Boston to Montreal, Friday, September 6, 2019

The morning breaks partly cloudy and cool, but promising. We dock this morning at the pier for Quebec City, at the base of the rock of this city founded by Samuel Champlain in 1608. Champlain, a Frenchman, of course was already a war hero in the battles with Britain, the conqueror of the indigenous peoples of the West Indies, and the discoverer of the Great Lakes on behalf of the conquering European nations.

After a fine breakfast on board ship, our scouting party of five sets out to discover the famous walled city. We did not have a shore excursion booked today as we wanted to cover this very walkable old city on our own, and also because all the good, shore excursions were sold out before we thought to review them. We embarked at the pier and walked only a few blocks to the vertical elevator known as the funicular for the $3.50 per person ride to the top of the great rock and walk of this only remaining walled city in North America.

At the top of the rock sits the famous Frontenac Hotel, formerly the site of the home of the ruler of Quebec and all of French Canada. Deb and Deb slipped into the lobby for a look as there are clients of Deb’s arriving in the near future and she wanted to get a feel for what their $500.00 per night will get them. She was impressed with the sumptuous off the lobby and the general feeling of service.

Meanwhile, Mark, Abigail and Tim relaxed on benches in the park fronting the Hotel, people watching and soaking up the atmosphere, not to mention the sun, which had broken through the cloud cover and was making for a glorious day. We then commenced what this group of five does so well, shop in the myriad small shops that line the streets here. The crowds were beginning to grow as we walked along, flitting from shop to shop, occasionally making purchases and marvelling at the U.S. dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate. By noon, we were beginning to feel a little peckish so decided to forego riding the funicular device back down and walked the steps (slowly) instead.

Once at the bottom, we again had streets of shops, cafe’ and restaurant choices. We eventually picked a nice restaurant with outside seating, but in the shade, and ordered our lunches: flatbread pizzas, soup, pasta, wine and beer were consumed in a leisurely fashion. At 1:30, we left to work our way back to the ship via more shops, an ice cream store and a popcorn shop with outstanding popcorn. More purchases were made, and we arrived back on board at 3:30, tired but proud that we had walked over 3.6 miles, up and down the streets of ancient Quebec. Every part reminded of the Willa Cather novel, Shadows on the Rock which depicted Quebec in its early settlement. Sites and buildings were still recognizable; the novelist had gotten it exactly right - but knowing Ms. Cather as we do, this is not surprising. One should read this novel whether or not you are intending to travel to Quebec City.

After our return shipboard, it was time to consolidate our purchases and find a way to cram them all into suitcases, as we had to pack up our luggage and have it out in the corridors prior to retiring, or at least by midnight if not retiring, in preparation for our arrival tomorrow at Montreal and the end of our cruise. We dined once last time in the Lido Market and then finished our packing before calling it a night at 10:00 PM.