Life on the Road: Bonjour!

We have made it to Quebec City, Quebec, our next to last stop before heading back to the states. It is French first here. Signs are all in French and generally everyone is speaking French, but most who cater to tourists also speak English. We are staying in St. Nicolas which is a few miles outside of Quebec City. We are at KOA campground and it is very busy. It is off the main highway so it fills up every night and each morning there is a long parade of RV’s leaving.

Our first adventure was into Quebec City via a shuttle bus from the RV park. This took us to the heart of Old Quebec City where we went on a 2 1/2 hour guided walking tour. We then added our own walking tour so that we pretty much saw the upper and lower portions of Old Quebec City. It was a busy day in the city as Paul McCartney was in town to do a concert that evening. We even ran into his entourage at his hotel but did not get to see him as his cars moved to another location to let him out.

The old part of the city, which is behind the original walls built to guard the city, feels just like being in a European city, like Paris. The buildings are very old but nicely restored. Streets are narrow and very clean. Businesses are restricted to just a small hanging sign and almost all the café’s have outdoor seating. What is really neat is the view of the St. Lawrence river from the upper portion of the city.

Here are some pictures

Le Chateau Frontenac, famous hotel in the old city.

One of the streets in the old city

This is the gate to the Citadel, the military base for the old city. This is only original gate in size, the others were all widened to accommodate modern vehicles. The Citadel is still an active military base but they have guided tours. Note the guards on either side of the gate. They stand rigid for two hour shifts.

View of the river from the Citadel. The yacht (very large) in the picture was anchored there all day.

This is another of the original gates but was widened.

Our next adventure was to Montmorency Falls which were nearby. A smaller version, in width, than Niagara Falls but they are actually higher.

They have a gondola that takes you back and forth to the top of the falls or you can walk via a 485 foot staircase. We took the gondola up and walked down. Once at the top you walk along the cliff then cross over the falls via a suspension bridge. The trail gave you great views of the falls from all angles.