Saturday 10/4/08
Old Quebec
Our weather continues to be consistently inconsistent. This is about a week of cool, sunny, cloudy and spitting rain and it is getting old.
This morning we are into the Old City of Quebec. The city was built on the bluffs of the St. Lawrence where the “river” opens up into the “seaway.” With bluffs on one side, the city fathers thought they would be pretty safe if they whipped a stone wall around the other side and built themselves a couple forts to complete the picture. Quebec is the only north American city that has left its fortifications in place and consequently is the only walled city on the continent.
We start with a walk along the terraces at the top of the bluff around the Chateau Frontenac and through some of the parks and squares and pay our respects to founder de Champlain and attacker Wolfe and defender Montcalm who are all memorialized here. Wolfe is the guy who finally led his British troops up the bluffs which surprised the crap out of Montcalm who promptly gave up. Benedict Arnold later tried it with his American troops but you can’t fool a fooler and the Brits kicked them back into the river and hence Canada still had the Queen on their money.
We walk down a very steep street alternating with very steep steps to get to the lower city down along the river. This is a warren of narrow streets and alleys that are all shops and restaurants now. There are also a few musicians playing along the way and we grab a heated outside table at Lapin Saute (fried bunny) next to a guy playing guitar. John has the “lapin chaud” (hot bunny dog) and Mary has her usual veggie soup. Both very good.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering lower city gawking at great murals, poking in shops, finding markets and dodging occasional rain. After making a dinner reservation for Sunday night we work up our courage to hike back up the bluff and can understand what sent Benedict Arnold over the cliff, so to speak. We do one more stroll down Rue St. Jean in the upper city for even more shops and interesting things to see. A beer at the Irish Pub on the corner, and a stop for dinner reservations got us to our afternoon rest time.
Dinner tonight is as Demi Pain which popped up on a website we were checking and is only a block from our hotel. It is pretty cool little bistro and Mary has a very good smoked trout pizza and John has a butterfish with a dark brown potato gallette and fois gras sauce that is to die for. The best individual dish on the trip so far. We skip the bar entertainment tonight and hop in bed early.
Old Quebec
Our weather continues to be consistently inconsistent. This is about a week of cool, sunny, cloudy and spitting rain and it is getting old.
This morning we are into the Old City of Quebec. The city was built on the bluffs of the St. Lawrence where the “river” opens up into the “seaway.” With bluffs on one side, the city fathers thought they would be pretty safe if they whipped a stone wall around the other side and built themselves a couple forts to complete the picture. Quebec is the only north American city that has left its fortifications in place and consequently is the only walled city on the continent.
We start with a walk along the terraces at the top of the bluff around the Chateau Frontenac and through some of the parks and squares and pay our respects to founder de Champlain and attacker Wolfe and defender Montcalm who are all memorialized here. Wolfe is the guy who finally led his British troops up the bluffs which surprised the crap out of Montcalm who promptly gave up. Benedict Arnold later tried it with his American troops but you can’t fool a fooler and the Brits kicked them back into the river and hence Canada still had the Queen on their money.
We walk down a very steep street alternating with very steep steps to get to the lower city down along the river. This is a warren of narrow streets and alleys that are all shops and restaurants now. There are also a few musicians playing along the way and we grab a heated outside table at Lapin Saute (fried bunny) next to a guy playing guitar. John has the “lapin chaud” (hot bunny dog) and Mary has her usual veggie soup. Both very good.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering lower city gawking at great murals, poking in shops, finding markets and dodging occasional rain. After making a dinner reservation for Sunday night we work up our courage to hike back up the bluff and can understand what sent Benedict Arnold over the cliff, so to speak. We do one more stroll down Rue St. Jean in the upper city for even more shops and interesting things to see. A beer at the Irish Pub on the corner, and a stop for dinner reservations got us to our afternoon rest time.
Dinner tonight is as Demi Pain which popped up on a website we were checking and is only a block from our hotel. It is pretty cool little bistro and Mary has a very good smoked trout pizza and John has a butterfish with a dark brown potato gallette and fois gras sauce that is to die for. The best individual dish on the trip so far. We skip the bar entertainment tonight and hop in bed early.
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