Quickly Courting Quebec City

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With an 8 AM assembly time on the pier for our first tour of this cruise, we had little choice but to grab a quick breakfast in the Lido… A mozzarella omelet for me with a glass of HAL’s fresh squeezed orange juice, and pancakes for Sharon with country potatoes and of course her chocolate croissant (which one of the waiters went to the other section of the line to get for her). Surprisingly there was not a crowd at the Lido as we expected so we were done and off the ship in plenty of time.

We grabbed one of HAL’s hand bags and camera, bought a Coke and large bottle of water, and were directed to bus number three. Evidently there were two busses covering our tour today, as some who had boarded our bus decided to search for better seats on the other bus. Our native guide wearing a green shirt was Danny, and had attended St. Patrick’s High School, and asked us to guess his heritage. If you go on enough HAL tours you learn that most guides are pretty good, some are not, well, Danny is among the best. He began with “Bonjour”, said something else in French, then something to the effect “Parlez vous Francais? No?” and then in English with a slight accent “They told me this was the tour in French.” He started with an explanation about the origin of “Quebec”, not pronounced “kwee-bek”, rather “kay-bek”, from the native Iroquois for their word for the place where the river narrowed. The French explorers mistook this word describing the river as the name for the place. Although many native words were unintelligible, “Quebec” sounded French enough to suit them. The city was founded by Champlain who founded the first permanent colonial community in 1608. Champlain saw the military advantage of the original site due to its imposing height above the Saint Lawrence River below.

On the way through the city Danny pointed out a gift to the city from Paris. He said it had been created by a famous artist and asked us what we thought. It appeared to be a cube composed of sixty-four smaller white cubes (arranged in four layers of sixteen cubes each) with black edges, and centered on top with a cube composed of eight cubes (2 x 2 x 2). Danny continued to note that Paris had given New York City the Statue of Liberty, but Quebec City got this, but as it was a gift it couldn’t be refused.

We visited the old lower part of town first, walking up cobble-stoned streets and quaint buildings, now made out of stone. The earlier wooden structures have long since succumbed to fire as so many historic buildings in the region have, due to chimney fires or other fire accidents. Quebec City gets 12 feet of snow per year and fires often heat non-stop during the cold months. Walking into a central courtyard we could see a 1999 mural covering many stories of the side of one building that was eerily 3-dimensional looking, appearing to be two stone buildings on either side with windows and characters from the province’s history. The top of the buildings showed icy roofs representing winter. Then with colorful tree foliage above the street between the buildings meandering into a courtyard was fall. Lilacs below were for spring. And people out and about and children playing street hockey showed summer. A cat in the top window was painted to honor a cat that had watched the twelve artists from a perch in the window of a neighboring building.

After a drive thru part of the country to some of the small (1 kneeler) chapels the farmers used to use and the old root cellars built into the hills we made it to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre. As with many historic buildings, it was destroyed by fire and replaced by today’s imposing stone structure. From the original structure, the wooden gold-leaf over lead statue of Sainte Anne was one of the few artifacts to survive the fire… although gold-leaf needed to be re-applied. A mass was in process on this Sunday morning, so no photography was allowed inside of the service. Sharon had some trouble following what we heard of the service in French. Near the rear of the church there is a wall with many crutches and walkers left by people that were healed after praying to Sainte Anne (who was the mother of Mary and Grandmother of Jesus). We then found our way to the Chapel below where it appeared a mass was in process for an English speaking tourist group. The building was every bit as remarkable as any cathedral in Europe. The doors of the shrine were created by a local copper-artisan, whose family today is the only maker of pushed copper artifacts. Multiple copper panels on both sides of the door are worked in impressive detail to show scenes from the Bible and the Virgin Mary.

Our tour segued to the family business of the copper-artisan that provides individuals and groups with a brief history of copper art and the process pioneered by Gilles. Our host was his daughter, who proudly noted the ten remaining copper-artisans are female descendants of her father. She demonstrated the process using a small thin sheet of copper. A pointed tool is used to impart the outlines of a design. On the other side the tool is used again to shadow the initial outline with a slight separation. Then, on that same side a tool is used to push up the copper until the final shape is realized. Care must be taken not to puncture the copper sheet, or you must through it away and start over. Many items are for sale, from simple ash trays to very ornate and impressive works of art. There are also about fifty silver panels on display showing the life of Jesus in the family’s museum that took her father 15 years to make.

We next crossed the expansion bridge to the Isle de Orleans and visited an old flour mill for lunch. Danny informed us that we would be ordering in French and had two choices: poulet or samo. Our three course meal started with light creamy carrot soup which was very tasty. Sharon had the chicken glazed with maple syrup, and I had the poached salmon. Those who had the chicken were amazed at the subtle and definitely not over-powering sensation the maple syrup imparted to the chicken. My salmon was done very nicely with a lemon-dill spice and the summer vegetables were not over-cooked. Ron, the best man at our wedding, would approve. My mom told me before the cruise that Ron felt I needed to add more details about the food on this cruise. Dessert was a thin slice of layered white cake with a fresh local strawberry and strawberry preserve drizzle on top. But this wasn’t the dessert we were most looking forward to, because our after-lunch stop was at the Sugar Shack, or Cabana a Sucre. It is the only Sugar Shack in the area that is open all year round. We got a brief introduction to the process of making maple syrup from a young woman whose family has been producing maple syrup on this farm for seven generations. Trees need to grow to 24 inches diameter before they can be tapped. Very large trees may have as many, but not more than three taps. Starting around the beginning of March the sap flows well into April. The collected sap, or more properly called “maple water”, must be evaporated. It takes 40 gallons of maple water to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup. Reducing it further at a slightly higher temperature produces maple toffee. More reduction yields maple butter, maple sugar and hard maple sugar where there is no more water to remove. We then got our treat as the hot maple toffee was poured in thin lines onto snow in a trough. Yes, I know this is June, and I did say snow! After 30 seconds of cooling we each took a Popsicle stick, touched it to a line of maple toffee, and spun it onto the stick. It was delicious, and I guess that’s why they let us have seconds. We also had to buy some Maple Syrup and maple candy to take home. And the one small piece of maple fudge we bought and shared on the bus was really good.

We next visited the Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, a waterfall that is half again as high as Niagra. We took a leisurely walk through a park around to the head of a foot bridge above the falls, and went about half-way across, taking pictures. The falls may be higher than Niagra; but, they are not nearly as wide. We walked back on the boardwalk, choosing our route through the park first so that our boardwalk facing the water had us walking down the stairs (Sharon counted 56, but Danny had said there were only 44). In our check of guides throwing out the number of steps you will need to navigate we’ve found they often just throw out arbitrary numbers, which are inevitably lower than they really are, perhaps not to scare people off from seeing what they’re there to see anyway.

It was time to make our way back to town, stopping off in the new part of the city at the top of the Funicular (slanted elevator) that we had seen earlier in the old-town. We were given about 30 minutes to mill around, take pictures, and of course, have some ice cream (caramel for me, chocolate and espresso for Sharon). Due to local events, we had to find an alternate route back to the ship to avoid excessive traffic. Danny told us about the twenty minute battle on the Plains of Abraham, when New France came under British rule. He talked about the British redcoats and the reason they wore them. For one, the blur of red from a distance made it impossible to count the number of troops on a field, and secondly, the red would obscure blood so one couldn’t gage if a soldier was injured. He then asked us to speculate why the French troops e brown pants.

It was a very good tour with enough stops to see everything and just enough time at each one for us. The group of people on the bus was probably the best ever since everyone was back on time if not early and we never had to wait for anyone. There were also no complaints and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.

We arrived back on the ship too late to play Team Trivia, and got ready for dinner. We were directed to the upper level for seating at a table for eight (with others from the open seating section). I had the Cod and Crab Cake appetizer, while Sharon had the chicken broth based vegetable soup. The spinach sort of turned her off, but I can tell you that her soup was very good. I had the Boston Clam Chowder, which was very nice, but seemed to be a bit light on clams. For Ron, I’m afraid this would be two thumbs down. My entrée was the Bay Shrimp and Bay Scallops with pasta, and Sharon was forced to retreat to the “every-day” menu and choose the sirloin steak and baked potato. I guess I will have to substitute the word “Tiny” in the future when I see “Bay” describing sea food. My dish was very satisfying on taste, but my expectations weren’t quite met on quantity or size. I probably would have preferred the curried short beef ribs, but I’m trying to stick to seafood if I can, at least on this trip. Sharon went with the chocolate soufflé while I chose the lavender infused almond flan (how could I not with a name like that). I enjoyed mine very much, as of course, did Sharon love hers. And tonight when we left the Dining Room the Yum Yum man was there and even had the butter mints that Sharon loves. Not sure if he’s just on the upper level but will check it out tomorrow night since we eat at the Pinacle tonight.

Sharon went to the Piano bar after dinner to listen to Barry from Boston do a tribute to women singers, and in retrospect, I should have joined her and avoided the casino. I did get to play one-on-one with the dealer, but things didn’t go well. I should have it as a hint when I lost a double down on the third hand (after losing the first two hands). All I can say is it got worse and I gave back over half my winnings from the previous night.

I joined Sharon at the Show where the “Roadhouse” was featuring a combination of country and rock. We both enjoyed the show, and I even recognized a tune or two.

All in all a wonderful day in Quebec and it’s easy to see why so many people love this city.

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