Quebec

[Eastern Canada, continued]

Province de Quebec

We followed the Acadian Trail along the coast of Chaleur Bay and crossed over the river from New Brunswick into Quebec just west of Campbellton.

Salmon was important in the development of Campbellton.

We were in Campbellton for Sarah's birthday and she got a present that she really likes...something free and tasty. As we were walking down the main street looking for a place for her birthday lunch, I spotted a marquee proclaiming “It's your birthday! Get a FREE pizza!” It was offered by Howard Johnson and it was a real deal: A 9” pizza with her choice of toppings (She chose 'veggie.') No strings attached! (Except, of course, for those cheesey strings that always seem to come with a good pizza.

We enjoyed our stay in New Brunswick. We drove in forested river valleys, along scenic coasts, and through interesting bogs. The people that we encountered were friendly and often very helpful. It was interesting to see so many lobster traps piled up alongside the homes of lobstermen and the lobster boats lined up in dry dock.

Boats in dry dock, Shippigan, NB

In order to prevent over-fishing (or, in this case, over-lobstering), the government only allows the lobstermen from one province to be out at any given month. July is not New Brunswick's month this year. When they're not out, lobstermen repair their boats and traps and work at other forms of employment.

Lobster traps awaiting next season.

Gaspe Peninsula

From Campbellton, we cut across the Gaspe to the northern side for the only road to Quebec City. For our first night in the province Quebec, we stayed at a 'gite' (B&B) on the Gaspe Peninsula. We had a good time. M. C, our host entertained us with the accordion; we sang along with the tunes that we knew. Although our host speaks no English, we were able to carry on a conversation with the participation of a man from the other couple staying here tonight. With his limited English and my limited French, we were able to have an exchange.

I thought about adding to the entertainment by telling some droll stories, but, with the amount of translation involved, thought better of it. Thing could get lost in the translation, or worse.

Breakfast turned out to be a very complete meal from cereal to eggs to crepes. We ate breakfast with the other two couples sharing the B&B while Madam C did the cooking. One couple was from another part of Quebec, the other was from Belgium. We were their first Americans of the season. Quebec is a very Catholic province, but the Quebecois guest was a Baptist. He started a conversation about religion (in French). When they learned that we were Jewish, out came the bibles and there were many questions for me to answer. Our hosts has been on a visit to Israel (We had seen the souvenir menorah in their showcase the night before.) but the Quebecer guest had never met a Jewish person before and said that he was very pleased to do so. From our discussion, he learned something about Jewish beliefs and that many of the things that he thought were stated in the bible were actually interpretations and that there were other interpretations than what he believed.

We took the slow (and only) road along the coast of the St. Laurence River from Mt. Joli in the Gaspe toward Quebec City. We stopped to see an art exhibit about the return of the Acadians to North America several years after the expulsion. www.centredart.net We had seen and photographed it before, but it is very interesting in its presentation.

Art depicting the Acadians returning from exile.

Work of art depicting the return of the Acadians.

About half way to Quebec, a highway begins, but we stayed on the slow and scenic road going through all of the small coastal villages. Every village (or so it seems) has a large, often elaborate, church in the center. One can see the steeple from far off.

Some of the Gaspe's churches are large and elaborate.

Another of the many churches of the Gaspe.

Quebec City

Fortified wall of Vieux Quebec

It was evening when we finally got to the City of Quebec. We found on-street parking for the night, put our belongings into our room at the B&B. We are staying about 500 yards from the rampart of the Old City on what was The Plains of Abraham where the 25 minute battle culminated in the transfer of French America to England. After a quick dinner we walked from our B&B through the Old City to the center of town and the Chateau Frontenac, www.fairmont.com the landmark building that towers above the city.

Initially, Vieux-Quebec reminded me of a cross between the French Quarter of New Orleans and the hills of San Francisco: colonial French homes and shops on steep hills. Since it is so cold here for much of the year, there are very few balconies overlooking the street as in southern New Orleans. In addition, Vieux-Quebec is surrounded by a cliff. As we got closer to the waterfront, we saw that Vieux-Quebec has a character all its own. From its fortified walls to the ancient stone buildings on winding streets, to the majestic cathedral and churches, we could see that Vieux-Quebec was different.

Narrow street.

Although we have been to Quebec City several times before, in the past we had stayed in campgrounds out of town and drove in and parked near the waterfront and the landmark Hotel Frontenac. Now that were staying in town we have gained a whole new perspective on this city. We enjoyed being here before, we are enjoying it even more now.

Sarah at the cannon port on the wall facing the St. Lawrence River.

After breakfast we headed up to the rampart and again walked into the heart of Vieux-Quebec. We examined shops, wandered down narrow winding streets, and visited a cathedral, some museums, and fortifications (which seem to be all around the city).

Notre-Dame de Quebec Cathedral is the first in Canada and dates to the 1600s. Although cathedrals in Europe may be older, larger, or more elaborate, it is impressive that the frontier city of Quebec was so advanced as to have constructed such a magnificent edifice.

Interior of Notre Dame de Quebec Cathedral.

La Citadelle de Quebec is still an active military base and the most important one built by the British in North America. However, it's sixteen-pounder muzzle-loading cannon are rather obsolete in today's age. It was 310 steps from the terrace along the cliff to La Citadelle. As we climbed many steps from the waterfront up to the terrace along the top of the cliff ( and before we climbed up, we walked down), all of our day's walking was not on flat land. Sight-seeing in Vieux-Quebec is like going to a gym that serves very rich foods.

Sarah checks out the menu on one of the oldest streets in North America.

Speaking of rich foods: We concluded our day of wandering the picturesque streets and alleys of the city with a buffet at the Chateau Frontenac. Although not really historic, the chateau is a landmark in the skyline of Quebec. Its image is what most people think of when they think of Quebec today. In the 1980s, when I told my father, who had driven to Quebec as a young man about 50 years earlier, that I had visited, he asked me if the hotel was still there. They charge up to $2,500 a night, but that's in Canadian, so it's not as expensive as it may seem. [FYI: $1.00US = $1.25CDN]

Sarah on the boardwalk terrace along the St. Lawrence River.

Quebec has some world-class museums; we didn't visit them. We're here for the ambiance, and we got lots of that.

Quebec Parliament. That's Sarah in front.

The Parliament Building is one of the tours that we took.

Montreal

Our hotel here was in an area called “The Village.” The night that we were here there was a 'Divers City' concert that we watched. Prior to that we had walked to Vieux-Montreal and wandered around a bit and had dinner. There were many churches, many shops and restaurants, and antique buildings that are not quite as old as those in Vieux-Quebec. Between the two old cities, Vieux-Quebec is the more interesting in history, architecture, and geography.

The Village is an interesting neighborhood that is similar to NYC's Greenwich Village having eclectic restaurants with eclectic patrons. It gave us a taste of Manhattan life. Montreal had a very ethnically diverse population which makes for diverse restaurants.

We left our hotel early and breakfasted on bread & cheese while overlooking the city from atop Mount Royal, then returned to Vieux-Montreal to visit something new, the Montreal Science Centre. As usual, most of he exhibits involved physics, but there was some biology. There was a display about climate change which was tri-lingual: French, English, & Aboriginal (the term that Canada uses for American Indians).

This contraption at the Montreal Science Center is Techno-Art. It goes through the motions, but doesn't accomplish anything. It must be symbolic of the government.

We finished the day with a good swim in the pool of our motel in Ottawa.

To see the next portion of this trip, Ontario, click here.