Saturday August 12, 2017.

Fruit and Yogurt Art

Breakfast starts at 0800 and we are there promptly. Jacques explains that we start with fruit or yogurt or fruit with yogurt, then a croissant and there are like 12 different homemade jams and jellies plus homemade caramel on the table to put on the croissant. After that we have five choices for the main meal. Of course there is café and juice also. The fruit and yogurt comes and it not only looks good but could be a piece of art. The yogurt is homemade and there are some chocolate sprinkles and a hint of coconut on the fruit. Tasty and healthy to boot. The croissant is warm and flaky and we sample several of the jams. Carol has to have the caramel and she falls in love with it.

Crepes NOT Pancakes

For breakfast we both decided on crepes ( as Jacques put it they are crepes, they are not pancakes) They come drizzled with maple syrup and more fresh fruit. We enjoy the meal completely. When we are almost done, another couple comes in and sits with us. They are from Montreal and Carmelo is of Italian descent. He was actually born in Italy and is from Sicily so of course we are paisano’s and immediately have a great connection. We have a nice but short conversation as Carol and I want to get to Quebec earlier today as it is supposed to rain hard later in the day. We tell them we will talk more tomorrow and get ourselves ready to visit the city.

Notre Dame de Victories

We take the ferry again and decide to explore a bit of the lower town before making the big climb to the upper part of the city. We look for the Notre Dame de Victories Church and find it but it does not open until noon which is 20 minutes away. So we wander around to kill time. It has been raining lightly since we got here but it now stops. We head back to the church square and there are some ladies in old time outfits singing French folk songs. We listen for a while and then the church doors open. The church is fairly small but has several relics from different saints. We learn that the church got its name after the Battle of Quebec in 1690. The French were not doing well but prayed and the British ended up retreating so it was named Notre Dame de Victorie. Then in 1711 with the British Navy sailing up the river to attack, the people prayed again and a bad storm came and sunk the fleet. Now it was named the Notre Dame des Victories. Two times was better than one.

Look Over There

We leave and walk a bit uphill to part of the fortified wall of the city. There are people here also dressed up as soldiers as we check out the cannons along the wall. We have found out that it is the Festival of New France this week and people come here dressed up to play different parts. It adds to the feel of the old city when we randomly come upon people in character. We walk in one church to discover that it has been repurposed as a catering hall. Yet there is still a tomb here of Francois de Laval who was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec. Very odd indeed. We visit the chapel of the Ursuline’s which also has some relics in it. The Ursuline’s were a French order of nuns. 

Escargot and Beer

Our tour returns to food as we had made reservations for 1:30 at the same place we ate yesterday. It is equally as good today and the meal is mostly the same for us except we replaced a salad with escargot and one of the salmon dishes with Quebec meat pie. Everything was good again but we both thought the salmon dish stood out more than the meat pie. When we left the restaurant the sun was shining and we walked toward the Citadelle.

I Will Remember

This was the heavily fortified area of the city and is an active military installation today. Since the sun was shining, we decided to do the tour. We learn the history of the 22nd regiment which is the only all French speaking regiment in Canada. They started in WWI and continue their tradition today. They have a goat as their mascot because the Queen gave them a goat named Battiste, as a gift many years ago so they are now on Battiste number 14. We get some amazing views of the city below and after the tour, we visit the museum exhibit which goes through the different wars and battles that the regiment has fought in.

I Want Me Some Poutine

We go back to wandering the city checking out the old gates to the walled city and then stroll some new streets. We stop to try some poutine which is French fries with a brown gravy and cheese curds. It is good and filling but probably not something you would want every day. We catch the ferry and return to the BNB. Jacques had told us that there are fireworks tonight in our honor (OK, I made that part up) on the river and we can see them from here. We sit and have a beer on the patio as we wait. Another guest Yvonne and his wife Diane join us and we talk for over an hour as it slowly gets dark. About five minutes before the show, it starts to rain. This does not deter people who are lined up all along the park to watch the fireworks. It also does not stop the show from starting.

Tonight’s Choice

It starts and is synched to Country music playing on loudspeakers in the park. It then starts to thunder, lightning, and rain in buckets. People scurry all over running for their cars. Many others just stay put and take it The show keeps going as it is all electronically controlled and once started cannot be stopped. We are treated to man’s fireworks intermingled with Mother Nature’s fireworks, country music intermingled with the cannon firing of thunder. It is quite the spectacle and goes on for about 30 minutes. When the show is over we retreat into our room and go to bed happy that we had the best seats in the house, the dry ones!!!

Expenses                                                                                                                                         La Aux Canadiens Dinner 58.63 CAD                                                                             Citadelle Tour 32 CAD                                                                                                        Poutine 7.41 CAD                                                                                                                      BNB 125 CAD