September 1 - Quebec City

Hard to believe it’s September. Where has the year gone?  Today we’re docked in the industrial port of Quebec City.  We arrived here yesterday and stayed overnight.  It’s a holiday here in Canada too.  The weather has been gorgeous both yesterday and today so the city is packed with people taking advantage of the long weekend and the lovely weather.

I was here for a day last year when I sailed on the Quest.  Then it was just past prime fall colors; this year the leaves haven’t even begun to turn.  I’ll recap a little of the history of the place. (Who knows it may come up in a trivia question.)  Quebec was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer. (Yes, Jamestown is one year older!) Jacques Cartier had established a fort near here in 1541 but it was abandoned less than a year later because of the harsh weather conditions and the resistance by the indigenous people to the intruders. Some twenty years after the city was founded British privateers captured it during the Anglo-French war (the English and French fought lots of wars against each other).  When a settlement was negotiated for that war, King Charles I of England agreed to return the land to the French in exchange for the French king paying his wife’s dowry. In the years that followed Quebec was the headquarters for raids against the British colonies in New England.  The British tried unsuccessfully to capture the city in 1690.  Then in September 1759 the British mounted another attack after a long siege and in the battle on the Plain of Abraham, British General James Wolfe defeated French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. Both generals lost their lives as a result of the battle; Wolfe died on the day of the fight and Montcalm the next day of wounds sustained.  Four years later at the conclusion of the French and Indian War (AKA the Seven Years’ War), France ceded Quebec and New France to Britain.

Interestingly, Old Quebec has the only remaining fortified city walls north of Mexico.  On the heights above the old city the British built a fortress, the Citadelle, not for protection from the French or from Indians, but from Americans, we rebels to the south.  During our Revolution there were attacks against the city in the hope that Canadian provinces might join the Continental Congress.  Obviously they were unsuccessful.

Enough history.  I took a short tour yesterday afternoon to fill some time.  (I’ll be back here again on September 3 and 4 so I should do something.)  As I already mentioned, the city is packed with holiday crowds.  The old part of the city which is mainly down in the lower areas has narrow streets and reminds me very much of many European cities.  For some reason which I can’t wrap my head around, there are streets that are not a great deal wider than a couple of car widths, but parking is permitted on both sides of the street.  Our bus driver had nerves of steel to navigate them, especially when he had to make a turn.  We drove from the pier up to the upper part of the city in chaotic traffic.  Along the way we saw some of the old walls and a couple of the old gates which allowed entry into Quebec.  

We arrived at our first stop, the Citadelle, which is perched atop the cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River.  As I mentioned this fortress was originally built to forestall an American attack, but it was built after the last time the Americans tried to take the city.  It housed a British force until 1871 and today it is still an active Canadian military facility.  At the entrance to the fortress there are two sentries wearing the same kind of bearskin cap worn by the guards at Buckingham Palace.  The guards are just as stoic; they almost look like mannequins because they don’t even appear to blink.   We had a separate guide for the tour of the Citadelle and specifically the secondary residence of the Governor General of Canada.  I’m convinced he was training for Olympic speed trials because he galloped ahead.  My knees no longer let me gallop and besides I wanted to take pictures of the things I was seeing inside the fort’s walls.  I had a hard time persuading our guide from the bus that I wasn’t a national security threat and that all I really wanted to do was take some photos, sit and enjoy the fresh beautiful air and sunshine and watch the stoic guards.  She finally agreed and I did just that.  When my fellow travelers came out of the residence they told me that there was basically a mutiny by the group because the fortress guide was intent on giving detailed explanations of each and every photo and item in the rooms they visited.  Essentially the group just told him “we’re done, let’s go.”  It didn’t sound like I missed much, plus I got to take some nice pictures.

Entrance to the Citadelle

One of the guards from Le Royal 22ie Regiment

It was a warm day and these guys need to be kept hydrated.

The former powder magazine inside the fort.  

The flags on the fort's central green represent the 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada

"Je me souviens" (I remember) is the motto of Quebec. The roof in the background is the roof of the iconic Chateau Frontenac, a great hotel in the city

Our next stop was a drive through the plain of Abraham where the battle I wrote about earlier was fought.  It’s now a park with some sports fields, a running path and some beautiful gardens. Next to it is a museum containing artifacts from the city’s history.  On a beautiful day like this one there were lots of people strolling and on one of the sports fields a group of men were playing American football.  

Gardens on the Plain of Abraham. That's a statue of Ste. Joan d'Ar

Next we drove through the insane traffic to catch some glimpses of the lower city.  I tried taking a photo from my seat looking out at the street ahead in the hopes I could capture a sense of how crazy it was.  Again, our driver was a fearless guy to contend with this.  We passed the iconic hotel Chateau Frontenac, which when I come back in a few days I have a reservation to have afternoon tea there.  It’s supposed to be the thing to do.  Hopefully when I get back the crowds  will be gone because I would love to walk on some of the little streets lined with cafés and shops.  Another couple and I have talked about possibly having dinner ashore since we’ll be here overnight again.  We’ll have to see if we can figure that out because where we’re docked taxis can’t come and the shuttle bus stops running at 6 PM.

It;s hard to see, but if you try you can see the line of cars .  The streets were crazy.

These next few are the old town in lower Quebec City.  It looks like a typical French town.

We had a dance party on deck last night.  I got up and did dance a little. I’m being quite protective of my joints because my one knee was replaced a long time ago and I know it’s getting past its expiration date.  I don’t want to have to do that again.  Anyway, I can bob around with the best of them.  I went to bed late and didn’t make it to breakfast again.  Actually that’s probably a good thing because anyone who has been on a cruise knows that it’s very easy to eat too much.  

It's September 1, Labor Day, and we were still here in Quebec.  Today I had a sea day in port. I’ll be back here in two days so why not.  This evening I dined with Paige and Greg from Hawaii, Lisa and Ernie from Seattle, and the three members of the Trio, Chris, Melody, and Theo.  We dined outside in the Colonnade and it was a gorgeous night.  As we sailed away from Quebec on our way up the St. Lawrence we had a great view of the city from the water.  The dominant feature of the city is the Chateau Frontenac, which I think looks absolutely beautiful.  I can't wait to have tea there in two days.

I guess that’s all for now.  A bientôt!