Panache is an award-winning four-diamond restaurant nestled within the stone walls and exposed wooden beams of a maritime warehouse dating back to 1822. A dining room offering exceptional intimacy, along with stunning views of the St. Lawrence River, Panache is a dining destination popular with both locals and visitors to Québec City. The tone is established from the moment you walk into the building, the tables elegantly set with silverware and crystal, catching the natural light streaming in through the windows and the glittering lamp fixtures. Everything seems light and airy, an impression enhanced by the relaxed, friendly manner of the staff. Panache sources much of its produce from its farm on Île d’Orléans, which you can see from one of the window tables. It specializes in what it terms as “high-end comfort food,” offering a contemporary twist on local Quebec specialities. When chef Louis Pacquelin isn’t in the kitchen, he can be found on the farm on Île d’Orléans.
Montréal Botanical Gardens

Montréal Botanical Gardens
The Montreal Botanical Garden (Jardin botanique de Montréal) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising 75 hectares (190 acres) of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 as it is considered to be one of the most important botanical gardens in the world due to the extent of its collections and facilities. The garden was founded in 1931, in the height of the Great Depression, by mayor Camillien Houde, after years of campaigning by Brother Marie-Victorin. The grounds were designed by Henry Teuscher, while the Art Deco style administration building was designed by architect Lucien F. Kéroack. It serves to educate the public in general and students of horticulture in particular, as well as to conserve endangered plant species.
Fall Foliage in Quebéc
Jacques Cartier, Verrazano and France in the New World
Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) was the first French Explorer to explore the New World. He explored what is now Canada and set the stage for the great explorer and navigator Samuel de Champlain to begin colonization of Canada. Cartier was the first European to discover and create a map for the St. Lawrence River. In 1838, the painter François Riss received an order by the city of St Malo to produce a portrait of Jacques Cartier (1491-1557). It was reproduced in 1846 by the painter Louis-Félix Amiel in Quebec City. The original painting of the imagined Cartier by Riss was destroyed in a fire at the old town hall in 1944. This version is one of many replicas of the lost work. It was executed in 1895 by the librarian of the city of Saint-Malo, Auguste Lemoine (1850-1908) for the the city of Paramé and now hangs in the St Malo civic history museum. There are no known contemporary portraits of Cartier.