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Monday, September 15: Our last day in Quebec started out cloudy and cool. After
breakfast at L'Omelette, we drove the car to the lower city. We parked very close in on rue St.
Paul. We walked though the old port, but it was deserted, not to mention cold and windy. We
headed for the narrow streets of the old town where little wind could get through. When we
reached Place Royal, we found it filled with several different tour groups. For some reason, all
the buses take the tourists to the same places at the same time. The church of Notre Dame des
Victoires was open this time, and we went in. Just outside the door was a man playing the most
beautiful music by rubbing the rims of partially filled water glasses. He was selling tapes of his
music. We looked in the shops on rue Sues-le-Fort, then watched a glass blower at work in one
of them. Of course, we had to see rue du Petite-Champlain again. We bought three small prints
of Quebec there before wending our way back to the car.
We drove a short distance to the Old Port Market, across from the old train station (1916). As at the Atwater Market in Montreal, we marveled at the outstanding fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the boulangerie was out of baguettes, so we settled for some yogurt from a dairy shop in the market. Then we drove back up to Grand Allee and finally found some food shops in a small mall. We bought some soft bread sticks and whole wheat croissants to finish off our lunch. The weather was still poor, so we walked out the St. Louis Gate and across the street to the 19th century Parliament Building, hoping to take their tour. There were no tours that week, though, so we decided to see some of the old fortifications instead. We visited the Initiation Centre (exhibits presenting the history of the fortifications) and Esplande powder magazine, then climbed to the top of the St. Louis Gate and walked on the wall to the St. Jean Gate.
There we descended and went to Artillery Park. This included some old fortifications, such as the Dauphine Redoubt (1712), now filled with exhibits about three centuries of military life. There was also a cartridge factory (1879-1964) and a foundry where canon were once made. By this time the sun was peeking out for a few minutes now and then, but it was still mostly cloudy and cool. We walked down rue St. Jean to Place d'Armes next to the Frontenac. This time we went into the courtyard of the Quebec Seminary (1663), then inside the Basilica Notre Dame de Quebec (1647) to see its rich decoration and many works of art. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for a look at the chapel of the Ursuline Convent (1902).
After a half hour rest in our room, we walked down rue St. Louis to the Aux Les Voutes, seemingly an excellent upscale restaurant. We shared hors d'oeuvres of crevettes (shrimp) diablo and fondue camembert, followed by soup (you guessed it: cream of vegetable). All of these were excellent. For the main course, both of us ordered beef tournedos done medium, but they came almost completely raw. We sent them back and, when the waitress brought them again, they not only were still too rare, they were so tough we couldn't chew them. When we complained, our waitress, who seemed inexperienced, got all flustered and ran away. Eventually, though, she sent us the young head waiter, who was extremely gracious. However, when he said he'd have new tournedos prepared "as tender as this cut of meat can be," we both promptly changed our order to poulet brochette (chicken kabobs). That was delicious. For dessert we had a chocolate torte with raspberry sauce, also coffee (me) and camomille tea (Jane). We got back to our room about 8:30 and started packing. |
