Beautiful Old Quebec City

Sept 11th
Rest Day, Get ready to move. Took a little tour around to make sure we knew how to get out of here. Stopped at Tim Horton's for a coffee and Doughnut, but once there changed to Burger King for a burger as it was lunch time. Back home in a short time and started to ready for tomorrows move. Made reservations for Camping Du Quai at Riviere Du-Loup. That just going to be a short day. We are planning on 3 short days to get to Perce Rock on Gaspe Bay

Sept 10th (A Whale of a Day!)
Went whale watching today. Took a shuttle bus from KOA to Down Town, then transferred to another that headed east along the North Bank of the St Lawrence. The bus was just one of those small shuttle type, much like a school bus, and our driver was good, BUT FAST!!! This is mostly a fairly narrow 2 lane road and the speed is posted at 90 Klm/Hr. I was seated on the opposite side only a couple of seats back and I was able to watch the speedometer. Almost all the time we were at least at 110 and sometimes above 120. Maybe he was trying to make up time, to allow more time for whale watching, or at least be sure to make it to the boat dock in time for it's departure. Anyway we did make it in time and even had time for lunch at a nice restaurant before boarding. On the way we passed through several neet little towns on the bank of the St Lawrence, such as Saint-Tite-Des-Caps, Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, Point-au-Pic, Saint-Fidele-de-Mont-Murray, Saint Simeon, and finally arriving at Baie-Ste-Catherine, a little town of a couple hundred people. Total trip was near 250 kilometers and took almost 3 hours. The St Lawrence widens from about 1 mile at Quebec City to almost 20 miles at Baie-Ste-Catherine.

This is at the mouth of the Saguenay River. Baie-Ste-Catherine is on one side of the mouth and Tadoussac on the other. The river is tremendously deep here at the mouth in places 400 meters deep, and 1 mile across, so the only way to cross is on two free ferries that runs 24/7, every 20 minutes. At 1:15PM we boarded the whale watching boat, a fairly large vessel with a capacity of about 100 persons, and headed out to the center of the St Lawrence.

The Atlantic tides rush inland almost to Montreal, so as it passes this area it brings cold Atlantic Salt water in along a submarine Valley against the North Bank of the St Lawrence where it meets the warm water of the Saguenay. Here the currant hits the submarine wall of theSaguenay and is forced to the surface, bringing an abundance of kripp and nutrients to the surface. When these nutrients reach the surface, light and oxygen combine to produce a phenomenal quantity of microscopic algae that are eaten by crustaceans, which in turn are eaten by a multitude of small and large fish. The whales come to feast on this enormous quantity of food, that swirls around the area, trapped by the different currants. Whales love this food, and here they fatten up during the summer months. Almost all species of whale have been seen here, but the most common are Minki, baluga, and Fin. On the way out we passed through the very turbulant Rip Tide of the two opposing water forces. After we reached the calmer water we were treated with the viewing of many whales.










Likely as many as a dozen different ones. One Pod of about 6 swam directly in front of our boat and surfaced within about 25 feet of it. We did snap a lot of pictures, but you have to be very fast as they do not surface for long. Sometimes they will continue along the surface for several minutes, but when they arch their back they are gone deep for 10 to 15 minutes, before they rise again. We stayed with them for about an half hour, but then chose to swing to the west and out farther into the river to see the many, many grey seals cavorting around out here.Once every one had their share of photo ops we headed toward the mouth of the Saguenay.



We again had to force our way through the Rip Tide, even more fierce than before.

Even as large as our boat was the captain throttled right down to ride out the waves of at least 10 feet tall. We noticed that all the Zodiacs that were out watching chose to skirt the worst of the violent currents.

I can tell you that I would not want to try it in a very small boat. If you were ever to get thrown overboard it would certainly by the end of your life.








After about a mile or so of this current we were able to reach the calmer waters of the Saguenay, and made a forray up the river for a few miles before turning back and docking for some of the passengers to disembark at Tadossac, before we returned to Baie-Ste-Catherine.


Then came to 3 hour long ride back to Quebec, but the driver did not seem to have the same sense of urgency as on the way up. He returned everyone to their hotels and us to the KOA across the river.

Sept 9th
Another wet day so I think we will just vegetate again. We are retired and it is allowed you know!
Besides TODAY IS OUR ANNIVERSARY!!! Do you know how many??


This afternoon plan on Bar-B-Queing some ribs and have bought a bottle of Bubbly!!
Sept 8th
Domestic catch up day - Grocery day and Laundry - that just about completes this day!
Sept 7th
This morning is our scheduled City Bus Tour and in the Afternoon a Country Tour. The shuttle picked us up at the KOA at 9:15AM and delivered us downtown to the Tourist Info Booth, just across the street from the Chateau Frontenac. This was he start of the guided tour. We did quite a bit of circling around through the very narrow streets of Old Town, then out to many other areas of New Quebec. I must say that although the guide was good and spoke English very well, that from both our tour here and the one in Ottawa, that we do not believe that a city tour to be the best way to see a city. Now I cannot shed any light on a better way, but the bus tour only stops at a very few select places, and then to keep on schedule must move on. The Ottawa one probably was better, as it was a "Hop on. Hop Off" one. Our mistake there was not to allow ourselves enough time. The booking was for 3 days, and we should have used the whole amount. Here in Quebec, we did not have that option, so we did the whole down town in about 2 hours. Very little time to document our visit with any photographs. And then it was raining as well, so taking pictures through the windows, was questionable. At noon we were returned to the Chateau for a one hour lunch break. We grabbed a sandwich from an outside vendor, and then did a quick walk around the Chateau.

Monuments

Quebec Waterfront

Quaint Streets

The Plains of Abraham and the Citadel

1:15PM we were again picked up and headed to the North Bank of the River east of Quebec. First stop was onto Isle Ste Orleans, the Island is 20 miles long by 5 miles wide, just east of the City. We did a short tour of part of the Island and then stopped at a chocolate place. Of course we bought some chocolate!!, then onward, back off the Island and northward to a copper museum. Here one family makes copper impressions. Religious scenes, provincial emblems, plates, large and small with birds and animals inscribed onto them, and a whole assortment of other things. Of course we bought!! Then on north again to a little town of Ste Anne.

Does anyone know what this stair bannister is made from? This was the questioned posed to us by our guide. Give up? Look closely, and you will see that it is made from the remaining metal that ice skate blades are made from. This is a quite common railing here in Ste Anne.

The population of the town is only about 2000, but the church, Ste Anne De Beaupre Basilica is immense.

On the hill above the Basilica are the 14 sculpures of the "Stations of the Cross." Although I am not particularly religious, these are exceptional works of Art. I chose to show only one, the fifth one.

It was open and we were allowed to go in and take photos. Tourist donations amount to over one million dollars per year, and that is close to what is required to keep it up. I'm not sure how the money was raised originally to build it, but likely from the Catholic Church Diocese. I know that in todays world, construction cost would be in the tens of millions, or possibly to a hundred million. We were allowed a half hour here before heading back toward Quebec. Next stop, Marie's Bakery, where we all had a slice of just backed fresh bread with a Maple Sugar Spread on it. Ummm!!

The Outdoor Ovens

Then on the bus for the final stop of the day at Montmorency Falls.

This is a very high falls just on the out skirts of Quebec City. It is 1 1/2 times higher that Niagara. A cable car runs from the base to the top, but I chose to walk to the bottom of the falls. Niagara's "Maid of the Mist" has little on this ones. A viewing point is right at the bottom and without an umbrella you would get saturated. Well even with one, you still get wet. A boardwalk stairway of 477 steps, winds up an almost verticle shale slope to 3 viewing points. I only had time to make about 200 steps to the first wiewing point, but time was running low so returned to the bus. We were now delivered back to the Chateau where a shuttle bus picked us up and returned us to the KOA on the lower road along the river. I would not have an issue with driving in down town Quebec, although some of the streets in Old Town are so narrow that either they are one way, or if you meet another you have to pull into a parking spot until the other passes. But getting there, across the network of interchanges at each end of the old and new bridges across the St Lawrence would definitely be a challenge. Seems no rhyme nor reason to their direction. However we are here for a week so maybe give it a whirl another day.
Sept 6th
Another Rest Day - Denice still suffering from ear ache. Went to Metro to buy some groceries, but found its Labour Day and stores closed.
Sept 5th
Had an easy day today. Left Ste Madeleine about 10:00AM and drove to Quebec City on Highway 20. It is a busy highway, but being Sunday some what relaxed. It was only 120 miles to Quebec, so only took 2 1/2 hours. The KOA is just off the highway, and a couple of miles before the Bridge over the St. Lawrence River into the City, so we found that easily. Checked in for 5 days, and set up without an issue. They gave us some brochures of Quebec tours. Denice still suffering from an ear ache, so did little, the remainder of the day. We reviewed the brochures they gave us and decided on a couple of tours that we would like to take. I went to the office and reserved one for Tuesday for a city tour, and country side tour. It is an 8 hour tour, and takes us to all the sites of interest in the City and then out to the country to Montmorency Falls. It is touted as the highest falls in Canada, at leased according to them. Not sure I believe that!!! It is supposed to be 2 1/2 times higher than Niagara. We'll see. Then on Friday, we take a bus up the north side of the St. Lawrence up a scenic highway to Charlevoix, then board a whale watching boat tour for three hours near the mouth of the Saguenay River. This is an all day tour arriving back in Quebec City at 7:30PM. We increased our stay for a full 7 days.