I write these blogs mainly as a way to help me remember activities I have done. This particular blog is to help me remember our trip to Quebec City.
Tammy and I left Sunday, May 18 at 5am for our 6.5 hour drive to Quebec City. The ride was scenic and quiet until we got about an hour or so outside the city where we hit rain and moderate traffic. Check in time to our VRBO in the Saint-Roch area was not until 4pm. We had planned on visiting Montmorency Falls, but the rain ruined that. Tammy came up with a back up plan to visit the aquarium. Apparently many others had as well. When we got off the exit, a gentleman was directing cars on where to go as the parking lot was full. Problem was, he only spoke French, and we don't. We turned around and headed to our VRBO where we explored the area's shops where we were staying. We also ate at Poutinville while killing time until check-in.
When it was close to check in time, we got our luggage and went to let ourselves into the building. Another problem, the code we were given didn't unlock the door. No matter how many times we tried, it remained locked. We walked around a bit to make sure of the building's address. Google maps said we had arrived. Code still didn't work. We contacted the VRBO owner and received a text stating what we already were doing. Eventually, we noticed we were trying the wrong building. Our building was across the street. The code worked and in we went.
Monday was just as rainy as Sunday. Nevertheless, we headed out for our scheduled 9:30am walking tour of Old Quebec City with Judith. Up the hill to Quebec City we climbed. We arrived early, so spent some time on the Dufferin Terrace that overlooks the St. Lawrence River. Our private tour lasted four hours and covered both the upper and lower Old Quebec. Upon the tour's completion, we stopped for some hot chocolate and then rode the funicular to the terrace. In our wanderings, Tammy learned of a tour of the Old St Louis Fort which we did. Looking for a place to eat, we happened upon St Alexandre Pub. Tammy had the fish and chips. I had the smoked meat sandwich. We finished our meal off with the delicious dessert Sugar Pie.
Tuesday was cloudy, windy, and cold. But we weren't to be deterred as we headed back up to Old Quebec City for our hop on - hop off bus tour at 9:30am. We took the first hour and a half ride around the city seeing the sites from the top of the bus. We did the tour a second time getting a different perspective from inside the bottom of the bus. We finished the bus tour with enough time for a stop at Tim Horton's for some hot chocolate, a bagel, and a chocolate croissant before our next tour. This two hour walking tour - Fortifications of Quebec - covered the walls, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and part of the Citadel. For dinner, we headed down toward home for dinner at Phil's Smoked Meat with a dessert of Sugar Pie. To burn off the Sugar Pie, we walked down to see the St Charles River.
Wednesday was forecast to be partly sunny (still windy and cold though), so we visited Montmorency Falls and Il d'Orleans. Arriving around 9am , we took the gondola to the top, walked the suspension bridge over the falls, then rode the gondola back walking around the base of the falls. We then headed over the bridge to the Il d'Orleans around 11am. Driving around the circumference of the island, we made stops for some chocolate truffles and for some scenic pictures. We arrived back at Quebec City a little after 2pm and explored the Old Port area visiting some antique stores as well as the bus/train station. Dinner was at La Cuisine (lots of locals) where Tammy had French onion soup and croque-monsier. I had shepherd's pie. For dessert, we had the delicious pounding chomeur.
Thursday we made the trek back up to Old Quebec for a 10 o'clock tour of the Morrin Centre which was built as a jail, then it was an Anglophone college, and is now an English educational center and library. At 12 o'clock, we entered the Quebec Parliament building where we shared a lunch of etage de cigare au choe before our tour of the building. We finished around 3 and walked the Plains of Abraham to our dinner reservation at La Bucche. Tammy had the Deer Tartare. I had the tourtiere. I also ate pickled beets for the first time. Dessert was pounding chomeur with la glace.
(As a side note, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we walked between 20,000 and 25,000 steps each of those days.)
Friday morning found us leaving Quebec City as we had arrived - in the rain.
2 comments:
I always love reading about your adventures. We went to Quebec in the Fall of 2015 and it was amazing! Loved it! Great pics. - Randi
Thanks.
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