We made it back to french country.
Thursday, September 30
We made it to Old Quebec City today and it is old! With half the buildings in the historic district built before 1850 and some of the architecture dating back to the days of New France. We took a cab into Lower Town (Basse Ville) and Kent was anxious to show us the sites he had seen when he came out in July. We walked down the narrow cobble stoned streets browsing the shops and enjoying the history and antiquity of everything around us. Old Quebec is where Samuel de Champlain set up residence in 1608. Place Royale is an out cobble stoned market and meeting place built in 1688 on the site of Champlain's garden. We walked down Rue du Petit-Champlain which is Quebec's oldest street and North America's oldest commercial thoroughfare. From here we tried to take the funicular up to Haute-Ville (Upper Town) but the wheelchair accessible one was not operating today so we took the bus instead. In Haute-Ville we walked around the Hotel de Ville (city hall) and then up to the St. Jean gate (one of the three gates leading into the city) where we walked up on the wall. Quebec is the only remaining fortified city in North America. We walked to the Notre-Dame Basilica and took a look inside before admiring the artwork on rue du Trésor. We continued on to the Chateau Frontenac where we sat down for a Starbucks coffee before walking through the hotel. From here we headed back out to the street and up through the St. Louis gate to the parliament buildings and over to the citadel. But it was close to 5:00 by this time and the citadel was closed for the day so we got a cab back to the campground.
On the streets of Old Quebec with the Funicular in the background.
This is Park Royale.
Katrina and Juanna in front of a great wall mural depicting life past and present in Quebec.
Look closely you may recognize these two.
Juanna hold on.
We found this tunnel in a row of buildings.
Walking the streets in Basse-Ville.
Another mural.
An amazing floral display.
St. Jean gate.
The view from the gate down to the city below.
Another amazing flower pot.
Dufferin Terrace.
A horse taking a drink break with the St. Louis gate in the background.
The provincial parliament buildings.
The girls out front the parliament buildings with the wall of the city in the background.
Friday, October 1
We are so excited - Mom and Dad come today!!! We quickly got the sheets and towels washed and the motor home cleaned for our company. :) Mom and Dad arrived around 11:00 and we headed back into Old Quebec City. We walked much the same streets as the day before showing Mom and Dad all we saw. The funicular was working today so Kent, Dad, Katrina and Victoria took a ride up in that and Juanna, Mom and I took the Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Stairs). We didn't cover as much ground today but we did get in to more stores - so that is always fun. We walked back down to the Lower Town and found a place to have supper on the patio before calling it a day and going back to the motorhome for the night.
Look who joined us.
Lunch on the patio with Grandma.
Looking across the St. Lawrence on the terrace of the Chateau Frontenac.
Chateau Frontinac
Looking down at the train station.
Chateau Frontenac at night.
We had planned to tour the citadel today but it was cold and rainy so we decided to head down to Montreal instead. Today was really a driving day but it was fun to have Mom and Dad with us.
Supper in the motor home.
Sunday, October 3
Another cold and rainy day in Montreal. We had beautiful morning meeting in Châteauguay (on the South Shore of Montreal) before we headed downtown. We planned to tour the underground city today to stay out of the inclement weather but we mostly stayed above ground in the mall. Lots of fun for the girls, maybe not so much fun for the men.
Art created out of recycling collected in the mall.
Look at those smiles - retail therapy is great.
Monday, October 4
Today was our site seeing day. We started by going to the Biodome and (as Anita calls it) the giant pork chop in the Olympic Park but once we got there they informed us that they are closed on Mondays. No problem, we went down to old Montreal to Pointe-a-Callière the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History - closed on Mondays. We thought maybe we would see an Imax show at the Science Center - no English shows until tomorrow. We tried to go do the labyrinth tour - closed during the week. Nothing was working out for expanding our cultural knowledge so best to shop at all the great boutiques in Old Montreal and then up to St. Catherine's and shopped some more. Definitely a great way to spend another very overcast day. Once the stores closed we headed up the hill to see the raccoons and look down to the city from Mont Royal. Anita told us we would see some raccoons but she never told us we would see a whole city of raccoons and they were very tame, coming up to us and looking for food. We came down the hill and looked for a place to buy some Montreal bagels. We had a very long day and loads of fun.
This is not a lake, it is our campsite in Montreal.
The giant pork chop.
Streets of Old Montreal.
Out front the museum of archaeology.
Building in old Montreal.
A Dutch-Renaissance firehouse which is now a history museum.
Old church up on St. Catherine's street.
Streets of old Montreal.
Bonsecours Market
The raccoons in Mont Royal begging for treats.
The girls getting up close to the raccoons.
Inside the Mont Royal bagel shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment