July 19, 2016
53 degrees at 6:30 this morning but clear skies. We take 112 to 73 N toward Quebec City. We stop in a small town for gas and I try to
talk to the woman clerk but she speaks no English. I do remember the word for breakfast and she
seems pleased that I said something she recognizes and points at a little diner
across the street. So we stop here for “petite dejeuner”.
The waitress doesn’t speak English either, though I recognize eggs and she recognizes toast, so that’s pretty much what we have, along with potatoes, coffee and juice. The other clients are all older local men who
are having a good chat in French.
From here we head for the town of Levis, which is directly
across the St. Lawrence from Quebec City.
A roadtrekker advised that we can park there overnight at the ferry
parking area
(for a fee) and ride the
ferry to the city.
Seems like a good
plan! We arrive about 9:30 AM, find a parking spot and hop the ferry.
Great view of the city with the castle-like Chateau Frontenac prominent.
The day is overcast and threatens rain a few times but
thankfully holds off.
We walk through
the lower part of old town – narrow streets and old buildings, most now shops
and restaurants.
There is a funicular to
the upper city, but we opt to climb the many stairs.
We want to arrange a walking tour, and manage
to find one that will begin in about an hour.
In the meantime we wonder along the Promenade that overlooks the
river.
Many statues, beautiful flowers,
street performers .
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| Champlain Statue |
Our tour guide is Marie
Legrouix, whose English is excellent as she is married to a Brit.
There are about a dozen people in our
group.
We stop often and Marie explains
the founding of the city by Champlain in 1608, the battles between the French
and British, which the British finally won.
Despite the British victory, many French people already lived here and did not want to leave,
so the French language and ways have prevailed.
Over 80% of the people of Quebec province speak French, though many are
bi-lingual.
Some schools are French,
some English but each school teaches the other language
as secondary, through all the years.
We learn much about history of Quebec, and learn about the
Canadian flag (the red stripes on either side represent the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans – red because that was the color of the political party in power
when it was adopted), the province of Quebec flag features the fleur-de-lis,
and the City of Quebec flag features a golden ship, representing the boat that
brought Champlain and the blue background representing France.
We learn about early founders, mainly males in the fur
trade, and the French efforts to get women here – King Louis IV sent
780 “daughters” – orphans from France –yearly
for 10 years to provide brides. The Ursuline nuns of a local convent
cared for the daughters and
arranged marriages. Married men received many bonuses and benefits to encourage
marriage. And it worked, because the population grew quickly. Because the
French were mainly Catholic,
Quebec was
Catholic and there are still many monasteries, convents, seminaries and churches.
Because organized religion is on the decline
here, many of these buildings are being turned to other uses such as schools
and government offices.
 |
| Former seminary, now a girls' school |
In 1985 Quebec City became an UNESCO world heritage
site.
It is the oldest European
architecture in North America and the only walled city north of Mexico.
 |
| One of the gates in the wall, rebuilt more recently |
The wall was actually built in 1820 and lined
with cannons to keep the Americans out and the city was never fired upon from
that time forward.
Most of the roofing is made of metal
now, replacing flammable wood. And many roofs
have snow fences and/or ladders to make snow removal easier.
With an average of 11’ of snow a year, many
of the roofs need to be shoveled.
The architecture is a mix of French and
British influence.
The final battle between the British and French for Quebec
took place in an area called the Plains of Abraham. Turns out the reference to Abraham is nothing
biblical at all, rather the battlefield area was where a local named Abraham
pastured his cattle. The area is now a
huge park – the lungs of Quebec. When we walked there, they were setting up all kinds of tents and equipment for an upcoming music festival.
Following the tour we walk some more
and have lunch at the oldest building in the city – Aux Anciens Canadiens, which our guide recommended for traditional Quebec fare.
We had salad and crab cakes to start, followed by Pork Pie and Veal
Stew, ending with strawberry sorbet and maple bread pudding.
Very tasty and pleasant service.
 |
| Artists' alley |
Relaxed a bit and walked a walking/biking trail near our
parking area.
Lots of bikers, roller
bladers and walkers.
Beth walked down to
these lovely fountains by the ferry terminal and then practiced taking night pictures
of the city.
Quiet night. There
was another larger camper nearby, but otherwise the lot was empty and quiet. We paid $16 for the parking – that’s about
$12 American. Not the Chateau, but quite nice.
