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| Our Ship! |
We arrived in Québec two days early to sightsee before boarding the ship. Flying into Québec, we got our first glimpse of beautiful fall color!
Going through customs in Canada!
Ben and I stayed in what is known as Basse-Ville or "lower town" Québec City. We chose the Hotel Le Priori.
All the hotel had available when we booked was a suite so we had a ton of room which was nice for all of our luggage!
Nick and Kate chose the Hilton in the upper part of Québec. They had a fantastic view from their room!
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| Bienvenue au Québec! |
We had plans to meet up with Nick and Kate once we all got settled. Our hotel was adjacent to the Place Royale or "Royal Square," where the City of Québec was founded as a French settlement by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church (1688) is the oldest stone church in North America. Services are still held every Sunday.
This mural illustrates the history of Québec City and includes several notable figures, including Samuel de Champlain and Louis Jolliet. It was painted by French and Québec artists over a nine-week period.
Past the Place Royale, we got our first look at the Funicular, an inclined elevator that links the upper and lower parts of the city.
This is the view Nick and Kate had as they took the Funicular to meet us in lower town.
We met up at Pub L'Oncle Antoine, a popular pub located in a 17th century brick cellar.
Ben and I arrived a little early and had our first drink of the vacation.
Nick and Kate joined us and we had the pub's famous French onion soup!
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| Cheesy. |
Wanting to keep the party going, we went over to Vieux Carre, a bar located in a Michelin star restaurant.
Cheers to a great vacation with great friends!
Kate took these great photos as we wandered through the Royal Square on the way back to the hotel.
We said "Bonne Nuit" to Nick and Kate with plans to meet up with them the next day for a day of sightseeing. The next morning, Ben and I went to the famous La Maison Smith cafe on the Place Royale for coffee.
We made our way to upper town via the funicular.
At the top of the funicular is the famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, thought to be the most photographed hotel in the world. Built in 1893, many royals have stayed at the hotel, including King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Grace of Monocco. It was also the site of the Québec Conferences of World War II, hosting Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
The hotel sits on the Dufferin Terrace, a long wooden boardwalk with views of the St. Lawrence River.
The Porte Saint-Louis (1878) is one of the entry points in the fortified walls that surround Old Québec. During the British Regime, the army closed the gate doors at night to restrict travel between the city and outlying areas. When the British troops left, the gate doors were removed to permit traffic to flow freely but the gates remained.
Across from the Hilton is the Parliament Building which we would be touring the next day before boarding the ship.
Today we would be taking the public bus to Montmorency Falls, a 272 ft waterfall located 15 minutes outside Québec City.
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| Hop on the bus Gus. |
From the bus stop, it was a short walk to the entrance of Montmorency Park.
We spent over two hours seeing the park and the falls and having lunch.
After walking through the park, we came to the suspension bridge at the top of the waterfall.
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We had lunch at the restaurant in the park.
Kate and I split poutine, a Canadian dish made of French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. I decided I wasn't a fan but at least I tried it!
We weren't through with the steps just yet! We still had to go up the Frontenac Staircase.
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| When in Rome... |
A ground squirrel stole a fallen cheese curd!
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| Sneaky. |
After lunch, we took a cable car down to the bottom of the falls.
Ben and I took one path around the falls and Nick and Kate took the other.
There is also an option to take the stairs down to the falls instead of the cable car--all 487 of them!
The line to take the cable car back to the top to catch the bus was long so we decided to Uber back to Québec City. We headed straight to the Château Frontenac for drinks at the 1608 Bar.
Ben got a cocktail called the 1943 which was smoked with cinnamon. It smelled delicious!
I got the bar's famous cocktail, the La Rose et le Renard, which was made with gin, Prosecco and other fancy accoutrements.
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| Almost too pretty to drink. |
We stayed for several rounds and had a great time relaxing and talking about our upcoming trip. Then it was on to search for our supper along Rue Saint-Jean, one of Québec's many famous shopping areas.
This led us to Pape-Georges, an old tavern that in the summer displays hanging umbrellas that makes for a cute photo.
Kate thought a certain bistro smelled really good and they could seat us so we ended up at Sapristi Bistro.
I had spaghetti carbonara for the first time and everyone else had pizza. I was a fan!
After we dinner, we said our goodbyes with plans to meet back up in the early afternoon to tour Parliament. Back at the hotel, I caught a little of the Cowboys/Packers game which was all in French!
The next day was embarkation day! But we had more sightseeing to do before boarding the ship. The first order of business for Ben and I was coffee and croissants at a Les Cafes Du Soleil, a cafe near our hotel.
First glimpse of our ship!
Ben and I planned to make our way to upper town to meet Nick and Kate at the Hilton by walking instead of taking the funicular. This would give me the opportunity to take the pictures I wanted of the Hotel Frontenac and the city.
With two ships in town, the streets were very crowded!
If you don't take the funicular, you have to take the 59 Breakneck Steps, the oldest outdoor staircase in Québec City, to upper town.
In 1620, Samuel de Champlain built a residence at the top of Cap Diamant, the cape on which Québec City is located. In 1635, French authorities had steps installed, and the French people began to call it "escalier Casse-Cou," meaning "neck breaker!"
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| Getting our steps in. |
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| View from the top. |
It was totally worth it because now I had the view of the Hotel Frontenac I had been looking for.
I read that a great view of the city that included the Hotel Frontenac was from something called the Pierre-Dugua-De Mons Terrace. I had no idea what that was or what I would see when I got there but I had Ben map us there.
It was another long walk up a steep hill but totally worth it!
The terrace looks over the Plains of Abraham, the place where the French were defeated by the British in Battle of Quebec in 1759.
Without realizing it, our path had ended near the Citadelle, an active fortress and the official residence of the Governor of Québec City. We decided to make our way over in case Nick and Kate wanted to meet us there to take the required guided tour. Once there, we realized we were too late for the tour, so Ben and I just saw what we could on the outside.
The Citadelle was constructed between 1820 and 1831, and is a star-shaped stone fortress. It was very hard to photograph though!
Luckily, we were able to see some exhibits outside the official entrance which explained its interesting history. The need to protect Québec City after the United States attacked Canada in 1775 and 1812 led to the construction of the Citadelle.
Je me souviens means "I remember," Québec's motto. The Citadelle remains an operational military base today.
As we continued toward the Hilton, we passed the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec (1843), the oldest church in Canada.
Then it was on to tour the Parliament Building, home to the National Assembly of Québec. Designed in a Second Empire style, it was built between 1877 and 1886.
The Bibliothèque is the oldest parliamentary library in Canada. Canadian residents are allowed to check out books from the library.
The highlight of the tour was the Salon Rouge, the place where the Legislative Council Chamber (the equivalent of Canada’s Senate) formerly presided. Today this room is used by parliamentary committees for formal activities, such as taking the oath of office.
Charles Huot's "Le Conseil souverain", which depicts a debate of the colonial government of what was then New France.
There were halls containing oil portraits of present and former Canadian monarchs and former Prime Ministers of Canada.
There were some interesting portraits!
After our tour of Parliament, it was time to board the ship! We breezed on the ship and since it was mid-afternoon, we could go straight to our cabin!
We had a balcony room on Deck 9.
All aboard!
First drink of the cruise!
We had dinner that night in the main dining room. Unfortunately, we didn't really enjoy most of the meals we had here.
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| What ship food looks like post-Covid. |
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We still had one more day in Québec and Ben and I planned to have high tea at the Hotel Frontenac.
Bonne Nuit Québec City!
Up next, high tea and our cruise to Canada officially begins!
