Quebec
City
What a day.
I left the campground and drove down the tourist information site at the
other end of the island to find the location of our B&B since my GPS
couldn’t recognize it. The parking was narrow and I had cars lined up behind me
and was trying to juggle my way into the spot and backed up to far, and got
stranded in the soft sand over a gully. They called the CAA and the tow truck
guy was there within 15 minutes with a flat bed to load me onto if needed. It
took him about 2 minutes to pull me out.
I was told I had the wrong type of membership when I talked to the CAA
lady but when the driver called it in they didn’t charge me.
When I got to the Aubage I realized I
would be pushing it to try and drive to it in the dark and asked the lady if we
could come tomorrow instead and could she recommend a hotel in the city for
tonight. Just happened that they owned
another property 1 block from the Plains of Abraham and when she called they
had a 1 bedroom suite with a second bed area left. The problem was I would have to park my van
and leave it until the next day. I did not see it as a problem, more like a
relief.
I walked across the Plains and was touched
by how many people were reading tour guides and contemplating them. I worked my way over to the Citadel when Hope
called to say she was taking the next ferry.
I asked a lady for directions and her friend said she was going to the
ferry herself and would walk me there. Neither of us spoke each other’s
language but we struggled mightily with gestures and word searches and the time
flew by. When we got to the ferry Hope
had just arrived and my guide and I said profuse goodbyes. I mistakenly told Hope it wasn’t far back to
the hotel. We took the fununcular up to
the Frontenac then took the ‘path less taken’ on a boardwalk outside the
citadel. What the map didn’t show was
the endless stairs up and down the whole way and Hopes suitcase weighted about
50 pounds. To make matters worse there
was no way off until we got to the end. I had underestimated the distance back
to the hotel and we were both tired and needed a revival.
The boardwalk started out so well
Then the reality hit
We took a cab back to Old town and poked in
shops, I bought earrings and checked in on the Frontenac. We met a woman who was part of a group of 20
I think Rolls Royce owners that get together from all over the world and are
caravaning around N. America for 2 months staying at places like the
Frontenac. We had a good visit. She told us lots of interesting stories. We found a good enough restaurant and with
over 15,000 steps, most up and down I was ready for bed when we got home. An easier ending to the day than the
beginning.
Day 2
We got up early to go for a photo shoot on
the Plains. The light was good and place almost empty. Who knew Joan of Arc
would have a statue and special garden there. When we got back to our Auberge I
knew I was in Quebec when we got warm croissants straight from the oven at
breakfast.
Afterwards we walked down to
the National Museum of Art and saw a great show on Japanese influence in western
art. Timely for the last leg of my trip.
We rented ipad’s with headphones to guide us through the show.
The inuit sculpture gallery and the Riopelle gallery were also wonderful.
When we got back to Strider it took two
people to guide me out of the tight parking
area. It was just nerve wracking for me after
yesterday’s troubles. We drove back through
the construction and across the bridge to the Auberge we were supposed to stay
in yesterday but this time the traffic was fine. We have a 2 bedroom spacious main floor of a
house with our own verandah that sort of overlooks the river. It is all good.
Looking across to Quebec City
Father and son fishing
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