Quebéc - Friendly New France

So having done a recce the night before and found where the route of the $3 Navette (shuttle) bus passed close to our hotel, we went out to catch the 10:04 bus into the old city. Unfortunately, it having been many a long year since we rode on a public bus, we lacked the necessary coinage to deposit into the cash receptacle. To our utter astonishment, the driver, upon seeing our $20 bill and lack of coinage said, in English "No no, it's OK, you can have it.  It's a gift." and handed us two FREE bus tickets!  Bravo, that man! I say.  What a city! I can't imagine any bus driver being that kind anywhere else in the world.  What a wonderful warm feeling that gave us as we entered the old city once more. 

The bus dropped us at the foot of the cliff at the Basse Ville (Lower Town) and we walked slowly up the hill to the meeting place for the Voir Québec walk we had booked.  The sun was bright with the temperature in the 80s (F), but there being no humidity I felt up to the two-hour tour which we were about to take.  (Normally I wimp out after five minutes with the humidity levels we get in Massachusetts.)

I'm not going to go through the details of the walk, nor repeat the history because I can't remember most of it.  What I will do, though, is post captioned photographs that I took along the way. Don't forget to click on the pictures and magnify them for a super-duper close-up view!

Le Promenade des Gouverneurs

English style architecture

French style architecture

The French Consulate

Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiennes - the part on the right is the oldest building in the city, dating back to the 1600s.  The horses and carriages carrying tourists are a daily sight in the city.

Rue du Parloir, leading to the Ursulines Museum

Entry to the Seminary, now used for the architecture faculty of the university.

Seminary courtyard

The once disreputable, now desirable street behind Rue St. Paul, where water used to flow and the buildings were accessed by stairs and bridges.

To help preserve the area's history, some apparently connected buildings are mere facades.

Sous le Fort, looking towards the Funicular

Petit Champlain

This is where our tour ended, after nearly two and a half hours of walking up and down hills.  Soon after we had a late lunch in a nice restaurant called Sous-le-Fort.

Baguette with duck, camembert cheese, pearl onion marmalade 'frites' and salad with a locally produced  alcoholic beverage made with pears to wash it down. Mmm!

End of Day Two