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Wednesday, 13 September: After breakfast, we
packed the cars and headed for Quebec City. We crossed the old Jacques
Cartier Bridge and took PR 20 on the south side of the St. Lawrence River.
It was a beautiful sunny day, so I suggested a change from our planned
itinerary to take advantage of it. We had planned to visit Ile d'Orleans and
Montmorency Falls later on in our stay in Quebec City. But the weather had
been disappointing so far, and we might not get another sunny day like this
one. (We didn't.) So we all agreed to try to do that today.
We made a brief stop to check in to the Hotel Maison Acadienne. It was already after noon. Then we drove northeast along the river to the long bridge to Ile d'Orleans. We drove directly to the Moulin St. Laurent, a 1715 flour mill converted into an upscale restaurant in1963. Both the food and the service were fantastic. The presentation was great, too, like an artist had prepared each dish.
After lunch we continued our drive up the south shore of the island to the village of St. Jean, famous for its brightly painted houses with unique roofs and dormers. Most of these houses once belonged to ships' pilots who lived here. Unfortunately, because of the compressed schedule, we had to turn back at this point. However, we did manage to include a leisurely drive through Ste. Petronille on the west tip of the island. This village is considered the most picturesque on the island. Unlike the other island villages that stretch along the highway one house deep, Ste. Petronille has considerable depth and many little streets lined with charming houses. There is also a great view of Quebec City from the shore.
Crossing the long bridge back to the mainland, we had a good view of Montmorency Falls well above us. Up close inside the park, the Falls were much more impressive. They are advertised as being one and a half times higher than Niagra, but of course they're not nearly as wide. Nevertheless, they are quite spectacular. Lois and Casper joined Jane and me for the gondola ride to the top of the Falls while the others waited below. There was a picturesque hotel at the top of the gondola. From there we walked a half mile or so to the pedestrian bridge that crosses above the very brink of the Falls.
Many of the visitors were walking down on winding footpaths running alongside the Falls, but we had purchased round-trip tickets (fortunately). We rejoined the others at the bottom and drove back to Quebec City as the sun set. We had managed to squeeze our planned full-day excursion into half a day. And just as well, too, because we never saw the sun in Quebec again. My narration rushed past our hotel in Quebec City, just as our group had rushed through it in its rush to get to Ile d'Orleans. Jane and I had seen the Maison Acadienne on our previous trip to Quebec. We had tried unsuccessfully to get a room there when we moved out of the rather unpleasant place where we had made advance reservations. So I had reserved four rooms at the Maison well in advance. The hotel's location is excellent, inside the walls of Old Quebec just off of Rue St. Louis, the main street. It's close to everything. It has a variety of rooms and prices. All the rooms are decorated in "quaint." Jane and I had one of the larger rooms with two large windows (with lockable shutters) right on the narrow street.
That evening we walked out of Old Quebec through the St. Louis Gate and went to one of the many restaurants clustered on the Grand Allee a couple of blocks up. On the way, we passed the Military Drill Hall (1885), a beautiful stone building nearly 300 feet long, as well as the Parliament Building. By the time we'd walked back to the hotel, we were all ready to call it a day.
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