Photo Dump: Quebec City

Quebec City was a favourite. It really was like visiting Europe, without the bother of an Atlantic crossing. Gaspe and Rimouski both had a French feel, but this city was the real deal. And it was a perfect time of year to be a tourist here. Many of the crew had arranged for their parents to visit them here as well. It brought me up short a couple of times. I was intellectually aware, of course, that we were older than our shipmates, but I'd gotten used to thinking of them as our team and the difference melted away. But now I was meeting their families and being reminded that not only was I older than my crew mates, in many cases I was as old or older than their parents!

Quebec City was a busy stop in many ways. The entire tall ship fleet was reunited here, after they had scattered to various ports around eastern Canada for the previous three weeks. No city was big enough to host everyone at once until now. So there were lots of crowds and lots of events both public and private. There were cobblestone streets and sidewalk cafes, croissants and crepes and wonderful scenery. It was also a city of steep hills perched on the ancient granite. On one day off, my tracker told me we had walked 11 km. What it neglected to measure was that those kilometers were all vertical. Another of those days when we were eager to get back to work because having days off and wanting to cram too many experiences into too few hours was exhausting.

Love this wavy pavement pattern

Street scene

Sorry, I didn't get an explanation of why this area was preserved and not developed. But the scene around it certainly looks more Europe than North America!

Streets are insanely steep, as you can see here the road carved into the granite. Several streets are closed in winter due to their pitch.

My first thought on this photo is that it would be easy to forget we're in the Western Hemisphere

Mural on the side of a building

Overlooking the city, from the boardwalk. Were were told there was a funicular railway to get to this point. We kept walking but never found it. Finally, after a breathless steep climb, we found ... the top endpoint.  Obviously by the it was too late!

Le Château Frontenac iconic hotel and boardwalk. From the photos on their website it is just as dramatic on the inside. 

Continuing to climb up to the old fort/citadel

Flowers in window boxes. Not too far from here, we got into a conversation with a security guard who welcomed us to Quebec. He suggested several possible walking tours of various lengths and told us we were especially lucky to be visiting this particular weekend because, although any time was a lovely time to explore his city, this weekend the tall ships were in town. It was quite the chuckle when we explained we were crew on one of them.

Another random side street. Love the simplicity of yellow shutters and blond stone.

The view from our ship of crowds waiting to get into the festival. Yes, those are giant inflatable jellyfish providing entertainment while they stand in line.

The roofs have steep pitch to shed snow and ice in winter, but do be careful if you are standing directly below!

Public sculpture

Bar in an old catacomb. C'mon, it wouldn't be my blog if there wasn't at least one bar/beer picture in almost every post!