Quebec City
QUEBEC CITY
Day 4 of 9Monday, July 1st, 2019 (Canada Day)
76 Degrees & Partly Cloudy
****I have been journalling almost all of my travels since graduating college in 2003. In 2019, I decided to make them digital! I'm happy to share our adventures with you, but keep in mind they are actually for me and my family!****
DAY DATE
Paris and I toured the city on a guided walking tour with Sam on an unexpected day date. Mom and Dylan decided to stay behind this morning and relax their legs after over 20,000 steps yesterday!
Sam does several free tours in Quebec City every day. It would be fun to do a food tour with him too. He's super funny, knows his facts and does a great job with familiarizing you with the city. Can you believe that we were the only people from the U.S. on his tour today out of about 20 people? Several countries were represented and he remembered where every. single. one. of us were from. Amazing! We covered so much ground in 2 hours but the pace was light and he gave some great options for returning to this area.
Our tour started at Fontaine de Tourny, across from Parliament. The fountain was gifted to the city of Quebec by Monsoir Simon who owns a popular clothing store called Simons. Simons started in Quebec City and is now all over Canada, but not yet in the U.S.A. It was Monsoir Simon's way of saying thank you to this city. The fountain was apparently very run down when he found it in France so he paid "a deal" of 2 million dollars for it. It took an additional $2 million to transport it to Quebec City and an additional $2 million donation from the taxpayers for installation. The fountain does not run in the frigid winters so for the two weeks in summer every year that it is warm, the fountain is beautiful for $6M dollars!
We continued through town until we landed at the home where Alfred Hitchcock filmed the movie "I Confess". I totally want to see this movie after hearing that several countries including Quebec actually banned the movie due to the content. Across the street was the Morrin Centre. The history here is amazing. They were unfortunately closed for the day for tours (Canada Day) but the library was open. This building started as a church, become a jail, a college and now a library. The jail bar remnants can be seen if you are looking at the windows from the outside. A MUST DO when we return for sure! I remember Sam mentioning a book that was written about this place called "Bury your dead". An award-winning book of some kind - I put it on my Pinterest board to read at some point.
 |
| The Breakneck Stairs to the left of the photo |
Citadelle - We didn't make it here but Sam says the only original gate of the fort walls is here. When we return, we have to ask the guards "I would like to see Rachel". Hmm, it makes us curious!
We walked down Rue Cook from the Morrin Centre and on to the Chateau Frontenac for our first view of it! The terrace Dufferin was bustling today with many people off of work for the holiday I assume. We walked to stairs that lead down to the "Breakneck Steps" and into the former slums of Quebec City in the 1800s. The Italian workers lived in this area as they built the city and it has transformed now into the most photographed street in the world. Or 2nd most photographed street, I'm sure it's hard to keep track of social media.
We toured a lot of this beautiful city in 2 hours but it's at a great, slower pace where you can take pictures and really receive some cool facts along the way. We will totally do Sam's food tour next time! After the long tour, we decided to stop for coffee and an almond croissant before returning to 760 and picking up mom and Dylan for the day. It would have been great to stay down here and explore for a few more hours but we know we needed to return to them. Plus, we feel like it was only a 15-minute walk back to 760, now that we know direct routes to get back! We did a little people watching and picture taking but we were surprised at the lack of coffee shops in this bustling area.
NINKASI on Saint-Jean Street
Although this was our second choice behind The Snack Shack, it turned out to be amazing! We were looking for some salad and beer (vacation combo) and stumbled upon this cute restaurant with bright yellow umbrellas outside. We ate in a "parking spot" which is a popular way to add outdoor eating in Quebec. Wooden pallet platforms are built to take the space of two parallel parking spots. They add tables, chairs, plants, umbrellas, and Voila! You have a great place to enjoy the city outside. 
The pizza and beer special along with a salad seemed like the perfect meal for this hot day. Dylan always gets to have a special lemonade or juice when we are traveling too! The salad that came with the pizza was a delicious corn and chickpea salad soaked with their house dressing. The kettle chips were cooked on-site and the pizza had eggs, sausage, pepperoni, and cheese. I would totally return here again for the hefty portions, delicious food, and great beer all at insanely good pricing. The location was also perfect because we could drop our leftovers back at 760 before going out to explore the rest of the day! BUSKERS - Street Artists
Musicians galore with the buskers in Quebec City. As soon as mom saw the harp, she wanted to purchase the music. This gentleman signed her CD (when we ran into him again later in the day) and talked to Paris a bit. He told Paris that the law in Quebec City states that the buskers have to switch locations every two hours. This way, all of the buskers can have prime locations we assume.
Canada Day brought a stage on the Promenade to display a constant rotation of buskers. Fire tossers, acrobats, jugglers and more.
Historique national des Forts-et-Châteaux-Saint-Louis
We can't forget that today is Canada Day on July 1st! While we anticipated many stores to be closed, they were actually open and some of the historic sites were free, including this one. Can you see the glass thing on the boardwalk to the left? That's an area where you can peer through and into the forts at items underneath. You enter the forts by purchasing tickets under the awning and enter by the awning along the boardwalk.
We were excited to explore these forts and take a glimpse into the lives of people from the 1700s. There are two learning books that you can complete for a special treasure at the end too! The forts allowed us to tour the icebox, kitchen, bedrooms, washrooms, and items that were found during the archeological dig that started during the construction of Terrance Dufferin.
You can see Dylan trying to complete part of the workbook in order to receive his prize! (another lanyard). He is opening the file cabinet to explore items that are related to the "job" he chose. Can you believe he chose to be a cook in the kitchen!? He is a great eater, but does NOT help in the kitchen - takes after his dad.
FUNICULAR
This ride was cool! We had a funicular all to ourselves on the way down. It drops you into the center of the Rue Du Petite Champlain, where all the action happens! The alternative route is the one we took this morning with all the stairs. We knew mom would have a hard time with the steps so we opted for the fun way down!
The next couple of hours were spent exploring this lower city
- shopping for souvenirs
- ice cream
- clothing stores
- photos of the beautiful streets
- murals
- music
On our way back up the hill, Paris raced us up the Breakneck stairs and almost beat us! That was SO HARD to climb back up because Paris and I just did it a few hours before after our tour. He was totally out of breath but we would do anything for a little extra work out and bragging rights!
RUE SOUS LE FORT
Possibly the most photographed street in all of Canada. You can see the French architecture, the funicular, and Chateau Frontenac all in one great family photo like the one at the top of this blog post! We passed the Parc Félix-Leclerc wedged inside the streets and listened to music, swang together to the gentle breeze on some porch swings and relaxed for a few minutes before continuing our explorations. Back up the funicular now!CHATEAU FRONTENAC
 |
| Watching the street performers along Terrace Dufferin |
All of the street buskers were performing along the Dufferin terrace today. The stage was set up just in front of the beautiful sculpture and overtop of the forts.
Dylan climbed the fountain and we all relaxed, basking in the sunshine to listen and watch. We took our frisbee all over the city to capture Dylan's attention and enjoy each of the parks in the city. THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA (thanks Toby Harris!) We had so much fun throwing it, playing games with it, doing frisbee golf and laughing. We threw the frisbee the entire way from the Chateau, through the green areas, on the hills (American Ninja Warrior style) and up towards the Citadelle.
On our way to the Citadelle, we found an amazing area overlooking the lower port area and some benches to relax. Unfortunately, this side of the Citadelle was under construction and we were not able to see anything. It was getting late and we were looking for a bathroom so we pulled out the map to see where the closest public restroom is (there aren't many - and businesses don't let you use theirs unless you purchase something). I showed mom the map and stayed behind with Paris and Dylan to throw the frisbee some more. WELL, we could see that mom was confused so I followed her part of the way to the bathroom and Paris said he would be close behind.
I decided to stop and wait for Paris and Dylan at the busy (and confusing) intersection so they wouldn't get lost, while I could also see where Mom was going. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Ok, I am the only one with a paper map but I know Paris will be fine - so I decided to go catch up with mom. You know what? Paris and Dylan ended up making it to where we were and the universe must have been speaking to us because we met up! We took a route home that led us to these cool teeter-totters that were still locked until the rock concert started but we could see how they light up as you ride on them. It was fun!
Dylan climbed the fountain and we all relaxed, basking in the sunshine to listen and watch. We took our frisbee all over the city to capture Dylan's attention and enjoy each of the parks in the city. THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA (thanks Toby Harris!) We had so much fun throwing it, playing games with it, doing frisbee golf and laughing. We threw the frisbee the entire way from the Chateau, through the green areas, on the hills (American Ninja Warrior style) and up towards the Citadelle.
 |
| Frisbee throwing with the River and Chateau in the background. |
I decided to stop and wait for Paris and Dylan at the busy (and confusing) intersection so they wouldn't get lost, while I could also see where Mom was going. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Ok, I am the only one with a paper map but I know Paris will be fine - so I decided to go catch up with mom. You know what? Paris and Dylan ended up making it to where we were and the universe must have been speaking to us because we met up! We took a route home that led us to these cool teeter-totters that were still locked until the rock concert started but we could see how they light up as you ride on them. It was fun!
Tomorrow we head to the Montmorency Falls and Ile de Orleans!
NEXT TIME IN QUEBEC:
- RUE SOUS LE FORT - walk down the water to the left about 5 minutes to find a restaurant in the summer where the tables and chairs are in the sand with a cold beer in hand. (Sam's recommendation)
- TOUR CHATEU FRONTENAC inside
- MORRIN CENTRE tour
- OBSERVATORY
- CITADELLE - "I would like to see Rachel" and the original gate.
- MORE FOOD!
 |
| Carriages taking passengers around the Fountain Tourney |
 |
| Paris and Mom in front of Chateu Frontenac on the Dufferin Terrace |
 |
| Under my umbrella |
 |
| One of the many murals painted through the city |
 |
| Family selfie in front of the Chaetau |
Comments
Post a Comment