Monday, 23 May 2016, Québec

Even though we were not riding the bus today, we were still on our way by 9:30 and watched the tour bus drive past us. We have thought about getting a city bus pass since the first day, but have not mustered sufficient ambition.

One of our tour bus guides mentioned the other day as we drove by three older buildings in the Old Port that about one million immigrants came to Canada through Québec. This got me thinking about Celeste’s Folk ancestors that came through here in 1903. I thought we would check out those buildings looking for the immigration hall. Unfortunately, I missed a clue from Celeste when she said something about an island. I had completely forgotten that immigrants coming through Québec first stopped at Grosse-Ile for quarantine. We wandered around the three buildings looking for some clues, but nothing we found indicated that they might fit the bill. Later, Celeste was reading a brochure we picked up that set the record straight. You can take a boat ride there, but you have to somehow get to the departure point, it is an all-day commitment and not cheap, so we will pass. If we had thought of it early enough, we could have planned to fit it in. Too bad.

For our next adventure we wandered back to the Musée de la Place Royale, which was closed when we were there last week. I had made a note to go back Sunday, but we did other things, so we let it slip another day. I forgot a minor detail – it is only open on Saturdays and Sundays at this time of year. Strike two.

We hit a home run on the next pitch though. Again, one of the bus tour guides had mentioned something - the Guinness and Whiskey fudges at the Fudgerie. Yes, we are bringing some home.

Next, we rode the Funiculaire back up to the main square of the Upper Town and took the tour of the Saint-Louis Forts and Chateaux. This is an archeological dig, completed between 2005 and 2008, of the governors’ residence under the boardwalk by the Chateau Frontenac. It was the governors’ residence in various incarnations under the French and British from 1620 until it burned down in 1834. The presentation, by Parks Canada, was top notch. There was a guided tour, informative panels, artifacts, and a very cool display technology that I have never seen before. There were several touch screen displays throughout the site, each focused on a different area of the exhibit. Each display offered several pages of information complete with 360 degree views of the room.

From there we went back to the Musée du Fort where I asked if I could take some pictures that I had neglected to take yesterday. They happily obliged.

Then it was off for lunch at this charming little restaurant in a house that supposedly dates to 1677. We ordered their special – a beer, pea soup, tourtiere, and dessert. It was all very good. The tourtiere came with butternut squash, a pickled beet, potatoes, and a sweet tomato sauce that the waitress called ketchup. Celeste had maple syrup pie and I had maple bread pudding – bread pudding with a sort of butterscotch sauce. All delicious.

Our last stop of the day was La Citadelle de Québec. We took the guided tour, with a great view of the city, and then spent some time in their museum. It is focused on the Royal 22^nd Regiment, Canada’s French language regiment. The museum was quite extensive and very well done. If you are really interested in such things, you could probably spend a day there. We rushed through it because it was late in the day and did not quite get through it before they kicked us out at 5 pm. From there we hiked back to the hotel in just over half an hour and shut it down for the day with a nice cold beer. When Celeste got looking on the Internet for the Citadelle she found that they had had special displays with costumed re-enactors on the weekend. Would have been strike three if not for the fudge.

The other day at the grocery store we wanted to pick up a couple of beers to have in our room. Bewildered by the dizzying array of Québec beer, we fell into decision paralysis and fell back on something familiar, but unexpected.