Sonya's Blog - Day 64 - Québec City

Sonya’s Blog - Day 64 - August 25th - Quebec City

We had no definitive plan for today, but the weather was going to be cloudy with a possibility of rain all day, so we decided we would check out the Chateaux Frontenac and other things around that area. We crossed this great bridge, which is named Pont Pierre Laporte, which was interesting because we had just given the kids a short history lesson on the FLQ crisis at breakfast. For those of you that forget your FLQ history lessons from school, Pierre LaPort was the poor politician who was abducted by the FLQ and then killed when the War Measures Act was enacted. Was it and execution or a killing due to a struggle? This is still debated today, but some believe that with the imposition of the War Measures Act, Pierre Laporte decided to make a break for it and died in the ensuing struggle. Others believe that he was executed as retaliation for the invocation of the War Measures Act. James Cross, a British Diplomat, was also kidnapped around he same time. He was held for 60 days and then released in a plea bargain in which the kidnappers were given safe passage to Cuba. All of them ended up in Paris a few years later and most of them returned to Canada about 8 to 10 years later. All whom returned to Canada were charged with the kidnapping and given 2 year sentences.

We then missed our turn for Old Quebec and had to go the long way around, so it took us a little longer. It was pretty busy down there, but we finally managed to find some street parking that Sterling fit into. We parked right beside Jeanne d’Arc Garden, which had lovely gardens and a statue of Joan of Arc on a horse. It was also surrounded by Elm trees and Isaac snapped a picture of them for his tree project.

We started walking towards the Chateau, as it was a couple of KM’s away. We had to walk by Battlefield park and the Citadel. Battlefield Park is the Plains of Abraham and there is a Museum right across from it. A lady came out just as we were passing by and asked us if we needed any information about the area and took us inside so we could get what we needed. They were very helpful and they had a bus tour that took you all around the park area and gave you a history lesson of it all. It was only $18 for our whole family (we got a discount because we have a National Parks pass), so we booked ourselves on one for 2 PM. It was going to be a french tour, which was good for the kids and Blake. Not as good for me, but Blake was going to translate as we went along.

They are putting up a huge stage right in Battlefield Park and Blake went and asked what it was for, and oh the excitement. ACDC will be playing there on Friday night! He was lamenting the fact that we were going to miss them in Montreal, because they are there at the end of the month, but luck is on his side. Isaac and Blake were so excited and Blake got on the phone right away to ticketmaster to find out about getting tickets. It will be an outdoor concert, so standing only.

We had a quick look around the Museum, but then decided we should have lunch before our tour. There were lots of cafe’s a couple of blocks away so off we went. We passed the Hotel Laurier and they had the fanciest St. Huberts ever. We had already eaten there, so we found somewhere more unique. We settled on a unique looking cafe and had a yummy lunch.

We headed back to the Plains of Abraham Museum and looked around for a bit more until our bus left. It was perfect timing for our tour because the rain had held off until right after we stepped on the bus. For the whole tour it rained, but we could still see well enough. The tour guide was very expressive. He would drive and stop the bus at several spots and give us a short history of that area. He also had lots of artifacts, that he passed around. Quebec had a hockey team in the early 1900’s, pre Nordiques, that won the Stanley Cup twice. I think it was in 1917 and 1918. We learned about Wolfe’s offensive on Quebec City and his heroic battle in the Plains of Abraham battle and how he finally managed to make his way across the river to assemble on the Plains. They were stuck on the other side of the river as the French had Quebec City so well fortified they could not find a way to get onto the mainland and had to set up camp on an island. They did set up a whole bunch of cannons at this point and just bombarded Quebec City all summer with cannon fire. Due to some luck, they found a way to get onto the Plains and then the historic battle went down in which the French lost Quebec to the British. Lévi actually took it back a few years later in battle, but then British reinforcements arrived before French reinforcements and he had to give it back.

After the tour, we decided to walk to the Citadel. We had found out in the Museum that the Citadel is actually owned by the Department of Defence and is still an active base. They will give you one hour guided tours, but you cannot go in unaccompanied. We also found out that the Governor General has a second official residence in Québec City inside the Citadel. Oh, the learnings. We hiked up the back of the Citadel to try and find a way in. There is a nice gazebo at the top of the hill and as we came to the top it started to rain again so we went into it for some shelter. This turned out to be very fortuitous because a tour guide had stopped there with his bus load of tourists and was giving them a short history of Québec City and of the fight to keep it in french hands. His take on the battle was a little different than our tour guides and a little different than the one we had read in Ottawa. He was Québecois though. He also talked about the war on 1812 and how Québec was not really that interested in the war and why that was. He was pretty funny and we got a different telling of history from him without being a part of his tour. We didn’t realize that he as the tour guide from the bus until the very end. I actually thought he was a government employee and he was just giving a talk in the gazebo because there were people there, like when we were in Ottawa. We didn’t know until he told them all to get back on the bus! He had American tourists on his bus so he was speaking in English so I caught everything he said.

After the tour left, we ventured onto a boardwalk, that goes between the Citadel and the river on the side of the cliff. It was a beautiful boardwalk and we thought it might take us to the entrance of the Citadel. It did not, but it did take us to the Chateau Frontenac. It had started to rain again so I asked Natasha if she wanted to see if they were serving afternoon tea at the Chateau. She did indeed want to see, so we hurried off to find out. We had to walk all around the Chateau to find the entrance, but we did eventually. We then found the tea place, but they had just finished afternoon tea service! Blake booked us in for Thursday for tea because that is supposed to be another rainy day.

We got some pictures of the Chateau:

We then headed across the street to check out this great fountain, picture is below with Tash doing a handstand in front of it.

It is a tribute to all the missionaries. Across the street from that is the Tourist Information Centre so we popped in there to get some info. We thought we might have a hot drink at the cafe next door, but instead we had to head back to our truck as we only had 45 minutes left on our street parking and we were about a half hour walk away.

We walked up and down some very narrow streets to try and find our way back to the main road as we thought that would be quicker than taking the walkway along the river. We finally found the main road and made our way back to Sterling with 10 minutes to spare on our parking meter. It was rush hour by this time so we knew we would be sitting in traffic for a bit. The traffic kept moving along, so at least we were not at a standstill. As soon as we got back on the bridge things started to move better and we made it back to camp.

We cooked up our Baton Rouge ribs that Donna gave us and they were yummy. We then played a game of Cross Crib. Natasha and I started out really well, but then Blake and Isaac had 3 really good hands and won the game:(

After that I finished my book!!! In the end it was an interesting read, but I still think Paris is better. It gives a full history of the city of London, from the time of the Druids to World War 2. Everyone thinks that England is Anglo-Saxon based, but in reality it has always had people coming and going from it and the influences are multi-cultural. Really, everyone is an immigrant. The book follows the same families through the ages and details how they came to be in London and the different ancestries. One thing I did discover is that if I ever make my way back to London I will visit the Museum of London because that sounds fantastic!

Sonya