In the heart of the eastern townships of Quebec, Sherbrooke reminds me of Lausanne in Switzerland. It’s not quite as beautiful, but the St. Micheal’s Cathedral on the top of a hill can be seen from Rue Dufferin like how the Lausanne Cathedral can be seen from Post Charles Bessières.
The downtown area around St. Micheal’s Cathedral is a thriving district with cafes and restaurants spilling out onto the streets. While it’s many museums and university boosts its cultural scene, the confluence of the Magog and Saint-François rivers offers plenty of recreational activities.
The Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts is housed in a building occupied by a bank from 1859 to 1991. The museum turned one of the bank vaults for safety deposit boxes into a small exhibition room on the history of the building.
Across the street, the Sherbrooke Historical Society runs the local history museum. In the late-1800s, women needed something other than skirts and dresses to ride bicycles safely. At the time, a woman wearing pantaloons or trousers was a cause for much indignation. During the interwar period, several cities in the region made it illegal for women to wear shorts on public streets.
Visitors can pick up a pamphlet on Sherbrooke’s murals at the visitor’s centre or any museum. It’s really just a way to get tourists to visit all the businesses in every corner of the city and spend more money. You could tour the city with less pain to your feet if you’re not too keen on seeing paint on walls.
Sherbrooke used to have passenger rail connecting it to Quebec City and Vermont, the railway station is now a market for fresh food and restaurants. The market sits right on the shore of Lac du Nations, there’s a scenic multi-use trail circumnavigating the lake connecting several parks.
