Looking for parking is not fun in Quebec. We had to park in a garage ($17.00 a day)! We were picked up by a small bus to bring us to the main pick-up place. Our first leg of the journey was a city tour. The guide spoke pretty good English. It wasn't a full tour so Rae, Burl and I each had our own seats, which was nice to take pictures. The guide told us the history of Quebec. We saw the government building, the Citadel and the war spots. We saw where they fortified the city so no one would be able to overpower Quebec again, as they had done in the past. We saw the most famouse hotel (most photographed) in the world. The Chateau Frantenac. Very beautiful and didn't have time to go inside and check it out. There are lots of Horse and buggy riders in Quebec City. It sounded like fun until I realized the guide is turned around talking to the patron while the horse goes on. How does the horse know when the light turns RED?? No thanks.. I'll stick to busses!
We had lunch at the "Shack". When we were seated it looked like a window was in front of us. But after sitting there a minute, we realized the window was open and we were just about on the sidewalk as we ate our dinner! People walked by, smelled our food and came in. We should have gotten a discount! It was really fun though. Rae was trying to take our pictures together, and the waitress felt sorry for us and took the picture with our cameras. She was young and knew us "older" folks weren't as adept to self portraits as these younger kids are. I'm sure they were in back of us laughing their heads off!!
When we finished our lunch, it was time for our countryside tour. We drove to the Montmorency Falls, which are higher than Niagara Falls (83 meters) , but not near as wide. We took a gondola up the mountain to see the top of the falls. When we got to the top, guess what? It started RAINING! How different! Well, that wasn't going to stop me! I waited it out for a few minutes as the rain was really pouring down. But I got tired of waiting and headed out to the falls. It was a long walk but worth it! They were so beautiful! And the mist at the bottom was spectacular. When looking down at the falls, with the rain pouring down and finally the sun coming out, .... I saw a rainbow in the bottom of the falls. Beautiful is not good enough to describe what we saw. Now I am really anxious to see Niagara Falls the week of July 7th!
When we all were ready, we went across a long bridge to the Isle of Orleans which is totally different from the city. There are farms, strawberry fields, hills, barns, horses etc. Very country, but at the same time, there were Million $$ houses on that island! We also went to a chocolate factory that had Ice Cream and coffee. Eveyone was thrilled with this place. I walked along a side street to see the coast line of the St. Lawrence river running through this area to meet up with Quebec City. It was a quaint area with lots of history and liveliness.
We were then off to Maries. Now Maries is a small house in a small town. She makes homemade bread and Maple Butter. For $1.50 we got a very large slice of homemade bread with Maple Butter slathered all over it. It was delicious, but very sweet. My teacher friends would love it! Too sweet for my taste but I enjoyed that sample. Rachel bought both the bread and the butter. We ate the bread, and the butter is for her kids. While we were there, two (2) busloads of kids came in. They were from America (some PA bus company) and were so Rude and Obnoxious! I wanted to start speaking German so they wouldn't think I was part of their American group! It was embarrassing.
Then next place was a copper making place. A man started the company 50 years ago. He died 5 years ago at 83! His 3 daughters, wife and 2 employees work at this Copper making store. The daughter told us the history and explained how the copper items are made. They made pictures, jewelry, figures etc. It was so fascinating to see. He also make the life of Christ in copper pictures. Mary being told she was pregnant, all the way to Jesus leaving the diciples after rising from the dead. The picture depicted the scripture at the bottom... It was very moving to go through 3 rooms watching the life of Christ, in Copper.
The next place which was our last stop was Saint Anne de Beaupre' Church. What a HUGE church!. People come from all over the world to this chuch as it has been said many people who were crippled, or some severe sickness were healed in this church. There are crutches and canes etc as you enter, showing how people came with the items and left without them. Quite fascinating. Rae and I walked all over the place there. Burl did his own thing while we read all the enscriptions and stories about men of past times, including saints of the faith. Rae walked outside and we couldn't find a way back in; then found a door and went downstairs. Why? I don't know. But we found a beautiful chapel for people during the week. It was so beautiful, charming and quaint. Then we were trying to find our way back to the sanctuary. I found an elevator so we pushed the button. When it stopped, 2 men with communion crackers were getting off. NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH! So we just got on the elevator hoping to go up. BUTTONS - WHERE TO? I'm feeling like I'm in a scary movie and a monster is going to jump out! Finally the elevator goes up! Thank GOD! The door opens and we are on the side of the altar in the sanctuary! Weird... There is so much in that church and outside to see that it would take a full day to explore it all. We had an HOUR! When all the people assembled back on the bus, we headed back to Quebec City. It had been a long day, but so interesting and full of history. There is so much to see in Quebec and surrounding areas, that it would be a month before you could feel as though you know where it all was. I thoroughly enjoyed our bus tour and our time in the city. The driver took us to our car and we head home. Again, we slept really good. I still see so many pictures in my head. I have to get the pictures off my camera and on the computer. I'll have pages of pictures following this blog. Hope you are enjoying our time seeing this beautiful country. You know, Canada is so beautiful and so much history lies there. However, USA has everything I know and believe in. Guess I'll stay right here and see our beautiful America.
Talk to you next time from somewhere in America!
Monday, July 2, 2012
The Beginning of Quebec City, Quebec Canada
To get to Quebec city would be 4 long hours driving in the Rain. Have I mentioned that it has rained the whole time we were in Canada. OK, it did not rain in PEI until we were leaving! I didn't have much sleep the night before, so during the ride I went to the couch and slept. Yep, slept for 2 hours! When I woke up to loud French music, it was still raining! Rae said there was a lot of fog on the highway and it was a good thing I was sleeping because I would have been a nervous wreck. God is good. He knows how I am. There was such a great anticipation for Quebec City but at the same time wonderment about the language barrier.
We finally found our campground which was very large! We had a corner lot so got to see who was coming and who was leaving. Due to being late in the day, we grabbed a quick hamburger at the "restaurant" on the grounds and then headed to do our laundry. Very old machines and it took forever! When we were done, we drove to Walmart. There were 2 within a 15 mile radius of our campground. It was extrememly weird hearing the lady talking in French over the intercom. And this one was like our "old" Walmarts with food in different places around the store. It seemed very compact and hardly any room to move around. We got our stuff and got out of there. Too crowded and confined for me! When we got back to the campground, we fell asleep quickly.
The next day we were going to Saint Jean Port Joli, which is the town Rachels parents met and married. Her mother and grandmothers were all baptized in the same church there.
We took the scenic route to Saint Jean Port Joli, which means we followed the St. Lawrence River all the way. It is very large!
Throughout this entire day, it poured! We were so wet! We took Route 132 N so we could see all the little villages and the beautiufl churches. We stopped at a restaurant that made their own cheese and bakery goods.
Burl and meThen we stopped at a rest stop to have a pottie break. There was a path that brought us right to the St. Lawrence River edge. We took pictures of course.
Rachel
We finally found our campground which was very large! We had a corner lot so got to see who was coming and who was leaving. Due to being late in the day, we grabbed a quick hamburger at the "restaurant" on the grounds and then headed to do our laundry. Very old machines and it took forever! When we were done, we drove to Walmart. There were 2 within a 15 mile radius of our campground. It was extrememly weird hearing the lady talking in French over the intercom. And this one was like our "old" Walmarts with food in different places around the store. It seemed very compact and hardly any room to move around. We got our stuff and got out of there. Too crowded and confined for me! When we got back to the campground, we fell asleep quickly.
The next day we were going to Saint Jean Port Joli, which is the town Rachels parents met and married. Her mother and grandmothers were all baptized in the same church there.
Throughout this entire day, it poured! We were so wet! We took Route 132 N so we could see all the little villages and the beautiufl churches. We stopped at a restaurant that made their own cheese and bakery goods. 
Rachel and I bought cheeses to go with our wine and crackers. Burl bought us a blueberry muffin. That muffin's blueberries were so juicy and sweet, it must have taken 15-20 minutes to eat it. It was that good!
Burl and meThen we stopped at a rest stop to have a pottie break. There was a path that brought us right to the St. Lawrence River edge. We took pictures of course.Rachel
It was cold, windy and rainy, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Rae, because she was seeing the places her parents grew up. Us because its an area we have always wanted to see. We were all happy.
We stopped at a wood carving place. Oh.. there are SO MANY wood carving places. This was one of the carvinWe gs outside one store. A Duck with a Rifle! Adorable!
Rae bought some presents at some of the shops here. I wanted to, but remembered that we will be in New Mexico during Christmas!
We saw inside the church, and it was so beautiful. Rachel was so happy to be there even though the rain continued to pour down. I was happy for her. It was a very good day!
On the next day we decided to check out Quebec City, on our own. We left for the city and mind you, it has rained every day since we've been in Canada. We drove to a downtown market where they have food, wines, flowers, jewelry, donuts, materials, cutlery, etc. Rachel bought some great wine and a couple pretty rings. Then we decided to find the "old" Quebec. With our GPS we found it! We parked and walked to the Visitors Center. A very nice young man showed us tours available. He spoke really good English too. After looking, listening and chatting we decided on an 8 hour tour to many of the great sites to see in Quecbec and around the area. The SUN finally came out!!! But the rain followed, once again! Rachel made beef stroganoff and it was great! The sun cmae out again, so Rae and I walked around the park. No Internet as the camp blocks the internet unless you buys it from them. We were not going to get facebook the whole time we were here. Oh well, we'll stay busy and I'll write in my journal. Thats how I remember all this stuff. It was a great day but tomorrow would be even better!!
New Brunswick, CANADA
Shediac, New Brunswick
The ride to Shediac was a long ride. Pretty easy and then we came to the border. They asked us all kinds of questions and then had us pull over to the side so the Partrol guys could check out the RV. The inside people checked our passports and the guys did the RV. All was well. The guys told us we had a beautiful rig. The trip to Shediacwas okay but just really long. Rachel rode in the front as I don't sit well; I need to get up and down all the time. It took longer to get there than what we had thought. We finally made it there, but we were late. The woman was kind and gave us a good site. The RV park looks like a trailer camp! Not dirty or anything, but all scrunched togethere. We felt like we could look inside the next trailers windows! We went out for supper, came back and went to bed.
On Friday (6-22) we decided to go to Nova Scotia. we stopped at the Visitor Center and I bought a
T-shirt. The information lady gave us a mp of a scenic tour along the coast. The first part of the ride seemed to be all farmland and trees. It seems we saw a LOT of trees in Canada! We just drove and drove until we stopped for some gas. It is $1.24 a liter. We found a cute spot to eat lunch. It was a pond with lots of grass. After a quick lunch I went outside to talk to Rae. She told me this was a frog pond and all the noise was from the frogs.
We then continued along the ocean. We saw so many curches that had graveyards all around them. The church could be little but a huge graveyard. Some of the graves were so old too. It became a joke where we'd look for a church to find a graveyard! I even took a couple pics of the churches with the graveyards. Along the way, there was a bad wreck where the people said we should turn around and go another way. Didn't they see GEORGIA, USA on our licence plate? How do we know where to go except where the map told us. We are talking not a lot of major roads.. we could get lost there and no one would find us! So we waited. As we were finally passing the wreck, (it was really bad) a woman yelled at me to keep going! Then I realized I had my camera in my hand from taking pics of the churches. She must of thought I wanted a picture of the wrecked car and maybe a body. Oh well.
When we finally got home, it was late and it had been suggested to eat at a place called Lobster Deck. So we decided to try it. Hard to find a parking spot (good sign); walk up and order like Captain D's; go grab a seat in the building or on the "deck" that was closed in with heavy plastic for the rain and cold. They call out your number and you go get the food. OMGosh! The amount of food was ridiculous! I order Fish & Chips - 2 HUGE pieces of fish with FF). Rachel ordered sea scallops (21 in a small size); Burl ordered Poutine (french dish with cheese, beef and french friees and grave over all of it.) he loved it! The food was totally awesome. We decided that the next night we'd come again and Rae and I would order Fried Clams & FF to share and Burl would get Fish & Chips. I would highly recommend that restaurant to anyone who wants seafood. Awesome food and service.
Saturday (6-23) we got up at 5:45 and had to leave at 6:15 for PEI! We had a tour at 9:00 and it was a 2 hour drive. We drove really fast with no traffic on the road. I guess they slept in! The tour guide, Erik, was from England but moved to PEI 5 years ago. We walked to different place and tried foods etc. The first stop was at the Lobster Restaurant where they actually have live lobsters there to see, touch and learn about. The owner explained everything about lobsters and I even touched one!
Then he showed us raw oysters and asked if there was anyone who wanted to try it. One young girl and Burl ate it. Really really gross!!!! From there we went to an Olive Oil place where you taste the different oils. I liked the Basil oil, but not too many others. We waited while other people, like Burl, checked out all the oils. There must have been about 20-25!
From there we went to Anne of Green Gables Chocolate Store. They were actually making Chocolate covered potato chips. And they are delicious. I tried a few and then bought a container. Really really good! Then we went to COWS Ice Cream. They are nationally known. I never heard of them but there are a few in the USA. Many in Canada. The ice cream was indescribable! A full taste and so very creamy. We got a taste and I wanted more! From there we went to a place called Poffertjes (poff er chuz) which is Swedish and they make the little sweet puff balls. They were so good. One lady came in and bought 10 and put them in a cup she brought. Fthen on to an Irish Pub where they make their own beer for their pub. They don't sell outside of the pub.. It was pretty good beer, too. The across the street to another pub; but this one was created in the Irish section of PEI. Everyone told him a pub would not make it, but here it is 30 years later and the pub is one of the livliest around! They serve Guinness Beer which is not allowed usually, but he has it shipped from Ireland! At this pub they also served each of us mussels. Burl ate his, Rachels and mine. I'm not eating slime! The last stop was PEI Liquor. This is 3 ladies from North Carolina. The main lady's dad was a distiller and moonshine etc. She came to PEI and opened a distillery and created flavored liquor. For instance, Blueberry Vodka; Potato Vodka; and Evergreen Gin. It took them about 3-4 years to perfect what they wanted. Tastes were offered but I was not too interested.
By the end of the tour we were tired. So we headed back to Shediac. To leave the island we had to pay $44.00! You can get on free, but have to pay to leave! We crossed the Confederat Bridge which was built 15 years ago to take the place of the ferry. All it did was Rain!!
The next day, we would head for St. Basille, NB on our way to Quebec. A very long drive with lots of Rain, Trees and more Rain and Trees! We did meet a couple at the campground who were very sociable. We visited, had drinks and talked about owning an RV. Early to bed as we had a full day to reach Quebec. Now THERE is a city!
The ride to Shediac was a long ride. Pretty easy and then we came to the border. They asked us all kinds of questions and then had us pull over to the side so the Partrol guys could check out the RV. The inside people checked our passports and the guys did the RV. All was well. The guys told us we had a beautiful rig. The trip to Shediacwas okay but just really long. Rachel rode in the front as I don't sit well; I need to get up and down all the time. It took longer to get there than what we had thought. We finally made it there, but we were late. The woman was kind and gave us a good site. The RV park looks like a trailer camp! Not dirty or anything, but all scrunched togethere. We felt like we could look inside the next trailers windows! We went out for supper, came back and went to bed.
On Friday (6-22) we decided to go to Nova Scotia. we stopped at the Visitor Center and I bought a
T-shirt. The information lady gave us a mp of a scenic tour along the coast. The first part of the ride seemed to be all farmland and trees. It seems we saw a LOT of trees in Canada! We just drove and drove until we stopped for some gas. It is $1.24 a liter. We found a cute spot to eat lunch. It was a pond with lots of grass. After a quick lunch I went outside to talk to Rae. She told me this was a frog pond and all the noise was from the frogs. We then continued along the ocean. We saw so many curches that had graveyards all around them. The church could be little but a huge graveyard. Some of the graves were so old too. It became a joke where we'd look for a church to find a graveyard! I even took a couple pics of the churches with the graveyards. Along the way, there was a bad wreck where the people said we should turn around and go another way. Didn't they see GEORGIA, USA on our licence plate? How do we know where to go except where the map told us. We are talking not a lot of major roads.. we could get lost there and no one would find us! So we waited. As we were finally passing the wreck, (it was really bad) a woman yelled at me to keep going! Then I realized I had my camera in my hand from taking pics of the churches. She must of thought I wanted a picture of the wrecked car and maybe a body. Oh well.
When we finally got home, it was late and it had been suggested to eat at a place called Lobster Deck. So we decided to try it. Hard to find a parking spot (good sign); walk up and order like Captain D's; go grab a seat in the building or on the "deck" that was closed in with heavy plastic for the rain and cold. They call out your number and you go get the food. OMGosh! The amount of food was ridiculous! I order Fish & Chips - 2 HUGE pieces of fish with FF). Rachel ordered sea scallops (21 in a small size); Burl ordered Poutine (french dish with cheese, beef and french friees and grave over all of it.) he loved it! The food was totally awesome. We decided that the next night we'd come again and Rae and I would order Fried Clams & FF to share and Burl would get Fish & Chips. I would highly recommend that restaurant to anyone who wants seafood. Awesome food and service.
Saturday (6-23) we got up at 5:45 and had to leave at 6:15 for PEI! We had a tour at 9:00 and it was a 2 hour drive. We drove really fast with no traffic on the road. I guess they slept in! The tour guide, Erik, was from England but moved to PEI 5 years ago. We walked to different place and tried foods etc. The first stop was at the Lobster Restaurant where they actually have live lobsters there to see, touch and learn about. The owner explained everything about lobsters and I even touched one!
Then he showed us raw oysters and asked if there was anyone who wanted to try it. One young girl and Burl ate it. Really really gross!!!! From there we went to an Olive Oil place where you taste the different oils. I liked the Basil oil, but not too many others. We waited while other people, like Burl, checked out all the oils. There must have been about 20-25!
From there we went to Anne of Green Gables Chocolate Store. They were actually making Chocolate covered potato chips. And they are delicious. I tried a few and then bought a container. Really really good! Then we went to COWS Ice Cream. They are nationally known. I never heard of them but there are a few in the USA. Many in Canada. The ice cream was indescribable! A full taste and so very creamy. We got a taste and I wanted more! From there we went to a place called Poffertjes (poff er chuz) which is Swedish and they make the little sweet puff balls. They were so good. One lady came in and bought 10 and put them in a cup she brought. Fthen on to an Irish Pub where they make their own beer for their pub. They don't sell outside of the pub.. It was pretty good beer, too. The across the street to another pub; but this one was created in the Irish section of PEI. Everyone told him a pub would not make it, but here it is 30 years later and the pub is one of the livliest around! They serve Guinness Beer which is not allowed usually, but he has it shipped from Ireland! At this pub they also served each of us mussels. Burl ate his, Rachels and mine. I'm not eating slime! The last stop was PEI Liquor. This is 3 ladies from North Carolina. The main lady's dad was a distiller and moonshine etc. She came to PEI and opened a distillery and created flavored liquor. For instance, Blueberry Vodka; Potato Vodka; and Evergreen Gin. It took them about 3-4 years to perfect what they wanted. Tastes were offered but I was not too interested.
By the end of the tour we were tired. So we headed back to Shediac. To leave the island we had to pay $44.00! You can get on free, but have to pay to leave! We crossed the Confederat Bridge which was built 15 years ago to take the place of the ferry. All it did was Rain!!
The next day, we would head for St. Basille, NB on our way to Quebec. A very long drive with lots of Rain, Trees and more Rain and Trees! We did meet a couple at the campground who were very sociable. We visited, had drinks and talked about owning an RV. Early to bed as we had a full day to reach Quebec. Now THERE is a city!
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