Tuesday, 24 May 2016, Québec

We were kind of lazy this morning and got a bit of a late start, hitting the road about 10. We walked to the Lower Town to shop for a few gifts, then road the Funiculaire to the Upper Town. 

One place we had not bothered to go yet was the Notre Dame de Québec Cathedral, but one of the bus tour guides had said not to miss it, so we decided to take it in. When we walked in at 12:15 they were in the middle of Mass, so we went to another spot that had not been high on our list, the Morrin Centre. Built in 1807 as the city jail, it became too small for the growing city and was converted to a college in 1867. It is operated by the Literary and Historical Society of Québec as an English cultural centre and its library is the only English library in Québec City. We were able to tour some original cells, a display area, an old science lab from the college, and the library, which houses many antique volumes, one of which is 500 years old. I was lucky enough to be placed in solitary confinement in pitch darkness for a minute or so. The camera flash makes it look a little less intimidating.

By the time we got out of there, we were pretty hungry, so we went for quick, simple, easy and cheap – Subway – which is right next to the church. Then we toured the church, followed by gelato, also right next to the church. 

We had pretty much exhausted our to do list, so we found a bench in the park and watched the world go by while we figured out our next move. Sitting across from the Tourist Information office, it occurred to us to check out the local bus schedule and the details of a Gross Ile excursion. The agent said that the bus system and schedule was too large and complex for them to deal with there, but she showed us two routes that could work from our hotel and another that loops around the Old City. She sent us to the Parks Canada kiosk for Gross Ile info. There they told us that you would have to rent a car, drive across the river to Montmagny (1 hour/83 km according to Google), then catch the 45 minute/$65 ferry for a half day excursion. All together, a full day and $200 for two of us. Maybe another time.

Eventually, we decided to head back to the hotel. We briefly stopped at Artillery Park, which was another “maybe” on our list. It looked like a fairly interesting museum, so we might take it in tomorrow. Our flight does not leave until 6:30 pm.

On the way back, we noticed a “dollar” store that we had walked by obliviously several times before. We decided to stop in and emerged a while later with a handful of items. As we passed the church near our hotel, we observed a youth circus training company warming up in the courtyard. We watched for a while and moved on.

We dropped off our bag at the hotel and headed back to our microbrewery for some well-deserved refreshment. Then we made one last visit to our grocery store and bakery for a couple of items for tonight and tomorrow. It was after 7 by the time we returned to the hotel.