Quebec (September 21-24)

As much as we enjoyed Montreal, our time in Quebec City was better. We took a rental car and arrived in the evening of Monday, September 21. (After some challenging road construction.) Some cornfields and agriculture north of Montreal; we were running alongside the north side of the St. Lawrence River with occasional views of the water; beautiful wooded country as nearing Quebec.

Quebec City (I'll just refer to it as Quebec from here on) is simply different. The city had celebrated its 400th anniversary a couple years ago - which is remarkable for North America. I read that it's the only walled city in North America. We had been looking forward to it because it's just that much more remote than Montreal; plus my imagination was stimulated by this Willa Cather book.

We were momentarily a bit put off on arrival - unexpected tourist concentration in the area of our hotel. And at first blush some of the old architecture almost feels Disneyfied (even if it's real). And some street performers are just committing crimes against music - with amplifiers. But we got over that quickly and I barely recall any of those distractions. We learned that by going just a bit farther afield, could bypass the bigger tourist concentrations, and the Disney effect was lost in a beautiful city that just exudes a most interesting history.

So we checked into the Auberge Place d'Armes upon arrival - had a great location across from the Chateau Frontenac. This is in the upper portion of old city (Vieux Quebec). Given lateness of the hour, we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was good, but not up to the standards of our other dinners on this trip. Then we were upgraded to a much larger room due to some water dripping into our bathroom.

We ran into consistently excellent food the rest of the visit. French heritage or whatever, there is a shared assumption that food quality and the dining experience matter a great deal. Have to hand it to the French. Complex, sophisticated. Unhurried. Had dinner two evenings at L'Echaude - they had two lights-out entrees: a duck dish with duck gizzards, mushrooms, onions, reduction, bok choy etc.; and black cod with snail stew and leeks. Two lunches at La Brigantine - the table d'hote, including lamb shanks, a veal dish and a chicken sandwich that's difficult to even place in the same classification as what I normally think of as a chicken sandwich. And, of course, soup, dessert, coffee, a local wine.

We walked the city constantly. The weather was cloudy and rainy for a good portion of the time - but our last round of REI shopping left us well protected, and we never were limited by the weather. Sunny on the last day.

Visited the site of the famous battle on the Plains of Abraham; also walked around the Citadel - this is the highest point in town (Cap Diamante - where Cecile and Jacques went sledding). This is the battle that put the British into control of the area, for all practical purposes.

Visited interesting churches, as discussed in the preceding post.

Walked through the Chateau Frontenac, but lacked the patience to take the guided tour. We did spent lots of time on the Promenade of the Governors, and took every chance to look out over the St. Lawrence River.

The town is full of monuments and parks. Beautiful architecture; interesting old houses; narrow streets; hilly everywhere. We enjoyed walking into the lower town. And walking some more. French atmosphere more pronounced than Montreal - some folks with little or no English at all. Got to really enjoy the buzz of French conversation, the fun of working our way through the menus, etc.

Can't wait to get back.