Quebec City

Leaving Montreal after 6:00PM the worst of the traffic was over, at no time were we at a complete stop. There were a few slow sections especially where the roads were under repair but soon we were on the relatively quiet Highway 20 of the Trans Canada Highway rolling towards Quebec City.

Watching for signs and checking against the map we found the first Rest Area and pulled in to check it out. We weren't planning to stay at this one, we just wanted to see the layout and check for any "No Camping" or "No Overnight Parking" notices. Finding none we set off fairly confident that we would be able to stop for the night without having to chase all over looking for an RV Park.

The next Rest Area didn't appear where we had expected so we kept going, finally stopping at the next (and the last before Quebec City) after about 2 1/2 hours of driving. This put us about an hour or so from the city for tomorrow.

In the morning we were up and rolling at our usual 10:00 AM or so and arrived before noon at "Camping Transit" in the town of Levis, across the St Laurance River from Quebec City. We were setup by 12:15 and leaving the poor dogs behind we set out to look for dog food for Tia before catching the ferry across the river.


The ferry does carry cars but we decided that it would be wiser to park at the Levis side and walk on the ferry. The weather was beautiful for the crossing and good for sailing on the river. Not as much commercial traffic as we would have expected, just this single small freighter making its way down river towards the Atlantic. The best view of the city is from the river.





The terminal on the other side located in the old city, almost at the foot of the Funicular, a coged rail almost vertical elevator sized device. We walked around the old town (old as is 400 years) taking in the sights and atmosphere. At one point an artesan had a wood turning lathe set up in the street, quite a draw for the tourists, many of whom had never seen one in use. It made Art miss his shop and his own lathe but he resisted the impulse to ask if he could have a turn. (bad pun intended) In the photo to the left the Hotel is the most obvious, the Funicular track is in the lower left of the picture as well in the centre of the street scene. (Click the pictures to see the detail)

For a two dollar fee each we rode the funicular to the top which arrives at Chateau Frontenac, a huge, picturesque hotel. This is the most photographed building in Canada. A hotel! Not even particularly old for the region. We too were guilty, taking half a dozen snaps. Between the hotel and the cliff face are the ruins of the old fort currently undergoing some restoration.

After walking around a bit we decided to look for a bus tour of the area and at 2:40 found that the 2 hour tour had just left at 2:30, the next one would be at 4:00! Good excuse for lunch so we found a sidewalk cafe not far away and spent an enjoyable hour people watching.

The tour was very good--small bus with very few passengers--only 5 besides us! A family of three from Peru, and a French couple. The tour was in English and French, the guide remarking that if you were bilingual you would get two tours for the price of one.

We covered the Citadel, the oldest continuously occupied military site in the Americas. The Royal 22nd Regiment (the "veint-dous") is based here. The base is partially opened to the public. Also on our route was the Plains of Abraham, some of the old residential areas and the shopping district as well as the Grande Allee, the main street though the city, soemtimes called the "Petite Champs d'Elysee". Shops and cafes and trees lined the street. In the sunhine it looked very inviting.

The last stop on the tour was the old section town at the base of the cliffs where we elected to leave the group, our ferry terminal right in front of us.



Crossing the St Laurance once again to Levis we returned the the RV to find two very happy dogs, bouncing with energy and tails wagging furiously.





Gillian took them out for a walk while Art climbed into bed for his (almost) daily nap and to rest his aching legs. He roused in time to hear Gillian returning from having done the laundry! He's so far in the hole in the Brownie Point department he will never dig himself out!

A drink poured for each, Art tackled adding the photos to the blog while Gillian, yup, you guessed it, prepared dinner.

We watched the news and an old episode of "Heartbeat"and recorded one of "Mid Summer Murders" and went to bed.

Sunday we thought we might stay another day and catch up with banking, photo editing and possibly a return to QC for Gillian, but as the morning progressed weather became a bit miserable with a cold westerly wind. We posted the latest to the blog, checked the e-mails, looked for a Freightline shop on our route, packed up ready to head further east.

Probably more pics of Quebec City to come.