Sonya's Blog - Day 66 - The Chateau Frontenac

Sonya’s Blog - Day 66 - August 27th - Afternoon Tea at the Chateau Frontenac

We had tea scheduled for 2:30 at the Chateau Frontenac and it was going to be very fancy and very expensive. We wanted to go tour the Citadel before we went for tea, however, the weather had other plans. It started pouring rain not long after we woke up and continued to rain until about noonish. We didn’t think it would be too much fun to tour the Citadel in the rain, so we stayed at the RV and read our books and did some clean up.

We headed off for tea just after 1 PM. Looking at the map I thought it might be better to park in the Old Port area and walk from there, it looked closer than parking near the Plains of Abraham. It seemed like it should be straight forward getting there, but it was not. Our GPS took us on a round about route, in our opinion, and we spent a lot of time in traffic. It took forever to find a parking space and then we had to hightail it to make our reservation. We thought we had left in plenty of time! So Québec City is built on a hill with the Chateau and the Citadel perched on the top and we had to go straight up, the aptly named, Rue Montagne, to get there. We had a great leg and bum workout, not to mention cardio, while we rushed to our tea. It was probably a good thing because we were heading for some calories!

Tea was very fancy and we had a very nice table right by the window which overlooked the St. Lawrence and the square below. We each had our tiny sandwiches and scones, but then they also had a buffet table of various desserts to choose from. So many yummy choices!

While we were running up the hills we saw some more areas of Old Québec that we wanted to explore. We thought there was only one pedestrian only cobblestone street, but we were very wrong. There are several and we had missed the most unique one. After we had our fill we wanted to walk around this area. We found a little square and it explained the history of this streets.

In the 70’s there was a massive renovation taken up in the area. Local Artisans got together in the 80’s and decided to form a cooperative to buy up the streets so that it would not fall into the hands of American developers. They wanted it to remain uniquely Québec and the shops would be local. As a result they have many great little shops, with clothes and crafts that are made in Québec. Furthermore, all the cafe’s and restaurants are small family owned businesses, which I think is fantastic. It was a lot of fun to explore and get some great pictures.

We wandered along and ducked into as many streets as we could on our way back down the hill and to our truck. Once we got back we decided to head back to the RV because it was already 6:30 by the time we were finished our explorations. We just had a light supper and then called it a night.

I finished up my Sandra Brown book, Tough Customer, which I had stated last night. It was a typical Sandra Brown, with the attempted murder, investigation and love interests. She usually has chapters from the killers perspective, which adds a little twist. It was enjoyable.

Sonya