In the morning of our first day in Old
Québec, we took our time getting up. We had purposely left our plans
for the next few days fluid. There was a list of places we wanted to
visit with no particular order to do so.
One of the things we intended to do
throughout the vacation was to eat well in choice restaurants. We
planned not to eat at fast food places, and especially not at any national
or international chain places that we have at home. We just did not
see the adventure in that. So continuing our quest for good
breakfasts, using Frommer's guide again, we identified a brunch spot in the old town whose claim to fame
was crepes. That was enough for us to walk down and check it out.
Le Casse-Crepe Breton
is located at 1136 rue St-Jean.
The dining rooms and kitchen are quite
charming. We got superb service and had some of the best breakfast
food ever. We enjoyed watching the people around us and the activity
out in the street, not to mention watching the cook prepare the meals!
After that I parted company with Maria and
the boys as they went off to do a little shopping while I went to get the
Jeep. Along the way I stopped to make some photographs and check a
couple stores for travel stickers and miniature vehicles. I was
rewarded with all three.
I walked back to the hotel, made some
images, and continued to the Jeep, arriving at 1:03pm. Because the
parking garage was too low, I needed
to park the Jeep in a nearby lot behind the ruins of a church. It was a fair
walk from the hotel and a long walk from the old town.
Using the walkie-talkies that we carry, I
located the rest of the family at 1:21pm and we drove down to the street near the
Musée du Fort.
We got there in time for the next show in
English which started at 2:00pm. The Musée has a diorama and presents a light show that
depicts many battles of Québec. There is also a little shop that has
some interesting items. I had to remind Ted to get his fingers out of
the mouth of the little bottles with ships in them - he wanted to check out
the little delicate ships inside...
The diorama was wonderful and
helped us to understand the area since many of the buildings are still
standing in the same spots. The light show was quite interesting.
It highlights different parts of the diorama and describes the battles that
occurred in the defense of the city over several years.
After that, around 2:30pm, we walked the short
distance up the hill to
Le Chateau Frontenac.
It was bitter cold outside with a good wind coming off
the water. We took refuge inside and toured the various hotel shops on
the main floor facing the water.
We went back outside.
The temperatures soon had us calling this grand landmark "Le Château
Frozen-ass".
Maria and the boys had found
some shops they wanted me to see, so we walked over to that area and visited
them. One shopping highlight was the
Artisans Canada
shop where Tom had fallen in love with some of the chess sets. I could
see why - they are hand-painted and exquisite.
They are also very expensive -
too expensive for a seven-year-old boy. Tom was very disappointed but
I could not justify it for a kid.
Maria returned to the Jeep at 3:24pm and
waited while Ted, Tom and I took a walk
near
Laval to photograph cannons in Parc Montmorency.
Tom and Ted had fun
"aiming" the cannons.
Another of the activities we planned was to
visit a Maple Sugar farm. This involved a drive out of town and up
north about 40 minutes. Maria had the hotel concierge make the
reservation for us, thereby dodging the possible language barrier (we found
that this was unnecessary as everyone we encountered very graciously
switched to speaking English when they saw the need).
L'Érablière du Lac-Beauport
At 3:47pm we drove out of town to
L'Érablière du Lac-Beauport and Le Musée des animaux du Québec, arriving
at 4:16pm.
There, we were treated to a number of
interesting things. Upon our arrival the kids found old-school maple
tree taps and buckets on the trees.
We checked in at the main building and got
the schedule of events. Then we took a walk over to the Trappers Camp.
Inside we found a large display of various wild animals.
After we took in the exhibit, we went over
to the dining hall. There we paid for our meal tickets and then went
to the maple syrup building where we got an explanation of historic and modern maple syrup production,
supported by displays of the various periods.
After we spent some money in the gift shop
we went back to the dining hall and had supper. It was a generous fare
including:
-
Oven Baked Omelet
-
Maple Flavor Brown Beans with Pork
-
Crispy Salted Pork Sizzlings
-
little sausages, bread
-
Maple Ham
-
Meat Pie
-
Hashed Brown Roasted Potatoes
-
Home-made Fruit Ketchup
-
Home-made Crêpes with
Maple Syrup
-
Tea, Coffee or Juice,
fruit punch, Fruitopia
-
maple syrup pie
We had fun talking with the
other people sitting nearby. There was a group of teenagers who had
traveled here from Virginia too.
During and after supper we
were entertained by a talented performer who played fiddle/guitar/accordion,
and organized entertainment with wooden spoon playing for the kids.
The dining hall also appears
to be a regular nightspot for locals as well.
There was some square-dancing.
Then we went outside for Maple
Taffy-on-the-Snow.
There was also some snowball
fighting going on...
After all that, at 7:20pm we said our Thank-you's and returned to town.
I took a little detour and drove through the old town and stopped to take
some night photos of Chateau Frontenac at 7:49pm.
A guard at
the nearby U.S. Consulate came out to see what I was doing while photographing Le Château Frontenac.
I explained and finished taking pictures. I think my live parking in a
reserved space had probably triggered his interest.
