It was a grey morning when we left Tadoussac about 9:30 a.m. The ferry across the fjiord was about 2 minutes from the hotel and the ride across took about 15 minutes. The first part of the journey was pretty regular, but once we hit the towns of Saint Irenee, Les Eboulements, and Baie Saint Paul , the scenery changed to beautiful mountains dropping right down to the shores of the St. Lawrence. We are confused by the road signs. Many of them are simply pictures trying to explain what to do, or what not to do! Our problem is that we can figure out what they are meaning! Some you realize after what they mean, but others, have still got us guessing! On our way into Quebec City we stopped at St. Anne de Beaupre where over a million people a year make a pilgrimage to seek meaning in their lives and are searching for God. Unfortunately, we found this so commercialized it quite took away the meaning of the pilgrimage. We recalled being there in the early 1970s and the storries of the pilgrims were so powerful that we don’t remember any of the commercialization we saw today. The stories we read and heard about were of many miracles of curing the sick and disabled. As you enter, the front wall in the Basilica is covered with crutches. Today, the pilgrims’ stories were not obvious to us and instead there were loud speakers going outside advertising a play that the students were putting on about something I can’t remember now. There were tons, and tons of people. Opposite the Basilica was a trailer park and there were thousands of trailers no doubt containing people who had come to see the Basilica. In addition, there is a pilgrims’ inn opposite the Basilica. Anyway, all this apart, the inside of the Basilica is just stunning. The pictures in the roof, the stain glass windows, and “La Grande Relique de sainte Anne” were all quite beautiful. I think there is a fine line between being a “tourist” and a “traveller”. G.K. Chesterton in the Newfoundland/Labrador 2008 Traveller’s Guide says it well: “The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” In other words: “…tourists know what they are looking for long before they know what is really here. An experience that is knowable and containable and packagable. But these are mere parts of the puzzle. A traveller, on the other hand, seeks the truth of a place, the essence that can only be appreciated by seeing the puzzle as a whole.” I like to think I am a traveller.
Our next stop was the Montmorency Falls, where we climbed the 487 steps to the top then walked across the swing bridge going over falls which drop 272 ft (83 meter) to the river below. They are 98 feet higher than Niagara Falls. The first bridge was opened in April, 1836 but tragically collapsed 5 days later on April 30, 1836. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01E7DA133DE034BC4953DFB366838D649FDE ) This new bridge opened in 1992 so was not there the last time we went to the Falls. It’s always breathtaking to see and hear the roar of the tons of water thundering over the falls – and of course getting soaked by the spray is just part of the experience!
We arrived in Quebec City around 4.00 p.m. I had not printed the instructions to the hotel and all I had was that the hotel we were staying in was called “Quebec Cultural Hotel” and it was on Grande Allee, the main street. After making one sweep of the Grande Allee just past the end of the Plains of Abraham, we stopped to try and call up my confirmation email but the address was in an attachment on their website and I was unable to connect to an unsecured wireless network. So, we decided to check in one of the other hotels and drove back to one we had spotted. The two receptionists were very helpful. They checked the web, and Canada 411 for the hotel. They had never heard of it and couldn’t find any reference to it. I was beginning to feel maybe I had been caught by a sham web site. I gave the girls the URL for the confirmation and they connected to it and to their surprise found that my reservation was for the hotel I was in – but it was called the Relais Charles-Alexandre. Anyway, I think the girl at Easy booking got the name wrong. Thank goodness it was correct on the attachment. But how about that for coincidence?
We walked down the Grand Allee to the Chateau Frontenac via part of the Plains of Abraham and the Quebec City Armory of the Voltigeurs, the oldest French-Canadian infantry regiment. To our surprise we found that the top floor of the Armory had burned apparently some time at the beginning of April. We hadn’t heard anything about it. It must have been a huge fire. We understand though that they got most of the museum items out. Now they have to decide what to do with the building which was originally built in 1887 (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=426829). It is an incredible shame to lose something of such historical significance.
There are tons of tourists here. The streets are full of them. Mainly French interestingly enough. After the quiet of Newfoundland, this is quite refreshing, even although it is all very commercialized. We walked down into the lower area of the old town. It has been restored beautifully and despite all the tons of people, and the restaurants, and little boutiques, its so much fun and quite beautiful. Do you know that Quebec City is the only fortified North American city north of Mexico? (trivia supplied by Ray!)
Our hotel is really neat and I would strongly recommend it to anyone coming to Quebec city. The house was built at the beginning of the 1900s and has recently been renovated. You eat breakfast to the sound of the most delicate classical music, and the walls throughout are art gallery’s displaying the works of recognized artists.
So ……. tomorrow we will head for home, and that will be good.
PS – I was delighted to hear from Ben and Randy whom we met along the way on the journey to Labrador. Ben – if you read this – send me a comment with your email address. I check all comments before they are published on the blog, so it will be kept confidential. We would love to keep in touch with you and exchange stories on the trip one day.
Our next stop was the Montmorency Falls, where we climbed the 487 steps to the top then walked across the swing bridge going over falls which drop 272 ft (83 meter) to the river below. They are 98 feet higher than Niagara Falls. The first bridge was opened in April, 1836 but tragically collapsed 5 days later on April 30, 1836. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01E7DA133DE034BC4953DFB366838D649FDE ) This new bridge opened in 1992 so was not there the last time we went to the Falls. It’s always breathtaking to see and hear the roar of the tons of water thundering over the falls – and of course getting soaked by the spray is just part of the experience!
We arrived in Quebec City around 4.00 p.m. I had not printed the instructions to the hotel and all I had was that the hotel we were staying in was called “Quebec Cultural Hotel” and it was on Grande Allee, the main street. After making one sweep of the Grande Allee just past the end of the Plains of Abraham, we stopped to try and call up my confirmation email but the address was in an attachment on their website and I was unable to connect to an unsecured wireless network. So, we decided to check in one of the other hotels and drove back to one we had spotted. The two receptionists were very helpful. They checked the web, and Canada 411 for the hotel. They had never heard of it and couldn’t find any reference to it. I was beginning to feel maybe I had been caught by a sham web site. I gave the girls the URL for the confirmation and they connected to it and to their surprise found that my reservation was for the hotel I was in – but it was called the Relais Charles-Alexandre. Anyway, I think the girl at Easy booking got the name wrong. Thank goodness it was correct on the attachment. But how about that for coincidence?
We walked down the Grand Allee to the Chateau Frontenac via part of the Plains of Abraham and the Quebec City Armory of the Voltigeurs, the oldest French-Canadian infantry regiment. To our surprise we found that the top floor of the Armory had burned apparently some time at the beginning of April. We hadn’t heard anything about it. It must have been a huge fire. We understand though that they got most of the museum items out. Now they have to decide what to do with the building which was originally built in 1887 (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=426829). It is an incredible shame to lose something of such historical significance.
There are tons of tourists here. The streets are full of them. Mainly French interestingly enough. After the quiet of Newfoundland, this is quite refreshing, even although it is all very commercialized. We walked down into the lower area of the old town. It has been restored beautifully and despite all the tons of people, and the restaurants, and little boutiques, its so much fun and quite beautiful. Do you know that Quebec City is the only fortified North American city north of Mexico? (trivia supplied by Ray!)
Our hotel is really neat and I would strongly recommend it to anyone coming to Quebec city. The house was built at the beginning of the 1900s and has recently been renovated. You eat breakfast to the sound of the most delicate classical music, and the walls throughout are art gallery’s displaying the works of recognized artists.
So ……. tomorrow we will head for home, and that will be good.
PS – I was delighted to hear from Ben and Randy whom we met along the way on the journey to Labrador. Ben – if you read this – send me a comment with your email address. I check all comments before they are published on the blog, so it will be kept confidential. We would love to keep in touch with you and exchange stories on the trip one day.
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