Sunday July 21 Quebec

Today was especially interesting. We had a bus take us to the large island that is a part of Quebec city: Isle de l’Orléans.  The land there is especially fertile so a great deal of crops are grown there. In addition, it’s tranquil and beautiful. We walked along the main street and saw an array of beautiful houses. We went to a vinegar business run by a family for many generations. We tasted different kinds of vinegar and purchased some.  The crops we saw for vinegar were black currents.

 Later we stopped to view the waterfalls near the island. Finally, we got off the bus and on our own, went for lunch. The city has an upper city and a lower city. The upper city is surrounded by an old wall and the lower city is right on the river. After lunch, Merle and I and another lady went to the Château Fontenac— A very expensive hotel. We thought it would be fun to have a drink in the bar and look at the magnificent view of the river. This hotel can be seen from almost anywhere in the region as it sits on the bluff and defines the upper city. I included pictures of it in earlier posts.

There was too much walking today for me.  We had some free time and then at 5 o’clock we had a presentation, by  man and a woman who played traditional music ( often with Celtic roots ) on their fiddles. They explained about the traditional music of the region and about some specific songs and demonstrated a variety. I loved it! I did a short video recording of it.

Finally, tonight was the conclusion of our tour so we had the farewell dinner. It was a very pleasant group.  Virtually everyone leaves in the morning except us. We will have one more night here in Quebec city, then on Tuesday, we will go back to Montreal for two nights. There were several things we didn’t get to see there before which we can now see on our own. 

It will be nice to go at our own pace for the next three days.