Old Town Quebec - Might Be the Best Day Yet!

Thousands of Stairs - yes they are steep!

September 16, 2012  

    We spent the day in Old Town Quebec - it is amazing.  It must be like being in France.  It sure reminded me of my trip to Italy.  Quebec is very French - all signs were in French and everyone speaks French.  New Brunswick and Nova Scotia seemed mostly English speaking.

    I can't even estimate how many stairs we climbed - and the hills were harder to climb - I've never seen streets with such a steep incline.  We actually found ourselves leaning forward climbing the streets.

    It is really hard to describe Old Town.  It is a walled city.  We walked the wall - quite a long walk.  The city is a fortress with huge guns and the city walls have openings - I guess for soldiers fire their weapons to protect the city.The streets are stone and very uneven - you really have to watch your step.  The doors into the shops have high, uneven steps.  the buildings are very old interesting.  The pictures don't begin to show what the city is like.

We parked down in the newer part of the city.  You can drive up to Old Town but we didn't see much parking.

They have a Funicular (like a railcar) going up about one fourth of the climb.  Did we ride the Funicular??  Of course not - we climbed the whole way and then walked the wall.

43 degrees this morning and 75 degrees this afternoon.  We were the only ones there without coats - these people are cold natured.  Some were wrapped up like mummies.


Lots and lots of shops.  We did some shopping and lots of looking.

Lunch was delicious - I had a French Croissant sandwich and a tiny little dessert pastry (about an inch in diameter) that was delicious - don't know what it was.  A very light pastry with layers of raspberry and another layer of something yummy.

I did have a scoop of Strawberry Gellato.

The sidewalk cafe got crowded around noon.  Very nice atmosphere.

Artists are set up along the street in certain areas painting and selling their art.  Prices from $10 to thousands of dollars.  Lester and I each bought a 16 x 20 watercolor.  The artists were very friendly and tried to speak a little English - better than our French to be sure.

Funicular

Beautiful flowers everywhere.

When we left Old Town, we drove about 7 or 8 miles to Montmorency Falls.  I guess if we had not been to Niagara Falls it might have been impressive.  Lester climbed all the way to the top - see those stairs on the right - I didn't go with him.

Montmorency Falls