Day 20 - Quebec City

The rest of the day we spent on a bus tour of Old and New Quebec so we could be oriented to the city. Some of these pictures come from the tour and the rest from our own explorations after the tour and before dinner. Quebec City (at least the old part) is a small town enclosed by a large city wall that sits atop cliffs that drop down to the St. Lawrence River. There is a small river plain about 3 or 4 streets wide. Beyond the city walls up on the plateau you find what is called New Quebec. Below is the oldest school in North America.

This is the oldest building in Quebec City. Since we ate at a building built in 1640 the next day this building has to be older than that.

Old City Quebec is the location of the first basilica in Quebec - the Basilica du Notre Dame. It is pretty but Saint Ann's is the better of the two.

Here is the organ at the rear of the sanctuary.

What would a church be like without stained glass windows.

The highlight of the basilicia is the alter with all the gold leaf. That was quite impressive.

We were about two weeks early for Halloween but Quebec was ready for it with some very interesting decorations.

This is the statue of Champlain - who was the first explorer here.

In front of the Palais Montcalm is an artificial ice skating rink.

Here are some more Halloween decorations. They also like to insert a stick into a pumpkin and then jab the stick into the groud so you have pumpkins on the ends of sticks.

Leaving the old city proper you see a typical Quebec street. Notice the cobblestones and how narrow the street is. At the back of this street is the Funiculaire - the lift to get you up the cliff to the Old City.

The funiculiare cost $2 each to ride but the option is hiring a cab or climbing a LOT of steps. The lift is a very good option.