Quebec Visit

We’re in Quebec for a few days before leaving for a cruise to New York. The weather was foggy and windy on day one but the fog burned off by noon. It was a fairly busy day, starting with a walking tour from Les Tours Voir Quebec. This tour started from the tourist information center in upper town and provided a historical discussion at several parks, churches, streets and buildings. The walk pace was fairly fast over the 2.5 hour timeframe. Stops included the Place d’Armes, Terrasse Dufferin, Jardin des Gouvernours, Seminare du Quebec, Place Royale, and a walk down Rue St Pierre. We didn’t stop and enter any buildings but the walk pointed out different architectural styles influenced by the French, British, Scots and Italians. After the tour, we stopped for lunch at LePetit Cochon, at 24 Boulevard Champlain, for a bowl of pork tokinese soup and sandwiches. It was great to have a few minutes to rest our legs and the food was tasty.

After this brief lunch break, we stopped at a glassworks near the Funicular base to watch a glassblower at work and took the Funicular to upper town. There we visited the interior of sites from the walking tour. This included the Basilique Cathedrale Norte Dame De Quebec; the Cathedral Anglicane Holy Trinity Church; Simons department store; City Hall with its tremendous Halloween decorations; Rue Du Tresor, an alley with many local artists with their paintings and sketches; the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac hotel; Terrasse Dufferin and the historical basement remnants of the Gouvernours’ Chateau. We finally headed back to the hotel around 3:30pm.

Over the next few days, we’ll visit a few museums, explore a few streets in upper town and rent a car for a day trip. The weather turned rainy for day two, but looks better on days three and four.

Over the past few years, many cruise lines have done away with luggage tags and, instead, ask passengers to personally print out their luggage tags at home and staple them to their bags before arriving at the cruise terminal. Many travelers worry a bit about whether the tags will become unattached and their bags float among the different ship decks until finally reunited with their owners. Here is an interesting alternative I read about on cruisecritic.com:

 

This reusable vinyl tag attaches to your luggage in a more secure manner than a staple. The tags cost around $3 each and are available from http://www.favorsbyserendipity.com/luggage-tags/cruise-luggage-tag-holder.html.