We arrived in Montreal about 1.30pm and took a taxi to the central railway station where we boarded a 4pm train to Quebec City. This was a very comfortable 3 hour trip through farmlands interspersed with areas of trees (including maples), many of which were showing the reds and oranges of the fall colours. Arriving in Quebec City about 7pm we took another taxi to our accommodation for the next 4 nights. We had wanted to stay within the walls of the old town part of Quebec (Vieux-Quebec) and had decided upon a small unit for our stay (website of our accommodation). From our room we could see the roof of the Chateau Frontenac which was only 50 metres down the road.

The next 3 days were spent exploring in and around the old town area. The first thing we did was head to the tourist info office and grabbed the walking tour guide map before heading back to our unit and working out what we wanted to do most with our time. Based on the weather we decided on walking around the old town area on the first day then doing the old port area and Montmorency Falls on the Sunday and finally the Plains of Abraham on the Monday.

The weather on Saturday (2nd) was overcast and threatening rain but still quite mild. We started by following the guide map at least until we had some orientation on where things were. We covered quite a bit of ground during the day and it is not flat terrain!! Most of the day was spent looking at the fortifications of the old city - the wall, citadel, old powder magazines etc. There are lots of information points around town to explain the siginificance of certain structures and events that happened. There are also some buildings where Parks Canada have set up displays and videos etc. It was very interesting to read about the history and see the architecture of the town. The cobbled streets and fortified walls made a change from looking at mountains and rivers (and bears!!).

We had just about finished for the day when the rain started. Thankfully we weren't far from our unit and didn't get too wet apart from when we had to make a dash to get to the restuarant and back. With the rain keeping us indoors for the evening we spent some time surfing the channels on the tv. Maybe it was the beer but it was rather funny to see shows such as the Simpsons, South Park and McLeods Daughters in french. It certainly put a new twist on characters like cartman and mr.garrison??.

We woke on Sunday (3rd) to find the rain had cleared and it looked like the cloud cover would break up. We desperately needed to get some washing done and we spent the morning walking quite a distance to a little basement laundromat and back. Nothing like walking through a crowd of tourists getting off their bus with a bag of jocks and socks on your back ;-) With our chores done for the day we headed out again.

We started by going down to the old port area of Quebec City which is below the old town area. There are lots of small resturants and shops in this area. Michele found a small artists studio with some fantastic oil paintings. They were only $85 unframed but it was too hard to get them back home :-(. We found our way around to the market area with lots of fresh fruit & vegetables, cheeses and meats etc but we were actually looking for the bike rental place just outside. The girl at the tourism office had said we could hire bikes here and could ride out to Montmorency Falls. I had convinced Michele it would be good fun to go for a bike ride. I said it was a 12km ride and she reluctantly agreed. Now just because I ommitted the part about the 12km being one way doesn't make me a bad person does it??? Anyway we hired ourselves 2 velo's and set off. There are many bike paths in this area and they are similiar to our linear park tracks back home. It was pretty flat all the way to the falls and there were lots of people out and about - on foot, bikes, roller blades etc. The sun had come out and it was a superb day. The falls were pretty good but I think we had been spoilt with some of the scenery we had already seen on the trip. The trip back was a little slower than the trip out. I did a lot of coasting... but we got back. Michele did very well for someone who has done very little bike riding.
All I had to do now was encorage her to climb back up the hill to our unit!!!

The next day (4th) we spent wandering over the Plains of Abraham and looking through the Interperative Centre. This was the area where the French and British fought their battles during 1759 and 1760. We then headed back into town and visited the Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica Cathedral which was amazing inside. Late in the day we ventured back to Dufferin Terrace (boardwalk in front of Chateau Frontenac) to watch the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship sail into port.
View of Chateau Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace
View from the old port area.
View of the Chateau and Dufferin Terrace at night.
View from out front of our accommodation.

Tuesday the 5th saw us spend the morning in Quebec City before heading back to Montreal via the train and settling into our accommodation. The next day we walked through downtown Montreal to the old town area. A highlight of the day was a visit to the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. If you ever visit Montreal you must have a look at this building, it is very impressive. Most of the day was spent wandering through the old town and port area. A very relaxing day.
Image of old Montreal.
Another image of old Montreal.
Image of outside of Notre Dame Basilica.

Thursday saw us heading back to the airport for another transit day to get us to Winnipeg for the trip north to Churchill and the Polar bears. The trip to the airport was a little interesting as our taxi driver sped and weaved his way through the traffic. All the while he kept looking to his passenger seat and intently reading from a book??? Not just any book but it was the Bible!!!. Now either he was studying or he knew something about his driving that we didn't.... but he got us there safely!!! I should add here that we really enjoyed our time in Quebec. Despite some stories we had heard before we got there we found the people to be wonderful. Very friendly and very helpful.