside is it’s opening my eyes to exploring different mediums to connect with the fans. Hopefully even if one person feels like they got some knowledge or inspiration from hearing us talk, then that was a success.

What have you missed most about playing live shows and how hard are you going to go at the first gig back?

I had a couple of shows announced and some other stuff behind the scenes that we were lining up that I was massively anticipating, especially because I have this new project and I felt like I’d really gotten to a point where I was able to just enjoy the shows and be in the moment. From what I’ve heard I don’t think there’s going to be international touring on the larger scale for probably a lot of 2021. At the same time, I was actually just talking to a friend and we were thinking about how, especially for shows in Toronto, we’re spoiled sometimes. We have all these incredible acts playing large and small venues and it’s so accessible and for a lot of Canadian cities, artists just don’t come there. So, I think when we’re able to tour again, for artists and fans both the appreciation is going to be crazy.

I saw photos of the first social distancing concert and yeah, I didn’t really get that. I was also thinking, how did they break even? It was weird though, the fact that we both know it from that post that kind of went a little viral and obviously I imagine that’s not what they were intending – for everyone to kind of clown it — but if it was something that they did to live stream or just let a few fans in then that’s cool. It’s hard to say what’s safe and what isn’t.

Self-titled EPs don’t mess around and are typically more raw, authentic and revealing. What can fans expect and how would you describe your musical growth?

With my first EP, I had no idea what the project was going to be called when I released the first single and I was kind of taking it step by step. I describe this EP as more sure of itself, and I’m more sure of the songs. People might hear “Waste My Time” and I wouldn’t want to say that the whole EP is totally like that because we also have a big, epic, almost shimmery pop track, and then there’s a track that explores more of a rocky feel. I’ve also got my first feature on the project, which I’ve never done before and is really exciting being that we’re both Toronto artists. There are actually a lot of really cool artists coming up from Toronto right now that are around my age. I feel like since I was 15, 16, starting to drop music, I’ve gotten so much love and acknowledgement from people that I looked up to, and now seeing this new wave of young teens and early 20’s people coming up has been really dope.

The Great Mini-Canadian Road Trip