Day 21 - Exploring Quebec

After checking into our hotel and resting for a while it was getting on to noon. So we got directions and set out on foot to explore the Old Town. To get there we just walked up (and I mean up - as in up the hill) about 4 blocks (to an elevator) and took it up to the next level of the city, where we continued to walk about 6 more short blocks to a perpendicular street. We took that street about the same distance on level ground and as the street made a right turn we came to the St. Jean gate into Old Town. The gate is under repair so there isn't much to see of it.

It was lunch time and we had already decided where we wanted to dine. We did check out numberous restaurants on the way - $18 individual pizza, $20 - 35 pasta and meat dishes. We wanted to eat in the restaurant (actually 3 restaurants - two indoor and one one the sidewalk). Its name is 1640 after the year the building was built. We ate indoors (it was quite chilly and windy outside) in the forground part of the restaurant.

We both had an $18 steak lunch. It came with cream of chicken curry soup (outstanding). I should have taken the picture before starting the meal as it was presented quite nicely. Besides the stake, it had 4 green beans, 1 asparagusstalk, a pile of cooked onions and peppers, some purple grated pickled beets (I think), bean sprouts, and potatoes (in a cassarole that must be equivilent to au gratin potatoes.) The meat had a sauce under it and was very, very tasty.

Fortified with food we crossed the square to the Chateau Frontenac - the dominating building in Old Quebec City. It is a pricy hotel (mid $300's and up a night) but quite a place. We checked out the lobby and the stores inside the building then exited into the arrival area of the hotel to find an interesting site on the archway leading out to the street.

After being a Dan Brown fan seeing this was most interesting. This is the Maltese Cross Stone. It was made in 1647 by Charles Huault de Montmagny, a Knight of the Order of Malta, and first Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France.

This is some kind of a Catholic building (Missionnares Du Sacre-Coeur) but check out what is in the window in the upper right of the picture - a menorah!

Champlain was the explorer who was first here and recognized the importance of the hights above the river. This is the narrowest point on the St. Lawrence - less than a mile wide at this point - hense the name Quebec (Where the river narrows). Champlain in 1613 designated the promontory as Mont Du Gas. Today we know it as the Citadelle de Quebec. We didn't really get any good pictures of it as it was closed by the time we got there. This picture is taken from just below it looking back on our ship and the Chateau Frontenac. You can see the gathering clouds which drenched us a little later.

As we walked down from the Citidel hill we passed this good example of what color was left in the trees.

We left Old Town by the other main gate in the city wall - the St. Louis Gate. It was a straight shot down the first street the paralled the city wall to our hotel. About 2/3 of the way back the rain began to fall but we had umbrellas so we were safe. On the way we picked up a deli sandwich for dinner and we got to work packing for the airlines - which was easier said than done.