Jim & June's Odyssey 100620 - Quebec City, PQ

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June 18-20/10 Along the way - After leaving Edmundston, the valley slowly flattened out, the hills weren't as steep, the mountains disappeared but dozens of dairy farms appeared. There are numerous highway improvement projects and the construction techniques are unique. Amazingly, entire sections of 4-lanes are being built upon filter cloth and 4inch layers of pink or blue Styrofoam which is then covered with 3ft of crushed rock, sand, soil, cement and finally asphalt. By the time we reached Riviere de Loop, the farms got even bigger. The rest of our trip was along the St Lawrence River where the scenery is wonderful - the valley is so wide and it seems to cascade down forever.

Tourism Quebec encourages visitors to visit OTHER regions of Quebec. Their accompanying map identifies New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia and Nunavut as part of Quebec - we didn't know that.

QUEBEC CITY - We stayed at the Camping Juneau Chalets on the shores of a small lake west of the city. Our GPS couldn't find it so it's a good thing we had printed a map of its location from MapQuest. Our site was perfect but most of the other sites are very small and cramped. The people are weird - even though we had a reservation, we got a rude phone call from the management (that morning) threatening to forfeit our deposit if we didn't show up right away. Whenever we said "Hi" to long-term residents of the park, they gave us a real looked pissed off look, turn their backs and completely ignore us. We think they resent anyone 'new' to their run-down-park with dilapidated shacks they call chalets. Yuk!! Other travelers (and people in downtown Quebec City) were jovial, friendly, outgoing and very helpful.

OLD QUEBEC CITY - It's made up of six districts/quarters: Old Quebec, Parliament Hill, Saint-Jean Baptist, Place Royale, Place de Paris, Petit Champlain and the Old Port. The whole area is surrounded by a 4.5 km stone wall with bastions, towers, gates and countless old cannons. Inside, most of the buildings date back to the 1600's. The most prominent landmark is the Chāteau Frontenac Hotel which sits 330 ft above the St Lawrence River. Built in 1894 for the CPR and named after a French nobleman who was a leading figure in "la Nouvelle France," it was here that the Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, William L. M. King, Lord Mountbatten and General George C. Marshall prepared for the D-Day landings in Normandy (June 6th 1944). Around it are refurbished buildings with touristy shops, restaurants and art galleries along narrow, hilly streets. Promenade des Gouverneurs - a wooden walkway that goes from the Chāteau Frontenac, past the Citadel and along the 90m cliffs above the St Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham. Terrasse Dufferin is another scenic 30m wide walkway which affords stunning views of the Laurentians to the north and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the southeast. Parliament Hill - Quebecois refer to Quebec City as the National capital and Ottawa as Canada's capital. The people in France refer to Quebec City as the capital of the 2nd Empire. None-the-less, this spaciously laid out district is the seat of Québec's provincial government. The building has been modeled after Parisian styles of that era with the exterior walls having numerous statues imbedded into them - we've never seen anything like it, nice. The landscaping around it is equally spectacular - the front yard is one big floral garden with massive fountains, statues (of every Prime Minister of Quebec), native sculptures and scenic vistas. Saint Roch district - This is where the parties happen at night. It is full of outdoor bars, restaurants, cafes, boutiques, art shops, galleries and two-steppin' music. Place Royale - This area has the largest surviving ensemble of 17th and 18th century buildings in North America. It is encircled by the stout walls and palisades of its own the "Batterie" where cannons menacingly point at would-be intruders on the river. Place de Paris - Narrow streets lined with square, box type buildings lacking any striking features. Most of the artists and painters have tent shops in crowded back alleys. Petit Champlain - Located WAY below the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, this is a reminiscent French village that has several residences of former explorers, governors and royalty from France. Today, it is one of the most fascinating shopping/dining experiences where narrow tall buildings line even narrower brick-lined streets. These are the oldest merchant streets in North America and all of them are made of cobblestone. Old Port - At one time this was the 5th largest port in the world. Today, it is lined with Ice breakers, coast guard cutters, grain elevators and cruise ship terminals. The Quebec Naval Museum is also located here. The Citadel is a massive fortress with thick walls, ramparts and ditches (laid out in the shape of a star) that was the military quarters for generals, officers and men. Today it is the summer residence of the Governor General of Canada, a military museum and headquarters of the 22nd Canadian Regiment.

The walk around Old Quebec is not for the faint hearted! Steep hills, stairs and walkways are around every corner and you definitely need a map to guide you along. It is very beautiful and well worth the walk. Statues, parks and water fountains are spaced sporadically along the old district and provide lots of benches to rest weary legs. Everything is clean and brightly painted and flower pots and boxes add a riot of color to the scenery. There are all kinds of restaurants but our experiences of their food was always disappointing - the lettuce had brown edges, the fries were re-burnt several times, the coleslaw was made yesterday and the Caesar salad had a weird flavor. If this was a precursor to their "fine cuisine," we skipped it.

Plains of Abraham - This is where British General Wolfe defeated the French General Montcalm in 1759 to finally determine who would govern all territories in North America. 2010 marks the 250th anniversary of that battle so there are several events planned to commemorate the occasion. Today, it is the world's largest urban park - it has various areas dedicated to recreational activity, nature trails, culture, history, outdoor concert venues and gardens.

The actual battle site is now a 100 acre soccer field which is completely surrounded by cannons (spaced every 50 ft) - all of them are pointing away from the field. The whole area is surrounded by three tracks: one is for rollerblading and in-line skaters, another is for walking and yet another for jogging.

Numerous buildings have been erected on the fringes of the park and each is constructed to blend in with the historic period. For example, there's a new information center and armory that are built entirely from chiseled granite blocks. The armory doesn't look like a building - it resembles a fort wall with round towers, steepled turrets, narrow/long windows (that resemble rifle ports) and a drawbridge entrance. Throughout the park there are numerous statues, monuments, memorials, some pavilions, the museum of fine arts and a place called the Grey Terrace. It overlooks the very busy St Lawrence River with freighters, sailboats, tour trips, ferries, sightseeing and speedboats going in all directions.

All summer long, this park is also host to numerous free concerts. At the east end, they were just setting up the massive stage with tons of suspended lights, speakers and performer accommodations in behind it all. The venue takes advantage of the Citadel hill that slopes towards it - so there's lawn chair seating for thousands. Paul McCartney's concert here drew over 100,000.

Within the Plains of Abraham was June's favorite, the Joan of Arc Garden. In the center of this floral paradise, there's a big statue of Joan on a horse - she's thrusting a sword into the air and leading a charge into battle (presumably).

Tour De Beauce - We were lucky enough to witness this 122km bike race through the streets of Ole Quebec since most of it was along the hilly river bank through the "Beauce" sector of the city. All parking meters have a sign advising tourists of the route closure and duration of the race; steel gate barricades, pylons, security guards, police and pedestrian marshals are all over the place. The route is only 11km long so the riders must go around 11 times. Two screaming motorcycle cops blaze the trail and they're back to the start line every 20 minutes (so we figure the bikers are zipping along at about 50km/hr) - you actually feel a "whoosh" when they pass you. On-lookers can join the race too. Tour operators provide hatchbacks and minivans loaded with press people and TV crews but they also take other people for a zip around the course, during the race. With horns beeping constantly, they race past the bikers while those inside, film the racers. Trailing the packs of bikers, are several cars with roof racks full of spare bikes (some have 8 bikes). After walking through the Plains of Abraham for 5 hours, we stopped at an outdoor café for pizza/beer at the start/finish line. We ended up talking to a racer from Italy and another from Wisconsin (every inch of their caps, jerseys, spandex shorts and sunglasses are plastered with sponsor's logos). Sponsors pay for everything - riders fly to the events and attend press rally's/parties/promotional functions whereas their supporters and trainers travel in fast, sporty looking cars - again, plastered with logos. They race every 2nd weekend, all over the world! So far, the 112 racers have been to Philadelphia, Washington and here. They'll go back to Europe for a few races before returning to North America with their $3000 titanium bikes with 1cm wide tires, very small tapered pedals and rock-hard split seats.

June's Comments: This is definitely one of the most beautiful cities we've seen so far in our travels. One really gets a history lesson after visiting the sights and seeing all of the statues and monuments. Unfortunately we weren't able to read a number of the plaques on the monuments and memorials as they were only written in French.

My favorite place to walk around was the Joan of Arc Park. Apparently the impressive statue was donated to the city by a grateful resident during the second world war. The city hired a world renowned gardener to plan the layout of the gardens and the park. I can't imagine how many annuals are planted every spring and one person told me that they constantly change the plants throughout the season as early flowering ones die off. There are plants that I've never seen before and the colors are amazing. The park is quite big with little walkways and paths among the flowers and shrubs.

We spent one full day walking around the Plains of Abraham. It was about 32 above and very humid so we had to stop for a rest and water on a regular basis. The second day was spent touring the Citadel and Old Quebec City. I counted 310 steps from the Citadel to the end of the Governor's Promenade. The promenade itself is quite amazing. It is made entirely of 3x8" planks held together with countersunk bolts. The railings along the sides were made of galvanized pipe and supports. The St Lawrence River below provided an ever-changing scene - coast guard ships, tug boats, ferry boats, recreational boats and sailboats zipping back and forth or sitting along the wharf. The promenade takes you from the Citadel to the Chateau Frontenac and the maze of little streets of the Old City.

All in all, it was a great experience, we loved it! The people were friendly and helpful and we had no problem communicating even though French is spoken by 95% of the residents of Quebec City.

By the way, Jim was really impressed with our Garmin GPS. She pronounced all of the French street names just like he does. For example, Jacques Cartier is pronounced "Jack-wes Car-tee-er". We laughed at her pronunciation (or rather, I did). Another thing I noticed - there doesn't seem to be a non-smoking bylaw in the city. We were asked if we wanted smoking or non-smoking seating when we went to a restaurant and I noticed a lot of people walking along the streets and smoking a cigarette. I guess we've been programmed to accept the fact that smoking is not acceptable (or lawful) in public places and/or within 5 meters of a public entrance so we are more likely to notice these things.