Sunday 10/5/08

New Quebec City

Chilly and sunny this morning as we venture out. There are other parts of the city within walking distance this morning that need "seeing." It is two blocks over to Notre Dame du Quebec which is the Catholic cathedral of Quebec City. (The Anglican cathedral is outside our hotel window.) Notre Dame in Montreal was all bold blues and deep colors and this Notre Dame is a vision of gold. We think everything has been brushed by Midas but the French services offer little in the way of explanation to us mono-linguals.

Our upper city walking tour starts at the Frontenac and goes west on Rue St. Louis past some of the oldest houses and buildings in the city, a few of which date back to the 1600’s. Just outside the city walls is the citadel, a riverside fortification which included an arsenal that served Canadian interests through the first world war. It is now mostly park with monuments, picnic tables and great visuals. Across the street are the Provincial Parliament buildings very grandiose and yet appropriate in style and size to their surroundings.

When we left the walled city the street became Grand Allee and just beyond the government buildings is a strip of cool restaurants and shops that, while still in old buildings, has the opposite feel of the other old sections. These restaurants are African, Thai, and fusion and are very much 2008 as opposed to 1608. We get back inside the walls for lunch at l’Omelette and Mary needs a cheeseburger with fries and John grabs a bacon-onion omelet. Both adequate.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the upper city, venturing again beyond the walls into the real "downtown" Quebec City. While inside the walls, it is easy to forget that this is a provincial capital and a bustling city of almost half million folks. The real city is theaters and high-rise office buildings that looks like most other North American cities on a Sunday afternoon. We wander until we feel a cultural shift to the distinctly edgy side and do the about-face back to tourist land and our safe island. To duplicate a memory from 21 years ago we stop at the bar at the Frontenac for a "Bloody Caesar," a Canadian specialty, while we watch the river traffic seemingly miles below. We are still pretending we have a little money--Ha!

Our restaurant for dinner tonight is l’Echaude in the lower city. We leave ourselves plenty of time to hike down the hill and as we get to the touristy area at the bottom we are almost alone. What a difference between Saturday afternoon and Sunday night. The restaurant popped up on every "best" list we looked at. It is probably 40 seats, casual in nature with great food and wine. Mary has a beautiful halibut and John has a melt-in-your-mouth veal and both are spectacular. We have come to prefer the small casual joints with great food over the traditional fancy upscale dining establishments. This seems to be an industry trend but maybe we are just finding more of these places because we are looking for them.

Our hike back up the bluff ensures that we will not put on a lot of pounds from our dinner. It is a driving day tomorrow so we curl up and get a great night’s sleep.