Advertisement
Published: June 29th 2015
Edit Blog Post
We drove in to Quebec a little later than hoped, but sleeping in isn't the worst thing while on vacation. We followed directions in to Centreville and started looking for parking. Even with everyone hung over (per the hotel attendant last night), there wasn't much. We eventually discovered the parking ramp under Le Chateau Frontenac. It was convenient to the start of a walking tour I pulled from Frommer's, with views of the hotel as well as the river. We saw the monument to Generals Montcalm and Wolfe, after which Liam told us all about the battle. (We were quite surprised he knew, since the Seven Years' War wasn't really covered in our elementary educations.) We walked along the Terrasse Dufferin, hoping to climb the stairs to the Promenade des Gouvernours, but we never did find our way there. We found another path to La Citadelle de Quebec and saw two guards from the Royal 22e Regiment. I heard mumbles of changing of the guard, so we hurried to discover it was true.
After a brief pause, we walked around the parade grounds and claimed a spot. We watched as the Old Guard marched in, followed by the Goat Major
and Batisse, a descendant of the original goat given to the Regiment by the Queen in 1955. The band then followed, as did the Commandant and the New Guard. They serve in 24 hour shifts and have to be inspected and such. It was a very interesting process. In particular, I couldn't take my eyes off their stops. They march, then almost kick their right leg out while stepping with the left, and then lift their right leg like the University of Minnesota's Marching Band to step and end. It looked cool, and probably takes a lot of practice.
After watching the ceremony, we were divided into groups for a tour. Our guide was Pierre from Belgium. He was amazing. He knew so much history, so we felt like we learned a lot. Particularly, we learned the French, though in the area for quite a long time, never built a citadel, just one building. The British came and very quickly built this fort on the highest point in the area. From there, they could see across the St Lawrence, all the way to current Maine. After the Revolution and the War of 1812, they were quite concerned the US
would attack again. Their longest range cannon could fire 5 km, and across the river was only 4 km. He talked about the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, in which the French lost decisively in 23 minutes. It was very interesting.
Following the tour, we stopped briefly in the museum before making our way back to the walking tour. It took us past churches and monuments and old houses, as well as a tree with a cannonball in it (which also was the site of a virtual geocache.) We saw a number of different restaurants and settled on the perfect one. The city had gotten considerably busier by then, so we finished a few sites and headed back to the car.
Our next stop, technically, is in Prince Edward Island. We drove not as far as I wanted tonight, but enough.
- - -
Miles Driven: 300
Steps Taken, According to Fitbit (for the two of us): 26266
Future Plans: Spend more time here. This was my favorite city so far.
Memorable Meals: La Buche (We picked it based on price and appearance. Jeff had Ragout. I had something like a deconstructed
shepherd's pie, but with pulled pork. Liam had a salmon crepe, while Cole went with a sweet one. The pea soup for an appetizer was one of the best soups I've ever had. Creamy base with crunchy veggies and something else. So good!)
We Learned: Generals Montcalm and Wolfe were on different sides. Liam's explanations made us think they fought together.
We Wondered: If the Americans were actually considering attacking again after the War of 1812.
Conversation of the Day: (the day after they put flavors in their water bottles)
C - Do you think our water is still fine?
K - It's shelf stable.
J - Yeah, it should be okay.
L - Yup, it's perfectly fine (while grimacing from his sour blue raspberry)
J - Nothing can grow in Liam's.
Geocaches Found: 2
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0424s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb